A new site for little reason

163 words

Jet engine.
Thanks to Flickr user Kiefer for the CC image.

As is apt for us web types, on 25 July 2017 I gave a reboot to this website.

TL;DR: I moved from Drupal to a simple static build powered by Gulp—faster, lighter, and easier to maintain for a small site.

On 25 July 2017 I rebooted this website. The content felt dated and the stack was heavier than the site needed.

If you’re curious about the previous version, you can browse it on the Wayback Machine.

Why a static site?#

  • Simple content: posts and pages—no runtime or database required
  • Faster and more secure by default
  • Write in Markdown with version control
  • Fewer moving parts to maintain

What changed#

  • Static build with Gulp for templates, assets, and deploy
  • Pruned and refreshed content
  • Leaner CSS and assets

Note (2018): I updated the build to ZURB Panini 2—see ZURB Panini 2 migration.

Why not Drupal (for this)?#

Drupal is excellent for complex, multi‑author, workflow‑heavy sites. For a small personal site, the ongoing maintenance and module overhead weren’t justified.

When the job is simple, the tool should be too.