Blog Questions Challenge 2025

Questions:

1. Why did you start blogging in the first place?
2. What platform are you using to manage your blog, and why did you choose it?
3. Have you blogged on other platforms before?
4. How do you write your posts?
5. When do you feel most inspired to write?
6. Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
7. What is your favorite post on your blog?
8. Any future plans for your blog?
9. Who will participate next?

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

I spent so long trying to think back to when I first started blogging, my brain goes fuzzy once I go back past my "rebrand" from LinuxGamer to OrbitalMartian. So instead, I'm going to be explaining why I blog right now.

Right now, I blog because I enjoy writing and sharing my opinions and views on things in a longer form than Fediverse toots. This gives me a small slice of the internet to express myself, my views, opinions and thoughts.

What platform are you using to manage your blog, and why did you choose it?

My website is currently running Eleventy. I have used this since my rebrand (back in August 2023) and although I’ve tried others, I have always ended up back with my 11ty site. I am thinking of moving soon to Zola (with a custom theme), I just need to get it all setup.

I originally tried Eleventy back when The Linux Cast got his website setup with it, I wanted to try it and then fell in love with it once I tried it out. Eleventy is a Javascript based SSG and so some may not like it, but others may love that.

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

Yes, I have used many, almost every other week I have changed my websites SSG.

Jekyll was my first one when I started my very first website back when I first got onto Github.

Then I had hand coded HTML for a while, I did like this but I love writing in Markdown too much.

Eleventy, as mentioned above.

Hugo, I have tried Hugo but I have too many non blog post pages which don't seem to work too well in Hugo, plus RSS was just a snippet and I prefer whole blost RSS feed.

Zola, this is one that I have found to be quite enjoyable, really simple to use and to template, setup and everything.

Pelican, I have tried this Python based one which was very good, I need to spend more time working on this and see whether I could use Pelican as my SSH.

Barf, Bashblog - both decent, simple Bash based SSGs.

How do you write your posts?

I have a couple of different ways that I write my blog posts (blosts).

1. Codeberg web UI - I just use the web UI to edit the files within my Codeberg repo.
2. Neovim on my iPhone - I use an app called iSH which runs Alpine Linux on my iPhone and iPad where I use git to clone my website repo and edit my posts that way.
3. I sometimes also write my blog posts in Joplin which I have syncing between my devices with OneDrive (I know, evil, but it works). This is a refreshing and relaxing experience for writing.

When do you feel most inspired to write?

I don't know, I often think of ideas late at night, but I also think of them during the day too. I just write when I have the time and sometimes, something I watch gives me inspiration to write.

Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?

Often I publish immediately, but for longer blosts, like this one, I read through it for five minutes or so, just to catch any mistakes I made along the way.

What is your favorite post on your blog?

Erm, well, this is a hard one, I don't have a favourite but I like a number of my blosts.

Any future plans for your blog?

Oh, lots, I really want to rebuild my website from scratch, which I feel that the list of SSGs I have used

I hope to eventually find my "forever" home (in terms of SSGs), much like I found Polymaths as my "forever" Fedihome. This is likely to take the form of Zola, but I'm looking into other possibilities.

I'm looking forward to the prospects of a new site.

Who will participate next?

Urm, the only one who I don't think has been tagged that is in my head is Sotolf. I also invite anyone else to complete this if you so wish.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed, this is hopefully a nice blost to read. Have a good one.

This has been blost 5/100 for 100 Days To Offload.

• Previous: My QTile Journey Begins Here