
If you read this blog on dltn.io, you might have noticed a new coat of paint recently. I didn’t do anything too drastic, but I *love* the new look. It’s simple, elegant, and timeless.

Here’s what’s new.

## Design
I changed the background color from a blue-white to a pure white. There are still tones of blue, but not as much. The current color is #FAFAFA and the previous one was #FAFBFF.

The color of the links are now a deeper shade of blue. I like this look because it’s more typical of what the color of a link is “thought” to be.

## Homepage layout
The biggest structural change was to my homepage. I removed the loop of tags because the list of tags and the list of posts brought my eye to too many different places at once. I liked that someone visiting the site for the first time instantly got an idea of what I wrote about, but it was just too much.

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1728876280/Screenshot_2024-10-13_at_8.13.45_PM_z4xw4s.png)

In its stead, I made this simple list of my favorite tags to write about, which just so happens to also be the tags that contain the majority of the posts. This gives me the benefit of having someone see what I write about when they first land on the page without being overwhelmed.

In a big change, I removed my subscribe callout. There are two reasons for this:
1. It wasn’t converting. I don’t know if my language wasn’t right or if people just don’t read stuff on the homepage, but I’d only get three or four signups per month.
2. I’m not sending my newsletter as frequently. When I first started blogging, everyone and their mother had a newsletter, but I could never quite find my rhythm with it. I’d rather just blog about what I want, when I want, and not worry about “bothering” people with my posts. I might add the signup form in the footer, or add a separate subscribe page eventually, but for now it’s gone. (You can still [subscribe via RSS](https://www.dltn.io/rss).)

I’ve been trying for months now to create a design I liked more than what I had before, but every time I came up with something new, I always just liked what I had before, better. I was always basing my re-designs on what I saw other people were doing on their sites, and I think I never allowed myself to just sit down and code to see what I came up with until I worked on this design.

One day, I sat down after a long day of school with nothing but time and the clear intention to just get something fresh and new pushed to main so I could get back to studying (because I have been slightly distracted by re-designing this lately). Since I was free of any time constraints, and wasn’t worried about staying up too late, I just got into the zone and made something. I think that speaks to trusting yourself when it comes to creative projects. Mood boards and inspiration are good, but don’t let those things replace your creative brain!

## Why the “boring-ness?”
The reason I like the white background, black text, and blue links is because of my ideal career. I know I can do more “fun” things with my site, and it probably doesn’t really matter, but if a potential firm or client lands on my blog, I want to project an image of sturdiness and seriousness. Admittedly that sounds cheesy, but I  believe it, and it’s what’s keeping me from [having a dark blue background and light blue text](https://www.dltn.io/posts/my-blogs-identity-crisis). I *love* that look, but I just can’t pull it off right now.

That’s also why I’ve been debating using a serif typeface. Serifs are serious and educated and academic. I love all of those things, but when I read a short blog post on my phone in a typeface that looks like it belongs in a newspaper, something just feels “off.” I’ve yet to find a good looking but not too serious serif typeface. So, for the time being, I’ll continue using my trusty Inter.

## New feature: Links!
Inspired by [Jim Nielsen](https://notes.jim-nielsen.com/) and [Robb Knight](https://rknight.me/links/), I’ve decided to build out a /links page. I’m not really using social media anymore, but I still have a desire to share what I read and learn with others. Sometimes I blog about things, but other times I just have a quick thought I want to share along with a great quote. That isn’t enough content for me to make a full blog post, but now I can make a new link post.

### How it works
**Technically:** I have two folders in my repo: `posts` and `links`. When I want to post a new link, I make a new page in iA Writer and type the title of the article as an H1. Then I highlight the H1 and paste the link to the article. In the body I add quotes and thoughts. Finally, I name the file the current date and time: `2024-10-12T14:54`. My backend strips the first H1 and saves it to a `title` property, the link gets stripped and saved to a  `link` property and the file name minus the extension becomes the `id`. (This is all based on [Jim’s process](https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2023/how-i-take-and-publish-notes/).)

On my /links page, I loop over every file in the `links` directory and pass the properties to a `LinksDisplay` component. I use `psl` to [strip the domain name](https://www.npmjs.com/package/psl) from the `link` variable, which is how it’s displayed on the page.

So, this file in iA writer...

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1728876726/Screenshot_2024-10-13_at_8.31.44_PM_gkhtqt.png)

...[becomes this](https://www.dltn.io/links#2024-10-12T13:52) on my site...

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1728876727/Screenshot_2024-10-13_at_8.31.57_PM_gafiz5.png)

**Procedurally:** I read every article on [Readwise’s Reader](https://readwise.io/read) app. (It’s great, check it out.) Highlights and notes I take from articles automatically get saved to Obsidian. When I have some time to sort through my notes, I open Obsidian and find any quotes that still resonate with me. When I find one, I follow the process above.

There is probably a way to automate this by pointing my /links directory to my Readwise folder, which actually could be a very fun, tough project to work on. But part of the learning process is re-examining what I saved and realizing much of it is not worth internalizing. Separating the wheat from the chaff is a slow but valuable process when it comes to retaining information.

As Jim points out, the benefit of having everything in one page is that, if you need to find a quote, you can simply do a CMND + F search of *all* your notes, which would be super valuable when you’re on the go.

## New layout: Notes!

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1728876280/Screenshot_2024-10-13_at_8.22.28_PM_fdzvlo.png)

I’ve slightly altered my [/notes](https://www.dltn.io/notes) page. Before, it was just a three-column grid of book covers. It worked; it was simple and clear. But I wanted to add more information about the books before someone clicked on one because some book covers are ambiguous.

I haven’t been posting new book notes as frequently as I would like to because writing new notes takes *a lot* of time, and my “fun” reading time has substantially diminished since starting law school. I think I need to limit myself to how long I spend on one book, and whatever I have written down when time runs out goes on the site. I have a backlog of about 40+ books to post, and that number is only increasing.

I think this is the most differentiated part of my site because most people who post notes just copy and paste their Kindle highlights from the book. That works, but it doesn’t give anyone reading the notes context for the information. I like trying to introduce each quote and provide actual lessons about history and people that I learn from the books. I don’t know if I’ll keep blogging for the rest of my life, but I’ll certainly continue reading books and sharing what I learn, so I really want to prioritize this part of my site.

(I say I don’t have time but really I haven’t made the time. I need to block off an hour or two every week to work on a book. At that rate, I could probably post a new book every three weeks or so.)

I also updated my [about page](https://www.daltonmabery.com/about).














A New Coat of Paint


Now that I have officially decided to keep my blog built with Next, I thought my blog tinkering time was over and I could just go back to sitting down and writing posts.

But then I realized I can still mess with the design...duh!

The blog has been pretty much this same design since its inception: white background, black text, using Inter. It’s clean, easy to read, and looks great on any device.

But it is a bit boring. I resonated with what [The Jelly Teapot wrote](https://thejollyteapot.com/2023/10/11/on-a-blogs-visual-identity) about a site’s visual identity:

> When I visit [certain] websites...I don’t need to read a single word, know the URL or the name of the site to know the one I am viewing. Same when I see the entries from Michael Tsai, Kev Quirk, or Quanta Magazine in my newsreader: they stand out in the feed and I know from which blog or website it’s from, as I recognise their icon.
> 
> I feel like my blog currently lacks this kind of visual identity. Its current icon — or rather its lack of an icon — feels a little like other feeds I am subscribed to, coming from Mastodon or Medium which all share the same favicon: generic, anonymous, and doesn’t stand out visually from the others.
> 
> Like I wrote in a previous post, There is no place like home: Why I love my blog, I know what makes my blog mine, what its identity is: bare-bones design, minimal style, tiny footprint, etc. But for the casual reader, for someone stumbling upon one of my posts, it can definitely feel a bit plain, boring, forgettable.

Might feels plain, boring, and forgettable. Like Magand’s though, that’s sort of the point? I like how easy everything is to read. But, still, I think I’m ready for something new.

I’ve tried using serif fonts in the past because since I write about history and books a lot, I wanted my site to feel more serious and studious. [Crimson](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Crimson+Text) is an amazing typeface for that vibe. But the result was almost too serious and studios; when I read shorter posts from the archive, it just felt out of place.

Here are some renditions I’ve been working on.

Here’s a futuristic space vibe, inspired by [Luke Harris’s site](https://www.lkhrs.com/). I love the colors and the typeface, but my wife and I both agree that it doesn’t fit the overall content of my site very much. I do like it, a lot though.

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1728516658/Screenshot_2024-10-09_at_4.11.08_PM_o6wz4y.png)

And light mode

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1728516659/Screenshot_2024-10-09_at_4.10.50_PM_fesrcb.png)

I think I’m going to remove the entire list of tags and posts from the /index because there are just too many things to click on. I’ll just build out a separate /tags page. So I think I’ll stick with this layout, I just don’t know which vibe to go with.

Here are some serif options.

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1728516658/Screenshot_2024-10-09_at_4.30.41_PM_rjrmwc.png)

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1728516659/Screenshot_2024-10-09_at_4.10.37_PM_uqdfx2.png)

And, of course I had to see what the genius-professor-too-busy-to-write-CSS was like. (I actually really love it.)

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1728516658/Screenshot_2024-10-09_at_4.12.16_PM_hkesbt.png)

I also tried a pure black background with Verdana. My reasoning with trying Verdana was that it’s so classic and timeless that it looks studios and serious, but it’s not *too* serious to be out of place on a personal blog.

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1728516658/Screenshot_2024-10-09_at_4.11.33_PM_u9mdi5.png)

Still, every time I’ve tried a new color scheme or layout in the past, I always end up liking it *less* than what I currently have. I don’t know if that’s because what I have is familiar, or what I have *actually* just works really well. (Either way, thanks, [Steph for the inspiration](https://stephango.com/).)

For now the designs will sit in limbo in a GitHub branch, maybe never seeing the light of day.


My blog’s identity crisis


From [Jack Baty](https://archive.baty.net/2017/wordpress-is-a-typewriter/):

> The problem I have with publishing a static site is that creating and editing content is too far removed from the actual rendered page.
> 
> I fly pretty fast and loose with my writing. I publish things I’m interested in and am eager to share. I’m impatient. If I had to write three drafts of every post before putting it out there I’d never publish anything. This is why I like using WordPress.
> 
> Using WordPress makes me feel like that boy at the Type-In. I feel like the words are going right onto the paper. Sure, the metaphor is a little thin, but the point is that when writing with WordPress (or any CMS, really), the distance between what I’m typing and what I’m publishing is very short. The only thing closer is editing HTML directly on a live page, but that’s something only crazy people do.
> 
> On the other hand, publishing a static site is like sending a document to a printer. I have to make sure everything is connected, that there’s paper in the machine, and then wait for the job to finish before seeing the output. If something needs editing, and something always needs editing, the whole process starts over.
> 
> So I struggle with choosing publishing tools. I much prefer the idea of statically rendered websites, but in practice I’d rather use WordPress.

I’ve been struggling with this back and forth for about two years and have never been able to put it so succinctly. (Thanks, [Luke Harris](https://www.lkhrs.com/blog/2021/12/hugo/)!)

It’s my eternal struggle when it comes to blogging. Having markdown files safely stored on my machine, with all of the code and everything else that makes my site run seems, to me, to far outweigh any inconvenience from actually *writing* a new post. Plus, I’ve [done some things](https://www.dltn.io/posts/markdwown-sans-front-matter) to make just a tad bit easier.

But still, nothing is as nice as opening a browser window, typing some words in a big blank text area, and then hitting publish. Plus, the fact that WordPress lets you highlight text and then automatically link to other posts on your blog is an insanely nice feature that I haven’t seen elsewhere.

But WordPress and other site builders still limit what you can do. They either limit it expressly, by making certain areas of functionality closed off, or limit it implicitly by making it extremely difficult to do certain things.

With all of the WordPress drama going on lately, I’m happy to have my site *not* relying on their technology–or anyone else’s (except Vercel). But, I still resonate with Baty’s well-put observation.

To quote him, brb, gotta check the printer.

Static blogs are like printers

For the last few months, I debated switching my site to a headless CMS using WordPress. I liked—nay, loved—how easy it was to open a browser window, type words, add images, and make a new post. It was much simpler than pushing to GitHub, dealing with front matter, and all those things.

As I was working on the api calls, I thought, “Why not just move my *entire* site to WordPress?” I reasoned that it would be nice to make pages with the same ease I made posts with, I could reasonably rely on WordPress being around for a bit, I was already hosting the site, and I found a [theme](https://andersnoren.se/teman/mcluhan-wordpress-theme/) that was minimal and elegant.

I thought about that idea for a weekend, but decided against it. Although the theme was really nice, and making new pages was easy, it proved so much harder than I wanted it to be to add anything that didn’t already exist. I don’t know the WordPress ecosystem like I do Next’s, but I just wanted to write some code that fetched my book notes and displayed the cover images. Admittedly, I never sat down with an intentional focus to work on that problem, but I just *could not* figure out how to do it in WordPress.

I also wanted to add a few simple sentences to my /index, and that proved more difficult than I thought it should be. I had the markup written correctly, and my CSS properly written with classes styled, but I couldn’t for the life of me get the styles to be applied. Also, the browser on my phone was still using the original theme more than four days after I changed the original CSS. It must have been some sort of caching problem, but I couldn’t figure it out.

But I shouldn’t *have* to figure it out. I kept thinking to myself, “You know, your current site already has all of these features.” There were a few times I got the functionality *close* to what I wanted, but I realized with a personal site, I don’t want it *to be close*, I want the site to look and feel *exactly* how I want it to look and feel.

This is a major benefit of having a site built from scratch that I didn’t recognize before. I was focused on “owning” my content and ensuring there were as little “middle men” between my content and my content existing online that I was blinded of the huge blessing that having a site do, be, look, and perform exactly how I want.

I liked how [Mandy Brown put it in her post](https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/coming-home) “Coming Home:”

> [having a personal website] allowed me to cultivate the soil to suit my purposes—rather than having to adapt my garden to the soil I was given

When you have a personal site that you control, you can make it *whatever* you want it to be. If you want to build yourself a mini Twitter feed, [build yourself a mini Twitter feed](https://stream.thesephist.com/)!

The only real limitation to this is your technical ability, but once you have a site live and working, ChatGPT can help you build just about anything. And when you run into errors or bugs, it’s an amazing troubleshooter.

Yeah, having a site built from scratch and writing posts in markdown files isn’t near as convenient as using something that builds the entire site for you, but I finally realized that tradeoff is worth it to me. I’ll take a bit more friction to write posts if it means that I have 100% control over *everything* about my site.

If you have a personal site, whatever tool, software, or system you use, it should allow you to do *exactly* what you want.

If that’s *not* worth it to you, and you want a site that hosts words, looks great, and lets you write, I recommend [Pika](https://pika.page/).





Your site should let you do what you want


One of the reasons I’ve been tempted to switch—and in fact have switched a few times (and then back again)—to WordPress as a headless CMS was because of how dead simple and easy it was to write a new post.

I clicked the link in my bookmark, threw a title on the page, wrote, and published it. It was not a technical process, and that made it great. Also, adding images was *so* much easier in WordPress than uploading an image to Cloudinary and copying the link to embed it in a markdown file.

But I never quite felt good about using WordPress. Partly because I like the “cool factor” I feel from the fact that I built a blog from scratch and write in markdown files—like I’m some tech nerd or something. Part of it was the permanence thing; I want my blog to be around in fifty years, and I don’t know if WordPress will be! (Who knows if Vercel will be either, but switching a server provider seems easier than having to migrate decades of posts.)

What I *didn’t* like about writing in markdown files was having to either open a dev server to check new posts, or wait for my site to build to make sure I closed the front matter properly or something.

But[ then I saw Jim’s post which I stole the title of](https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2022/markdown-sans-front-matter/), “Markdown sans front matter.” He explained adding front matter in his posts was distracting and complicated the authoring experience. I agreed. So, I searched his code and looked at how he was interpreting the metadata of a post without front matter and thought what he did was brilliant.

I love his reasoning:

> The perfectionist in me sees it as a “pure” markdown document. It's simple, I like it. Every time I start (or finish) a post, I don’t have to worry, “What metadata do I need to add again?”

He basically puts the date in the title of the file and the parses that out of the final /slug. The first H1 in the document becomes the title, and any # become tags.

With the help of ChatGPT (and some frustration and coffee), I was able to get something similar working. So now, I can write a post that looks like this, which is *super* easy.

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1727634949/Screenshot_2024-09-29_at_11.34.51_AM_tpzumv.png)

Or for more complicated posts, or my book notes, like this.

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dde1q4ekv/image/upload/v1727634949/Screenshot_2024-09-29_at_11.35.07_AM_fgotj1.png)

Thanks, Jim!

Markdown sans front matter


The downside of reading a series like People and Blogs every week is that, every week, I contemplate redoing everything about my blog—from the tech stack to the layout to the format. It takes a lot of self control not to “waste” time fiddling with the design or backend.

The upside of reading a series like People and Blogs every week is that, every week, I realize that although blogging is still a very niche “hobby,” there have been a lot of people doing it for a very long time. This is encouraging because when I find those sites and people I probably wouldn’t have found otherwise, I get lost in a rabbit hole of reading the blog posts they wrote, sometimes before I was even alive!

This makes me feel good because I realize (1) everyone goes through constant redesigns of their blog, and (2) the type of stuff they post usually isn’t some world-altering idea, yet it’s interesting and fun to read nonetheless. This encourages me to just keep writing, and see who finds and resonates with it.

The latest guest, [Giles Turnbull](https://manuelmoreale.com/pb-giles-turnbull), was one of those. [Turnbull started blogging](https://gilest.org/) in the 90s, and his blog has gone through many iterations of design and tech. His current site is just HTML files with “terrible hand-coded CSS.” His posts range from documenting his honeymoon in India in 1995 (! before I was born), to his routine for taking care of a baby, to thinking about the permanence and tradeoffs of using a hosted CMS system. There isn’t really a “theme” to his blog, other than the fact that he thought about the posts, and then he wrote them.

Some people think your blog needs to be more. I don’t. A blog is your website. If other people like it, great! If not, they can visit the million other sites online.

This goes for other web projects as well. There was lately some “beef” about how Manu hosts the People and Blog series. Someone thought sending pre-formatted questions via email was not the proper way to conduct an interview. And they’re right. But Manu isn’t conducting “proper interviews,” his goals are:

> This series has two goals. The first, is to highlight wonderful and creative human beings and their blogs, helping you discover new content to read. And the second, is to show how social media is not the only way to inhabit the web.

If you don’t like how he does it, go find another series to read! Or, again, visit the million other websites on the internet.

I don’t like the TV shows my wife watches—Selling Sunset, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Real Housewives—because they’re annoying. But there are a million other TV shows and movies—and things to be doing with my time—that are way more productive than writing emails or blog posts about how I don’t like those shows.

Make a blog what you want to make it. Make an online project whatever you want to make it. There are no rules. (Other than be kind!)