This content originally appeared on Ethan Marcotte’s website and was authored by Ethan Marcotte
Hello, you. There’s a thing we used to do, way back when, where bloggers would write a post, and then tag in some other folks to see how they’d respond. I did a different challenge a few years back, and was delighted when Jon and Naz kindly tagged me for this latest one: to answer a set of questions about how I blog, and why.
So! Here I am, and happily.
Why did you start blogging in the first place?
Everybody was doing it! When I got started in the tech industry, I think Scott Andrew LePera was one of the first bloggers I read who was writing about, well, what I was doing every single day. Through him I found Mark Pilgrim, Molly Holzschlag, Jeffrey Zeldman, Erin Kissane, Paul Ford, Dean Allen, and so many, many more. Every single one of them was posting industry news, links, opinions, and — this is the important bit — space for other writers, linking to other, newer voices onto their own sites.
It felt like a community, really. In those early days, it felt like home.
What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it? Have you blogged on other platforms before?
Last year, I switched from jekyll to Eleventy. I wrote up a few of the reasons I chose it, but: it’s fast, it’s flexible, and its community seems to be thriving. It’s early days yet, but it’s working pretty well so far.
Prior to that? Oh my goodness, let’s see. I started blogging on a home-rolled CMS, if you can call some frankly horrendous PHP and MySQL a “CMS.” A year or two after that, I switched over to WordPress.1 A few years later, I used ExpressionEngine to launch my next blog.
I tinkered with a few other platforms in those early days — I set up TextPattern (😢) for a side project; I worked with Movable Type when I was part of the Web Standards Project — but those are the main ones that got me started.
How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that’s part of your blog?
I’m always writing in Markdown. New posts get created in a directory I’ve set up for drafts, and I’ll edit them in the text editor I use to work on my website.2 If I have a longer post — something with a lot of moving parts, or something I know I’ll want to edit on my phone — I’ll work on it in Obsidian, which is easily my favorite writing environment since Editorially. But regardless of the app I’m using, I’ll work in that drafts directory until the post’s done; once it is, I’ll move it over into the “live” folder, and deploy my site to publish it.
Ultimately, I’d love to just work exclusively in Obsidian, with my posts auto-building as I write. This was all sparked by this demo I saw from the CEO of Obsidian, and at some point I’ll spend the time to get all of that wired up.
When do you feel most inspired to write?
Oof. This is a hard one to answer.
In the early days, blogging was something I used to share: something ridiculous I’d read online, a weird little code snippet, or even a new technique I wanted to get in front of other people. Hell, sometimes I’d just gripe about the weather, or post some photos online. It was my own little Twitter before Twitter existed, really: have a thought, post a thought.
It’s hard for me to look at those old links now. There’s some cringing, to be sure, but also a little envy: I sometimes wish I felt comfortable writing so openly.
These days, my blogging feels a little…heavier? Definitely more circumspect. This site’s a mixture of the personal and the professional — and for me at least, the ratio feels skewed more toward the latter. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, I suppose. But it does mean that when I’m writing, it’s about a professional milestone, some thoughts on the industry, or to work through something heavier.
Anger is a motivator as well, though I’m not proud to admit it. I wish the tech industry was better; I wish the world was better; right now, I sorely wish my country was better. This website’s one outlet I have to wish things were different, and to maybe dream of something better.
Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
I’m somewhere between the two. My drafts don’t usually sit around too long, taking shape after a day or three. If I can get a post to a workable point, I’ll do a few editing passes before publishing.
Honestly, I wish I was a lot more casual about my writing here, but I’ve always felt really self-conscious about the words I’m putting online. I know, I know — this is “my” blog. But at the same time, I’m keenly aware there’s someone else who’ll read this. So: edits.
What’s your favorite post on your blog?
It’s not a blog post qua blog post, but I think my favorite entry in the ol’ journal is the transcript of “The World-Wide Work”, my first talk on the need for unions in tech.
Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?
I’ve got a few things. Nothing especially thrilling, but:
- I’ve been working on a redesign for the better part of the last year. That’s not an indicator of its complexity or quality, mind: the last year’s just been a whole entire lot, and I haven’t had the time or the spoons to focus on my website.
- I want to move my newsletter off of Mailchimp and onto another service. I should’ve made the move after Mailchimp first announced they were going all-in on “artificial intelligence” nonsense, but again — spoons, time, &c.
- This one’s a bit random, but: I’d like to figure out how this whole ✌🏻ecommerce✌🏻 thing works! I’ve got a thing I’ll be selling soon — and at some point, maybe a few more things — and I’d love to set up a little storefront here.
No big platform shifts in the works, thankfully. The switch to Eleventy just happened, and I’d like to give it a year or two to see how it works out.
Who’s next?
I know how busy people are, especially while the world’s on fire. But if they’re game, I’d love to hear how anh, Katherine, Maya, Jacky, and Henry would answer these questions.
This has been “A challenge of blog questions.” a post from Ethan’s journal.
This content originally appeared on Ethan Marcotte’s website and was authored by Ethan Marcotte
Ethan Marcotte | Sciencx (2025-01-26T04:00:00+00:00) A challenge of blog questions.. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/01/26/a-challenge-of-blog-questions/
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