Idea
Start the blog by building the blog. The goal was not to introduce a full CMS or a new framework, just to make markdown files in src/blog turn into a working archive with real pagination, tag support, and article pages.
Status
We now have the shape of a real publishing system. It is still rough around the edges, but it does the useful thing: content in, static pages out.
Problems Faced
- There was no markdown library in the environment, so we had to keep the parser intentionally small.
- Once video and vertical media were added, article layout decisions became a build concern instead of a pure styling concern.
Techniques That Helped
- Extend the build we already had instead of sneaking in a second system.
- Keep the frontmatter strict enough that mistakes fail loudly.
Lessons Learned
The best weekend builds often come from refusing to start over.