## How to create blog in 2020
<!-- published: 2020_01_01 -->

> There are many [blog posts] like it, but this one is mine. [©](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifleman's_Creed#Original_text_(used_in_the_movie_Full_Metal_Jacket))

Of course, you can take Hugo or Ghost. But why? Using minimal tools without bloat[^bloat] feels so refreshing!

1. You write some [markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) posts in multiple or even single file
1. You take [mustache templates](https://developer.run/10) and language of your [choice](https://mustache.github.io/) to render markdown and generate some [semantic HTML files](https://gist.github.com/thomd/9220049)
  - [Optional] Bonus points if you are also generate [RSS feed](https://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_rss.asp)[^rss]
  - [Optional] Add some [counter](https://developer.run/51)
1. You add [Water.css](https://kognise.github.io/water.css/) to make pages look nice
  - [Optional] If you want to be original, pick [nice color palette](https://developer.run/20)
1. You test things locally, using [livereload](https://github.com/lepture/python-livereload)
1. You deploy (for free) your pages to [Cloudflare Pages](https://pages.cloudflare.com) [surge.sh](https://surge.sh), [netlify.com](https://netlify.com) or [Github pages](https://pages.github.com/)
  - [Optional] you set up [Cloudflare](https://www.cloudflare.com/plans/) to get free SSL and speed things up
1. You buy one of these [new silly domains](https://www.namecheap.com/domains/new-tlds/explore/)

And we are online!

**PS:** don't forget that you can deploy your blog to [Tilde](https://developer.run/41) as well

[^rss]: For the convenience of those new folks who don't use RSS, you might also consider [RSS to Twitter](https://ifttt.com/connect/feed/twitter)
[^bloat]: For example, did you know that you can create [lightbox in ≈20 lines of CSS](https://codepen.io/gschier/pen/HCoqh), without JavaScript at all?

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