Building my own blog is harder than I thought reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ropaga · 2023-10-15 10:14 A few weeks ago I decided to create my own blog to encourage myself at writing more and to have a personal space to share my thoughts. While it is true that blogs are now a bit outdated, with majority of people spending more time in social networks, I don't like the idea of my content being owned, analyzed and monetized by those giant companies that control social networks, and I have a particular hate towards Meta. Then I decided to self-host my content in Oracle Cloud free service. Although I have no programming knowledge, I thought it would not be very hard to make a blog following some tutorials online. First I chose Wordpress, and after having some issues with installation and plugins (Jetpack completely broke my server, but fortunately deleting my Jetpack account was enough to retake control of it) I decided it was not a proper solution for me. While it is easy to use and very powerful, I hate the template editing. In addition, I learned it does not have good performance and has several security problems. So, I looked for again other CMS and choose Ghost. But then ghost install command failed. After reading several sources online I tried many solutions I found: creating a swap file, updating npm, updating node.js, trying to install ghost in docker, etc. None of those solutions worked and I think it is now more broken than before. I do not write this asking for technical support. Perhaps if I decide to keep trying Ghost I would ask in r/ghost. This is just for sharing my frustration, maybe in a few days I will try again installing ghost or changing to another CMS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Zycuty · 2023-10-15 10:21 Look jamstack with markdown ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TBT_TBT · 2023-10-15 10:37 It is not that difficult to set up a blogging CMS. You probably have some more things to learn first. Wordpress runs half the internet, it is so flexible that it can cover most needs, not only blogging, but even big websites. It can be configured with good performance as well as securely. So you might have underestimated the task or underestimated the needed knowledge. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Diligent_Ad_9060 · 2023-10-15 10:38 What about Hugo? Seems simple enough ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vivekkhera · 2023-10-15 10:42 I use Hugo deployed to cloudflare pages and Frontmatter plugin to VS Code as the UI. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LoV432 · 2023-10-15 10:42 If you want something really basic you can try [Astro](https://astro.build/). It has built-in support for markdown[markdown ](https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/content- collections/). But if you want something more advanced you will need CMS. I personally use strapi CMS. There's definitely a bit of learning to it but i never had too much trouble with it. Here's my code if you are interested. You cant really use it yourself without making changes but still https://github.com/LoV432/Astro-Blog-CMS https://github.com/LoV432/Astro-Blog ---------------------------------------------------------------------- selfh-sted · 2023-10-15 10:48 I'd be happy to help you troubleshoot Ghost if you wouldn't mind providing your Docker run command/compose file. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mabed_ · 2023-10-15 10:57 —> ghost ---------------------------------------------------------------------- apbt-dad · 2023-10-15 11:08 You can give Wagtail a try. IDK if Silverbullet.md would fit your bill. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- zakafx · 2023-10-15 11:12 i use Ghost in a container and it works great. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FishSpoof · 2023-10-15 12:08 Whatever you choose make sure there's a good support base. As much as a i hate WordPress, it has endless support articles online on how to get stuff done and troubleshooting. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Plane_Resolution7133 · 2023-10-15 12:13 Wordpress was pretty good at first, but after years of piling on every feature known to man, even a basic/clean install is a bit of a mess. I recently tried Ghost, and really liked the speed and features. Self hosting in a LXC was a bit wonky to setup, so next I’ll try the ‘proper’ install on docker. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sk1nT7 · 2023-10-15 12:23 Ghost runs super easily with Docker: https://github.com/Haxxnet/Compose-Examples/tree/main/examples%2Fghost ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PlayerOnyxUwU · 2023-10-15 14:00 I have a forgotten blog hosted in cloudfare with hugo, it cant get easier if you want to check it out ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 10F1 · 2023-10-15 14:52 Did you look into static sites generators? I've been a professional developer for 20 years but I use https://gohugo.io for my blog because it's just simple. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- itsmevins · 2023-10-15 15:28 I use Ghost with a Medium inspired theme ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mjh2901 · 2023-10-15 15:55 Ive done a lot of options over the years. I have settled on Jekyll hosted on github with a domain. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Watercate96 · 2023-10-15 16:12 I second this! I've seen a lot of great Hugo sites. Just sharing my own! https://logs.anachronic.space. I used the official guide and have added a couple of tweaks here and there ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MaxKulik1 · 2023-10-15 16:53 If you were installing in Oracle were you using an ARM instance? When installing things like Docker or Wordpress when there are a lot of dependencies normally the Architecture (because it’s ARM not x86/64) can fail to install things that’s don’t have an ARM package. Also, if you were trying to use Docker, I have had issues with nested virtualization on OCI instances as well. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ropaga · 2023-10-15 17:19 I know about Hugo. I would like something that supports dynamic pages, that can support a list of new entries and comments at least. Having a WYSIWYG editor is also a plus. However, I may use Hugo if I get tired of trying dynamic page options. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ropaga · 2023-10-15 17:20 I know about Hugo. I would like something that supports dynamic pages, that can support a list of new entries and comments at least. Having a WYSIWYG editor is also a plus. However, I may use Hugo if I get tired of trying dynamic page options. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ropaga · 2023-10-15 17:21 I know about Hugo. I would like something that supports dynamic pages, that can support a list of new entries and comments at least. Having a WYSIWYG editor is also a plus. However, I may use Hugo if I get tired of trying dynamic page options. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ropaga · 2023-10-15 17:23 No, it is the AMD instance. I think the problem I currently have is a conflict of versions between dependencies, I have to take a further look in a few days. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ropaga · 2023-10-15 17:24 Right, this is something I haven't considered before but it is quite important, specially for people without programming knowledge like me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thatsInAName · 2023-10-15 17:50 I just self hosted my ghost blog, did not face any technical issues. If you need help let me know ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MaxKulik1 · 2023-10-15 17:51 That could be as well. Don’t remember what image you were using? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thatsInAName · 2023-10-15 17:52 Is it an official theme or a paid one? My i know what's it's name? Thanks ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thatsInAName · 2023-10-15 17:55 You can try it on AWS lightsail, they support the bitnami ghost installer which is completely wizard based and well documented. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Diligent_Ad_9060 · 2023-10-15 18:11 I'd prefer Hugo with disqus over WordPress and wysiwyg. If you really need the latter, use an offline editor for markdown Keep it simple. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- com2ghz · 2023-10-15 18:18 https://jbake.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tenekev · 2023-10-15 18:55 Static sites can be enhanced with serverless components. There are services that provide basic metrics and comments support for all sorts of blogs. Then again, I don't think comments on a personal blog are that important. You will hardly get any and if you do, it will probably be spam. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- unusableidiot · 2023-10-15 19:11 I use Astro's Markdown built up from components etc on my website which was built with Astro itself. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Charming-Molasses-22 · 2023-10-15 20:09 The frustration is very normal. You will trip up and fall many times until it all makes sense, just like every other thing that requires practice to get good at. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- swissbuechi · 2023-10-15 21:19 I've got the same setup. It's alright. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 12_nick_12 · 2023-10-15 21:23 Use any FOSS commend stack. I use Cusdis. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- desnudopenguino · 2023-10-15 21:27 I'd run Hugo or Jekyll on netlify, vercel, or github pages. No need to worry about managing a server or keeping things up to date for security. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tmjwid · 2023-10-15 22:26 Writefreely could be worth a look. It's basic, has no bullshit configs and just lets you do what you want, which is to write more. It's in the title what it does, it's fast and is basically a self contained binary that you spin up a reverse proxy for and a system-d unit. [https://writefreely.org/start](https://writefreely.org/start) have a look and see what you think, it's sleek and gets you going very quickly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- athornfam2 · 2023-10-15 22:39 It’s definitely work. Mines finally up in Azure. Steadily getting views but I gotta go back and add more “meat” to my articles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TechieWasteLan · 2023-10-16 00:51 So do you use strapi and astro together ? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M-fz · 2023-10-16 01:21 A list of new entries can be updated when you run the build commands of your jamstack website. For comments there’s numerous options too, don’t let those limit you! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LoV432 · 2023-10-16 03:52 Yes strapi is a headless CMS so it doesn't provide any frontend. It's only job is store data and provide API to consume that data. For frontend i use Astro where i fetch all the data from strapi and then generate those pages. https://strapi.io/blog/how-to-build-a-blog-with-astro-strapi-and- tailwind-css The experience has been good. Strapi and Astro never gave me too much trouble. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- light_weight_baby_ · 2023-10-16 04:57 I just started playing with GitHub pages and it's pretty cool so far.. still not sure how everything works and where to edit shit, but to be fair I've only played around a little. Been watching YouTube to watch people configure it and download the different themes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DIYSRE · 2023-10-16 07:51 Putting the recommendation in for Jekyll. I store all of my content on Gitlab. Use Gitlab CI to render the blog and push to S3. Costs me less than $0.50/month for the site. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- redoubledit · 2023-10-16 08:08 New entries shouldn't be dynamic. For comments you can look at webmentions. They can be implemented in anything and everything. You also get comments via activitypub stuff like mastodon, etc. I use PayloadCMS as my CMS, running it locally on my Synology and push changes to a static 11ty.dev site. That can be hosted on any of the "Pages" sites (cloudflare, GitHub, gitea, Netlify, ...). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- redoubledit · 2023-10-16 08:11 You want blogging and don't program yourself, Ghost is unbeatable. It's really easy to host, so you might want to go that route and figure out what's going wrong there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2023-10-16 10:29 [removed] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- randomadhdman · 2023-10-16 11:23 The random admin is a orcale cloud server on the free their that I upgraded. I pay 0.16 to 0.55$ per month for my little power house arm server. I'm doing WordPress as well. The plug-ins help me a lot to get things going. It's a trail and error for the first few weeks. But I suggest using something like a Nas and tailscale to do backups. The hardest thing about doing a blog is finding time. As a dad, husband, system administrator, and a mentor, most of my time is gone now. The other thing about blogs is a niche and a passion. I am good with a lot of system administrator stuff, but I have a passion for mental health. So I'm trying to combine the two. Don't give up on your idea. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ropaga · 2023-10-16 11:50 Thank you very much for your advice and your encouragement 😊 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rxtx901 · 2023-10-16 15:32 There are a lot of flatfile cms. I'm using flatpress for my website as simple as copy and paste if i need to move server i just need to download data folder or you can use wikimd or something like that where u just need to upload.md file. Cheers.