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Ask HN: Paid/free lightweight solutions to host tech blog/site easily

1 points by draklor40 ↗ HN
I want to host a few posts I have written and will write in the future. I tried setting up my own minimal blogging setup, but it is too much PITA and I basically spent all the time yakshaving.

Has anyone used a solution that doesn't require too much work ? I basically want to write a few markdown files, add a timestamp in them and then push them somewhere to display as HTML.

Bonus if it loads only small CSS bundle and minimal to no JS.

7 comments

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greatjack613
Hugo + Github + Netlify - Exactly what you are looking for
draklor40
Hugo is too complicated for me. It feels like a framework for setting up documentation websites, not blogs. I tried to make it work, but was put off by all the work I had to do.

What I want is basically need is `$script article.md > article.html` and then `git push` or even manually upload it on a form somewhere.

barakplasma
Github pages renders md files natively
draklor40
Yes, but I find it to be too slow at times and IIRC, you cannot customize your domain, or can you ? (I can set a CNAME record , I guess)
8lall0
Give hugo a chance.

You can even setup hugo + github pages with a simple script. You fire the script, it compiles and push everything in the right places.

If you don't feel confident about theming, pick one from the website and you're good to go.

grok22
That fact that you were yak-shaving implies that you wanted to get certain details just right or you want it to function a specific way just for you. And that implies software with more functionality that you can tweak. So inevitably more complex software. If it really was '$script article.md > article.html', you could simply do that with your own domain -- just put up the html on your domain with a link to it (which is trivial to do)! Also, I think thinking about "small CSS/minimal JS" etc means also that you are mixing up concerns -- seems like you are too much concerned about the tools than about the writing...sorry, not trying to criticize, but got reminded of myself when I attempt to do something trivial and go off into the weeds thinking about the tools that get my job done instead of getting the job done. :-). The tools won't fix a writing problem and you should focus on the writing and see if they are worth the trouble finding the right tools for the job.

And to answer your question, wordpress.com, ghost.org, medium.com -- all of them provide simple publishing that meets your requirements (except perhaps for the 'minimal' part).

draklor40
You caught the writing vs tool part well :)

I am kind of ideologically motivated about site minimalism (no JS, minimal CSS), which is why I didn't go down the route of medium. Medium is probably the simplest, but as a reader I hate their UI, especially when I have a habit of highlights the para that I am reading and they bring up their annoying share function.

ghost.org is kinda outside my pricing for a trivial blog. 29 USD per month is not in my planned budget, atleast not with the content that I have in my mind now.

Sure, I can answer all of these questions later, once I get an audience, but I was hoping that someone here already might have found a solution that I can use immediately.

Guess I will resort to my backup plan then, have a basic HTML template and copy paste it for each article and edit the content.