The quiet value of less code
A small website is a good reminder: sometimes the most useful thing you can build is a little less.
I started this blog with a familiar impulse: choose a framework, wire up a content pipeline, and make room for features I might need someday. Then I opened an empty HTML file.
That small reset changed the question. Instead of asking what the site could do, I asked what a reader actually needed.
Start with the reading
The core of a blog is wonderfully unremarkable: words, links, and the space around them. My first version needed just three things:
- A readable line length and a consistent typographic rhythm.
- Navigation that works with a keyboard, a mouse, or a thumb.
- Content that arrives without waiting for JavaScript.
These constraints became a useful filter. Each addition had to make the reading experience better, or make publishing simpler.
A smaller starting point
I wrote down the tradeoffs before choosing an approach. This is a decision table for this little site, rather than a universal ranking.
| Approach | What I maintain | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Plain HTML + CSS | Content and styles | A handful of pages |
| Static generator | Templates and a build | A growing archive |
| Full application | State and a runtime | Interactive tools |
My order of operations
- Write the content in semantic HTML.
- Set a comfortable measure, then work out the spacing.
- Add behavior only when a real interaction needs it.
Every piece you leave out is one less thing your future self has to understand.
— A note to myself, while building this site
There will be a point where a build step earns its place. Until then, a couple of files are enough. That is a deliberate starting point, with room to change.[1]