blogging

My first Blaugust 2026 post

My first official™ post for Blaugust 2026 comes with me at a crossroads when it comes to blogging.

A few years back I began exploring options to move away from WordPress, which started as a blogging platform but has evolved into something that does way more than what is needed for a simple blog with words and images.

Also, the head of WP started making…interesting public statements and committing actions that left me uncertain about the platform’s future.

I explored many different sites and platforms, and several came close, but always lacked something. I admit I am a fussy person, and it may be impossible to fully satisfy me. WordPress works, not because it’s exactly what I want, but it gives me flexibility to bend it to my vision, such as it is.

But it’s also complicated, and much of its UI and way of accomplishing tasks are things I’ve simply grown used to and tolerated, never enjoyed.

And now, with seemingly everything tech-related going up in my price, my Dreamhost unlimited plan is seeing a significant price increase, no doubt to move me over to one of the limited plans (the unlimited plan is already no longer an option for new customers). This huge price increase has rekindled my interest in thinking how and where I blog.

More thoughts on this soon–my billing renews on August 15th, so I’ll have to commit to some course of action by then, even if it’s just paying the increased cost of sticking with the Dreamhost unlimited plan.

(I will quickly add that I very recently saw a reference to Pure Blog on Mastodon [somewhat hilariously, I initially misread it as Purple Blog and was a bit disappointed that’s not the actual name] and it’s intrigued me. It looks like it’s Static Site Generator software, but tailored more specifically for blogging. I also feel like I’m more willing to get “to the metal” again with CSS and the like now than I was in the past. Anyway, what I’m saying is I’m actively looking for new options and this is one of them!)

Meanwhile, I remain as cool and collected as typing cat.

#blaugust

WordPress: Gateway to madness (and I guess I’m lucky?)

Kev Quirk’s blog linked to another blog discussing someone setting up a WordPress site. That post is this one:

It’s Just Broken: Oh WordPress (Pup on Tech)

My site here runs on WordPress, but I started it back in 2005 when WP was at version 1.2 (it just hit version 7.0 a few weeks ago). To say it was a simpler system then would be correct.

Reading through PoT’s post, I found myself nodding in agreement and considering myself lucky that my site has pretty much been in maintenance mode for years now (backend-wise–I still churn out nonsense regularly), running the same theme (GeneratePress) and a handful of plugins. Things generally just work.

Except recently, I had a plugin update go haywire for the first time in ages. This led me to disabling all plugins until I (relatively quickly) found the rogue one. But instead of re-enabling all the plugins I’d been using, I only re-enabled the ones I considered essential, even if they were fairly frivolous 1Like Modern Footnotes, which allows me to place pop-up style notes to offer witty little bits as I see fit.. It made me think again about my failed search for a WordPress alternative. My needs seem simple on the surface:

  • A space to write, with the usual formatting options
  • A space to post photos, including galleries
  • Something that doesn’t require a lot of coding, as I’m not a programmer (I can handle some CSS and the like)

But I am also a bit of a weirdo, as I like having more precise control over the text and photos than most blogging platforms allow. WP, as awful as it is, gives me that flexibility, and I’ve grown familiar with it and accustomed to its general awfulness. But now I wonder if I should again renew my search?

If anyone happens to read this and has a suggestion, hit me up on Mastodon, email me or otherwise reach out as outlined here.

In the meantime, back to Typing Cat: