adikos.net

Software Apprehension

Well, I found out that Eleventy is rebranding as Build Awesome and is part of Font Awesome now. Apparently the Font Awesome part happened a couple of years ago, when I was using Hugo, so I definitely didn't know that. But the rebrand is a change. And I am really hoping this doesn't mean the software becomes terrible and AI-ridden and all sorts of other nonsense. Change is good, except when it isn't. I really do not want to switch static site generators again, because I have a workflow figured out and I feel like I sorta know what I'm doing with Eleventy now. If all that changes is the name, great. It sounds like they want as much continuity as possible. Apparently there's going to be a "Pro" version (because of course), but one would hope the "free" version is staying the same.

I've used a lot of blogging software over the years. My first blog was on Xanga ca. 2002/3, which naturally had its own proprietary system. I learned a lot even within that walled garden. I barely remember it. I was mostly focused on just writing and not worrying about it "looking pretty." I moved everything over to WordPress in 2005, and had that iteration until probably 2009/10. I didn't have a proper blog for many years after that. In 2014-16, when I was on the tenure-track jobs market, I had a Squarespace, which was like a much more expensive WordPress. Went back to WordPress briefly while on DreamHost. Got sick of WordPress and, after hearing about static site generators, I set up a Hugo site. This was about 2019/20. I found a way to convert my WordPress entries to Markdown so I could "import" them into Hugo. I've since culled a lot of those, since a lot of them were geared towards finding a tenure-track job. Hugo worked well for me for a long time; I've written elsewhere about my quibbles with Hugo. So here we are with Eleventy. It works largely the same, but isn't quite as intuitive as Hugo was. But I've been learning its idiosyncrasies and it's OK.

Given that it took me awhile to land on Eleventy, again, I am hoping this sticks and I don't have to switch to something else. It's frustrating finding something you love and which works, then having to ditch it for something else. I feel like that with a lot of things in life. If it works well, I see no reason to change it. I always hope that products I like will stick around and I can keep using them forever. I've definitely gotten burned on that, because capitalism. Because planned obsolescence. Because we always need the newest and best and greatest and can't be content with things just working. Nothing flashy, just dependable and solid, getting the job done. I like software updates as much as the next person (it's a little dopamine hit I guess), but most of the time an upgrade is not a necessity and we shouldn't always think it is. I tend to run things into the ground, and not replace them unless I absolutely have to. And I think we need to embrace that philosophy more. Innovation is great, sure, but it is not always inevitable and certainly not always necessary. Out with "move fast and break things" and in with "move slowly and maintain things." Maintain things, and each other. I'd like to see people be better to each other in general.

Anyways, hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. Such is life. Thanks for reading, friends <3