As you may have noticed, this site has a very different look.

This has been a long time coming, as I had many problems with the previous Jekyll framework that this blog was built on. This often held me back from detailing the in-depth work I’ve always been doing, and as we move into the new year, I look forward to utilizing this new site much more.

As for the previous posts: I will eventually bring them back, in one form or another. Looking back on them, there’s a lot to be improved - some will stay as-is as a reminder of where I’ve come, but others will be completely reworked.

The reason is that this site’s purpose has always been threefold:

• A personal technical reference guide, accessible from anywhere
• Detailed guides on specific tools or processes that I can link to people during discussions, which is much easier than working off of (an often spotty) recollection
• An archive of the breadth and depth of my technical expertise that I can look back on as a reference, better than any resume

As a result, they will be molded to better fit these goals.

what is this running on?

This blog is built using a NodeJS framework called hexo.

Specifically, I’m running a modified version of the Cactus theme (github), with a number of personal changes.

These are:

• Removed all tracking & analytics from the codebase (Google/Baidu/Cloudflare/Umami Analytics)
• Removed the commenting frameworks (Disqus/Utterances)
• Used Nord Theme as a color reference to create a new color style
• Designed a new icon/favicon, fitting with a more polar/edge-like theme

the future

There’s a lot in store for the future. For starters:

• Setup and integration of the Hexo search extension to make finding content much easier
• Dedicated styling to mark specific sections of posts as ‘out-of-date’, or ‘updated’
• The introduction of a new special category, ‘living posts’ of sorts, where certain items will always be considered in flux (think configurations or running services)
• Auto dark mode/light mode switching based on time of day

This is in addition to an ever-growing backlog of (at least) a couple dozen individual topics that have been patiently waiting in my Notes and Reminders to be brought to life.

Happy new year!