24 Jun 2014

Switching from GoDaddy/WordPress to GitHub Pages/Jekyll

I dumped my remaining GoDaddy hosting account earlier this month and am not really looking to go back. I was paying around $108/year for the dedicated space.

WordPress was my CMS of choice for many of my projects. With its plugins and ease of use, it did everything I wanted. Plus, it was easy to code and template, and it felt natural to blog from there. I’d been using WordPress since 2007.

Well, WordPress is sort of clunky.

Tumblr I could never really get into.

These days I’ve shifted headspace and decided I wanted to try something new, more lightweight (both in terms of price and feel), and more nerdy.

I mentioned that I’d set up this blog using Jekyll. It’s hosted on Github Pages, which is free for Jekyll projects, and accepts custom domains. Can you see where I’m going?

Github Pages are open source for free users/organizations, which I’m not at all concerned about. Sharing is caring.

The first projects I’d like to develop via Github using Jekyll include a nationwide freelance job board (which I had going with WordPress before) - as soon as I learn how to parse an OPML file - and a static beauty blog.

Cool Jekyll sites (by lady developers!):

• jenmyers.net
• nicoledominguez.com

More info on setting up Jekyll/Github Pages:

• Jekyll • Simple, blog-aware, static sites
• Getting Started With GitHub Pages (Plus Bonus Jekyll)
• Why I moved from Wordpress to Jekyll
• Switching from Wordpress to Jekyll

Til next time,