I’m expanding my horizons and learning more about different front end technologies. One tool that caught my attention was a static site generator called ‘Hugo’. I decided to give it a try!

First Thoughts

My original goal was to build my own personal website from scratch, using a Javascript framework like Vue.js or React, along with a Material Design CSS framework. I wanted to use it as an opportunity to learn a new front end technology.

During my research, I came across the concept of static site generation. The concept piqued my interest, because I originally wanted to build something similar. I planned to use JSON files to store my content, and then write a Javascript front end to dynamically render the content. I didn’t want to deal with MySQL databases.

I learned about a tool called Jekyll, and it’s twin Hugo. I chose Hugo because it has a Windows build. I still use Windows to develop, so this was important! I spent all day reading the Hugo documentation and playing around with a tutorial app. It was very fast and easy to start up!

Next, I had to choose an appropriate theme. Hugo doesn’t ship with a theme out of the box, so you need to choose one. The Hugo website has a library of themes, and it was hard to pick the right one. Ultimately I realized that themes are totally customizable, and I have the power to alter them the way I like. The content of the site is more important.

Themes

The theme I ultimately chose was tranquilpeak. I’m a sucker for beautiful background images, so that was an important feature I wanted. I also loved the responsive sidebar! The template is simple and easy to customize. I got excited about the cover image, and went outside in the rain to take a bokeh photo.

Future Plans

I want to use this website to showcase some personal software projects and to write down some thoughts. There are lots of things I’d like to write about: programming, photography, juggling, diabolo and more. So stay tuned!