Hello, World

Ryan Fowler — Sat, 17 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Every personal site begins with an empty page and a decision: what belongs here?

For this one, the answer is writing. It is a place for notes about software, systems, tools, and the lessons that emerge while making things. The site itself follows the same practical spirit. A small Go program turns Markdown into plain HTML and CSS. There is no database, client-side framework, or build service to understand.

Why keep it simple?

Simple systems are easier to change. The whole site can be built with one command, inspected with ordinary tools, and deployed almost anywhere. Every page continues to work without JavaScript.

That does not mean the design must feel generic. Constraints can make the important choices clearer: type, space, rhythm, color, and the words themselves.

The goal is not to use the fewest possible tools. It is to keep the distance between an idea and a published page short.

There will be more here over time. For now: hello, world.

The shape of a useful tool

Ryan Fowler — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The best tools can be difficult to notice. They fit the work closely enough that the interface recedes and the result stays in view.

Software often moves in the other direction. A small need accumulates settings, modes, and extension points. Each choice makes sense in isolation. Together, they ask the user to understand the tool before doing the work.

“The best modules are those that provide powerful functionality yet have simple interfaces.”

— John Ousterhout, A Philosophy of Software Design

Start with the common path

A useful tool should make its main task obvious. Good defaults are part of the interface, not an alternative to it. They encode a clear opinion while leaving an escape hatch for the cases that genuinely need one.

This static site generator has one common path:

go run ./cmd/site build

That command validates the articles, renders the pages, minifies the assets, and writes a directory ready to deploy. The implementation can change without making the publishing workflow more complicated.

Keep the seams visible

Simple does not mean opaque. Plain Markdown goes in. Plain HTML comes out. A writer can inspect either side with tools that will still exist years from now.

A useful tool makes routine work quiet and unusual work possible. Finding that balance is less about adding features than deciding which ideas the tool can safely hide.