After years of being offline, I'm finally bringing my blog back.
My first blog was powered by NibbleBlog, a lightweight PHP blog engine that I absolutely loved. It was refreshingly simple, no MySQL, no complicated setup. Just PHP, a few required modules, and everything (posts, configuration, media) was stored as files. Unfortunately, the project is now archived and no longer actively maintained.
The blog itself lived on a free PHP hosting provider. It served me well for years, until the free hosting service was discontinued. Without a proper migration plan, my blog quietly disappeared with it.
This time, I wanted to build something that could last longer. Instead of looking for another blog engine, I decided to build one from scratch. The new blog is hosted on GitHub Pages, which means there is no server to maintain and no database to back up. Every page is generated as static HTML during a GitHub Actions workflow. What's probably a little unconventional is where the content lives. Rather than writing Markdown files or maintaining a CMS, all blog posts are stored in a Google Sheet.
The publishing pipeline is simple:
- Write or edit an article in Google Sheets.
- GitHub Actions fetches the spreadsheet data.
- My custom blog generator transforms it into a static website.
- GitHub Pages publishes the result.
I could have used one of the many excellent static site generators available today. But building the generator myself was the fun part. It gave me complete control over the content format, templating, routing, and build process without features I don't need.
It also feels like a modern take on what I liked most about NibbleBlog: simplicity.
Sometimes the best way to revive an old project isn't to recreate it, but to rebuild it with everything you've learned along the way.
I'm looking forward to writing again, and this time, I hope the platform lasts much longer than the hosting provider did.