If you’ve read my blog for long enough you know I like to try different blogging platforms to see their attractions and limitations. Here are a couple I have used recently.
HTMLy
HTMLy is an open source PHP blogging platform without a database. It’s what’s called a flat-file CMS. You need a web host – any of the commercial hosts – and you need a domain you own. Then you upload the files you need, then log in and start writing.
If you have tried Jekyll or Hugo or any of those static site generators and found them tricky to use – then you will like HTMLy because it is very easy to use.
The admin panel is very simple. Click the appropriate tab and you can write a regular blog post or a static page.
Why bother?
Well, there’s no database like there is with WordPress. So while a flat-file CMS like HTMLy is more limited it is also easier to keep secure from bad actors.
WordPress – both .com and the self-hosted version – are always being updated to cope with new threats.
f you keep your WordPress site updated and are careful about what plugins you use, and choose a competent web host, then you can keep your site secure.
But none of these threats are much of a worry with a flat-file CMS because their structure is so simple.
You can find HTMLY here if you want to give it a spin to make your own website.
Pika
I mentioned Pike before back in 2016 and it is still around. And yes, it is named after the little fellow who gathers flowers to decorate his wooing venue.
Pika is a hosted solution, meaning it is hosted by Pika just like your WordPress.com site is hosted by Automattic.
To get started with Pika you just start writing. It’s that simple. And it is free for up to 50 blog posts. Find it at Pika.
Pika is made by Goodenough, who also make a paid-for application named Jelly that is a kind of open-plan email for teams.
And here is a photo of a pika from Wikipedia (attribution to the photographer Frédéric Dulude-de Broin curid=62409649)
Tamara and I saw a programme on TV about pika. Some of them are not above stealing the flowers that other pika have already collected and laid out on the matrimonial bed in hopes of a willing female.
When they go off to find more flowers, the thief doubles back and snaffles some from his neighbour to decorate his own matrimonial bed.
So is this a photo of a thief looking as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth?
Or is he a dear little guy intent on wooing a partner with his own hard-won flowers that he collected?
Neocities
This is free and hosted on Neocities, You need to make an .html file in order to start writing. You have to put in the HTML coding as you write – to divide sentences, make headings, etc – but that’s it. And learning the markup language for HRTL is super simple as many readers will know.
Or there’s an HTML editor right in your Neocities browser so you can do all that stuff right on your site.
If you’d rather use your favourite desktop editor you can, and I did. I used CotEditor for Mac, which is free to download from the App Store.
Not content with a completely plain vanilla look to the site that I made, I wrote (or rather I copied) a CSS file and added that and now my little site looks spiffy with a nice serif font in different weights and sizes.
Assuming you write the files on your own local machine, then the way you update the content is to write in the .html file and then simply upload it and it will overwrite what’s there.
Uploading the .html file is done inside the platform, so you don’t need an uploader like Transmit or FileZilla or anything like that.
And if you were ever to misplace. your own files, you could just download them from the platform and carry on.
One of the attractive things about neocities is that it guides you to helpful resources to get you going on HTML and CSS and more. Neocities is here if you want to take a look.
Round Up
Well these are all fun but if you have fairly simple needs and want something for the long haul then HTMLy is a pretty good choice.
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