Rob Owen

Website Launch

Welcome to the new website. I'll be using this site to host App-related content as well as personal blog posts and news updates. This post covers some of the tech. Read on if interested.

The Technology #

This site is built on eleventy, a javascript-based static site generator. I wanted a static website where I could author cleanly versioned markdown files on my computer, without needing to learn any custom WYSIWIG editor. Any static site generator would have been suitable, so don't take this as a technology recommendation. I'm using Vercel for hosting.

My experience of 11ty so far has been good. I've building on top of the Eleventy Base Blog which has help me bootstrap a working setup without re-inventing the wheel. The builds are fast and I can write in markdown syntax on my local machine.

Why change? #

When setting out as indepedent app developer in 2022, I knew web could be a distraction. I've professional experience in this area and it risked become a comfortable distraction from learning the new skills I needed as an Apple developer.

An attractive developer-friendly website was a risk in the early days, so I started with wordpress - a platform I'm deeply unhappy to use. This was a good thing for my app development. I'm not saying wordpress is bad, but it's a poor fit for someone experienced in static websites, CI/CD, code-driven config and version controlled updates.

Now things have moved forward. I am about to launch my third indie app and want to simplify and consolidate the websites that support the core app business, so I can spend less time & money on the websites while gaining more control and flexibility to do what I need. When you don't need server-side processing, having a web server can be wasteful and costly. Out with wordpress.

I'll be updating the website content, design & technical features over time.