Nodebb as blogging platform

[Madchatthew]

Hello,
I have been working on learning to be a full stack web dev. I am currently in the process of learning jovascript and am working through some lessons. I have a portfolio page that I have created with nodejs. It is nothing fancy or crazy. I have been wanting to implement a blog on it to write about my journey and where I am currently and to share snippets of code and how I was able to implement some different things to get them to work. I would like a comments section so that people could even review the code and make suggestions and such.

My impression is that any good developer wouldn’t try to reinvent the wheel when there are already good options out there. I was wondering what you think of using nodebb as a system for this? Or would it be better to use another system for this type of thing. I have thought about workpress, but as I grow in programming I will probably want a more customizable environment. I know that with enough knowledge you can customize anything.

So basically I am looking for good recommendations on what software I should use. This software could completely replace my current profile or just be on the backend so I don’t have to create the blogging part from scratch.

I hope this makes sense and I appreciate any and all feedback. Thank you!

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew hey - long time no speak ! This might be useful

https://sudonix.com/topic/264/ghost-for-blogging-vs-long-posts-on-nodebb?_=1653410593553

I played with Ghost for a while, but decided it was simply too complex to maintain, so moved all of my blog posts here

https://sudonix.com/user/phenomlab/blog/1

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab said in Nodebb as blogging platform:

@Madchatthew hey - long time no speak ! This might be useful

https://sudonix.com/topic/264/ghost-for-blogging-vs-long-posts-on-nodebb?_=1653410593553

I played with Ghost for a while, but decided it was simply too complex to maintain, so moved all of my blog posts here

https://sudonix.com/user/phenomlab/blog/1

This is excellent information. It has been awhile. I have been focusing on learning JS. I am really determined to get out of nursing and be a web dev. I wanted to start utilizing Linked in by writing about where I am currently at with coding and the things I am currently working on and putting up code snippets. I had thought about doing all of the in Linked in but thought having a blog and putting those links to the blogs on linkedin. I am hoping by doing that, that maybe someone will throw a job offer my way. I am planning on being very transparent and when I go to polish off my resume, putting that in a blog post and then asking for thoughts and such. I feel I have a long way to go before I can even get a job as a programmer, but that just may be the imposter syndrome. In this way I am hoping that I can keep track of progress and others can see where I am at in my journey.

So I will go with Nodebb for blogging. I think I am going to have a one page profile page and then have a link right to a blog page to nodebb like you have from my profile page.

My next question would then be, should I have nodebb be in a subfoler or just use nodebb to do all of it?

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew my advice here would be to meet NodeBB do it all. I tried the alternative route with ghost and it became too difficult to manage from the theming perspective alone. Ghost is great if you just want a simple blog but doesn’t fare so well if you need to customise it. I managed to get everything to work the way I wanted, but it still took an extensive amount of custom JS code and CSS. Decent themes in ghost are also a little hard to come by, meaning further customisation is also required to get the exact look and feel that you want.

Finally, there’s the general lack of plugins. Ghost isn’t WordPress, so don’t expect it to be as packed with decent (and some equally awful) plugins out of the gate. Ghost excels when it comes to speed being based on NodeJS instead of PHP meaning that the code itself doesn’t need to be compiled on each page load. However, the lack of plugins and extensibility without coding knowledge can lead to an unfamiliar experience, and frustration if you’re not sure where to start.

I also found the ghost forums not exactly the greatest of experiences. I identified what I’d easily class as a bug and it was met with something of a mediocre response to say the least. Here’s the post itself

https://forum.ghost.org/t/unable-to-start-ghost/26383

Not that I want the “red carpet” treatment (I’m a little old for that ) but simple responses like “ghost doctor” aren’t going to help anyone with not much experience. Quite off-putting in my view.

If you’re looking to expand your horizons by leveraging LinkedIn, feel free to look me up. My profile link is below

https://www.linkedin.com/in/phenomlab

More than happy to cross promote you.

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. I will hit you up on linkedin, thank you again. I will make nodebb do it all for me. I know it is very versatile and should be able to set it up the way I want.

Thank you for your help and you can expect more questions from me now as I get nodebb to bend to my will…heheh

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew no problems at all. Happy to help.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew I’ve just realised that we’re already connected on LinkedIn . I’ve just been stalking your profile… In a nice way of course.

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab yeah I thought we were too, but then I wasn’t sure and was going to check haha. I don’t mind stalkers haha

[qwinter]

FWIW I’ve used WP, ghosts, and static sites and now I’m considering using ghost as a publishing platform. You are not alone.

[phenomlab]

@qwinter I’ve extensive experience with Ghost, so let me know if you need any help.