Better. Faster. Stronger.
About four months ago, I wrote about my plans to move Arbor Web Solutions from WordPress to Blogofile. Well, as always happens, new solutions presented themselves as I was working. What you are reading now is the new Arbor Web Solutions, rebuilt from the ground up and running on NestaCMS.
Nesta leverages the power of Sinatra, a Ruby-based DSL for web applications, to create a hybrid between fully-dynamic site engines like WordPress and static site generators like Jekyll. Pages and posts are just text files, marked up using a language like Markdown or Haml. Those text files are run through a template on demand and served up as web pages.
Why did I move to this setup? Basically, it fits my workflow and preferences better than the WordPress site I was using previously. All my content is in plain text files that are easily searchable and back-uppable (in my case, on Github), and I can make and edit posts from any device with a text editor and an internet connection. That means I get full access to every aspect of my blogging system from both iPad and iPhone.
If you've visited this site before, you will probably notice a few differences. First, the old site's "articles" have been split into two categories - Articles and Journal. Articles will be the home of tutorials, how-tos, and more in-depth writing on specific topics. Journal, where this post is located, will contain site news, brief posts on a variety of topics, quotes, and links.
Second, I have removed comments from this site. Before you get worked up about this, I would like to offer a compromise. If you would like your comments listed on this site, write your response on any publicly-available forum - your own blog, Twitter, Google+, you name it - and send me a link. I will add the link to your reply on the relevant page of my site.
Finally, the new site should be fully functional in the majority of web browsers out there - including mobiles, tablets, and desktops. However, there are some known issues viewing this site in Internet Explorer. Rest assured that I am resolving these bugs as quickly as possible, and that while some parts of this site may look less than attractive, the entire site is functional in all browsers.
That is all for now. I will be writing a series of articles on the technologies underlying this new site and how it came to be over the next few weeks.
Thank you for reading this, and I hope you will visit regularly!