Set Up Your Developer Blog in <10mins

The Benefits of Writing a Blog as a Developer

As Simon Sinek says, start with why. Here are a few skills you can gain:

+10 intelligence: Making notes about something you’re learning, increases the likelihood of remembering it later. Also, some good notes can help others studying the same topic. Win-win

+33 speed: If you ever forget how you solved a problem in the past, just revisit your post and follow your previous steps. I recently did this after searching for "how to glassmorphism tailwind" and found my post as the top result. Quite amusing!

+20 agility: Blogging showcases your expertise, and boosts your reputation. Consistently producing engaging and informative content can establish you as a thought leader, so clients and recruiters will take you more seriously.

+69 rizz: For real, writing makes you a better communicator, which makes you a more enjoyable company for others.

Options for Starting a Blog

Choose a path, brave adventurer!

The classic: Set up a WordPress blog, pick a template, and start writing. Well, I would say this if I wasn’t holding an MBA in hating on WordPress. But jokes aside, I know no reason to use WP in 2023. It’s heavy, slow, and a security nightmare.

The community-based: Choose a community blogging platform. The 2 main options in this industry are Dev.to & Hashnode. There are some advantages of this approach, like having a site out of the box, and an option to feature your content in the community. If you’re ok with 0 option to customize, I’d 100% recommend using these.

The custom: I mean, you’re a developer. You can code a blog, right? Who wouldn’t love working on a fancy, new side-project for months or years without ever releasing it?

The Smart: Use a template or starter to keep 100% control but get a huge head start. This approach works the best for the creative ones. Who wants to be able to edit anything on the site if needed.

That’s Why I Built a Modern Developer Blog Template (Digital Garden Starter)

As a developer who creates content, I want to have a blog & digital garden where I can share my thoughts and ideas with the world. Now, there's not really a "perfect solution" for this currently. With included analytics, SEO, email subscriptions, modern tooling, simple design, etc.

We either have to build one from scratch, use a design template and code the features, or use a CMS/no-code tool.

So I decided to build a solution that I would use myself. This is the result.

An open-source blogging (digital gardening) template for developers using Next.js app router, MDX, Contentlayer, Tailwind CSS, @shadcn/ui , Lucide Icons, and more.

So How to Set Up a Blog in <10 Minutes?

1. Click here to deploy a copy to Vercel (30 seconds)

2. Clone your new repo & install dependencies with pnpm install (30 seconds)

3. Edit config files (2 minutes):

   1. utils/metadata.ts - information and general settings

   2. utils/social-data.ts - social links

   3. utils/uses-data.ts - software & hardware you use

   4. utils/projects-data.ts - your projects data

   5. utils/navigation-links.ts - links you want in the navigation

4. Edit base pages (3 minutes)

   1. content/pages/now with your availability

   2. content/pages/about with your bio

5. Add your images in the /public directory (1 minute)

   1. optional (extra 5 mins): you can set up a fancy image on the homepage

6. Set up analytics, newsletter, or other third-party providers by adding your secrets to the .env.local file & Vercel (0-5 minutes)

7. Push to Github, add your domain on Vercel & off you go!

Good luck with running your blog!

I'm always open to suggestions and contributions. Feel free to open an issue or a PR if you have any ideas or suggestions. You can also see the roadmap for planned features if you want to contribute.

❓ Weekly Quiz

Last question: What's the first FPS game built by John Romero?Answer: Wolfenstein 3DCongrats if you answered correctly!This week is a bit different. Instead of a quiz, just a simple question.

Curated

👉 4 Developreneur Tools

Screen Studio - Record and edit your Mac or iPhone screen in minutes. Auto cursor-follow, zooming, hotkeys, and more. Here’s an example video I made last week.

Refactoring.fm - One of the longest-running paid newsletters for engineers and it’s dope. Luca writes deep dives and curates awesome content. Also includes community access with almost 500 engineers.

Klack - Are you working from home? Alone? Do you miss the annoying noise of your coworkers hitting the keyboard? Say no more!

Magic Beans - These magic beans are actually healthy for your finances not like magic mushrooms. Manage your client invoices, expenses, revenue, and more from Notion.

👉 Content to binge

Build an Awwwards Navigation Menu using Nextjs and Framer Motion ▷ - I found Oliviers channel this week and I’m already hooked. This guy builds super cool animations in Nextjs using Framer Motion and/or GSAP.

Why is DNS still hard to learn? - Like truly… Why?

👉 That’s about it

Thank you so much for reading my email! I’d be glad to hear from you if you have any questions, feedback, or comments.

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Until next time,

David