So this is the first post of my first crack at creating a simple blog site to document the process of trying out new tools and the path to becoming a better technical writer. In this first post, let’s take a look at what I’m hoping to get out of this creating this site, the technical specifcations behind the site, and ideas for what to write about.
Why a blog about technical writing
Well, as I just happen to be currently working in the capacity of a technical writer, what better way to hone my writing skills and experiment with different tools than to create my personal blog site, right? I’ll just have to see how it works out but, first off, as I wouldn’t call myself a natural writer who can churn out pages of writing on a dime, I’m hoping that starting a blog can help force me to put things down in writing.
Since getting into the technical writing field, I’ve found that there’s just a ton of information and technology that I’m interested in learning about to get a better footing in the field. Just as as start, this site can serve as a test bed for managing docs with GitHub, using Jekyll to build and customize a website, and foramtting content in different ways. It’s also just a way for me to keep track of my thoughts and things that I learn along the way.
Let’s see what it looks like to summarize these thoughts in a bullet list.
- To develop better writing skills
- To create a platform for testing out documentation and tools
- To use as a personal portfolio
- To better understand concepts by explaining them
- To keep track of interesting things that I come across
About how this blog is built
This blog is built using Jekyll, a static site generator and GitHub Pages, which can build a site directly from your GitHub repository. For now, I think this is the easiest way to get a site up and running. I used the So Simple Jekyll theme for this blog. I hope to do some more customization with this theme or to try out other themes as I go. I’d also like to try out different hosting services eventually and create a custom domain name.
What to write about
Here’s a quick brainstorm of things that I’ve been thinking about and that I’d like to tackle at some point.
- Git and GitHub for docs
- Static site generators like Jekyll and Middleman
- Chatbots
- Multi-language sites
- Web development
- API documentation
- HTML, CSS, JavaScript
- Markdown
- Text editors
- Command line
- Style guides
- Commentary on books, articles, podcasts
- Online courses
- Translation issues
What else
I think this is getting to be a good length for a post for now. There’s a lot of kinks to be worked out with this site but I’ll keep you posted as I work on it.