It has taken far too long but the new look DeltaNova is now here.

History

Back in January 2021, I made the decision to move away from WordPress. This was the start of a long process of exporting the data from the WordPress database into static files. The static files were in ReStructured Text format and I move the site over to Sphinx. Until now this is what the site was being built with.

The build time and difficulty in adjusting Sphinx to meet my needs made me reconsider my choice of static site engine. Reseaching and testing Hugo seemed a better option.

Why has it taken so long?

This “better” option then became an issue; I had to learn how to use it. I’ve created my own theme, which itself has taken a good ammount of time. It still isn’t perfect but it’s good enough for now. I just needed to get the switch over done. It’s easier to tweak and refine something whilst it’s actively being used and highlighting the problems.

One of the choices I had to make was around the content from the Sphinx version of the site. Converting RST to markdown for a huge number of files is a daunting task. Whilst there are tools to make the process a little easier, it was going to take me a long time to do. Including a copy of the old Sphinx based site was determined to be the best option. All the content is still there and formatted and I don’t need to deal with it straight away. I can manually migrate bits of it across over time.

What next?

I still have adjustments I want to make. I’m not fully happy with the Documentation listing page layout. I need some more stock images to give some variety in header images for posts. New content is the big thing. With the the framework of the site now in place I can dedicate more to writing up more of my notes. This was always the end goal, it’s just taken longer to get here than I expected.