https://bobrockefeller.com A site built with inkwell-ssg. Fri, 29 May 2026 17:44:01 GMT https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2026-01-06-sublime-text-in-2026/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2026-01-06-sublime-text-in-2026/ Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT I was using Sublime Text back in 2016, or so. After working through Atom, VS Code, and most recently Zed, I’m almost back to Sublime Text (now version 4) again. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-12-19-learning-about-eleventy/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-12-19-learning-about-eleventy/ Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Back when I finished moving this blog from WordPress to Hugo I read about a number of other static site generators before I chose Hugo. Hugo is very popular and very capable, but it does have its oddities. Eleventy (aka 11ty) is another very popular framework and I felt I needed to understand it better. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-11-25-im-not-missing-tailwind/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-11-25-im-not-missing-tailwind/ Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT While converting this site from Hugo to Zola, I elected to dispense with Tailwind; partially because I wanted to try using plain CSS and partially because Zola and Tailwind don’t make an easy pairing. Along the way, I discovered that I don’t like Tailwind as much as I thought I did. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-11-16-converting-from-hugo-to-zola/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-11-16-converting-from-hugo-to-zola/ Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT I’ve made the switch from Hugo to Zola mostly because I had come to dread making substantial changes to this site. Go’s template language is too weird and the way I implemented Tailwind is too fragile. Zola and plain old CSS have cleared all that up. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-11-12-zola-is-an-interesting-ssg/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-11-12-zola-is-an-interesting-ssg/ Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT Zola is a Static Site Generator very similar to Hugo. In fact, its author, Vincent Prouillet, created Zola partially because he hated the Go Template language but liked Hugo. Since I’m in the same boat, I had to give Zola a try and I’m generally pretty happy with it. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-09-10-moving-to-dxo-photolab-9/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-09-10-moving-to-dxo-photolab-9/ Wed, 10 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT Although many prefer using PhotoLab as the central hub of their photography workflow, using separate applications for DAM and printing, I’m looking for an all-in-one solution with tight integration and a uniform interface. PhotoLab 9 seems (after a several days with the trial) to have hit the sweet spot in capabilities for my needs. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-08-27-hugo-or-11ty/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-08-27-hugo-or-11ty/ Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT If you’re looking for a SSG (Static Site Generator) to create a website, it pretty much comes down to Hugo or 11ty (Eleventy). The rest of the SSGs are either too old, poorly supported, or meant for creating web apps. I’ve tried quite a few of them, I found that I kept coming back to Hugo and 11ty. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-04-30-settling-on-tailwindcss/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-04-30-settling-on-tailwindcss/ Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT While experimenting with various static site generators, I’ve also been learning about Bulma (a traditional CSS framework) and TailwindCSS (a utility-based CSS framework). They come at the idea of a CSS framework from two very different perspectives, and if you’ve seen the Internet discussions, you’ll know that opinions about them are decidedly mixed. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-04-05-hugo-is-good/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-04-05-hugo-is-good/ Sat, 05 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT This site is now running on Hugo, a popular Static Site Generator (SSG). I tried Jekyll, Hugo, Astro, and Eleventy/11ty on the way here, but settled on Hugo. It’s good! https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-03-14-moving-from-wordpress/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-03-14-moving-from-wordpress/ Fri, 14 Mar 2025 19:28:41 GMT I’ve done it before and it looks like I’m doing it again. It’s time to move my personal blog from WordPress to a static site for simplicity, security, portability, and performance. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-03-07-the-frameworks/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-03-07-the-frameworks/ Fri, 07 Mar 2025 18:53:00 GMT Getting my simple web application started and then deployed has been an excellent learning experience. And thank goodness for the fine documentation and guides to the frameworks I’ve tried. As a bonus, it’s all almost free! https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-03-07-laravel/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-03-07-laravel/ Fri, 07 Mar 2025 18:35:00 GMT It’s looking more and more like I’ll be using Laravel in preference to Rails, Django, and Masonite. Maybe Laravel isn’t ‘better’ from every point of view, but it seems ‘better’ enough for me. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-19-convention-vs-configuration/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-19-convention-vs-configuration/ Wed, 19 Feb 2025 12:09:00 GMT Ruby on Rails is well known for its philosophy of convention over configuration. And there are definitely benefits to that approach. But are there also significant disadvantages? https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-16-masonite-an-alternative-to-django/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-16-masonite-an-alternative-to-django/ Tue, 11 Feb 2025 10:09:00 GMT Ruby on Rails, Laravel, and Django are the heavy-hitters in full-stack web development frameworks written in Ruby, PHP, and Python, respectively. Rails has been around since 2004, Laravel since 2011, and Django since 2005. I recently came across Masonite (released in 2018) and had to look into it. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-07-i-changed-themes/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-07-i-changed-themes/ Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:09:00 GMT A simple (I thought) desire to add a Stack Overflow icon, and link to my account there, in this blog’s footer sent me looking for a different, but still uncomplicated theme. Soon, I was off in the weeds. And I said I wouldn’t… https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-03-what-is-clean-syntax/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-03-what-is-clean-syntax/ Mon, 03 Feb 2025 21:20:00 GMT Programmers talk about clean syntax and say this or that language or framework has such a property. I’ve noted that Ruby and Ruby on Rails have this thing. So what is it? https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-01-rails-and-laravel/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-01-rails-and-laravel/ Sun, 02 Feb 2025 17:13:00 GMT I’m finding that I really like the syntax of Ruby and the philosophy of Ruby on Rails. Both are straightforward and ‘clean’. But I’ve been tinkering with Laravel, too, because it runs on more shared hosting services since it’s just good ol’ PHP. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-01-jekyll-blogging/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2025-02-01-jekyll-blogging/ Sat, 01 Feb 2025 17:13:00 GMT I’ve set this blog site up to be dead simple. I don’t want to do anything to create it beyond installing Jekyll and setting it up to publish to GitHub Pages. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2024-06-05-alien-ammo/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2024-06-05-alien-ammo/ Wed, 05 Jun 2024 13:20:41 GMT Perhaps the most important thing to control for reliable operation of the Alien pistol is the ammunition used. Because of the gas system that delays blowback, the wrong ammo will lead to unnecessary buildup and finally, failure to cycle the slide. https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2024-06-01-an-alien-pistol/ https://bobrockefeller.com/blog/2024-06-01-an-alien-pistol/ Sat, 01 Jun 2024 15:11:18 GMT I’ve started back shooting a Laugo Arms Alien pistol and I still like it. These pistols are niche firearms that offer a unique design not found together in any other current pistol that I know. And if you have had a chance to shoot one, you’ll know exactly what I mean by unique.