Welcome
I spent about a month or so finalizing on my little blog engine, and I'm excited to share it with you. I am very pleased with how it turned out, and I hope you enjoy it! I intend to use this blog engine to primarily assist other self-teaching creators upskill. I will be sharing all the things I have personally learnt.
At the moment, I am focusing on web development. I chose to start with Python and the Flask micro-framework. Python is the first language I picked up, and I love it! Flask, on the other hand, comes bare bones, and therefore, was so right to begin with since I had to learn everything to build any software.
Interesting Facts About This Blog
- It is written in Python only
- Built using the Flask micro-framework
- Uses a tiny SQLite database to store blog contents (posts and user comments)
- Google reCaptcha is used to protect the forms from spam
- Custom admin dashboard to accurately manage the blog
- Two-factor authentication is implemented in the blog
- Moderation of comments from all users
- Email notification whenever a user posts a comment
- Hosted on Linode
Update (March - April 2023)
Welcome to Version 2 of my personal blog. If this is your first article, I recommend you check out the About Me page for more insight of where it all began. The first iteration (not the demo) served me well. It was a fantastic learning journey. However, at some point, the application seemed too basic and too old to me. Besides, there were some new features I really wanted to add to the blog. I thought it wise to add the new features after an update of the user interface. Below, let me walk you through the "Then" and "Now" life journey of this blog:
| Version 1 (landing page) | Version 2 (landing page) |
|---|---|
|
|
| Version 1 (portofolio page) | Version 2 (portofolio page) |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Version 1 (about me page) | Version 2 (about me page) |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Version 1 (need help page) | Version 2 (need help page) |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Version 1 (login) | Version 2 (login) |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Version 1 (books) | Version 2 (books) |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Besides the user interface enhancements, the new version also includes a tags system to help categorize articles. A user can also search for any article in the blog/home page. Though not shown at the moment, version 2 has a nicer-looking dashboard for administrative management of the application.
I thought this was going to a weeklong task, and I would have the updated app live in no time. Given how basic the entire design of version 1 was, the envisioned changes turned out to be the making of a brand new app from scratch. I was building a whole new app, with the challenge of pre-existing user-generated data in my database. Besides, the two new and main features of version 2 (tag system and search functionality) were fairly new concepts, and that meant more time to master them.
The outcome is satisfactory at the moment, and I intend to preserve it for a while before embarking on another significant update. I hope the new version is a lot more appealing to you, and that you can enjoy the addition of the two new features. If you have any further ideas on how I can improve the application, I wll be glad to hear from you in the comments section below.
Gitau Harrison
Comments (1)
|
#1
miotroyo1970
said :
|
I've been reading your articles, great job!!! Can't wait for more.