If nothing has changed in the Gemini version, you may have noticed some changes in the HTML version. As I said at the start in January, my way of doing my blog this time is simplicity first. I have concentrated on the structure, the HTML code, not the style. I used to write and convert in Zettlr, but I have to admit that the html code did not suit me. I'm not saying it's not an answer to my "dogma", but it's not the better way. You have the same style parameters repeated in several dozen lines in each html file, rather than one style sheet for the whole site, or at least the main part. The html files were getting heavier for no reason, so I decided to change and write a new style sheet based on the minimum size. I can make different stylesheets for different types or categories of posts, or at least per year. The base is still Markdown and the conversion is simply done by Pandoc. It's a really simple command line to do when...
I wanted to keep it simple, so I'm going back to something I used in my Jekkyl blog, the Yaml. It's a few lines in my Markdown files to include information in the HTML code like the title, the language or some meta information if you want to use it. It's not difficult to use and I just have to copy it before the rest of the post. That's where Gemini comes in as the easiest way to blog. A simple command line to pandoc and the HTML is generated and calls the CSS stylesheet. No complicated options to write and I made comments in the stylesheet file to understand the different parts. The main work was to define a minimal CSS code, inspired by what Zettlr had written before and what I had in my other blog. I spent many hours experimenting locally before I found the right "formula". I read a lot of information about CSS, but it's so huge. I didn't want anything heavier than ..... 2 kb! The CSS of my French site was too big at 9 kb... Now I know why and I don't need to define all the categories and tags that are possible with CSS. Basic functions are enough. Remember, I want to keep it simple, stupid! But I want something readable for everyone, everywhere.
My first choice was to do it on a white background with black characters. But many users (....me) use a dark mode and I added some lines for that. I also kept lines to print it well. And I tried to make it readable on small terminals (there are some good tools for this in Firefox). I read the WCAG recommendations and changed the fonts and colors. One day there will be a surprise... I hope so, and next year there might be a different style, new colors or something really different. It's as easy as renaming a file and putting in a different style.css. As for the choice of font family, it took me several days of testing to choose this simple Helvetica font, which I like better than Georgia or Arial, to keep it in sans serif. The idea was not to be original or different, but to be readable and to bring the text forward. The different sizes or colors are not a good thing either. It's just to help those who have difficulty reading.
I have emulated a 56K modem and old browsers and it works fine for me to read the site. Even with GPRS on an old dumb phone it could be read. I have some ideas to make it better next year with only small lines of code in the CSS, discreetly. But now I find my old French blog sad ... It's still alive and I'm going to change some styles too, not to do the same. Don't hesitate to send me what you think of my choices. I'm even thinking of translating some of the old French posts into English, since there's a place for it. The only problem is.... to find the time and to choose. As in life, and blogging is life, isn't it?
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