I’m remaking this website in the open. Follow along, if you wish: Writing, RSS, Source


The Work Before the Work

I plan to record just about every bit of work that goes into this site. But first, I had to do a bit of work to make that possible.


  1. Create the repo on GitHub, cloned it to my machine, and initialized the project (yarn init) (commit)

  2. Add 11ty with minimal content and configuration (commit)

  3. Migrate (some) old content (commit)

  4. Add content to the home page, re: redesign (commit)

  5. Set up continuous deployment on Netlify

  6. Archive full previous version of the site at v1.kylegach.com

  7. Add minimal styles (system font, max-width for content) (deploy, commit)

  8. Add task list support for Markdown, so that I could, well, use task lists in markdown (commit)

  9. Publish V2 Rebuild & Redesign, the first post on the new site ✨ (deploy, commit)

  10. List V2-related posts on the home page (deploy, commit)

  11. Publish V2 Goals (and update V2 Rebuild & Redesign) (deploy, commit)

  12. Add redirects for old content that was not migrated (commit)

  13. Add site header with banner and update home page (deploy, commit)

So, now I have a workflow that allows me to publish posts and deploy changes with ease, and a simple foundation on which to build. Going forward, I’ll try not to dump these big lists of work, but I needed to get these essential tasks done as quickly as possible to preserve content and enable future updates.