An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Marcin Borkowski]

Hello fellow Orgers,

I'm preparing to set up a new blog, and I'd like to have a fully
Org-mode-based workflow.  Ideally, I'd like to be able to do everything
- including publishing the posts - from within Emacs.

I know about things like "Org publish" and ox-hugo, though I never used
them - and there are probably others - but I'm asking specifically about
two things:

A. other people's experiences with similar workflows, and
B. tool/workflow recommendations.

Here are my requirements, in no particular order.

1. I want the blog to be fully static HTML+CSS, with a tiny sprinkling
of (my custom) JS.

2. I want to publish a whole set of HTML files from a single Org mode
file.  I will need to preserve internal links (so that I can link to
another headline and the result will be one post linking to another),
and of course I will need external links.  The blog will live on some
server I will have ssh access to, so for publishing it should be enough
to scp some files somewhere.

3. I want to be able to fully customize the HTML produced.  I want it to
be as simple as possible (but see below).  I will also need it to be put
in some kind of a template, so that every page will contain things like
a header, footer and a sidebar.

4. I am going, though, to need some custom "blocks" - in HTML parlance,
<div>s and possibly also <span>s.  I want to be able to mark them up
somehow in my Org source and get <div class="..."> and <span
class="...">.  Reusing existing markup (like _underline_, which I'm not
going to use) is not enough - I will need more than a dozen of those
custom classes.

Any thought, suggestions, recommendations?

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl

Re: An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Ruijie Yu via General discussions about Org-mode.]

Hello Marcin,

I’m on mobile, so please excuse my brevity and top-posting.  Did you check the org website?  I remember from my orgweb translation that there is one particular page which outlines all the different tools that integrate org with blogging.  Maybe those will give you some inspirations. 

--
Best, 


RY

> On May 8, 2023, at 16:18, Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> wrote:
> 
> Hello fellow Orgers,
> 
> I'm preparing to set up a new blog, and I'd like to have a fully
> Org-mode-based workflow.  Ideally, I'd like to be able to do everything
> - including publishing the posts - from within Emacs.
> 
> I know about things like "Org publish" and ox-hugo, though I never used
> them - and there are probably others - but I'm asking specifically about
> two things:
> 
> A. other people's experiences with similar workflows, and
> B. tool/workflow recommendations.
> 
> Here are my requirements, in no particular order.
> 
> 1. I want the blog to be fully static HTML+CSS, with a tiny sprinkling
> of (my custom) JS.
> 
> 2. I want to publish a whole set of HTML files from a single Org mode
> file.  I will need to preserve internal links (so that I can link to
> another headline and the result will be one post linking to another),
> and of course I will need external links.  The blog will live on some
> server I will have ssh access to, so for publishing it should be enough
> to scp some files somewhere.
> 
> 3. I want to be able to fully customize the HTML produced.  I want it to
> be as simple as possible (but see below).  I will also need it to be put
> in some kind of a template, so that every page will contain things like
> a header, footer and a sidebar.
> 
> 4. I am going, though, to need some custom "blocks" - in HTML parlance,
> <div>s and possibly also <span>s.  I want to be able to mark them up
> somehow in my Org source and get <div class="..."> and <span
> class="...">.  Reusing existing markup (like _underline_, which I'm not
> going to use) is not enough - I will need more than a dozen of those
> custom classes.
> 
> Any thought, suggestions, recommendations?
> 
> -- 
> Marcin Borkowski
> http://mbork.pl
> 

Re: An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Ihor Radchenko]

Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:

> 2. I want to publish a whole set of HTML files from a single Org mode
> file.  I will need to preserve internal links (so that I can link to
> another headline and the result will be one post linking to another),
> and of course I will need external links.  The blog will live on some
> server I will have ssh access to, so for publishing it should be enough
> to scp some files somewhere.

AFAIK, ox-hugo is designed for such use.
Also, see https://orgmode.org/worg/org-blog-wiki.html

> 4. I am going, though, to need some custom "blocks" - in HTML parlance,
> <div>s and possibly also <span>s.  I want to be able to mark them up
> somehow in my Org source and get <div class="..."> and <span
> class="...">.  Reusing existing markup (like _underline_, which I'm not
> going to use) is not enough - I will need more than a dozen of those
> custom classes.

You may consider https://github.com/alhassy/org-special-block-extras
Inline html fragments will also do.

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

Re: An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Martin Steffen]

Hi,
>>>>> "Marcin" == Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:

    Marcin> fully Org-mode-based workflow.  Ideally, I'd like to be able
    Marcin> to do everything - including publishing the posts - from
    Marcin> within Emacs.


I use webpage generation (including blogs) using Jekyll. Since I wanted
to stick to org, all is set-up in a way, that the ``content'' including
the blogs is done in org, and then do ``org-publish'' to generate stuff
as fit for consumption for jekyll and the workflow then continues from
there (basically just invoking jekyll to ``publish'' the stuff). jekyll
expects its content in md, but I feel more comfortable with org.

That leads to a two stage thing: first translate org to md (by an
appropriate org-publish set-up) and then generate the web-page from the
md-files. So it's not all org-workflow, but once it's set-up, it's
basically only org as far as content is concerned.


Fine points apply, as jekyll has a lot of moving parts and
configurations. And possible pictures and graphics etc. is also not ``in
org''- And actually, the org-files I am using have some jekyll-specific
md-prefix between

+begin_export markdown
+end_export

to tweak things for jekyll. But the org-part is easy, and for me it
works smooth. 


In a different response, HUGO was mentioned. I don't have experience
with HUGO, but it's probably comparable to jekyll.

Martin






    Marcin> I know about things like "Org publish" and ox-hugo, though I
    Marcin> never used them - and there are probably others - but I'm
    Marcin> asking specifically about two things:

    Marcin> A. other people's experiences with similar workflows, and
    Marcin> B. tool/workflow recommendations.

    Marcin> Here are my requirements, in no particular order.

    Marcin> 1. I want the blog to be fully static HTML+CSS, with a tiny
    Marcin> sprinkling of (my custom) JS.

    Marcin> 2. I want to publish a whole set of HTML files from a single
    Marcin> Org mode file.  I will need to preserve internal links (so
    Marcin> that I can link to another headline and the result will be
    Marcin> one post linking to another), and of course I will need
    Marcin> external links.  The blog will live on some server I will
    Marcin> have ssh access to, so for publishing it should be enough to
    Marcin> scp some files somewhere.

    Marcin> 3. I want to be able to fully customize the HTML produced.
    Marcin> I want it to be as simple as possible (but see below).  I
    Marcin> will also need it to be put in some kind of a template, so
    Marcin> that every page will contain things like a header, footer
    Marcin> and a sidebar.

    Marcin> 4. I am going, though, to need some custom "blocks" - in
    Marcin> HTML parlance, <div>s and possibly also <span>s.  I want to
    Marcin> be able to mark them up somehow in my Org source and get
    Marcin> <div class="..."> and <span class="...">.  Reusing existing
    Marcin> markup (like _underline_, which I'm not going to use) is not
    Marcin> enough - I will need more than a dozen of those custom
    Marcin> classes.

    Marcin> Any thought, suggestions, recommendations?

    Marcin> -- Marcin Borkowski http://mbork.pl

Re: An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide]

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Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:

> I'm preparing to set up a new blog, and I'd like to have a fully
> Org-mode-based workflow.  Ideally, I'd like to be able to do everything
> - including publishing the posts - from within Emacs.
>
> I know about things like "Org publish" and ox-hugo, though I never used
> them - and there are probably others - but I'm asking specifically about
> two things:
>
> A. other people's experiences with similar workflows, and
> B. tool/workflow recommendations.

My setup is different in that I use one org-file per article, but I use
org publish for my website.

You can find it on https://hg.sr.ht/~arnebab/draketo/browse

- Emacs-tooling:
  https://hg.sr.ht/~arnebab/draketo/browse/draketo.el?rev=tip
- Publishing setup:
  https://hg.sr.ht/~arnebab/draketo/browse/setup.el.in?rev=tip
- Makefile: https://hg.sr.ht/~arnebab/draketo/browse/Makefile.am?rev=tip
- Description: https://hg.sr.ht/~arnebab/draketo/browse/README?rev=tip
- Example Template:
  https://hg.sr.ht/~arnebab/draketo/browse/org-templates/level-1.org?rev=tip
- Page with its own RSS-feed: https://hg.sr.ht/~arnebab/draketo/browse/politik/kommentare.org?rev=tip

> 1. I want the blog to be fully static HTML+CSS, with a tiny sprinkling
> of (my custom) JS.

Check :-)

> 2. I want to publish a whole set of HTML files from a single Org mode
> file.

I don’t have that. Instead I have the function M-x draketo-go that
enables quick ido-completion for all sites.

> 3. I want to be able to fully customize the HTML produced.

Mostly yes. See https://www.draketo.de

> 4. I am going, though, to need some custom "blocks" - in HTML parlance,
> <div>s and possibly also <span>s.  I want to be able to mark them up
> somehow in my Org source and get <div class="..."> and <span
> class="...">.  Reusing existing markup (like _underline_, which I'm not
> going to use) is not enough - I will need more than a dozen of those
> custom classes.

I just use
#+html: <div class="...">
...
#+html: </div>

Also @@html:<span class="foo">@@ ... @@html:</span>@@

or

#+begin_kasten

#+end_kasten

(custom block with its own shortcut and style)

Best wishes,
Arne
-- 
Unpolitisch sein
heißt politisch sein,
ohne es zu merken.
draketo.de

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Re: An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Vinícius Moraes]

Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:

> Hello fellow Orgers,
>
> I'm preparing to set up a new blog, and I'd like to have a fully
> Org-mode-based workflow.  Ideally, I'd like to be able to do everything
> - including publishing the posts - from within Emacs.
>
> I know about things like "Org publish" and ox-hugo, though I never used
> them - and there are probably others - but I'm asking specifically about
> two things:
>
> A. other people's experiences with similar workflows, and
> B. tool/workflow recommendations.
>
> Here are my requirements, in no particular order.
>
> 1. I want the blog to be fully static HTML+CSS, with a tiny sprinkling
> of (my custom) JS.
>
> 2. I want to publish a whole set of HTML files from a single Org mode
> file.  I will need to preserve internal links (so that I can link to
> another headline and the result will be one post linking to another),
> and of course I will need external links.  The blog will live on some
> server I will have ssh access to, so for publishing it should be enough
> to scp some files somewhere.
>
> 3. I want to be able to fully customize the HTML produced.  I want it to
> be as simple as possible (but see below).  I will also need it to be put
> in some kind of a template, so that every page will contain things like
> a header, footer and a sidebar.
>
> 4. I am going, though, to need some custom "blocks" - in HTML parlance,
> <div>s and possibly also <span>s.  I want to be able to mark them up
> somehow in my Org source and get <div class="..."> and <span
> class="...">.  Reusing existing markup (like _underline_, which I'm not
> going to use) is not enough - I will need more than a dozen of those
> custom classes.
>
> Any thought, suggestions, recommendations?

I recommend using Hugo, since it supports org-mode files
directly. Setting up Hugo to meet your requirements can be done in
many ways, and you can find almost everything you need in their
documentation. Although there is a bit of a learning curve, it's nothing
that an Emacs user can't handle.

For integration and workflow, I've been using the easy-hugo package. It
has everything I've needed so far, from writing to publishing to
managing. While Hugo does support org files, there are some cases where
you need to tinker a bit to make it work properly. For example, the
other day, I was trying to publish a poem using verse blocks and it
didn't work. All I had to do was trying another way, which was adding
"//" at the end of each verse to have proper line breaking.

You'll learn many little things like this through experience, and if
needed, you can always use HTML/Go code to complement org-mode features.

Regardless of which tool path you choose, blogging with org-mode is a
great experience.

Enjoy the journey! :)

Best,
-- 
Vinícius Moraes
eternodevir.com

Re: An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Marcin Borkowski]

On 2023-05-08, at 10:30, Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net> wrote:

> Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:
>
>> 2. I want to publish a whole set of HTML files from a single Org mode
>> file.  I will need to preserve internal links (so that I can link to
>> another headline and the result will be one post linking to another),
>> and of course I will need external links.  The blog will live on some
>> server I will have ssh access to, so for publishing it should be enough
>> to scp some files somewhere.
>
> AFAIK, ox-hugo is designed for such use.
> Also, see https://orgmode.org/worg/org-blog-wiki.html

Thanks.  You're not the first one to recommend Hugo; I am now looking
into it.

>> 4. I am going, though, to need some custom "blocks" - in HTML parlance,
>> <div>s and possibly also <span>s.  I want to be able to mark them up
>> somehow in my Org source and get <div class="..."> and <span
>> class="...">.  Reusing existing markup (like _underline_, which I'm not
>> going to use) is not enough - I will need more than a dozen of those
>> custom classes.
>
> You may consider https://github.com/alhassy/org-special-block-extras
> Inline html fragments will also do.

Thanks, I'll look into those, too.

Best,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl

Re: An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Marcin Borkowski]

On 2023-05-08, at 12:36, Martin Steffen <msteffen@ifi.uio.no> wrote:

> Hi,
>>>>>> "Marcin" == Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:
>
>     Marcin> fully Org-mode-based workflow.  Ideally, I'd like to be able
>     Marcin> to do everything - including publishing the posts - from
>     Marcin> within Emacs.
>
>
> I use webpage generation (including blogs) using Jekyll. Since I wanted
> to stick to org, all is set-up in a way, that the ``content'' including
> the blogs is done in org, and then do ``org-publish'' to generate stuff
> as fit for consumption for jekyll and the workflow then continues from
> there (basically just invoking jekyll to ``publish'' the stuff). jekyll
> expects its content in md, but I feel more comfortable with org.
>
> That leads to a two stage thing: first translate org to md (by an
> appropriate org-publish set-up) and then generate the web-page from the
> md-files. So it's not all org-workflow, but once it's set-up, it's
> basically only org as far as content is concerned.
>
>
> Fine points apply, as jekyll has a lot of moving parts and
> configurations. And possible pictures and graphics etc. is also not ``in
> org''- And actually, the org-files I am using have some jekyll-specific
> md-prefix between
>
> +begin_export markdown
> +end_export
>
> to tweak things for jekyll. But the org-part is easy, and for me it
> works smooth. 
>
>
> In a different response, HUGO was mentioned. I don't have experience
> with HUGO, but it's probably comparable to jekyll.

Thanks.

In fact, a few years ago I researched both Hugo and Jekyll and for some
reason I can't remember now I settled on Hugo.  (That project is long
dead, btw.)  Since a few people recommended Hugo to me, I guess I'll go
with that.

Best,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl

Re: An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Marcin Borkowski]

On 2023-05-08, at 12:44, Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide <arne_bab@web.de> wrote:

> Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:
>
>> I'm preparing to set up a new blog, and I'd like to have a fully
>> Org-mode-based workflow.  Ideally, I'd like to be able to do everything
>> - including publishing the posts - from within Emacs.
>>
>> I know about things like "Org publish" and ox-hugo, though I never used
>> them - and there are probably others - but I'm asking specifically about
>> two things:
>>
>> A. other people's experiences with similar workflows, and
>> B. tool/workflow recommendations.
>
> My setup is different in that I use one org-file per article, but I use
> org publish for my website.

Thanks.  In fact, I looked into Org publish, but having one big Org file
for the whole site is rather important for me, so I decided that ox-hugo
(which supports exactly that idea) will be better for me.

Best,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl

Re: An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Marcin Borkowski]

On 2023-05-08, at 17:48, Vinícius Moraes <vinicius.moraes@eternodevir.com> wrote:

> I recommend using Hugo, since it supports org-mode files
> directly. Setting up Hugo to meet your requirements can be done in
> many ways, and you can find almost everything you need in their
> documentation. Although there is a bit of a learning curve, it's nothing
> that an Emacs user can't handle.

Yeah, you're probably right.  Though frankly I'd prefer to spend as
little time as possible on learning the tools here - I do not intend to
become a Hugo wizard, I just need it for this one project (well, maybe
two, but that's it).

> For integration and workflow, I've been using the easy-hugo package. It
> has everything I've needed so far, from writing to publishing to
> managing. While Hugo does support org files, there are some cases where
> you need to tinker a bit to make it work properly. For example, the
> other day, I was trying to publish a poem using verse blocks and it
> didn't work. All I had to do was trying another way, which was adding
> "//" at the end of each verse to have proper line breaking.
>
> You'll learn many little things like this through experience, and if
> needed, you can always use HTML/Go code to complement org-mode features.
>
> Regardless of which tool path you choose, blogging with org-mode is a
> great experience.

I know, I write my blog in Org and then export to Oddmuse using my
custom exporter I wrote many years ago.  But it's not fully automated,
and this time I'd like to have something much more automated.  (Also,
I don't want any DHTML - I just want to have a bunch of static files so
that it's goin gto be really fast.)

Best,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl

Re: An Org-mode-based blogging engine?

[Max Nikulin]

On 08/05/2023 15:15, Marcin Borkowski wrote:
> 4. I am going, though, to need some custom "blocks" - in HTML parlance,
> <div>s and possibly also <span>s.

For <div>s (block level elements) custom #+begin_something may be used.

For <span>s you may try either {{{macros(arg)}}} (beware of commas) or 
sometimes it is possible to use custom link types that are actually just 
markup, but links can not be nested.

Another warning is anchors generated by Org. They may change. Some 
people have code to derive anchors from heading titles, another approach 
it to ensure that each heading has CUSTOM_ID property and it is used for 
links.