During the Covid years, I let my blog lapse and eventually deactivated the site. At the time, I wasn’t sure whether I would bring it back, but I kept a backup of the WordPress SQL database just in case. That decision proved useful when I recently decided to restore the blog.

Restoring the Old Content

With the original WordPress database backup in hand, the next step was getting access to the posts. Rather than setting up a full WordPress environment, I used a Docker-hosted MySQL database to load the backup. Once restored, I extracted the pages and posts and converted them into Markdown files for use with Hugo. I had played with Hugo long ago, but had not used it for my blog until now.

Hugo is a static site generator that takes Markdown content and builds a fast, static website. Unlike WordPress, which dynamically generates pages from a database, Hugo pre-renders everything into static files, making it lightweight, secure, and easy to deploy.

A New Look with Hugo

For the site’s design, I selected the Jane theme as a starting point. It provides a clean and simple layout that works well for technical content.

Deployment with Netlify and SquareSpace

To make the new blog live, I deployed it to Netlify, which offers seamless hosting for static sites. Netlify provides a smooth Git-based workflow, so updates are as simple as pushing changes to the repository.

After Google retired its domain registration service, I transferred my domain to SquareSpace. The transition was straightforward, and SquareSpace’s domain management tools integrate well with Netlify’s DNS settings, making deployment relatively hassle-free. My domain uses email forwarding, with SquareSpace managing the mail servers. As a result, I had to manually configure my DNS records in SquareSpace instead of switching to Netlify’s name servers.

While my posting history has never been particularly prolific, this new Hugo-based blog provides a fresh starting point. The simplicity of Hugo makes it easy to maintain, so hopefully, that translates into more frequent updates moving forward.