It’s been sometime since I last talked about my small project, <a href="https://github.com/JB-26/super-blog-starter">Super Blog Starter</a>. In fact, I last talked about this project when I released v0.1.0. Although I’ve been busy, I’ve been able to maintain the project and make small improvements to it.
In case this is your first time hearing of Super Blog Starter, it’s a starter template that allows anyone to have their own blog quickly and easily. It’s also what this website is based on!
What’s included in Super Blog Starter? Well…
<ul>
<li>Homepage</li>
<li>About page</li>
<li>Blog page
<ul>
<li>Pagination included (and customisable)</li>
<li>Pinned Post feature</li>
<li>Links to blog posts</li>
<li>Ordered by newest post first</li>
<li>Tag your posts with a category that readers can find related posts</li>
<li>Search bar</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Blog posts
<ul>
<li>Signature at the bottom (that you can customise!)</li>
<li>Code formatting</li>
<li>Quote formatting</li>
<li>Embed iframes into posts</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Responsive design</li>
<li>Header and Footer (that you can customise!)</li>
<li>Customisable 404 page
<ul>
<li>Search bar</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>RSS feed (that you can customise!)</li>
<li>ESLint</li>
</ul>
So in this short post, I wanted to share what’s been going on with this, as I’ve just released v0.5.0 🎉
<h1>The changes</h1>
<ul>
<li>A small selection of automated tests using Playwright have been included. These will run automatically via GitHub actions.</li>
<li>iframes can now be included in blog posts! Just add the iframe to the markdown post and you’ll see it rendered on the page! However, these iframes won’t be rendered in the RSS feed.</li>
<li>Updated documentation</li>
<li>Package updates; NextJS is now running version 14.2.2. This includes several build and production improvements from build memory usage, to CSS optimisations. It’s worth an upgrade.</li>
</ul>
<h1>Give it a spin!</h1>
If you haven’t tried it yet, please do! I’m curious to hear what people think of it. It should be fairly easy to get going with the starter.
<h1>The future</h1>
I intend to keep the project going, and I plan to make several new updates to it including adding more playwright tests and keeping the packages updated.
Until next time 👋

What’s going on with Super Blog Starter?

It’s been a while since I last talked about my ongoing project, <a href="https://github.com/JB-26/super-blog-starter">Super Blog Starter</a>. The project where anyone can get a blog up and running in minutes.
So what’s new?
<h1>Package updates</h1>
The packages used in the project have been updated. I’m aware that there are newer versions available so I’ll update them again in the near future (especially since a new version of NextJS is now out).
<h1>Performance of fetching posts associated with a tag</h1>
The performance of fetching posts was a little slow, so I’ve made some improvements which should make it slightly faster.
<h1>Fix on Safari desktop</h1>
Fixed a weird issue where Safari on desktop wasn’t displaying the homepage correctly.
<h1>Search Bar functionality</h1>
And finally, a search bar! This will now allow you to search for posts directly on the blog. The search bar is on the blog page and the 404 error page.
I created this function as the analytics from Vercel showed that search engines are still using the old URL for posts. The original url would be ‘blog/post-name’ but the new url is ‘posts/post-name’. So, when a user reaches the error page or decides to visit the blog page, they can search for the post directly.
Give it a try and find a post!
<h1>What’s next?</h1>
I want to have a series of automated tests using PlayWright in the future. I think it’s important for this project to have a series of tests that check for quality. I don’t think I’ll get the tests done by the end of the year, I’m planning on getting that done next year.
<h1>Give the project a spin</h1>
If you want to have a blog of your own, give this project a spin and let me know what you think!

What’s new on Super Blog Starter in version 0.1.0?

It’s been a while!
I can’t believe it’s October! It’s nearly the end of the year, where did the time go? I turn 31 years old this month which is very scary to me. The fact that I’m getting closer to 40 is frightening.
I’ve been super busy with starting a new job as an Application Analyst recently, and I’ve been planning a trip to the USA as I’m attending two weddings. Plus, I’ve been working on my house a little. So it’s been a busy month or so.
So for this short post, I just wanted to highlight some of the improvements I’ve made to the blog and my small project, <a href="https://github.com/JB-26/super-blog-starter">Super Blog Starter</a>
<h1>The blog</h1>
So, what’s new on the blog? Package updates and performance improvements.
The packages that are used on this blog have been updated to the latest version. NextJS has been upgraded to <a href="https://nextjs.org/blog/next-13-5">13.5</a>. This version has the following improvements:
<ul>
<li>22% faster local server startup</li>
<li>29% faster HMR (Fast Refresh)</li>
<li>40% less memory usage</li>
<li>Optimised Package Imports</li>
<li>next/image Improvements</li>
<li>And over 438 bugs patched!</li>
</ul>
I’ve also been doing some performance improvements on getting posts by a tag. I’ve noticed that in production, the function that gets the posts was very slow. So I decided to make some changes and it seems to be performing better!
For those who are curious, here’s the new function:
<pre><code class="language-jsx">export async function getPostsByTag(tag) {
 const allPostsData = getSortedPostsData();
 const postsWithTag = allPostsData.filter((post) => post.tags.includes(tag));

 const results = await Promise.all(postsWithTag.map(async (post) => {
 const fullPath = path.join(postsDirectory, `${post.id}.md`);
 const fileContents = await fsPromises.readFile(fullPath, 'utf8');
 const matterResult = matter(fileContents);

 const processedContent = remark().use(html).processSync(matterResult.content);
 const contentHtml = processedContent.toString();

 return {
 id: post.id,
 contentHtml,
 ...matterResult.data,
 };
 }));

 return results;
}
</code></pre>
The difference being is that this function is now an asynchronous function.
I’ve been seeing some performance improvements running locally, so hopefully this will improve the performance in production.
I’ve also fixed a weird Safari issue where the desktop view looked strange (why is it always Safari that has issues?)
There are a few other things I’d like to do with the blog as well, which I’ll work on over the next few months.
<h1>Super Blog Starter</h1>
The current version of the project is v0.0.3 and it features the improvements that I’ve been making to this website (except the improved performance of getting posts by a tag, that’s something I need to include in the next version).
The project is making steady (but slow) progress, so feel free to contribute and make suggestions!
I do have plans for this in the future, including adding some automated tests.
If you do use this starter, let me know! I’m curious to see who is using this.
<h1>The rest of the year</h1>
As we approach the end of the year, the holiday season begins, I’ll be looking to relax a bit more. I’ll be spending some time writing up my ‘end of the year’ wrap up post as well. I do have many other blog posts that are currently in progress as well, so I might find some time to finish one or two and publish them.
I’m hoping to get a <a href="https://www.steamdeck.com/en/">Steam Deck</a> for my birthday, so I might be writing up a few posts about that. I need to play more games as I need to find ways to relax. Plus, since I’ll be travelling a bit more, it’ll be good to bring with me.
Until next time 👋

What’s new on the blog and Super Blog Starter?

Hello and welcome to the release notes of version 0.0.2 of Super Blog Starter!
This is a relatively small release but it has a brand new feature - post tagging! 🏷️
You can now set a series of tags (think of them as categories) in each of your posts, which are displayed at the end of the post.
These tags can be selected by your readers to find other posts with the same tag.
For example, if there’s a post with the tag of ‘JavaScript’ and the user selects that tag, the user will be shown all posts with the tag of ‘JavaScript’.
To get started with post tagging, you’ll need to use the new markdown template with tags defined:
<pre><code class="language-markdown">---
title: "Introducing Super Blog Starter!"
date: "2023-08-20"
tags: ["Super Blog Starter"]
---
</code></pre>
Super Blog Starter will then automatically include the tags at the end of each post, simple!
And if you don’t include a tag or don’t want to update every post with a tag, don’t worry. Super Blog Starter takes care of that scenario by providing a blank array for posts that don’t have any tags:
<pre><code class="language-jsx">// Ensure that the 'tags' field exists, or provide an empty array as a default value
const tags = matterResult.data.tags || [];
</code></pre>
This website uses post tagging, so why not try it out here?
You can find Super Blog Starter on <a href="https://github.com/JB-26/super-blog-starter">GitHub</a>.

What’s new on Super Blog Starter in version 0.0.2?

When I launched <a href="https://www.joshblewitt.dev/posts/2023-08-05-version-4">version 4</a> of this website, I said I would make a template available to use for those who want to make their own blog. Wether you want to make your own blog for professional use, or just simply want to own a small slice of the internet, I wanted to make something that anyone could use.
So today, I’m proud to share that the first version of ‘Super Blog Starter’ is now available to use! 🎉
With this new starter, you can set up your own blog with minimal configuration. The starter is based on my own website, so you’ll see some similarities. But, you can modify it and expand on it very easily.
So what’s included with Super Blog Starter?
Well…
<ul>
<li>Homepage</li>
<li>About page</li>
<li>Blog page</li>
<li>Pagination included (and customisable)</li>
<li>Pinned Post feature</li>
<li>Links to blog posts</li>
<li>Ordered by newest post first</li>
<li>Blog posts</li>
<li>Signature at the bottom of each post (that you can customise!)</li>
<li>Code formatting</li>
<li>Quote formatting</li>
<li>Responsive design</li>
<li>Header and Footer (that you can customise!)</li>
<li>Customisable 404 page</li>
<li>RSS feed (update the siteMetadata.js file with your changes)</li>
<li>ESLint</li>
</ul>
And if you deploy to Vercel, you get to use Vercel analytics! (Which can be switched off if you don't want to use it)
All of this is included in Super Blog Starter and works out of the box.
These features are a core reason of why I decided to make Super Blog Starter; to make a great blog that stands out from the moment you start using it, that anyone can use, and a blog that you can modify and expand as you please.
To get started, check it out on <a href="https://github.com/JB-26/super-blog-starter">GitHub</a> and if you want to see a demo, click <a href="https://super-blog-starter.vercel.app/">here</a>.
It’s currently in a very early state, the current version is 0.0.1 so there could be some bugs (if you find a bug, make sure to raise it on GitHub). I’m planning on improving it, and adding new features in the future. If there is a feature you’d like to see, get in touch.
I’ll be interested to see if anyone decides to use Super Blog Starter, and if you do, send a message and let me know what you think.

Joshua Blewitt

Posts tagged with Super Blog Starter