Grinch

(Work-in-progress)

A simple blog system made with Rails. Live demo

Lets the admin user log in, CRUD posts/categories, and then generates page-cached static files into public/.

Why?

I wasn't happy with the Jekyll workflow. A git push to fix a typo is a bit much.

Rolling my own blog would be more educational, fun to tweak, and interesting to maintain. I'm working on more ambitious apps so I like the idea of having a "serious" app deployed that can provide the workflow groundwork for bigger apps instead of practicing all day alone in locahost.

The Details

• Responsive design: I modified Skeleton to have a max width of 650px. I think it's easier to read.
• One interface: I read 37Signal's concept of the One Interface which makes a compelling case for combining the admin/user interface instead of hiding the admin tools away into a separate admin backend.
• Markdown formatting: Write/edit posts in Markdown, saved to @post.body which then renders html saved in @post.rendered_body.
• Post preview: When writing/editing a post, a preview button will show you what it will look like before you submit it.
• Authentication: Using the Sorcery gem.
• Authorization: Any User can do anything.
• Syntax highlighting: Uses the Pygmentize to colorize blocks of code.
• Sitemap generator: Whenever a post is created/destroyed, search engines are pinged with an updated sitemap.

The Setup

• Make the admin user.

    User.create(username: "Dan", 
                password: "secret",
                email:    "dan@example.com")
  

The TODO List

• Add tests
• Categories