.. description: Sometimes, change is good. Also, sometimes moving back is moving forward.
.. type: text
#+END_COMMENT
I have recently blogged about moving to /emacs/ and the reasons behind it.
Since then, I have used /Orgmode/ a lot more. And I have begun to like it even more. I had a plan to move the blog to /[[https://gohugo.io/][Hugo]]/. After giving it a try, I had inconsistent results. I must've been doing something wrong. I've spend a lot more time than I anticipated on it. At some point, it becomes an endeavor with diminishing returns. So I ditched that idea.
But why did I want to move to /Hugo/ in the first place ?
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* Why /Hugo/ you may ask
Well, the answer to that question is very simple; /Orgmode/.
The long answer is that the default /Nikola/ markup language and the most worked on is /reStructuredText/. It can support other formats. /Orgmode/ also seems widely supported and can be easily manipulated. So I want to move to /Orgmode/ instead of /rst/.
But what are the odds ?
Damn... It has plugins and you can find an [[https://plugins.getnikola.com/v8/orgmode/][orgmode]] page where you find
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
$ nikola plugin -i orgmode
#+END_EXAMPLE
Where the heck did that come from ? Okay that was easy.
Turns out /Nikola/ supports /Orgmode/.
* Nikola /Orgmode/ plugin installation
The page suggests running.
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
$ nikola plugin -i orgmode
#+END_EXAMPLE
Followed by
#+BEGIN_SRC python
# NOTE: Needs additional configuration in init.el file.
# Add the orgmode compiler to your COMPILERS dict.
[2020-08-31 23:16:29] INFO: auto: Serving on http://127.0.0.1:8000/ ...
[2020-08-31 23:16:36] INFO: auto: Server is shutting down.
#+END_EXAMPLE
I knew there was a catch !
You might be looking for the error message and it might take you a while. It took me a bit to find out what was wrong. The error is actually the following.
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
Please install htmlize from https://github.com/hniksic/emacs-htmlize
#+END_EXAMPLE
It turns out that the plugin is a /python/ script that calls /emacs/ with a configuration =init.el=. I know I have /htmlize/ installed on my /doom/ system but /Nikola/ does not see it.
After looking around the internet, I found the =init.el= file I'm looking for. It's in =plugins/orgmode/init.el= and it has the following few lines at the top.
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(require 'package)
(setq package-load-list '((htmlize t)))
(package-initialize)
#+END_SRC
Okay, that's what's trying to load /htmlize/. Let's try to add it to the =load-path= as follows.
[2020-08-31 23:30:32] INFO: auto: Rebuilding the site...
Scanning posts..........done!
[2020-08-31 23:30:36] INFO: auto: Serving on http://127.0.0.1:8000/ ...
#+END_EXAMPLE
Woohoo ! It works. Now let's move to the next steps. Writing our first blog post.
* First /Org/ post
Let's create this blog post.
#+BEGIN_EXPORT html
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="admonition-title">warning</p>
#+END_EXPORT
It is very important to use the =nikola= command line interface to create the post. I spent too much time trying to figure out the /header/ settings.
#+BEGIN_EXPORT html
</div>
#+END_EXPORT
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
$ nikola new_post -1 -f orgmode -t orgmode posts/misc/welcome-back-to-the-old-world.org
#+END_EXAMPLE
Now edit the /org/ file and save it. /Nikola/ should pick it up and render it.
* Yes, I have made more changes
** Theme
I have moved the blog to the /[[https://themes.getnikola.com/v8/willy-theme/][willy-theme]]/ which offers /light/ and *dark* modes and good code highlighting.
** Blog post format
You might have also noticed that there were big changes to the repository. All the blog posts have been converted to /Orgmode/ now, both /pages/ and /posts/.
I used [[https://pandoc.org/][pandoc]] to do the initial conversion from /rst/ to /Orgmode/ as follows.
I know, I know. It does a pretty good initial job but you will need to touch up the posts. Fortunately, I did not have a lot of blog posts yet. Unfortunately, I had enough for the task to take a few days. For me, it was worth it.
* Conclusion
This was a long overdue project, I am happy to finally put it behind me and move foward with something simple that works with my current flow.
