It’s like an eternity ago that I first started blogging. I remember starting with a simple website, HTML-based, not a real blog with a database behind. I relied on Thingamablog for 7,000 blog entries before switching to Google’s Blogspot, where Around the Corner, lived for many years. Then, I decided to leave Blogspot (you can still find me there at https://mguhlin.blogspot.com in 2025, and promptly landed on WordPress.com after a short time at MicroBlog (read Manton’s book). I even took a look at Substack but promptly decided it wasn’t for me after reading all the horrible stuff and other bloggers coming out against it.
sequenceDiagram Blogger->>Platform: Can you help me share my thoughts with the world? Platform->>Blogger: Sure, give me lots of money and you can do a little of what you want Blogger->>Gen AI: Help me disintermediate blog platforms and vibe-code something that does exactly what I want GenAI->>Blogger: "You betcha. Let's get to it!"
Now, Back to Web Pages
And, it’s full circle. After so many years, I’m now back to a vibe-coded website, all HTML, no databases, for which I’ve also vibe-coded an offline editor, not unlike Thingamablog, but so much better. Did I do that coding? No…I still can’t code. But after about eight hours of chatting with a Gen AI chatbot or two, I now have a fully HTML-based blog.
No WordPress. No SubStack. No MicroBlog. Just the magic of Gen AI vibe-coding.
Features I Like
Some of the amazing features?
| Feature | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Preditor Markdown/HTML Editor | a Markdown/HTML editor (it handles both flawlessly). Preditor can handle Mermaid code and comes with templates, MXGraph Studio (well, I haven’t tested that yet), inserts tables, iframe code so I can just paste in the website URL that I want to embed, and more | $0.00 |
| Mermaid code | Preditor comes with Mermaid code editor and templates | $0.00 |
| Standard Markdown Editor | Markdown editor support with icons | $0.00 |
| Image insertion | Drop images in and they get auto-uploaded to GitHub | $0.00 |
| Language translation | Seven different languages for any and all pages | $0.00 |
| Social Media posting | Easy sharing for blog readers to social media of choice | $0.00 |
But Wait, There’s More!
And, this is pretty amazing, I think, since I would have had to pay extra for some of these features. Some additional features include:
- Auto-posting to Mastodon and BlueSky (LinkedIn, Facebook, X are not amenable to auto-posting unless you use special services)
- Easy bookmarking using Raindrop.io for those who use it (and you should, it’s wonderful)
- Copying links to posts
I’m looking forward to seeing how this experiment works out. Considering it cost me 8 hours, if I had worked on it straight, having two AI chatbots do the work, the experience is already markedly better than Blogspot, WordPress, and MicroBlog. However, both of those DID get me moving in this direction.