It’s been one month since I migrated from WordPress to Hugo. In my original post, I mentioned some of the immediate benefits of migrating: I saved money, performance went up, and I was totally geeking out about getting to learn new skills. It was all about the tech, really. Today, I want to reflect on some of the less obvious benefits and how migrating has had a positive impact on me this past month 😊

I think I can summarize it in one sentence:

I enjoy blogging again because I’ve taken back control of my website.

That sounds a bit strange, doesn’t it? I mean, this has always been my website and I have always been in control of it. But what I’ve realized is that for many years, WordPress and its features and plugins shaped how I used - and didn’t use - my blog.

I can’t and I don’t really blame WordPress. This is mostly about my habits and thought processes and how I started changing them. However, that change only happened because I migrated to a new blogging platform. It was only after I started using Hugo that I realized how I could do things differently.

So what’s different now?

Long story short: I’ve been working intensely on my website for about a month. After a couple of years of thinking about moving away from Wordpress, I finally did it! I’m so excited and so happy to be up and running on a brand new platform. Hello Hugo! 🤓

What’s new!?

For you, very little has changed. You may notice a few things, like:

• New dark theme available! (Click the button in the menu to switch between themes 👆🏻)
• Improved performance, especially on mobile devices
• Comments are gone

For me, everything has changed:

• Saved money by eliminating expensive web hosting
• Complete control of all functionality and code
• Access to local development environment
• New workflow using Hugo, GitHub and Netlify

This has been a massive project for me. I’ve worked day and night for weeks, I’ve learned new concepts and technologies and coding languages, and I’ve loved every minute of it 🤓

Today, I will be marking my calendar with a bright color. (Probably pink.) I’m taking a plunge into the world known as “The Internet” and launching cathrinewilhelmsen.net! It’s quite exciting to have my own little place online 🤓

I have a few reasons for launching cathrinewilhelmsen.net. The first reason is entirely selfish: I want to tell everyone hi, hello, my name is Cathrine, this is who I am and this is what I like to do. The second reason is because I want a place where I can learn and experiment with web design and web development. And the third reason is that I want to keep a tiny library of useful links and code snippets and tips and tricks.

I have no idea yet what this website will grow into, but I’m excited! Welcome to cathrinewilhelmsen.net, I’m happy to have you here 🥳