Although functional I was never content with the previous Wordpress iteration. Considering my potential audience, the amount of work required for a Wordpress site doesn't make sense, so it was time to switch to Gatsby.
Gatsby is an open-source static website generator (SSG) that is based on the frontend development framework React and makes use of Webpack and GraphQL technology. It can be used to build static sites that are progressive web apps, follow the latest web standards, and optimized for speed and security.
Amidst the layers of shifting standards in Wordpress and associated themes, plugins and options between them, it's time consuming to maintain a working bespoke site.
Hosting a Wordpress site also requires significant server infrastructure, which needs the appropriate maintainence and attention.
Leveraging traditional web technologies such as HTML and CSS via the React JavaScript library, Gatsby is more maliable, enabling feature rich sites to be built up using common techniques.
Hosting a Gatsby site requires minimal infrastructure, so is offered free by GitHub Pages & Netifly. Utilising GitHub servers, the infrastructure, SSL Certification, a Content Delivery Network, and security are already managed, leaving me free to build/maintain the site.
Additionally because Gatbsy sites are compiled there is no server-side processing they are far more secure.
Gatsby Starter Blog - Gatsby was used as the foundation for my site, I simply added some custom styling and a full page navigation menu.
Now that deployment to GitHub Pages is integrated, now seemed the perfect opportunity to make the site live.
Future site builds will include categories/tags, an improved navigation menu, SEO, Google Analytics and Disqus.