Derek Jones Stage. Travel. Photos. Thoughts...
In my previous post about Pure Blog I said the following.
“…I'm not into comments, so it's a function I don't need. If you have something to say, just email me...”
Within an hour of that post going up I only went ahead and installed Pure Comments. That didn’t last long did it?
It’s very good, works a treat. The email notification isn’t working for me, yet, so I have to log into the app to see if I have comments. That part of it all works. Nice.
I’m not into social media; I’ve tried it, but I didn’t really get into it or like it. I found it too stressful and time-consuming. I have a work and a personal website, the personal, which I hosted using a flat CMS app called Bludit. It was quick, easy to use and very configurable. It’s still a live site here. It’s also mobile-friendly. Not bad.
One day during a server update, I was having a sniff around in the Yunohost catalogue and saw a flat-file blogging app called Pure Blog, and thought that I’d give it a spin.
The installation and setup are a breeze. Be sure to complete the post-install as soon as you have done the main install, ie, you set the user, password and site details. Have a look at the excellent Pure Blog docs for your type of install, as mine is all packaged up by the Yunohost community.
Once installed and you log in to the admin area, you will be up and running in no time. It’s very simple and very straightforward to write and edit content. The app is very well written and easy to use. Being a flat file app, there is no database to piss about with.
Uploading and dropping pictures into your content is simple and straightforward.
This is a blogging app, not an all singing all dancing web building app. It’s a no nonsense, easy-to-use blogging app (hate that word. Blogging. euuk!). If you are after photo carousels, setting up a shop online or clever stuff, then this is not the app for you. Pure Blog is very configurable with a bit of HTML, but if you are just after a quick way to say something with photos, then it’s an absolute winner. I'm not into comments, so it's a function I don't need. If you have something to say, just email me. For me, life is very simple in the online world.
Fortunately, because I’m not a regular internet writer, I didn’t really have a lot of posts to transfer from Bludit to Pure Blog. With Pure Blog, you can do both HTML and Markdown. I like Markdown, so I converted all my HTML posts from Bludit to Pure Blog using CodeBeautify, an online converter. Once all the posts were converted and put into new posts in Pure Blog, I just cleaned up some details, like descriptions and dates, and I was finished.
What you are looking at here are the fruits of my labours. I write when I see or do something reasonably interesting, so I'm not a regular, although the ease and speed of using Pure Blog could change that. Maybe.
In all, a very pleasant experience. If you have more posts to move over, then it might take a while, but there are some importers available from Pure Blog; sadly, Bludit was not on the list.
I love it… It’s well written, easy to install, quick and responsive, with just the right amount of functionality, for me anyway, an internet loner! And it has Markdown and HTML edditing editing; it’s nice and quick to get posts up with pictures using a mobile device when you are out and about. Problems or issues? For what I want and how I use it, I’ve not found anything yet; I might as I get into it more. You do need a little Markdown or HTML knowledge as there are no format buttons in the form of a ribbon in the editor. I like that, though; it's fuss-free, and I get by with Markdown, but for now, I really do like it. Kevin Quirk is the author and runs a great site for Pure Blog as well as a suite of Pure apps called Pure Commons. And the best part...? It's free, but don't be a sap, contribute or make a donation. The guy has passion, and that passion should be rewarded. Give it a go, and move over, will you! {.boxedIn}
I consider myself a seasoned self-hoster. I don't write code or do any kind of scripting in any of the languages used; I'm just not that bright! But I don't mind getting my hands a little mucky in the terminal when things go a bit bonkers, which they sometimes do.
I use a self-hosting platform called Yunohost. I've had it in place now for about five years, and I pay no subscriptions to anyone. Well, that’s a bit of a fib; I have recently started paying 10 euros a month to the folks at Yunohost because they do such a good job.
When you install the platform, you get a free domain; mine is casper.nohost.me, which I use to test various apps before releasing them out on their own domain later.
File management & sharing: Nextcloud, with Collabera & Nextcloud Office (a full office suite)
Password management: Vaultwarden (Uses Bitwarden clients)
Music: Navidrome (There are some fantastic clients for this server app)
Photos: Piwigo (Phone auto-uploading, galleries, and sharing)
Accounts: Invoice Ninja (Free community edition, server app, and clients)
Websites: WordPress , and now trying out Pure Blog
Email: Comes with a full email stack
That's my digital life in a nutshell. All of the above apps have a mobile app, or are mobile-friendly. You can see all the stuff that I self-host here
Now, I'm not saying that it's all been plain sailing; yes, there is the odd hiccup, sometimes when an app gets updated, but these issues are always fixable. There is a full backup and restore service included witht the platform, and a good and reliable collection of apps to put on your server, oh, and the forum community is excellent.
I pay absolutely no subscriptions to anyone. (Well, not quite). The 10 euros to Yunohost is voluntary, but for the work the community does, I feel it's the right thing to do. I'm being economical with the truth, again. I do pay yearly for a couple of domain names. There are no direct debits or standing orders being paid to anyone other than Yunohost and my domain registrar. And if I want to disappear...? I just pull the plug...!
I never figured out the reason why to the above question, so I thought I'd give it a go and try and explain markdown and share my experiences and reasons for trying it out, with, I have to say, some satisfaction despite my previous moaning here.
Markdown is a lightweight markup language, used to format text, which makes it easy to write and read. It allows you to organise content with simple markup rules that include various elements to help format your writing. You can use any simple text editor application that comes with your computer.
Markdown files have the .md or .markdown extension. It's most commonly used in README files, documentation, blogs posts, even this article is written in markdown.
Lightweight markup...? What's that first of all. Let's get that one explained.
Markup is not a programming language. The classic markup language is HTML, the language used to write website where tags like <h1> denote headers, <p> denote paragraphs, <i> means italics, stuff like that. Markdown uses a lightweight markup language of its own that uses tags, symbols and headings to format and present a final document. HTML is a heavyweight markup language. Are you following?
Let's have a look at a simple sentence.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The title first, The story of the jumping fox. That is a heading. Any text that you want as a heading starts with a hash '#' One hash makes the text the biggest, the more hashes in front of the text makes the text smaller.
The word 'quick', which is in italics. Just put an asterix "" at the beginning and the end of the word or words you want to make italic*. Easy stuff this...
Now bold like 'jumps'. Even easier, just put two asterix's at the start of the word or words that you want to make bold. So the above sentence code is like this:
'### The story of the jumping fox'
The *quick* brown fox **jumps** over the *lazy* dog.
So easy. Once you get used to markdown writing, the codes for the formatting just become muscle memory. Here is a list of well used symbols, codes, tags, call them what you will.
# Heading## Heading### HeadingAre you getting the idea on headings yet? Yep, the more # the smaller your heading gets...
**bold text** or __bold text__*italicised text* or italicised text_> blockquote- Item, * Item, or + Item1. Item[name of website](https://www.example.com)This is just a simple list. You can create tables and add graphics to your document just by using codes and writing it all in a simple text editor. Hold on though.... All this stuff can be done with any word processor like Word, Pages, Only Office and so on, why would I bother with markdown?
Good question, but... Here is a list which might help you see it differently.
The above is just a few reasons that comes to mind straight away, there are probably many more depending on what kind of writing you are into. For me it's the ability to write distraction free, portability and the ability to export out when I'm done writing something.
We are so used of writing using word processors, like Word and Pages, just to name but two. They clutter the workspace with ribbons and formatting icons, that we end up spending more time fiddling about with the look of a document, but what about the content?
You can use just a simple text editor that comes with your computer, write and format your text and export it out, leaving the original text file alone. There are many purpose made markdown editors available that can render your text to show you how it looks as you type... Whoa...! Render, whats that...?
The ability of the editor is to show you what you final output will look like which is called rendering. Different markdown editors have different markdown engines and not all have the full complement of markdown codes, so you may not get to see what you are typing. For example you have to switch on text ==highlighting== in some editors, while some don't have highlighting at all, so choose your preferred editor carefully. I use both a plain text editor and Typora. There are no distractions with any of these editors.
So that's my take on markdown. I knew it existed for a while, but I never thought of using it, didn't see the point of it especially if I can do what I need in Apple Pages. However after using markdown, I realised what a cluttered, owned, by Apple, distraction filled mess of a writing app it can sometimes be. Yes of course you can justify your text, your images and so on, but are you really saying what you need your writing say, which should be first and foremost?
Help or harm...?
For some time, I have been wrestling for a good, efficient, "find it when I need it" method of keeping track of all the data that I collect in both my work and my personal life. I also like to see and develop tight relationships between all these different forms of data. So many times, in both macOS Finder and Mail, I have tried searching for an item, pulling out my hair, and throwing expletives at the computer. Today, however, I use a number of applications to help me achieve my goals.
DEVONthink Pro has been my weapon of choice for collecting, organising, searching, and managing information. It's like a powerful, searchable digital filing cabinet for everything I read, write, and archive. It's where everything goes, for work and personal stuff.
Here is a quick example: Clip an article from the web, DEVONthink OCRs and indexes it, suggests related notes, and later you can instantly find that article by searching a phrase you remember.
It’s more powerful than a simple notes app—designed for heavy-duty personal knowledge management. You can also link items together inside and outside of Devonthink using Devonthink’s generated URIs.
Apple Notes comes with a Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It's a great and simple place to create notes, capture text, make lists, add images, sketches, links, and scanned documents.
Here is a quick example: take a photo of a receipt, scan it into a note, and later search by a word on the receipt to find it instantly.
If you have a Mac, or an iOS device then Apple Mail is the default email app for sending, receiving, and managing your email accounts in one place. It's by no means the best, some would argue, but it does do the job. Period.
Here is a quick example: add your Gmail and work Exchange account to Mail, and it shows all messages in separate or unified inboxes so you can read and reply.
Hookmark (previously called Hook) is a small macOS utility that makes it easy to link and jump between those linked items of data, or we should now call hooked items — documents, notes, emails, web pages, folders, and apps — so you can quickly move between things you’re working on.
Here is a quick example: hook a PDF, a related note in your notes app, and a web article — then from any one item you can jump straight to the others.
These four applications I either use on their own, or in isolation, or a combination of them all, but recently I have found some glue to keep my important data together and thus my digital life, which can get chaotic. Hookmark is the glue that helps me keep it all together.
I use Apple Mail, it's simple and easy. I don't need AI, or any trickery; mail comes in, mail goes out. I use folders, but I don’t use any rules or anything fancy. Why? I want to see every email and I'll decide where it goes, which folder it will go in, or just bin it!
If any mail has an important attachment that is work or personal related, then the attachment will get dropped or saved into the Devonthink Global Inbox. I'll deal with them at the end of the day, using Devonthink’s AI to put them into the correct Group folders. You can have a look at how I deal with Devonthink in my work here. Or I can use the Apple Mail Export to PDF and save the whole mail, and the conversation into Devonthink.
Everyday I use Apple Notes; it's always open on my laptop, my iPhone, and iPad. I have only a few folders in each of my work and personal stuff. These folders also have sub-folders, or topics that contain all kinds of data from pictures, documents, bills, and I just take quick notes as the day goes on. I just take a note, put it in the right folder, and leave it there for reference later, or pin it if it's of deadly importance. Apple Notes is actually quite a powerful app; you can link to items within the app, drop links from websites, etc. You can even use the links from items in Devonthink. Very handy.
Devonthink is always in the background. Devonthink is in my "Open at login" on my Mac. I'm dropping attachments into it from Apple Mail, clipping websites, archiving old documents or filing new ones into their related Group folders. Devonthink is the hub of my data, the canonical place of order, THE place where everything can be found, the true keeper of my data. It all goes into Devonthink... I have my Devonthink set up to index to Finder, you can import into a Devonthink database, but I prefer to index, some would argue otherwise.
Hookmark (formally Hook), like Devonthink, this tidy little app opens at login and is always available.
Apple Notes and Devonthink already play nicely with each other; you can create links to and from each of them, but sometimes if you move an item in Apple Notes, that link is lost, and you are back to searching. Devonthink links stay the same, even if you move the item. Hookmark works the same way, but system-wide, so you can use it almost anywhere in any app. One of the winners for me is the deep linking function. Sometimes I get large PDFs. If I open one of these in Devonthink, highlight a piece of text, I can then hook that to a website, an email, or a file in Finder. If any of the items move, Hookmark retains the link or rather the hook.
I only use Devonthink links within Devonthink, but Hookmark links everything else, from Devonthink to Apple Notes, email, and Finder. It has a very nice search and you can rename your links, sorry hooks, inside Hookmark making things even easier to find as well as using tags.
My method may not be the most polished, but it works. More importantly, it works for me. However, you may just find some of my workflow can be adapted and used for yours, or you may have another, more refined way. Let’s hear it. Hook mark is always in my desktop, front and centre, or I just use the hotkeys to get the list of hooks up in front of me. You can delete hooks; it doesn’t, of course, delete the data that are being hooked to, but sometimes it might be a good idea to go through your hooks and prune them...
Have fun...
Dj
By the way, this is my first blog using markdown... Very proud of myself.
Why I use Piwigo for my photo storage.
Over time, I realised my photo collection is more than just files—it’s a record of my life, travels, and the people I care about. Trusting those memories to a commercial cloud service never sat right with me. I wanted something that gave me control, security, and freedom, without the constant worry of subscriptions or sudden policy changes. That’s why I chose Piwigo. Hosting it myself means my photos stay in my hands, on my own server, with no compromise on quality. I don’t have to accept compression or hidden limits; I can preserve every image exactly as I captured it.
What I love most is how Piwigo grows with me. It’s open-source, so I can customise it endlessly—through themes, plugins, or integrations. It doesn’t matter whether I’m managing a few hundred photos or tens of thousands; Piwigo scales gracefully. The organisational tools, such as albums, tags, and metadata support, make it easy to keep everything structured, even when my collection feels overwhelming.
There’s also a sense of pride in running my own gallery. Instead of being locked into someone else’s ecosystem, I’ve built a space that reflects me. I can share albums with family and friends, knowing I control the privacy settings. I can access my gallery from anywhere via the web or mobile app, without sacrificing ownership.
For me, Piwigo isn’t just a technical solution—it’s a philosophy. It represents independence, respect for my data, and the joy of shaping my own digital space. Choosing Piwigo as my preferred photo storage is about more than convenience; it’s about valuing my memories enough to keep them safe, private, and truly mine.
Have a look for yourself at Derek Jones Photography