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To author this web site, I write all the pages in Markdown using a plain ascii editor. After I write something, I upload the changes (using git) to GitHub Pages.
After each upload, GitHub Pages automatically runs Jekyll. Jekyll processes the markdown pages and turns them all into static HTML pages. This process typically takes just a few seconds to update my entire site. GitHub Pages then serves this site for free.
Jekyll is easier to manage than traditional blogging tools. It's retro, a return to simpler tools. Modern web sites and blog engines (like Wordpress or Drupal) are dynamic, meaning some code is run on the server each time you view a page. This dynamic server code adds management complexity and presents opportunities for security flaws.
When the web was invented in the 1990's, most pages were static html files. The file you put on the server was exactly what the browser loaded. Today, most web pages have static content, meaning they don't change each time you look at them, but they're served in a dynamic way. Serving static files is much more efficient. Load times are faster, they're easier to manage, and offer practically no opportunities for malware to affect the server.
With Jekyll, there is no server software to manage, configure, or maintain. There is no vendor lock-in. I can move my site to any other ISP any time I want by just copying a folder, and I don't have to do much else to be up and running. Jekyll is itself a free open source tool that can run pretty much anywhere, including your laptop.
Jekyll lets you avoid cut-and-paste repetition by using templates. You can focus on just writing content, and let the templates handle the other stuff like formatting or nav bars.
Markdown is easier to write and maintain than HTML, because the raw source files are more human-readable. Instead of adding HTML tags, Markdown gives you a few basic and easy-to-write markup tools. For example, to italicize some text, just surround it with asterisks.
To see how simple this is, take a look at the raw source text for this page.
If you want to add fancy HTML to a markdown page, you can. I find that for basic text blogging, this just isn't necessary.
GitHub Pages is jekyll-aware, meaning I just upload markdown files and GitHub runs jekyll on them automatically on their servers.
GitHub Pages is hosted by GitHub, which means it's extremely reliable and efficient to reach audiences worldwide. Managing content with git is a very good idea, because it keeps track of all edits. I can easily compare, undo, and roll back to an older version of any of my content any time.
GitHub Pages is free. Thank you, GitHub.
Using git, I have a complete and accurate backup copy of all my files at all times. One copy is on my laptop, another is on GitHub's server, and I can make other copies elsewhere whenever I wish. If something happens to either my laptop or to GitHub, or I just don't want to use them any more, I can switch very easily.