I’ve been publishing my own books since 1994 and worked full-time online since 1998. I want my website to help me publish, not give me another set of software to maintain.
WordPress needs regular updates to its core software, themes and plugins. A neglected plugin can leave a known weakness exposed. Automated tools search websites for these weaknesses, and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre says AI is making that search faster and easier to scale.
Most of my sites are articles and photographs. A static site sends finished pages to readers instead of building each page through a live WordPress installation and database. That means less software on the public-facing site that needs patching and protection. It does not make the site immune to attack, but it gives an attacker fewer ways in.
Blot turns a folder of files into a website. I write in Markdown, plain text with a few simple marks for headings, links, lists and images. I save a file and Blot publishes it. I can work with the files directly, using tools I already know, instead of writing inside a complicated publishing dashboard.
My Blot folder syncs through iCloud. I can open and edit the site’s files on my phone, and iCloud syncs the changes to the folder Blot uses. That means I can fix a typo or publish a short piece while I’m away from my desk. Blot supports iCloud as a folder-sync option.
I still need to keep my accounts secure and make backups.
For a site built mainly from my writing and photographs, WordPress asks me to maintain more than I need. Blot lets me publish from files I can read, edit and keep.
I always think, mobile-first where possible. And finally the web is catching up with my future-scape imagination of how I would like to run my business in this new AI-forward world.