Blog

Blog (blog.victorgoico.com)

Custom markdown-based blog built with a Python script, Jinja2 templates, and Sass. Deployed via GitHub Pages. This repo is dedicated to the blog only (one CNAME per GitHub Pages repo; portfolio uses a separate repo).

DNS setup

The blog is served at the blog subdomain (blog.victorgoico.com). To point it at GitHub Pages:

1. In SquareSpace DNS for the root domain (victorgoico.com), open Custom Records and add:
   • Type: CNAME
   • Host: blog
   • Alias Data: victorgoic0.github.io (or this repo’s GitHub Pages hostname)
   • TTL: 30 minutes (or minimum available)

2. The repo contains CNAME at the root with the custom domain. That file must be present in the deployed output root so GitHub Pages can serve the site on the subdomain.

3. After saving, allow time for DNS propagation (often 5–15 minutes; sometimes longer). Verify with:
   • dig blog.victorgoico.com CNAME
   • or nslookup blog.victorgoico.com

Build and deploy

Prerequisites

• Python 3
• Node.js and npm (for compiling Sass to CSS)

Build the site

# 1. Compile Sass (design tokens and layout in scss/) to css/blog.css
npm install
npm run build:css

# 2. Python build: HTML from Markdown, copies css into output/
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate   # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Generate all posts and index
python build.py

# Build a single post (and refresh index)
python build.py posts/2026-02-18-hello-world.md

# Remove output/ and rebuild from scratch
python build.py --clean

Generated files go into output/: index.html, posts/<slug>.html, css/blog.css. This folder is gitignored, so it may be hidden in your editor’s file explorer; the files are still there. To confirm: ls output/ in the terminal. We don’t commit output/: deployment (e.g. GitHub Actions in PR #7) will run the build and deploy that folder.

Preview locally: Serve the built site so CSS and links work, then open in your browser:

python -m http.server 8080 --directory output

Then open http://localhost:8080. The build script copies the compiled stylesheet into output/css/ so the site works when GitHub Pages is set to serve from output/. Ensure CNAME is present in the deployed root.

Sass: Edit scss/_variables.scss for design tokens and scss/blog.scss for layout and components. Run npm run build:css after changes; use npm run watch:css during development.