Build vs Off-The-Shelf Solutions

Building

Although I can see the simplicity of using something off-the-shelf to build a website, those solutions don't have all the features I want.

Here are some benefits of rolling your own solution:

1. You build exactly what you want, and get a custom fit. Some examples of what I have built for this place:
   1. I added Transclusion ¹ functionality, see transclusion-enhancement for an example.
   2. Another feature added is Backlinks
   3. Footnotes ² are also custom built
   4. The structure/navigation is tailored.
      
      1. Everything written here has "Tags" which lists the topics the writing covers. The topics are grouped in the Topics page , which acts like an index for the whole site.
      2. Custom Navigation. To make it easy to explore this site, I added ways to allow you to navigate. At the top of the writings, you can easily go to the grouping of those writings. At the bottom, you can go to the "Previous" or "Next" item.
2. Learning:
   
   1. You learn because you need to figure out how to implement the features you want.
      1. And, learning is the focus here

Drawbacks:

1. It takes time
2. Takes you away from writing

The benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Let's build.

Building your own solution takes time and effort but it comes with many benefits. By building my own, I can tailor it to fit my needs and learn along the way.