The stack behind Digital Home

A short note on the tools I use to write, edit, version and publish this site.

Digital Home does not come out of a single tool. It comes from a combination that fits the way I work quite naturally: RStudio, VS Code, Quarto, R Markdown, GitHub Desktop and Netlify.

I do not think of it as a solemn architecture or a particularly exotic stack. It is simply a set of pieces that lets me write, edit, review, version and publish without too much friction. I want each tool to do its part well, without turning the workflow into a minor technical ritual.

What I use and why

• RStudio, when I want to write, organise ideas or work through material at a measured pace.
• VS Code, when it is time to get into the structure of the site, adjust styles, inspect files or move pieces with greater precision. Its Git integration also lets me review changes without leaving the editor.
• Quarto, as the hinge between writing and publishing, without demanding unnecessary infrastructure. The website documentation covers the main pieces I use here: shared configuration, navigation, listings and rendering.
• R Markdown, as part of the ecosystem I come from and still use to think through reproducible work.
• GitHub Desktop, to use version control without dramatising Git or turning each change into a test of character. I can select, review and organise changes into commits through an interface that is explicit enough.
• Netlify, to deploy the site and make publication a reasonable consequence of the repository. Quarto documents both direct publishing and repository-based deployment.

How a post is published here

The workflow is fairly direct:

1. I create a new post in blog/posts/, with the date in the filename and the minimum metadata: title, description, date and categories.
2. I write and revise it in whichever editor best fits the moment, usually somewhere between RStudio and VS Code.
3. I run quarto render to make sure the post builds correctly and the rest of the site remains standing.
4. I review the changes, commit them with GitHub Desktop and synchronise the repository.
5. Netlify detects the change, rebuilds the site through the Quarto build plugin and publishes the post.

There is not much mystery to it, and that is precisely part of the appeal. I am much more interested in a clear, maintainable and understandable workflow than in a brilliant but over-engineered chain of tools.

Why this stack and not another

I prefer tools that do not spend their time competing with one another. RStudio remains useful for writing and organising. VS Code works better when I need to intervene in the technical structure of the site. Quarto acts as the hinge between content and publication. GitHub Desktop simplifies a part of version control that I do not need to dramatise. And Netlify handles deployment without demanding more machinery than the job requires.

Taken together, the stack suits the idea behind this site: a space where teaching, writing, development and a working notebook can coexist without too much liturgy or technical posturing.

Workflow documentation

• Creating and rendering websites with Quarto.
• Publishing Quarto projects on Netlify.
• Source control in VS Code.
• Reviewing and committing changes with GitHub Desktop.