---
layout: ../layouts/BlogPost.astro
title: Trying out TinaCMS
slug: trying-tinacms
description: I'm trying out TinaCMS to make it faster and easier to post here!
tags:
  - technical
  - meta
added: 2023-10-21T05:29:18.500Z
---

Helllloooo so it's been a minute! And... for good reason.

I have a workflow that somewhat works well for me in which I write my blog posts in [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) (with a template that helps me add tags and a description and stuff), and then when I want to post them, I copy and paste the post into the repository here, and then if I have images, I add the images to the repo, and then check all of the paths for it, and then ship it.

It works well, BUT there's just enough overhead that sometimes I don't write a post because there's a few too many steps. I have a few partially-written posts that I haven't published yet, because I keep thinking about the things getting in my way post-writing. I thought it would be nice to have a web interface for easily publishing blog posts here!

I wasn't sure what CMS I'd use, because so many of them require quite a bit of setup, or they have more of a GUI interface rather than a markdown-oriented one. But, then I saw [this blog post about how Smashing Magazine uses TinaCMS](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2023/09/smashing-magazine-tinacms-manage-editorial-workflow/) and it looked like the perfect solution for me! I love the idea of being able to have everything be Git-based, markdown-based, and very lightweight. I was able to configure [Tina](https://tina.io/) pretty quickly (I [streamed](https://www.twitch.tv/cassidoo) it and luckily a core team member was in the chat and able to help me a bit when I was misunderstanding things) and it didn't mess up my existing codebase in any way!

A few weeks ago I spoke at [CodeWord Conf](https://cfe.dev/events/codeword-conf-2023/), and something that Chris Coyier said in his segment stuck with me when he talked about his consistency: the fact that he can just type into a CMS and hit send, with minimal things getting in his way, has kept him more consistent in his writing. I do prefer Markdown and my usual local-first workflow, but the fact that I could spit out a blog quickly without any sort of copying and pasting or editing is something I'm excited to try.

This is the first post I've written and published with TinaCMS, and we'll see how I like it over time!
