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# How to Run a Journal # Web Development, and the Power of Simplicity.
Hi! I'm Isaac Mills, I'm the guy managing the infrastructure behind Compute! In this article, I'd like to talk about just that: the infra behind this journal, how it all works, and why it is the way it is. Hi! I'm Isaac Mills, I'm the guy managing the infrastructure behind Compute! In this article, I'd like to talk about just that: the infra behind this media outlet, how it all works, and why it is the way it is.
## Plain text ## Plain text
Plain text is kind of insane. It's capable of being anything, and can also be transmuted into anything. It's infinite extensibility makes it a powerful tool that every developer should have in their arsenal. For this journal, we use a lot of plain text. In fact, the article you're reading right now is written in plain text, _not with some web UI_. A while back, I found a markup language called [djot](https://djot.net). It was created by the same person who created CommonMark, a flavor of markdown, to be easier to parse and more featureful. Below is some example djot Plain text is kind of insane. It's capable of being anything, and can also be transmuted into anything. It's infinite extensibility makes it a powerful tool that every developer should have in their arsenal. For our case, we use a lot of plain text. In fact, the article you're reading right now is written in plain text, _not with some web UI_. A while back, I found a markup language called [djot](https://djot.net). It was created by the same person who created CommonMark, a flavor of markdown, to be easier to parse and more featureful. Below is some example djot
```djot ```djot
# Heading # Heading
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The benefit of using djot is that it compiles directly to HTML, thus the jorunalists who have joined Compute don't need to learn HTML to write articles. They also don't need to learn a clunky slow website editor like Wix or Squarespace. The benefit of using djot is that it compiles directly to HTML, thus the jorunalists who have joined Compute don't need to learn HTML to write articles. They also don't need to learn a clunky slow website editor like Wix or Squarespace.
This is another superpower of plain text, if we used Wix for our website, our journalists would need to learn how to use the Wix UI, and how to write articles _for_ that UI. If we needed to change our tooling at any time, they would need to re-learn everything for _that_ tool. Not only that, but we would need to port the entire journal (_every_ article), to use that new tooling. This is not so with plain text, if things change in the pipeline, or even if you're just joining the journal, there's no need to re-learn how to write text. At worst, you just need to convert the plain text to another format of plain text (djot to HTML for example). All our journalists need to know how to do is write their articles in djot, and submit it to the team via the pipeline This is another superpower of plain text, if we used Wix for our website, our journalists would need to learn how to use the Wix UI, and how to write articles _for_ that UI. If we needed to change our tooling at any time, they would need to re-learn everything for _that_ tool. Not only that, but we would need to port the entire website (_every_ article), to use that new tooling. This is not so with plain text, if things change in the pipeline, or even if you're just joining our publication, there's no need to re-learn how to write text. At worst, you just need to convert the plain text to another format of plain text (djot to HTML for example). All our journalists need to know how to do is write their articles in djot, and submit it to the team via the pipeline
## The Pipeline ## The Pipeline
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- It allows us to separate the WIP and the finished articles - It allows us to separate the WIP and the finished articles
- It allows us to keep an accurate and automated reference of who wrote and edited each article - It allows us to keep an accurate and automated reference of who wrote and edited each article
- It allows a copy of the entire journal to be stored in many different places as backups. - It allows a copy of the entire publication to be stored in many different places as backups.
- It allows us to easily sync new articles and changes to any git-compatible software forge of our choice (we use [forgejo](https://forgejo.org/)) - It allows us to easily sync new articles and changes to any git-compatible software forge of our choice (we use [forgejo](https://forgejo.org/))
By and large, with the power of git, plain text can fill more use cases than you could possibly imagine. By and large, with the power of git, plain text can fill more use cases than you could possibly imagine.