WIP: The blog

README.md

@@ -62,6 +62,32 @@ We're using [elm-test-rs](https://github.com/mpizenberg/elm-test-rs) to run [elm
 - About Us profile text is in `Copy.AboutUs`
 - Page templates for each `Route` are defined in e.g. `Page.Index` and `Page.CaseStudy`
 
+### Writing blog posts
+
+All blog posts are just markdown text files in `/blog-posts`. When you have your content
+written just copy an existing post file and replace that content/meta data as needed.
+
+Then run `npm run build_blog`. This will validate that all post files have the correct
+meta fields and output a `blog-data.json` payload. You can then reload your local server
+and the new post should appear at the front of the list.
+
+There is also the RSS feed output file written to `blog-feed.rss`.
+
+Any added posts and changes to the payload or feed files should be pushed to main branch
+to make live on the public site.
+
+The meta fields are (currently):
+- `author` Who wrote it. Can be any string.
+- `title` The title of the post. Don't put the title in the content. Also appears in the
+  browser title field.
+- `publish_date` Must be in YYYY-MM-DD format.
+- `teaser` Short paragraph giving a brief overview of the main subject. Also used in the
+  page meta field for SEO.
+- `keywords` A list of comma seperated key-words. Also used in the
+  page meta field for SEO.
+
+At this point there is no established way of embedding images.
+
 ### Styling & layouts
 
 - TBC

blog-posts/blog-introduction.md

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+slug: 'introducing-the-cookie-blog'
+author: 'Ivan Kocienski'
+title:  'Introducing the Cookie Blog'
+publish_date: '2026-01-14'
+teaser: 'A little hello from us with an introduction to our plans for the coming year.'
+keywords: 'introduction, thoughts, plan'
+---
+
+Hello!
+
+And welcome to the cookiewolf blog- our little slice of the internet where we can post ideas and updates about all the things we are getting up to. (Or that is the plan!)
+
+We are an active group in our local communities so it will be nice to take some of those experiences and put them into words.
+
+We also hope this will be where we can share resources with the wider community.
+
+Or maybe one week we just want to share our cookie recipes.
+
+With love,
+
+The Cookie Wolf humans.

blog-posts/escaping-big-tech.md

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+---
+slug: 'escaping-big-tech'
+author: 'Ivan Kocienski'
+title:  'Escaping Big Tech'
+publish_date: '2026-01-01'
+teaser: 'BigTech: over-dependence on centralised platforms'
+keywords: 'introduction, thoughts, plan'
+---
+
+## Introduction
+
+Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Google, etc. are increasing their grip on more of our lives, both professional and personal. The problem is they're very convenient and have well established integration in our day-to-day activities.
+
+I think worrying about such things can seem unecassery and as long as our rights (and their legal obligations) are followed then there is nothing to worry about?
+
+But it doesn't take a lot of looking around to find examples of Big Tech abusing its status as a defacto monopoly and how they only seem happy to protect our rights when it aligns with their profit margins and quarterly performance reviews.
+
+## You are not alone
+
+[RABT]
+
+## So what can we do?
+
+Time to take our data back into our own hands. Maybe not overnight, but just a little, here and there.
+
+## Our tech stack
+
+At Cookiewolf we try to avoid as much of this as possible. Here are a few bits of tech we use
+- [ghandi]() DNS
+- [Hetzner]() VPS hosting
+- [Netlify]() hosting
+- [cloudron]() platform
+- [whereby]() video conferencing
+- [zulip]() chat platform
+- [linux]() OS
+
+## We can do better
+
+Unfortunately a big part of our day-to-day software engineering efforts take place on Microsofts Github. We have all our repositories there and in turn all our bug tracking. Moving will not be easy.
+
+We hope to move to [gitlab] (either self hosted or as a paid PaaS) in 2026.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+I hope

elm.json

@@ -8,14 +8,14 @@
         "direct": {
             "elm/browser": "1.0.2",
             "elm/core": "1.0.5",
+            "elm/json": "1.1.3",
             "elm/url": "1.0.0",
             "elm-explorations/markdown": "1.0.0",
             "hmsk/elm-vite-plugin-helper": "1.0.1",
             "rtfeldman/elm-css": "18.0.0"
         },
         "indirect": {
             "elm/html": "1.0.0",
-            "elm/json": "1.1.3",
             "elm/time": "1.0.0",
             "elm/virtual-dom": "1.0.3",
             "robinheghan/murmur3": "1.0.0",

index.html

@@ -9,13 +9,18 @@
   <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/src/assets/apple-touch-icon.png">
 
   <title>Cookiewolf Co-op</title>
-  <meta name="description" content="Cookiewolf is a cooperatively-run digital development and design studio. We work with organisations of all sizes to discover, design and build the digital tools they need.">
-  <meta name="keywords" content="cooperative, digital, tech for good, grassroots, social impact, open knowledge, open source, green economy, diversity, disability advocates, accessibility, LGBTQIA+, fair society, open society">
+  <meta name="description"
+    content="Cookiewolf is a cooperatively-run digital development and design studio. We work with organisations of all sizes to discover, design and build the digital tools they need.">
+  <meta name="keywords"
+    content="cooperative, digital, tech for good, grassroots, social impact, open knowledge, open source, green economy, diversity, disability advocates, accessibility, LGBTQIA+, fair society, open society">
   <meta name="author" content="Cookiewolf Cooperative">
   <meta name="og-title" property="og:title" content="Cookiewolf Co-op">
   <meta name="og-url" property="og:url" content="https://cookiewolf.coop">
-  <meta name="og-description" property="og:description" content="Cookiewolf is a cooperatively-run digital development and design studio. We work with organisations of all sizes to discover, design and build the digital tools they need.">
+  <meta name="og-description" property="og:description"
+    content="Cookiewolf is a cooperatively-run digital development and design studio. We work with organisations of all sizes to discover, design and build the digital tools they need.">
   <meta name="og-image" property="og:image" content="https://cookiewolf.coop/meta-image.png">
+
+  <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="/blog-feed.rss">
 </head>
 
 <body>

package.json

@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
     "serve": "vite preview",
     "format": "elm-format src/ --yes",
     "lint": "elm-review",
-    "test": "elm-test-rs"
+    "test": "elm-test-rs",
+    "build_blog": "node scripts/convert-blog-posts-to-json-payload.js blog-posts/ src/assets/blog-data.json public/blog-feed.rss"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "elm-review": "^2.13.2",
@@ -21,4 +22,4 @@
     "@fontsource/poppins": "^5.2.6",
     "elm-debug-transformer": "^1.2.1"
   }
-}
+}

public/blog-feed.rss

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<rss version="2.0">
+    <channel>
+      <title>Cookiewolf blog</title>
+      <description>The place for cookiewolf thoughts of all kinds.</description>
+      <link>https://cookiewolf.coop</link>
+      <copyright>Cookiewolf Coop</copyright>
+      <lastBuildDate>2026-01-28T10:54:08.551Z</lastBuildDate>
+      <pubDate>2026-01-28T10:54:08.551Z</pubDate>
+      <ttl>1800</ttl>
+
+      <item>
+  <title>Introducing the Cookie Blog</title>
+  <description>A little hello from us with an introduction to our plans for the coming year.</description>
+  <link>https://cookiewolf.coop/blog/introducing-the-cookie-blog</link>
+  <guid isPermaLink="false">introducing-the-cookie-blog</guid>
+  <pubDate>2026-02-14T12:00:00.000Z</pubDate>
+ </item>
+<item>
+  <title>Escaping Big Tech</title>
+  <description>BigTech: over-dependence on centralised platforms</description>
+  <link>https://cookiewolf.coop/blog/escaping-big-tech</link>
+  <guid isPermaLink="false">escaping-big-tech</guid>
+  <pubDate>2026-02-01T12:00:00.000Z</pubDate>
+ </item>
+</channel>
+</rss>