Creating a public tools site

2025-07-10 19:27

Earlier this week I started working on tools.zkbro.com, a database and website to track a bunch of things I deem worth tracking. Right on queue, Steve's Why am I creating a public database for my physical media? post popped up (worth a read if you're into these types of workflows and why you would do such things). After reading I was inspired to write my own.

Currently tools.zkbro.com is just a prototype. I intend it to be a lifetime project. First and foremost, it will be tracking things I own/owned/use/used. I'm still playing with categories, and I expect them to evolve. I'll link in some useful information like manuals, purchase price, condition, maintenance issues/fixes, upgrades, dates purchased, dates disbanded, dates disposed. The old asset manager in me is coming back out. I want this to be a useful list.

Like Steve, I intend on having the ability to update via Obsidian, though I am not making that my main focus. An essential is to be able to have templates and easily start adding items. YAML and markdown are perfect for this. See Juhis'How I write and publish blog posts in April 2025 post for more inspo. My favourite place to write notes is in the terminal, which is easy enough with a small script to copy and rename the template. I do that with this website via my blog.sh script.

BUT I want a different theme for the tools site. Something a bit more basic. A bit more list or database appropriate. For the moment, I've landed on a style. Actually this photo inspired me. New style means I gotta dive back into zola configuration again. uuuuurgghh I have forgotten everything about how I built this website. I let it sit dormant for too long.

For the love of me I could not get what I wanted, so I've decide to (ahem scope creep)... make my own static site generator so I can understand these things better and get what I want. Yeah, at this rate I will get nothing done. A few weeks ago I said if I ever update my blog.sh script, I'll try Textual to lend a hand. So yeah, I'll build an SSG but make the UI all beaTUIful with Textual.

For the moment though, I'll write in plain HTML (with a tiny bit of javascript for the filtering). I'll quickly move to YAML templates and markdown composing, with some simple md2html converter. Once I've decided on a template I'll probably write a massive list of all my "tools" and generate blank pages to begin with. I'll then try and pull in some correct dates so it all sorts nicely.

So why do I do things like this? Like Steve, because I can... except I actually can't make SSGs, but I'll bloody well figure it out.

Oh, today I bought my first ever multimeter. A perfect candidate.