I really like HUGO, and building this site using this framework is really fun. It is very customisable and offers a lot of flexibility. The only thing I do not like about it is the themes for it. I hate them. Especially PaperMod, as I’ve used it myself and since it’s the most popular theme.

I don’t know why, but every theme maker wants to add tons of CSS to their themes. I don’t think they look good either, and it just adds the hassle to override every single line of their CSS just to change styles for yourself, creating a huge mess. You can use their default CSS, but what’s the point? It will just look like the tons of other websites using the same theme. They also go for a minimalistic, modern aesthetic to make it look more professional. Why the fuck do you want to make your blog look professional? Why the fuck do you want to add Google Analytics to your blog?

They also add a ton of useless features that you have to specify in the configuration file. So you end up with a giant confusing config file specifying which features you want to use or don’t want to use, that are shipped with the theme and already add bloat to the website. It provides a very streamlined experience, which is good for people who just want an easy setup with built-in features, but a nightmare once you want to add something yourself. You’ll also not learn anything about HUGO and how it works, you’ll learn to work with specific themes and features they provide.

I changed my theme to LUGO, by the meme guy, Luke Smith. It’s very simple and offers barebones options. I customised nearly every line of code, and that’s what a good theme should offer. Simplicity and ease of modification.

This was my rant about PaperMod, which I wrote down in a note to ease my frustration while rebuilding the site.