"The medicine you need to make the centralized Internet go down."
You're looking at Bitters right now.
Bitters is a simple-as possible website built with Express, Jade, Stylus and deployed using Node.js.
Bitters uses Git as a replacement for bulky CMSes. You maintain your content using Git. Use your favorite text editor to write, publish, and deploy your work to the web.
"I installed bitters a couple of days ago. I went "wooooaaaoooow" like Keanu Reeves. Like taking acid for the first time. Just 4 lines of code immersed me in all these new technologies –git, node, markdown– stuff I'd only toyed with before." -Marc Eglon, June 2013
Bitters acknowledges when we abstract away 'the hard stuff', we also lose the magic of publishing to the web. By learning how to deploy ourselves, we gain freedom and independence on the distributed web.
Bitters came into being as a reaction to Gwen and Ev's ongoing frustration with 'user-friendly' website 'solutions'.
Those of use using Bitters do so because we know the only way to have the freedom to express ourselves online is to know our full stack.
You'll need a VPS (virtual private server) with root access running Linux or Mac OS X with Git and Node.js installed.
Using Bitters you'll get practice using Git in a deployment environment, and how to deploy Node.js to the distributed web. By the time you've deployed Bitters, you'll have a grasp of how to use Node.js and Git.
Download the Bitters open source Git repository right now and try Bitters yourself. If you have any trouble, check out the resources below.
By Ev Bogue
Deploy Node teaches you everything you need to know to deploy Bitters to your own VPS. Read and work through step-by-step instructions as you learn the ins-and-outs of Node.js, Express, Jade, Stylus and how all of these elements come together in Bitters. Learn more
By Gwen Bell
Git Commit teaches you how to use Git to maintain Bitters on your VPS. Why Git and not another CMS? Because Gwen has tried them all and none of them are replacements for rolling your own. Learn more