Bełchów.pl - Village Community Blog

A bilingual (Polish/English) static blog for the Bełchów village community, built with Go and Docker.

Features

• Bilingual support: Polish and English content with language switching
• Static content: Markdown files with YAML front matter (no database)
• Image galleries: Optimized images with lightbox functionality
• Responsive design: Clean modern CSS, mobile-first approach
• Dockerized: Multi-stage build with image optimization
• Traditional pagination: Easy navigation through posts

Project Structure

/app
├── cmd/blog/main.go              # Application entry point
├── internal/                     # Go packages
│   ├── handlers/                # HTTP handlers
│   ├── content/                 # Markdown parsing and loading
│   ├── middleware/              # Language middleware
│   ├── templates/               # Template rendering
│   └── images/                  # Image optimization
├── templates/                   # HTML templates
├── static/                      # CSS and JavaScript
├── content/                     # Bilingual content
│   ├── en/                     # English content
│   └── pl/                     # Polish content
├── assets/images/              # Optimized images
├── scripts/                    # Build scripts
└── belchow.pl/                 # Original photos (to be processed)

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose
• Go 1.22+ (for local development)

Using Docker (Recommended)

1. Build and run with Docker Compose:

   docker-compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up --build
   

2. Access the application:

   • English: http://localhost:8080/en/
   • Polish: http://localhost:8080/pl/

Local Development

1. Install dependencies:

   go mod download
   

2. Optimize images (requires ImageMagick):

   chmod +x scripts/optimize-images.sh
   ./scripts/optimize-images.sh
   

3. Run the application:

   go run cmd/blog/main.go
   

Makefile Commands

make dev          # Start development server
make build        # Build binary
make test         # Run tests
make clean        # Clean build artifacts
make docker-build # Build Docker image
make docker-run   # Run Docker container
make optimize-images # Optimize images

Content Management

Adding New Posts

1. Create markdown files in content/{lang}/posts/
2. Use the format: YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md
3. Include YAML front matter:

   ---
   title: "Post Title"
   date: 2024-04-05
   author: "Author Name"
   excerpt: "Brief description"
   images:
     - directory/image1.jpg
     - directory/image2.jpg
   ---
   

Adding Images

1. Place original images in belchow.pl/{event_date}/
2. Run make optimize-images to generate optimized versions
3. Reference images in posts using: assets/images/{directory}/{filename}

Deployment

Production Docker Build

docker build -t belchow-blog:latest .
docker run -p 8080:8080 belchow-blog:latest

Configuration

• Port: 8080 (configurable via PORT environment variable)
• Health check: /health endpoint
• Static files: Served from /static and /assets

Environment Variables

• PORT: Server port (default: 8080)
• GIN_MODE: Gin mode (debug/release)

Technology Stack

• Backend: Go 1.22 with Gin framework
• Templates: Go html/template with custom CSS
• Markdown: gomarkdown/markdown parser
• Image optimization: ImageMagick (build-time)
• Container: Multi-stage Docker build
• Frontend: Vanilla JavaScript for lightbox and language switching

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Submit a pull request

Contact

For questions or suggestions about the Bełchów.pl blog, please open an issue in the repository.