Colophon
The colophon, from the Greek kolophōn meaning “summit” or “finishing touch,” is a statement at the end of a book or manuscript providing information about its production.
This Website
This site is built with Jekyll, a static site generator that turns plain text into static websites and blogs. It is hosted on GitHub Pages. The domain is registered with Namecheap.
The design is based on the principles of Edward Tufte, the statistician and artist known for his work on information design. The theme is jekyll-theme-tufte, which implements Tufte’s distinctive style: generous margins, sidenotes instead of footnotes, and a focus on typography.
Typography
The body text is set in ET Book, a digital revival of the typeface used in Edward Tufte’s books. It is a serif font designed for extended reading, with old-style figures and proper ligatures.
Headings use Lato, a humanist sans-serif that provides contrast while maintaining warmth.
Writing Workflow
I write in iA Writer using Markdown syntax. Drafts live in a private Git repository until they are ready to publish. When I commit changes and push to GitHub, the site rebuilds automatically within seconds.
The newsletter, Kat’s Kable, is composed in Mailchimp and archived here manually.
Tools & Services
| Purpose | Tool |
|---|---|
| Static site generator | Jekyll |
| Hosting | GitHub Pages |
| Domain registrar | Namecheap |
| Writing | iA Writer |
| Version control | Git |
| Newsletter | Mailchimp |
| Analytics | None |
Design Decisions
- No analytics: I do not track visitors. The site has no cookies, no trackers, no Google Analytics.
- No comments: While I appreciate feedback, I prefer it via email where we can have a proper conversation.
- Minimal JavaScript: The site works perfectly without JavaScript. The only JS is for the “random post” button and margin note toggles on mobile.
- Deep plum accent: Chosen for its warmth and connection to fermentation, wine, and books.
Inspiration
This site draws inspiration from:
- Edward Tufte’s work on information design
- Gwern’s website for its meticulousness
- The Best of Journalism for curation
- Dense Discovery by Kai Brach for the newsletter format
Source
The source code for this site is available on GitHub. Feel free to fork it, though I ask that you change the content before publishing your own version.
Last updated: February 2026