This post marks the relaunch of this website on Hugo and Cloudflare Pages. After earlier experiments with GitHub Pages and WordPress, I have moved the site to a static publishing workflow that is easier to maintain, easier to manage in version control, and stronger from a security perspective.
Site Migration Timeline
| Year | Platform | Key Takeaway |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | GitHub Pages (Jekyll) | Provided a useful introduction to Git-based publishing, but the design and feature options became limiting over time. |
| 2020 | WordPress | Offered a convenient visual editing environment, but required continuous maintenance, plugin management, and security monitoring. |
| 2025 | Hugo + Cloudflare Pages | Established a static, Git-based workflow with faster deployment, fewer runtime dependencies, and improved maintainability. |
Why I Moved Away from WordPress
WordPress remains a powerful publishing platform, especially for dynamic websites and editorial teams that need a web-based content management system. However, for a personal research and technical site, the maintenance burden became disproportionate to my actual publishing needs.
Two security-related issues were particularly relevant:
- 7,966 new vulnerabilities were disclosed in the WordPress ecosystem in 2024, representing a 34% increase over 2023, or approximately 22 new vulnerabilities per day (Patchstack, 2025).
- Sucuri’s 2022 incident dataset reported that 96.2% of hacked CMS sites in its sample were running WordPress (Sucuri, 2023).
My own WordPress installation was affected through an outdated plugin. The incident resulted in front-page defacement and loss of administrative access. Because I did not have a recent backup, recovering the database was not practical. This experience made the limitations of my previous workflow clear: the site depended too heavily on a live database, third-party plugins, and manual maintenance routines.
Operational Lessons
The migration process clarified several practical lessons for long-term site management.
-
Domain management should be automated.
I previously allowed the domain
jiyuuneko.comto expire. It was registered by another party shortly afterwards. Auto-renewal is now treated as part of the site’s basic infrastructure. -
Version control should function as a core backup layer.
A static site stored in Git is easier to audit, restore, and redeploy than a database-driven site without reliable backups.
-
A smaller runtime surface is easier to manage.
Static publishing does not remove all security risks, but it reduces exposure by removing the need for a server-side CMS runtime, PHP execution, and a live MySQL database.
Why Hugo and Cloudflare Pages
Hugo and Cloudflare Pages fit the current purpose of this website: publishing structured notes, research reflections, technical documentation, and project updates with minimal operational overhead.
The main advantages are:
- Fast static generation. Hugo can generate pages quickly, making it suitable for a growing archive of posts, notes, and documentation.
- Git-based publishing. Content is written in Markdown, tracked through Git, and deployed through a reproducible workflow.
- Reduced maintenance burden. There is no WordPress dashboard, plugin stack, PHP runtime, or production database to maintain.
- Edge-based delivery. Cloudflare Pages serves static files through Cloudflare’s global network, which can improve loading performance for readers across different regions.
- Built-in deployment previews. Pull-request previews make it easier to review changes before publishing them to the live site.
- HTTPS and security controls. Cloudflare provides automatic HTTPS and configurable security features that support a more controlled deployment environment.
What to Expect from This Site
The site will focus on research-oriented and practice-oriented writing, including:
- landscape research notes;
- urban resilience and sustainable infrastructure;
- digital publishing workflows;
- technical documentation for maintaining this website;
- professional project reflections and research development notes.
The new site is available at https://gatto.land. The previous WordPress site is no longer the primary publishing environment, and the current workflow is designed to be more stable, transparent, and maintainable over time.
References and Image Credits
Cloudflare. (2016, September 27). Cloudflare logo [SVG logo]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cloudflare_Logo.svg
Coelho, E., & YellowIcon. (2008, May 2). Stachledraht DDoS attack diagram [SVG image]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stachledraht_DDos_Attack.svg
Francia, S., & Parr, B. (2014, May 28). Logo of Hugo the static website generator [SVG logo]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Logo_of_Hugo_the_static_website_generator.svg
Patchstack. (2025). State of WordPress Security in 2025. https://patchstack.com/whitepaper/state-of-wordpress-security-in-2025/
Sucuri. (2023). 2022 Hacked Website Report. https://sucuri.net/reports/2022-hacked-website-report/
Whelan, D. (2016, May 24). Cliche Hacker and Binary Code (26946304530) [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. CC0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cliche_Hacker_and_Binary_Code_(26946304530).jpg