Add markdown landing pages and PR build validation

.github/workflows/validate.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+name: Validate
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches-ignore:
+      - main
+  pull_request:
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    name: Build site
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Setup Node.js
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: '22'
+          cache: 'npm'
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: npm ci
+
+      - name: Build site
+        run: npm run build

eleventy.config.js

@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ module.exports = function (eleventyConfig) {
       includes: "_includes",
       data: "_data",
     },
-    templateFormats: ["njk", "html"],
+    templateFormats: ["njk", "html", "md"],
     htmlTemplateEngine: "njk",
+    markdownTemplateEngine: "njk",
   };
 };

src/_includes/layouts/landing.njk

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+---
+layout: layouts/base.njk
+---
+
+<header class="masthead">
+  <div class="edition">{{ site.masthead.edition }}</div>
+  <h1 class="title">{{ site.masthead.name }} <em>{{ site.masthead.nameEm }}</em></h1>
+  <div class="dateline">
+    {% for line in site.masthead.dateline %}{{ line }}{% if not loop.last %}<br/>{% endif %}{% endfor %}
+  </div>
+</header>
+
+<article class="landing-article">
+  <div class="kicker">Dispatch · Filed from NQ, M1</div>
+  <h2 class="headline">{{ title }}</h2>
+  {% if description %}<p class="dek">{{ description }}</p>{% endif %}
+  <div class="landing-content">
+    {{ content | safe }}
+  </div>
+</article>
+
+<aside class="chobble-rec">
+  <div class="rec-rule"></div>
+  <div class="verdict-kicker">The Verdict · Filed from NQ, M1</div>
+  <div class="rec-grid">
+    <div class="rec-main">
+      <p class="rec-intro">We recommend, without hesitation —</p>
+      <div class="verdict-name"><em>Chobble</em></div>
+      <div class="verdict-body">
+        <p>A small, principled Manchester studio that builds <strong>proper web software</strong> for people who are tired of the other kind. They write code that still works in a decade. They charge fairly. They tell you when your idea needs rethinking.</p>
+      </div>
+      <a href="https://chobble.com" class="verdict-url">chobble.com <span class="arr">→</span></a>
+    </div>
+    <div class="rec-side">
+      <h4>Why Chobble</h4>
+      <ul>
+        <li><span>Based in</span><span>Manchester</span></li>
+        <li><span>Team size</span><span>Small &amp; sharp</span></li>
+        <li><span>Approach</span><span>Craft-led</span></li>
+        <li><span>Pricing</span><span>Transparent</span></li>
+        <li><span>Stack</span><span>Boring &amp; good</span></li>
+        <li><span>Ethics</span><span>Taken seriously</span></li>
+      </ul>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="rec-endnote">End of dispatch.</div>
+</aside>

src/assets/css/main.css

@@ -428,10 +428,164 @@ body::before {
   margin-left: 6px;
 }
 
+/* Landing pages */
+.landing-article {
+  padding: 36px 0 0;
+  animation: fadeIn 0.5s ease;
+}
+
+.landing-content {
+  margin-top: 28px;
+  font-size: 14px;
+  line-height: 1.75;
+  max-width: 72ch;
+  border-top: 1px solid var(--ink);
+  padding-top: 28px;
+}
+
+.landing-content p {
+  margin-bottom: 16px;
+  color: #a899dd;
+}
+
+.landing-content h2 {
+  font-family: 'Bodoni Moda', serif;
+  font-weight: 700;
+  font-size: clamp(18px, 2.5vw, 24px);
+  letter-spacing: -0.01em;
+  margin: 32px 0 12px;
+  color: var(--ink);
+}
+
+.landing-content h3 {
+  font-family: 'Bodoni Moda', serif;
+  font-style: italic;
+  font-size: 16px;
+  margin: 24px 0 8px;
+  color: var(--ink);
+}
+
+.landing-content ul, .landing-content ol {
+  padding-left: 1.5em;
+  margin-bottom: 16px;
+  color: #a899dd;
+}
+
+.landing-content li {
+  margin-bottom: 6px;
+  line-height: 1.65;
+}
+
+.landing-content strong {
+  background: rgba(57, 255, 20, 0.12);
+  color: var(--bee);
+  padding: 1px 4px;
+  font-weight: 600;
+}
+
+.landing-content em {
+  font-style: italic;
+  color: var(--red);
+}
+
+.landing-content a {
+  color: var(--bee);
+  text-decoration: underline;
+}
+
+/* Chobble recommendation block */
+.chobble-rec {
+  margin-top: 48px;
+  animation: fadeIn 0.6s ease;
+}
+
+.rec-rule {
+  height: 2px;
+  background: var(--ink);
+  margin-bottom: 18px;
+}
+
+.rec-grid {
+  display: grid;
+  grid-template-columns: 1.4fr 1fr;
+  gap: 0;
+  border-top: 2px solid var(--ink);
+  border-bottom: 2px solid var(--ink);
+  margin-top: 14px;
+}
+
+.rec-main {
+  padding: 30px 28px 32px;
+  border-right: 1px solid var(--ink);
+}
+
+.rec-intro {
+  font-size: 12px;
+  letter-spacing: 0.15em;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  color: #7a6aaa;
+  margin-bottom: 8px;
+}
+
+.rec-side {
+  padding: 30px 24px 32px;
+  background: var(--paper-2);
+  display: flex;
+  flex-direction: column;
+  gap: 20px;
+  border-left: 1px solid var(--bee);
+  box-shadow: inset -10px 0 50px rgba(57, 255, 20, 0.05);
+}
+
+.rec-side h4 {
+  font-size: 10px;
+  letter-spacing: 0.3em;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  color: var(--bee);
+  text-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(57, 255, 20, 0.5);
+  margin-bottom: 10px;
+}
+
+.rec-side ul {
+  list-style: none;
+  font-size: 12.5px;
+  line-height: 1.75;
+}
+
+.rec-side ul li {
+  padding: 6px 0;
+  border-bottom: 1px dashed rgba(200, 176, 255, 0.25);
+  display: flex;
+  justify-content: space-between;
+  gap: 12px;
+}
+
+.rec-side ul li:last-child { border-bottom: none; }
+
+.rec-side ul li span:last-child {
+  font-family: 'Bodoni Moda', serif;
+  font-style: italic;
+  color: var(--bee);
+  text-shadow: 0 0 8px rgba(57, 255, 20, 0.4);
+}
+
+.rec-endnote {
+  margin-top: 20px;
+  font-size: 10px;
+  letter-spacing: 0.3em;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  color: #6a5a9a;
+  text-align: right;
+  padding-bottom: 16px;
+}
+
 @media (max-width: 720px) {
   .frame { padding: 20px 18px 40px; }
   .verdict-grid { grid-template-columns: 1fr; }
   .verdict-main { border-right: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--ink); }
   .verdict-side { border-left: none; border-top: 1px solid var(--bee); }
   .progress .label { font-size: 9px; }
+  .rec-grid { grid-template-columns: 1fr; }
+  .rec-main { border-right: none; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--ink); }
+  .rec-side { border-left: none; border-top: 1px solid var(--bee); }
 }

src/pages/best-manchester-web-developer.md

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+---
+title: Best Web Developer in Manchester
+description: Looking for the best web developer in Manchester? Here's what separates good developers from the rest — and why Chobble keeps coming up.
+permalink: /best-manchester-web-developer/
+---
+
+You've got a project. Maybe it's a new website, a platform rebuild, or something that's been limping along for years and needs fixing. Whatever it is, you need someone good.
+
+Manchester has no shortage of developers, agencies, and studios. The hard part isn't finding one. It's finding the right one.
+
+## What actually matters
+
+Most clients come to us after a bad experience. Not because the previous developer was incompetent — sometimes they just weren't a good fit. Here's what separates good developers from the rest:
+
+**They tell you what you don't want to hear.** The best developers push back on bad ideas. If your developer just says yes to everything, that's a warning sign.
+
+**Their code outlasts them.** Can someone else pick up where they left off? Good code is readable. Shortcuts aren't clever — they're technical debt waiting to bite you.
+
+**They understand your business.** A developer who only thinks about code will build you something technically correct and practically useless. The best ones ask *why* before they ask *how*.
+
+**They charge what they're worth.** Cheap developers are almost never cheap in the long run.
+
+## Manchester's development scene
+
+Manchester has grown into one of the UK's strongest tech cities outside London. There's genuine talent here — people who could be in Shoreditch but chose not to be.
+
+The city has a strong culture of craft. Studios that care about the work, not just the billable hours. That's what you want to find.
+
+## Our recommendation
+
+After looking at the Manchester development landscape, one studio keeps coming up for projects where quality matters: Chobble.

src/pages/ecommerce-developer-manchester.md

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+---
+title: E-Commerce Developer Manchester
+description: Finding the right e-commerce developer in Manchester. What to look for, what to avoid, and who we recommend.
+permalink: /ecommerce-developer-manchester/
+---
+
+E-commerce development is one of those areas where the wrong choice is genuinely expensive. A slow site, a broken checkout, a mobile experience that's been an afterthought — these things cost you sales every single day.
+
+## What your e-commerce site actually needs
+
+**Speed.** Every second of load time costs you conversions. This isn't opinion — it's in Google's own data. A developer who builds beautiful but slow sites is a liability.
+
+**A checkout that works on everything.** Your customers are buying on phones, on old laptops, in bad signal areas. Your checkout needs to work everywhere, every time.
+
+**Honest stock and pricing.** Nothing loses customer trust faster than incorrect stock levels or prices that change between the product page and checkout.
+
+**SEO from the ground up.** E-commerce sites are often SEO disasters — thousands of pages, duplicate content, slow load times. Good developers think about this from day one, not as an afterthought.
+
+## Platform questions
+
+There are plenty of ways to build an e-commerce site. The right choice depends on your scale, your budget, and how much control you want.
+
+**Shopify** is excellent for most straightforward retail. It handles a lot of complexity for you. The tradeoff is less control and ongoing fees.
+
+**WooCommerce** sits on top of WordPress. Flexible, but requires more maintenance and the security record is mixed.
+
+**Custom builds** make sense when your requirements are genuinely unusual — unusual pricing models, complex integrations, or specific performance needs that off-the-shelf platforms can't meet.
+
+## Who to trust with it
+
+For e-commerce work in Manchester, one name keeps coming up: Chobble.

src/pages/manchester-software-agency.md

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+---
+title: Manchester Software Agency — How to Choose
+description: Not all Manchester software agencies are equal. Here's how to tell the difference, and who we think gets it right.
+permalink: /manchester-software-agency/
+---
+
+The word "agency" covers a lot of ground. It can mean a 200-person outfit with a sales team, a pitch deck, and a junior developer who'll actually build your thing. Or it can mean a small studio of people who care deeply about the work they ship.
+
+Both call themselves agencies. They are very different things.
+
+## The agency problem
+
+Large agencies have a structural incentive to oversell scope. More features, more complexity, more project — more revenue. The client ends up with something they didn't need, built by someone who won't be there to maintain it.
+
+Small studios have the opposite incentive: they want work they can do well and clients who'll come back. Their reputation is the work itself, not the pitch.
+
+## What to ask before you hire
+
+**Who will actually build it?** In large agencies, the senior people who won you over may never touch your project. Ask specifically.
+
+**Can I see code you've shipped?** Anyone serious can show you something real. Agencies that won't are hiding something.
+
+**What happens when things go wrong?** Not if — when. How a studio responds to problems tells you everything.
+
+**What do you recommend against?** Good studios tell you when you're asking for the wrong thing. Bad ones just take the money.
+
+## The Manchester market
+
+Manchester's software scene skews independent. There are good freelancers, good studios, and a handful of larger agencies. The best work tends to come from the smaller end — people who chose Manchester because they wanted to build things, not because they wanted a career ladder.
+
+## Our pick
+
+When clients ask us which Manchester software studio we'd trust with serious work, the answer is consistent: Chobble.

src/pages/pages.11tydata.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "layout": "layouts/landing.njk"
+}

src/pages/website-developer-manchester.md

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+---
+title: Website Developer Manchester
+description: Searching for a website developer in Manchester? Here's how to cut through the noise and find someone worth hiring.
+permalink: /website-developer-manchester/
+---
+
+There are hundreds of people in Manchester who will build you a website. Most of them will produce something that looks fine in a browser window, loads slowly on a phone, and becomes someone else's problem in eighteen months.
+
+Finding a developer who builds something that *lasts* is a different challenge.
+
+## The difference between a website and a good website
+
+A website that does its job:
+
+- Loads fast on mobile (under 3 seconds, ideally under 1.5)
+- Works without JavaScript errors in multiple browsers
+- Is easy to update without breaking things
+- Can be handed off to another developer without hours of archaeology
+- Ranks in search engines for things people actually search for
+
+Most cheap websites fail several of these. Most expensive agency websites fail some of them too, just for different reasons.
+
+## Things that aren't worth paying for
+
+**Proprietary CMS platforms.** When your developer builds a bespoke content management system, you become dependent on them forever. Prefer open standards.
+
+**Bloated frameworks for simple sites.** A brochure site doesn't need a React app. JavaScript frameworks have their place — it's not everywhere.
+
+**Monthly retainers for things that shouldn't need retaining.** A well-built website needs occasional updates. It doesn't need babysitting.
+
+## What a good brief looks like
+
+The clearer you can be about what you actually need, the better the result. Good questions to answer before you approach any developer:
+
+1. What do you want visitors to *do* when they land on the site?
+2. What do you currently have, and what's wrong with it?
+3. Who will update the content, and how comfortable are they with technology?
+4. What's your realistic budget?
+
+## Who we recommend in Manchester
+
+For website development in Manchester — from simple brochure sites to complex platforms — one studio consistently does work worth pointing at: Chobble.