I just removed note tags from both https://tech.zlliang.me and https://days.zlliang.me.
While writing notes, I kept thinking about how tags should be organized. Sometimes I would spend quite a while deciding which tags to use, and that gradually turned them into a writing burden instead of a helpful tool. I found that tags are simply hard to plan well and maintain over the long term. On top of that, after adding search to notes a few days ago, part of the original value of tags was already covered. I would rather leave tags out for now and add them back only after I find a better way to organize notes.
Along the way, I also simplified the sidebar and reworked the /notes/types index page. The sidebar is now flatter and quieter, and the type index uses richer cards with counts and short descriptions.
The refreshed note types page
The main commit is zlliang/zlliang@8381e33, a cleanup and simplification pass across both sites that removed tags, flattened the sidebar, and improved how note types are presented. Most of the code was written with the help of the Codex app.
Update Mar 22, 2026: Removing tags also removed their old URLs, so I later added middleware handling for those legacy routes. Old tag pages now return 410 Gone while the other migrated note URLs keep working through redirects, which should make the cleanup clearer to search engines.
Update Mar 30, 2026: In late March, I renamed my two journal websites. They are now Hack https://hack.zlliang.me and Muse https://muse.zlliang.me. See: Renamed the two journal websites to Hack and Muse.
Zilong Liang / Hack