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Run Your Own Website

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Re: Run Your Own Website

#131

Post by kartan »

dwheeler wrote: post #29

At least own your domain name and be able to easily move your website content to whereever you want. I think for most people it's cheaper and more convenient to use a hosting service, and that's fine... as long as you can change hosting services. I've had my personal site ( https://dwheeler.com ) since 1999. As noted in https://dwheeler.com/aboutsite.html my site has been hosted on 4 different systems, and I'm sure t…

> since 1999

That is really impressive. I purchased my first domain around that year. But, I failed to keep it up to date. I have moved 4 times to different domains. And, it has been the last one that I have updated for the past 5 years or so. The rest are lost.

I really like your "Slashdotted" section. It brings back a lot of memories.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#132

Post by cannonedhamster »

Invictus0 wrote: post #60
cannonedhamster wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So for most people that are in the situation you describe I'd say they would probably just spin up a WordPress instance, pick a theme they like, and start posting. A static html site? Even easier. There are tons of services out there that will let you host your own content for very little money or even free. You can set up a static site on a platform like 1mb.com for next to nothing and edit the html, css, etc. To yo…

Home Depot sells a service where you can pay $100 to have a professional handyman come to your house and knock four nails into your wall to install a shelf. People pay this because the level of complexity of using a hammer is too high. I have seen the light go out of the eyes of people with a non-technical background trying to explain even the most basic of engineering concepts (most recently, why I can't get a 10lb…

I am abundantly aware of the skills of most people. I even addressed exactly what you said in my response numerous times. I specifically said you can pay someone to host your site using site builders, templates, etc. None of that prevents someone from hosting their own site. You seem to be conflating hosting your own site from building a site from scratch. Chances are if someone doesn't have the ability to even pay someone to host their site, they aren't the target for this conversation and your point is essential moot.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#133

Post by cannonedhamster »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #104
cannonedhamster wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So for most people that are in the situation you describe I'd say they would probably just spin up a WordPress instance, pick a theme they like, and start posting. A static html site? Even easier. There are tons of services out there that will let you host your own content for very little money or even free. You can set up a static site on a platform like 1mb.com for next to nothing and edit the html, css, etc. To yo…

I've not written a site from scratch in a few years (3 or 4) until recently, CSS has got a lot more complex (and yet also slightly easier as most of the core is the same across 98% of in-use browsers). I hadn't done flexbox or css grid, didn't know what rem was, hadn't used calc(), or media queries that target based on viewport size. Just spin-up a Wordpress instance sounds easy but most people will need/want a few p…

None of what you're saying is more than point and click in WordPress. No one you're describing is doing anything as complicated as you're describing because they don't know to even ask for it. They are going to be perfectly happy with what they are offered stock. Paying someone to host your site means things like site builders with auto resize and point and click interfaces exist. It's like half my comment was ignored.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#134

Post by cannonedhamster »

olooney wrote: post #71
Invictus0 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Home Depot sells a service where you can pay $100 to have a professional handyman come to your house and knock four nails into your wall to install a shelf. People pay this because the level of complexity of using a hammer is too high. I have seen the light go out of the eyes of people with a non-technical background trying to explain even the most basic of engineering concepts (most recently, why I can't get a 10lb…

There's a weird bug in human psychology where anything we can easily do ourselves is considered "easy" in an absolute sense, even if we've literally spend years or even decades acquiring the skills that make it so easy. No patch is forthcoming and the issue has been marked WONTFIX in the tracker.

If you can't point and click then you cannot use a computer and you're not hosting a blog, you're probably not using a computer. There's no one who can post to Facebook that doesn't have the capability to host their own website.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#135

Post by avaika »

Don't forget one small nuance: own website requires much (MUCH) more time for initial setup, than any other solution as service which is suggested instead. Especially if it's not a simple static site. And probably for maintenance as well (but it's debatable). Even for tech guys (especially those, who's not in webdev).

Re: Run Your Own Website

#136

Post by megous »

mmphosis wrote: post #127

$12 + tax a year for each domain name. If you know a way around this, let me know. Using a single dynamic IP address, if the IP address changes I manually point the domain names to the new IP address. It's a bit of a pain, but the IP address really doesn't change that often. I could automate this with a great amount of time and trouble. I wish the Domain Registrar didn't have such a crazy panel for configuring such t…

For my home IP I use cname to a dynamic dns service provided by my router manufacturer.

There are free dyndns services, that integrate with many home router brands. Then you don't need to automate the main domain A/AAAA record changes, which can be cumbersome, depending on the provider.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#137

Post by spc476 »

melling wrote: post #75
saagarjha wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're looking for buzzwords when the parent is trying to give you a stack that has worked worked for decades. You bringing up the "Beating the Averages" post isn't relevant.

Sure, it’s very relevant: “Software is a very competitive business, prone to natural monopolies. A company that gets software written faster and better will, all other things being equal, put its competitors out of business. And when you're starting a startup, you feel this very keenly.” I’m not exactly sure why what I’m asking is not clear. One person with great tools can accomplish a lot more than a small team with…

You seem to be asking for a single clear answer. Okay, here's one: node.js. Learn it. Live it. Love it. Use VS Code. Learn it. Live it. Love it. Is this the best combination? Many seem to use it (it's the current hotness that all the hipsters are using) so it must be good. If that's not a satisfactory answer, ask yourself why it isn't. As for the "software written faster and better will ... put its competitors out of business" quote, take a look at Microsoft. They were never the first to market, and often times, it took them three or more attempts to get something correct. Yet they're still a juggernaut of a company. Being first doesn't mean you'll win---just as often you'll end up with arrows in your back.

It really depends upon what you want to do. My own website [1] is written in XML and I use XSLT to convert it to HTML [2]. My blog [3] uses a mixture of C and Lua [4] because that's what works for me. A great craftsman can make wonderful items with average tools that an average craftsman with great tools cannot. It's not just the tools, but how well you understand them and what their limitations are [5]. Also, the industry changes. Hell, javascript didn't even exist when I started making websites. Nor did Java. I got taught CS 101 in Fortran of all languages. The only constant is change, so stop asking what's best, and just start working. You'll find out what works for you and what doesn't.

[1] http://www.conman.org/

[2] I wanted an easier way to maintain the links among all the pages (next section, previous section, next page, previous page, etc.) instead of modifying static files. XSLT was the new hotness at the time. I won't say it was a mistake, but I haven't bothered changing the underlying technology since.

[3] http://boston.conman.org/

[4] https://github.com/spc476/mod_blog

[5] I know of a bridge player (a card game) who took the time to learn x86 assembly language to write his own bridge playing software, and from my understanding, at the time it was a "best of breed" type program. Could he have been more productive in another language? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#138

Post by llukas »

cardingggg wrote: post #69

I totally agree with this. While running and maintaining your own website isn't trivial enough yet that _anybody_ can just up and do it, it's definitely something most anyone willing to spend a weekend can pick up and learn, with maybe a bit of help. Been considering moving towards a static site generator setup myself, and is currently looking at Gatsby. I'm curious though --- barring preference for language, which g…

Just use one with biggest following ie. Jekyll - you'll get tons of tutorials/themes/extensions.

Using standard representation of posts (ie. Jekyll uses markdown - which integrates nicely with R markdown/bookdown) is a plus.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#139

Post by rodolphoarruda »

coldpie wrote: post #36
llao wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI your font-size is uncomfortably huge, I can see maybe 25 lines of text on my desktop screen. It feels like I should step backward a meter or two.

Enormous fonts is a trend in modern web design for some reason. I browse most sites at about 66% zoom. Get used to the Ctrl+- shortcut.

It's everywhere but here in Hacker News, where I'm comfortably reading on screen at 133% zoom.

Re: Run Your Own Website

#140

Post by Spearchucker »

I've been running this since 1995 - https://www.wittenburg.co.uk. Most of the stuff on it isn't public (lists, home photos, documents) and I can't imagine not having it.

It's super lightweight and yes, I still use HTML tables. Because they're easier to understand 5 years later than div tags.

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