For a long time, I wanted to make my own website. I wanted to have a section of the internet that was all about me and the things I am passionate about. Social media didn't feel personal enough and there wasn't enough space in Facebook's datacenter for my ego (jk). Even as a software developer in a steady job, there were several things in the way of having a decent website:

• Advanced knowledge of html/css/javascript. My knowledge was limited to a single intro to web development class.
• The fact that I am frugal and don't want to pay for hosting services or tools like WordPress
• I didn't have much time to learn how to host and develop my own site from scratch

Eventually I came across a solution that would provide me with free hosting and quick development that only required me to learn some new tech. That solution was to use Jekyll alongside Github Pages.

The way it works is, first you purchase a domain name from a registrar of your choice. I bought mine (samuelale.com) from NameCheap. Once you have your own domain, make a github account and follow the tutorials/instructions provided on their github pages section. I was able to follow the instruction there and use the documentation from Jekyll to develop the first iteration of this website at no monthly cost!