---
title: Everybody Should Have an Website
author: Richard Zhang
authorGitHub: richardzcode
---

Everybody has social networks apps, probably more than one. But not a lot of people own websites.

The assumption is building an website is hard and probably requires some cost. Even [Wordpress](https://wordpress.org) famous 5 minutes installation doesn't cut it.

Actually it is easy, and requires no money, or very little depending on your needs.

This formula is generally true for many use cases:

```
Website = Hosting + Domain + Static Content
```

## Hosting

[GitHub](https://github.com) hosting is free. If you don't know Git. Just follow instructions on GitHub. They made everything simple and clear.

[Netlify](https://netlify.com) also has free personal plan. It is not just hosting. You may end up have Netlify for everything.

Of course there are [Amazon S3](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/) and alike.

## Domain

Domain registration is the part that needs some money. Price is different per providers. I use [Amazon AWS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/Route53/latest/DeveloperGuide/registrar.html). As of today, $12 for a '.com' domain for one year.

On the other hand, to get a domain like '_your_name_.github.io' or '_your_name_.netlify.com' is free. So this is really depend on how personalized do you want.

## Content Creation

People are afraid of learning HTML/CSS/Javascript.

But you don't have to. Just learn [Markdown](https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/), the guide is only one page. It is easier than MS Word.

## Content Generation

There are tools to convert your content to HTML.

[Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/) is built for transforming your plain text into static websites and blogs.

[Hugo](https://gohugo.io) is another popular choice.

If you know VueJs, try [NUXT](https://nuxtjs.org/).

If you know React, try [Docusaurus](https://docusaurus.io) or [Dochameleon](https://dochameleon.io). You still just write Markdown for content, but have the chance to extend with ReactJs.

There are so many, these are only the ones I have experience or interested in.

## Security

To make your site secure require some learning and maybe some money. However for most personal websites for just sharing contents. This may not be necessary.

## Conclusion

Social networks are boring. Have an internet handle for your personalities. The cost is less than one day of time, and zero amount of money.
