Building a personal website or blog doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. In this post, I’ll walk you through how I built this site using Jekyll and GitHub Pages.
Why Jekyll?
Jekyll is a static site generator that transforms plain text into beautiful static websites. Here are some key benefits:
- Fast and secure: No databases, just static HTML files
- Easy to maintain: Write content in Markdown
- Free hosting: GitHub Pages hosts Jekyll sites for free
- Version control: Your entire site is in Git
Getting Started
First, you’ll need to install Ruby and Jekyll on your system:
gem install jekyll bundler
jekyll new my-awesome-site
cd my-awesome-site
bundle exec jekyll serve
Customizing Your Site
Jekyll uses Liquid templates and includes powerful features like:
- Collections for organizing content
- Data files for managing structured data
- Plugins for extending functionality
- Themes for quick styling
Deploying to GitHub Pages
GitHub Pages makes deployment incredibly simple:
- Create a repository named
username.github.io - Push your Jekyll site to the repository
- Your site is automatically built and published!
Conclusion
Jekyll and GitHub Pages provide a powerful, free platform for building websites. Whether you’re creating a portfolio, blog, or documentation site, this combination offers flexibility and ease of use.
Happy building!