Outline

1. Previously in building a personal website
2. Building a personal website with wordpress
3. Building a personal website with squarespace
4. Conclusion

1. Previously in building a personal website

• Personal website building for dummies
  • What to include in a personal webstie
  • What to include in a personal website
  • How to build a website with a fork (github page)
  • How to build a website with SB You
• Things to consider when choosing a platform for personal website
  • Easy to read
    • about
    • research
    • teaching
  • Easy to maintain
    • updating materials
    • adding/removing entries
  • Easy to customize
    • adding fun stuff
  • (?) Easy to transfer

2. Building a personal website with wordpress

• What
  • wordpress: world’s most popular website builder (Wordpress 2021)
    • wordpress.com
    • SB You
• Why
  • what you see is what you get
  • free (almost)
  • templates
• How
  • register
  • basic layout
  • menu
  • page

See an example here

2.1 Building a personal website with wordpress.com

Step 1 - register

Step 2 - pick a domain

• you can change this later (but good domain names are hard to come up with)
• (from Personal website building for dummies)
  • domains using one’s name is (I think) a common practice, but see here :)
  • try to avoid stuff like bigsyntax.guru

Step 3 - basic setup

• design, fonts, features, which can be changed later

Step 4 - play!

• theme to play with: Penscratch 2
• wordpress component: page
• wordpress component: menu
• wordpress component: post

2.2 Building a personal website with SB You

• Very similar to wordpress
• More professional-looking domain
• See an example here

3. Building a personal website with Squarespace

• What
  • Everything you need to grow online. (Squarespace 2021)
• Why
  • more artistic-looking pages
  • slightly better user interface and experience
• How
  • similar to wordpress

See an example here (password: lei)

4. Conclusion

• Pros & Cons
  • Wordpress
    • Pros: easy to use; easy to import/export
    • Cons: domain name; ad
  • SB You
    • Pros: all of the pros in Wordpress; professional domain name
    • Cons: takes time to customize
  • Square space
    • Pros: slightly better UI and UX
    • Cons: no free option
• Things to consider when choosing a platform for personal website
  • easy to read
  • easy to maintain
  • easy to customize
  • (?) easy to transfer
  • Conclusion: Wordpress = SB You = Squarespace
• Pricing (annual)
  • Wordpress
    • free when using YourName.wordpress.com
    • $4/month with one year free domain
  • SB You
    • free
  • Squarespace
    • no free option
    • $12/month with domain
    • Student discount 50% off 1st full year