about done. how to build first draft

1 files changed, 244 insertions, 29 deletions

diff --git a/.md/tutorials/how-to-make-this-site.md b/.md/tutorials/how-to-make-this-site.md
index 684f00f..e898828 100644
--- a/.md/tutorials/how-to-make-this-site.md
+++ b/.md/tutorials/how-to-make-this-site.md
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
-<h2>Background</h2>
-*I don't got time, get to *[the point](#thepoint)
+## Background
+*TL;DR get to *[the point](#thepoint)
 
 I think it was roughly the end of high school when I first had the idea I
-wanted to make <i>some</i> kind of website. This would be around 2010 and I did
+wanted to make *some* kind of website. This would be around 2010 and I did
 what I thought would be a good idea and bought a book on the subject: "Web
 Sites for Dummies." I was dummy after all...
 
 I got up to hyper linking with the "a" tag until I hit a wall. I don't want to
 link the exact page since I don't want to get sued, but it basically read:
 
-<pre>
+```
     Web design programs:
     - Adobe Dreamweaver
     - Adobe Contribute
     - Microsoft Expression Web
-</pre>
+```
 
 Well, damn. I didn't have any of those. And as a stingy high school kid, I
 didn't want to buy anything. So I shelved that book and forgot about for a
@@ -25,70 +25,285 @@ music software like Audacity which is what I was into at the time.
 A few years later I caught a bit of a poetry bug--and maybe a bit of a snooty
 college kid bug--and tried to run a blog. At that point, I had learned about
 WordPress, which lets you easily make a space for sharing writing, media,
-content, whatever really. And it's free as in <i>freedom</i> as I understand
+content, whatever really. And it's free as in *freedom* as I understand
 since it's licensed under the GPL (if you want to take the time to deploy it
 yourself). But they also give out free .wordpress domains and some storage
-space for people who know nothing about hosting.
+space.
 
 I had fun with that one, I don't update it anymore, but it's still up at
 <a href="https://postquantumpoetry.wordpress.com">postquantumpoetry.wordpress.com
 </a>. WordPress got closer to what I wanted, but it still wasn't <i>really</i>
 my site; it was WordPress's site unless I wanted to pay the hosting and domain
 fee. It's pretty modest, but I wasn't sold on sticking with a .com or .space
-domain, or even sticking with WordPress. I was getting tired of blogging and
-wanted to really make something.
+domain, or even sticking with WordPress. I was getting tired of blogging
+anyway. I was getting more interested in the stuff that made it work; it
+seemed a lot more fruitful than writing to no one.
 
 It's now 2021, five years later, when I write this (and this website isn't even
 finished yet). So what led me down the rabbit hole again? It probably started
 where the last one left off, when I decided I wanted to switch to more
-practical IT things over the academic science-y things I had previously wanted
+practical IT things over the academic things I had previously wanted
 to pursue. I signed up for a Cybersecurity program, somehow got in, and
 eventually managed to land a entry-level SOC role after graduating. At this
-point, it was getting a little embarrassing that I had no web
+point, it was getting a little weird that I had no web
 presence--especially after I decided to take down most of my social media
 accounts. So I was back at "how do I make a website," again, but this time, I
 at least had some understanding of what a server was and how networks work. And
 more importantly, I had a better idea of what it meant for a computer to be
-<i>mine</i>. Even though--let's be real--it <i>still isn't</i>. I can't get
+*mine*. Even though--let's be real--it *still isn't.* I can't get
 high-speed Internet easily which I need to host a server long-term so I'm stuck
 using some else's computer, otherwise called a Virtual Private Server (VPS).
 Even if I could host at home, I'm still of course at the mercy of my ISP so
 even then, I'm not totally free.
 
 Because of that, I think it's important to understand that
-"running your own website" is not just a <i>technical</i> ordeal, but also an
-<i>economic</i> one since you have to carefully think about what it means to
-you to <i>own</i> your server, your software, and your hardware
-
+"running your own website" is not just a *technical* ordeal, but also an
+*economic* one since you have to carefully think about what it means to
+you to *own* your server, your software, and your hardware. That doesn't
+mean it's hard to do, just that there's options.
 
 <a id="thepoint"></a>
-<h2>What is a web server and how do I run one?</h2>
-TL;DR a web server is just a way for other computers on a network to
-view files in a particular folder.
+## What is a web server and how do I run one?
+TL;DR a web server is just a program that lets other computers on a
+network view files in a chosen folder. All you need to do is download a
+web server: apache and nginx are popular ones, but you can easily
+program your own with web frameworks like
+[Flask](https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/2.0.x/) or
+[Facil](https://facil.io/)
+
+You can run a web server for free right now. If you're on windows go
+download Apache for Windows
+[here](https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/platform/windows.html) and
+follow the set up guide
+[here](https://www.liquidweb.com/kb/how-to-install-apache-on-a-windows-server/).
+If you're on Linux, you probably already have it installed.
+
+Find the configuration file in `sites-available/default` (on
+windows, this may be led by C:\Program Files\Apache Software
+Foundation\Apache2.4\ ). You'll see something like the following:
+
+```
+<VirtualHost *:80>
+        ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
+
+        DocumentRoot /var/www
+        <Directory />
+                Options FollowSymLinks
+                AllowOverride None
+        </Directory>
+        <Directory /var/www/>
+                Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
+                AllowOverride None
+                Order allow,deny
+                allow from all
+        </Directory>
+```
+
+For now, you don't need to change anything, so don't worry about what it
+means.
+
+Note in particular the "DocumentRoot" which may differ for you. This is
+where the web server looks for files. So let's put a file there! Put
+whatever, a picture, a text file. Run the server, then go to
+your web browser and type: `http://localhost`. You'll find a directory
+with your files in it!
+
+The problem is, only you and others on your home network can visit your
+site right now.
+
+Your computer's most likely behind your router's firewall, which will
+not allow any traffic in. You'll need to forward a port from your router
+(port 80 is for HTTP) to point to the device hosting the server.
+
+Router's differ when it comes to to exact configuration, but MOST
+routers will have some kind of steps similar to this:
+
+1) Click "Advanced" then click "Firewall"
+
+2) Scroll to the add new rule form (if you must, press a button to bring
+it up)
 
-<h2>How can make this server available on the Internet <i>cheaply</i> and <i>independently</i></h2>
+3) Put in the following values
+- source/original port: 80
+- forward to address/device: your device's local ip
+- forward to/destination port: 8000
 
-TL;DR expense scales with independence. It's possible to become your own
+You can get your device's local ip by typing `ipconfig` (Windows) or `ip
+a` (Linux). Typically it is listed first and will start with "192.168" or
+"10.0" but it depends on the manufacturer.
+
+Now get your *public* ip address at this site https://who.is/ and share
+it with your friends. Watch in horror as they access all the files in
+the directory you launched the server!
+
+## How can make this server available on the Internet *cheaply* and *independently*
+
+TL;DR Expense scales with independence. It's possible to become your own
 service provider, get IP addresses from ICANN, your own hardware to host
 it, to host your cat pics; but it's also a lot of time, work and money
-to do all that (see [Null]())
+to do all that (see [Null]())>. Most likely you'll want to rent someone
+else's server, usually a VPS.
+
+Once you understand the basic installation above, you can now populate
+your site with content just by adding HTML files to your web directory.
+You can use an HTML editor to write these, or you can download a full
+content management system to help you. Here are some options I know
+about:
+
+- You can just write the damn HTML and use apache or nginx
+
+This honestly is not that hard, it just takes long and takes away from
+the joy of writing in my opinion. But if your content is short and
+sweet, or you're mostly hosting files, writing a few basic HTML files in
+vim or notepad and adding some CSS goes a long way.
+
+- [Neocities](https://neocities.org/)
+
+Neocities is based on the old Geocities from the mid 90s which allows
+simple static hosting and features and amazing array of creative
+projects. Everything is managed through the website, and you can pay to
+set your own custom domain.
+
+- Wordpress (but this time, you set it up)
+
+Before wordpress was a social media blogging thingamajig, it was just a
+content management system to spin up a pretty blog. You can download and
+install Wordpress by following:
+
+https://wordpress.org/support/article/how-to-install-wordpress/
+
+The benefit of installing yourself is enormous,
+since you have full control and can even edit the source if you have
+the guts.
 
-<h3>Can I run a web server at home</h3>
+- [Github pages](https://guides.github.com/features/pages/)
 
-TL;DR Technically yes, but practically probably not. At least not at a lot of
-extra cost to you.
+In addition to hosting code repositories, you can host small sites on
+github for mostly free. I've never used it, but I definitely would if I
+needed something like a small wiki.
+
+But once you have stuff to share, how do you keep this stuff online?
+
+### Can I run a web server at home
+
+Technically yes, but practically probably not. At least not at a lot of
+extra cost to you. If you do want to host a small thing at home, like
+some text or some cat pics, a
+[tor hidden service]("/site/tutorial/how-to-host-a-tor-hidden-service.html")
+is a great option.
 
 I spent a lot of time searching on this (you can find a full list of references
 at the bottom), and I've even tested a little bit by hosting game servers and
 web projects for code jams, but the problem is twofold. First, if you are in
 the United States and not a business, you probably have a standard plan with
-one of the major ISPs (Verizon, Optimum, etc.). This limits
-you in a few ways.
+one of the major ISPs (Verizon, Optimum, etc.). This limits you in a
+few ways.
 
 - Your bandwidth is limited, which limits the amount of people you can serve
-at one time <i>and</i> the rate you can transfer data to them. Think laggy
+at one time *and* the rate you can transfer data to them. Think laggy
 games and videos that take 10 years to download.
-- Your ISP probably explicitly does not allow this (at least in the US). I have <i>never</i> had my
+
+- Your ISP probably explicitly does not allow this (at least in the US). I have *never* had my
 ISP complain about hosting small personal servers at home, but I imagine if I
 hosted higher traffic things, I would have some problems.
 
+### So what should I do
+
+Most people will find it cheapest to rent from a VPS provider--VPS
+stands for "Virtual Private Server," which just means an
+Internet-connected server stored somewhere in someone's private data
+center. You pay them for the storage and to keep your server online and
+accessible.
+
+Once you've got enough content and a way to manage it, all you have to
+do is just copy all that stuff over to your VPS. Usually that looks
+like:
+
+- Installing a web server and a CMS tweaked to your liking
+- Copying over your stuff to the web directory
+- Opening up your ports to the outside world.
+
+And in a nutshell that's it. There's fancy stuff of course, like you'll
+want a [domain name](#dns) probably and I'll talk about that too, but at
+this point, your stuff is on the Internet! Just tell your friends to
+paste in your public ip address (your VPS provider will tell you this)
+and there's your stuff!
+
+<a id="dns"></a>
+## What's a "Domain Name"
+
+Expecting people to save your IP address is not really a good idea
+though. It's better to have an easy name they can remember. Enter DNS,
+the Domain Name System. If an IP address is a telephone number, DNS is
+the telephone book. ICANN and IANA host the top level servers, which
+point to local domain registries who buy names like "mjfer.net" on
+behalf of their customers.
+
+The actual business of domain names is complicated and not something I
+understand all that well. But setting up a domain name to point to an IP
+address is typically easy, once you've chosen a domain registrar (just
+search that online and you'll find a ton) and name you like. Be aware
+that shorter names are rarer and usually more expensive and different
+TLDs (like ".net" and ".io") will be priced differently.
+
+Once you have a domain name, you'll need to set up a DNS record. Again,
+this varies a bit based on the provider, but all will have some kind of
+text input of API where you can edit DNS records. You'll want to make
+two records
+
+- A Type A that will be your main record
+ - set the HOST to your domain name (like mjfer.net)
+ - set the ANSWER to your IP address (like 8.9.36.54)
+- A CNAME record, that will help point to all your other records
+ - set the HOST to your domain name, with a wildcard subdomain (like \*.mjfer.net)
+ - set the ANSWER to your main record (like mjfer.net)
+
+The reason for the second record is in case you want to set subdomains
+on the same IP address like "git.mjfer.net".
+
+Wait a few minutes for the DNS servers to update and you should now be
+able access your server by name.
+
+## Setup HTTPS and TLS, a false sense of security
+
+A decade of half-though through security advice has convinced everyone
+that HTTPS and *only* HTTPS is secure. This is simply not true. Using
+HTTP alone doesn't inherently make you insecure and using HTTPS
+doesn't automatically guarantee the app your communicating with is
+secure.
+
+What HTTPS means is that the *data you send to the server* is
+encrypted. This only provides security in contexts where you're entering
+information like a credit card number or a password. In those cases 
+*you need HTTPS*. But if you're just requesting a text document, or a
+cat picture, and not sending any data, HTTP is perfectly acceptable for
+retrieving that information.
+
+Web browsers have largely responded to this fact by assuming that HTTP
+is always insecure and printing a warning when you visit a site without
+HTTPS enabled. Unfortunately, most users interpret this to mean the site
+is somehow dangerous, even if it doesn't collect any information about
+the user. Because of that, most you will want to go the extra mile to
+make your visitors feel warm and fuzzy inside and implement HTTPS.
+
+Fortunately, this is now much easier than is used to be thanks to
+[LetsEncrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/). LetsEncrypt generously serves
+as a free certificate authority, which allows you to generate signed
+certificates that are recognized by every web browser in the world. The
+tool they recommend, [certbot](https://certbot.eff.org/) is painless to
+install. I've rarely had to do much more than `certbot certonly` and
+follow the prompts to get a certificate. Once you've obtained one, add
+it to
+[apache](https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/ssl/ssl_howto.html)
+or
+[nginx](https://www.nginx.com/blog/nginx-ssl/#Examples),
+switch the port to 443 instead of 80 and bam, you've got HTTPS!
+
+## References
+
+1. https://dataswamp.org/~solene/2021-07-23-why-selfhosting-is-important.html
+2. https://selfhostedweb.org/yourserver/
+3. https://www.howtogeek.com/362602/can-you-host-a-web-server-on-your-home-internet-connection/
+4. https://googiehost.com/blog/create-your-own-server-at-home-for-web-hosting/
+5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN
+