barely started

1 files changed, 101 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/tutorials/how-to-make-this-site.html b/tutorials/how-to-make-this-site.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ff80e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tutorials/how-to-make-this-site.html
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+<p>
+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
+what I thought would be a good idea and bought a book on the subject: "Web
+Sites for Dummies." I was dummy after all...
+</p>
+<p>
+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>
+</p>
+<p>
+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
+while since making a website seemed too expensive and needed too much flashy
+software to make it. I knew nothing about free software at that age, other than
+music software like Audacity which is what I was into at the time.
+</p>
+<p>
+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
+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.
+</p>
+<p>
+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.
+</p>
+<p>
+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
+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
+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
+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.
+</p>
+<p>
+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
+</p>
+
+<h2>What is a web <i>server</i> and how do I run one?</h2>
+
+<h2>How can make this server available on the Internet <i>cheaply</i> and <i>independently</i></h2>
+<p>
+I think it's important to cut to the chase on an important point that I feel
+is not written about a lot.
+</p>
+<h3>Can I run a web server at home</h3>
+<p>
+TL;DR Technically yes, but practically probably not. At least not at a lot of
+extra cost to you.
+</p>
+<p>
+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.
+<li>
+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
+games and videos that take 10 years to download.
+</li>
+<li>
+Your ISP probably explicitly does not allow this. I have <i>never</i> 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.
+</li>
+<li>
+</li>
+</p>
+<p>
+</p>
+