David🥧Personal website of David Aaron Pierce, artist, occasional coder and video game liker.2023-04-18T00:00:00Zhttps://davidaaronpierce.com/David Aaron Piercedavidaaronpierce@gmail.comfavicon.io2023-04-18T00:00:00Zhttps://davidaaronpierce.com/blog/link-faviconio/<p>Makes giving your website a favicon, the picture that appears in tabs and on Bookmarks, as easy as picking some options and clicking Download. What a great resource!</p>
google-webfonts-helper2023-03-21T00:00:00Zhttps://davidaaronpierce.com/blog/link-google-webfonts-helper/<p>This site makes it easy to set up self-hosting Google Fonts. Although Google gives you code to download fonts from their servers, hosting the fonts yourself reduces the requests and should ever-so-slightly bump up the loading speed of your site.</p>
Playing Epic Store Games on a Steam Link2023-03-10T00:00:00Zhttps://davidaaronpierce.com/blog/link-epic-games-on-steam-link/<p>I have a Raspberry Pi emulator running retro games, but lately I've also been running Steam Link on it to play some PC games (FF pixel remasters are really meant for a big screen TV). <a href="https://seanzwrites.com/posts/how-to-play-epic-games-on-steam-and-steamlink/">In this article</a>, Sean Z goes step by step how to put Epic Game Store games on the Steam Link as well.</p>
rpilocator2023-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://davidaaronpierce.com/blog/link-rpilocator/<p>Updates when new stock of Raspberry Pi's become available at retailers. No price gouging here, but you do have to keep up--with the ongoing shortages, stock doesn't stay around for very long.</p>
A new website, made in the web2023-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://davidaaronpierce.com/blog/2023-03-01-new-website/<p>It's 2023 and you need your own website. Today, there are enough free tools online that you can entirely build yourself a new website, host it and maintain it completely through a web browser.</p>
<p>The modern web has mostly become four websites the past couple decades. They are powerful websites most everyone frequents, and arguably the easiest way for someone to make a name for themselves. But they are also controlled by megalomaniacs who value unlimited growth above your content and space.</p>
<p>But there will always be a place for your own unique presence that cannot be controlled by someone else. A place that you can really make your own.</p>
<p>My website is largely built and maintained <em>within</em> the browser, and although I keep a copy of the repository on my own hard drive, ultimately most of my time spent on it has been remotely. I'm going to walk through how I do it.</p>
<h2 id="11ty-to-github" tabindex="-1">11ty to GitHub <a class="header-anchor" href="https://davidaaronpierce.com/blog/2023-03-01-new-website/">#</a></h2>
<p>I started with a static site generator, <strong><a href="https://www.11ty.dev/">11ty</a></strong>, and used their <a href="https://github.com/11ty/eleventy-base-blog">starter blog</a>, which allows you to get up and running with a simple blog website.</p>
<p>I made my own repository on <strong>GitHub</strong> using the starter as a template, and from there I began tinkering with the code and layouts using GitHub's Codespaces. Basically, it opens VS Code on your browser and you can just start working on the site right there. The terminal is fully functional, and so you can just run</p>
<pre class="language-bash" tabindex="0"><code class="language-bash">npx @11ty/eleventy <span class="token parameter variable">--serve</span></code></pre>
<p>and GitHub will serve up a live updated version of your site, and give you a link to view it as you work. Move that tab over to its own window on the other side of your desktop and you can work and watch the site change.</p>
<p><em>Note that you only get 60 hours of Codespaces time on the free plan</em>, so if you're done designing your site and don't need a live preview anymore, you can use <a href="https://github.dev/">https://github.dev/</a> to make changes to your codebase and make new posts.</p>
<h2 id="github-to-netlify" tabindex="-1">GitHub to Netlify <a class="header-anchor" href="https://davidaaronpierce.com/blog/2023-03-01-new-website/">#</a></h2>
<p>Once I had a decent looking site made on Codespaces, I commited my work to my personal repository, and then went to <strong><a href="https://www.netlify.com/">Netlify</a></strong> for free web hosting. I don't get a ton of traffic, so the free plan works great for my blog. On your Netlify account, you can log in with GitHub and just directly deploy your website's repository. Since I have a domain name, I set that up on the <strong>Domain Management</strong> settings in Netlify, and within a day I had my new website on my address.</p>
<h2 id="github-pages" tabindex="-1">GitHub Pages <a class="header-anchor" href="https://davidaaronpierce.com/blog/2023-03-01-new-website/">#</a></h2>
<p>While Netlify does a great job of just building and deploying a site with no fuss, maybe you don't want another site to log into. Instead, you can host your website using GitHub for free by naming your website repository <strong><username>.github.io</strong> and tinker with <a href="https://docs.github.com/en/actions"><strong>GitHub Actions</strong></a>. After some effort setting up your workflow, your website will become public at <strong>http://<username>.github.io</strong> and that can be your new, free home on the internet.</p>
<p>This is the config I used to build my 11ty site using <strong>11ty-dockerless-build</strong>, and then deploy on GitHub Pages using <strong>actions-gh-pages</strong>. The <code>github_token</code> part at the end can be a bit tricky and will require some setup in your Github account and repository settings. <a href="https://github.com/peaceiris/actions-gh-pages">You can get more info about the deploy step here</a>.</p>
<pre class="language-yml" tabindex="0"><code class="language-yml"><span class="token key atrule">name</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> Eleventy Build<br><span class="token key atrule">on</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> <span class="token punctuation">[</span>push<span class="token punctuation">]</span><br><br><span class="token key atrule">jobs</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span><br> <span class="token key atrule">build_deploy</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span><br> <span class="token key atrule">runs-on</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> ubuntu<span class="token punctuation">-</span>latest<br> <span class="token key atrule">steps</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span><br> <span class="token punctuation">-</span> <span class="token key atrule">uses</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> actions/checkout@master<br> <span class="token punctuation">-</span> <span class="token key atrule">name</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> Build<br> <span class="token key atrule">uses</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> extrawitz/11ty<span class="token punctuation">-</span>dockerless<span class="token punctuation">-</span>build@v1<br> <span class="token punctuation">-</span> <span class="token key atrule">name</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> Deploy<br> <span class="token key atrule">uses</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> peaceiris/actions<span class="token punctuation">-</span>gh<span class="token punctuation">-</span>pages@v3<br> <span class="token key atrule">with</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span><br> <span class="token key atrule">publish_dir</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> _site<br> <span class="token key atrule">publish_branch</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> gh<span class="token punctuation">-</span>pages<br> <span class="token key atrule">github_token</span><span class="token punctuation">:</span> (your auth goes here)</code></pre>
<h2 id="alternatives" tabindex="-1">Alternatives <a class="header-anchor" href="https://davidaaronpierce.com/blog/2023-03-01-new-website/">#</a></h2>
<p><strong><a href="https://gitlab.com/">GitLab</a></strong> will work similarly to GitHub, as it can also run VS Code in the browser, and they also have GitPod, which allows live updating just like Codespaces. Additionally, GitLab Pages can deploy and host your site with an arguably easier setup than GitHub.</p>
<p>I've also seen <strong><a href="https://glitch.com/">Glitch</a></strong> used not only to code and build things with a more accessible interface, but also to deploy and host websites. It looks very easy to set up and use, as it has everything built-in. There's even a <a href="https://glitch-hello-eleventy.glitch.me/">pre-made 11ty Glitch project</a> that you can get started with in seconds.</p>
<h2 id="final-thoughts" tabindex="-1">Final thoughts <a class="header-anchor" href="https://davidaaronpierce.com/blog/2023-03-01-new-website/">#</a></h2>
<p>Social media as a whole isn't going anywhere. But the big sites are constantly changing their Terms of Service and rules, they shift their values, and sell advertising with your content. I think it's important to have your own place on the internet with the words, images, videos and other things that you care about, that a massive company cannot dictate or remove on the whim of its shareholders.</p>
<p>While we are using services to set this website up that are controlled by companies, ultimately what we're making is a git repository that you can maintain copies of on your own hard drive and in multiple clouds.</p>
<p>This is your site, your data, and if you need to take it somewhere else because Netlify or GitHub go away, it'll be pretty easy to do so.</p>