River

Toying with the idea of making a second website, and so I'm considering some of my options for hosting it. Github won't let me host another site for free. It looks like Gitlab has a pretty good service? It looks like I can do as many as I like for free, or am I mistaken?

Any other recommendations I should check out? I'm planning on just doing a static site, either WordPress¹ or 11ty. Needs to be free or dirt cheap, and if they're not evil, that's ideal.

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¹ Is WordPress actually good? It seems widely used even by some FOSS and tech people? I've only ever used 11ty, but I'm also trying to consider the viability of something that non-technical folks can interact with too.

#askFedi #webHosting #indieWeb #11ty #wordPress #techSupport

7:19amWeb
Show threadArianne B13h ago

@riverpunk Wordpress has the benefit of having implemented ActivityPub pretty thoroughly. 11ty might have as well - not familiar with that.

Ghost (https://ghost.org/) is another possibility. It has a free tier. The company is privately owned but very strongly community-oriented. Also implemented ActivityPub. Quite similar goals as Medium/Substack, but you can just use it as a public blog. I'm seriously non-techie, very clumsy user of WordPress but found my way around Ghost pretty readily.

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Show threadRiver12h ago

@adb hmm interesting, so WordPress handles both site generation as well as distributing that content (either as web content or apparently via ActivityPub)? Wasn't aware of that.

11ty is just something you run on your laptop that takes in some markdown files and an html template and it makes all of your pages for you. It doesn't handle server stuff, so no ActivityPub integration.

I'm looking at the Ghost site, where be the free tier? Pricing doesn't seem to indicate that. What all is included in the free tier?

Show threadShadow5312h ago

@riverpunk You might know this already, but WordPress isn't "static" in the way 11ty is. IIRC, 11th generates HTML files that you upload to be served directly, while WordPress uses PHP and a database to dynamically generate HTML when a page is visited.

If you want a Static Site Builder, look at https://jamstack.org/generators/ or https://github.com/myles/awesome-static-generators

I've only used Hugo and Zola (my current).

For hosting, https://pgs.sh offers a free tier. GitLab Pages and CodeBerg pages are also options.

Static Site Generators - Top Open Source SSGs | Jamstack

Check out this showcase of some of the best, open source static site generators. This is community-drive so be sure to submit your favorite today!

Jamstack.org
Show threadShadow5312h ago

@riverpunk Netlify used to make it easy to deploy static sites, but it seems they've pivoted from that?

I think hosting alone is worth asking fedi about. #hosting #StaticWebsites maybe?

Show threadRiver12h ago

@shadow53 interesting. Good to know stuff. Something I'm also trying to look into is a good way to run a newsletter for those readers who aren't comfortable with RSS.

I've got a temporary fix I use on my website with https://feedmail.org/ but tbh I kind of worry that something might happen to the platform and I'll have no access to my mailing list to migrate elsewhere.

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Show threadRootHosts11h ago
@shadow53 @riverpunk Hey! We actually provide hosting for both WordPress and static sites, including email, free TLS certificates, and no need to manage DNS.
Show threadRiver11h ago

@roothosts @shadow53 Are there any output or subscriber limits for your email at the Start tier? Also curious if you have any resources on how a static site might use your email services?

Thank you so much for the reply, your pricing seems fairly reasonable.

Show threadRootHosts10h ago

@riverpunk @shadow53

Regarding email on the Start tier of our Web/Shared hosting, you can create up to 2 email accounts.

As for static sites, there’s nothing special required — even a simple index.html counts as a static website and can be hosted with us. To send emails from a static site, you need to use a custom domain. If you don’t have one, we can provide an email address using our domain.

Show threadShadow5312h ago
@riverpunk If you want a standard blog, maybe @write_as is an option for you? It's paid only right now, but IIRC has good ActivityPub integration?
Show threadRiver12h ago

@shadow53 I've seen write.as, it's interesting. Too simple for my taste. I want my website to actually look like something. I'm a big fan of playing with HTML templates.

I want to be able to create the whole site + template, and then give a login to somebody less technical and they're able to edit text and create posts on the site.

Show threadSusan from NeuStudio9h ago
@riverpunk I switched from static sites to WordPress. The biggest benefit for me has been the community, there’s a lot of WordPress people and meetups. And plug-in developers. I am a team of one, these resources help a lot.
Show threadSusan from NeuStudio9h ago
@riverpunk on the other hand, it isn’t very lightweight. Because it is open source it is a favorite target of hackers. Plug-ins vary in quality and security.
Show threadshellsharks8h ago

@riverpunk You can do a free one on Codeberg (https://codeberg.page), in a similar fashion to GitHub. It took some finagling for me personally to figure it out but it works well so far. I’ve listed a bunch of other blog hosting options you could consider here https://shellsharks.com/indieweb#hosting.

Good luck!

Codeberg Pages - static pages for your projects

Show threadMichał Kucharczyk1h ago
@riverpunk If you are fediverse person, who is looking for a cheep, foss-friendly CMS, that can be set in away that is aligned with your values, it's very likely that "Ghost CMS" is what you are asking for. You'll need to make some choices between very cheep and very easy to set up (depending on how you choose to host it). What's the purpose of the site?