Personal Websites

Prerequisites¶

Summary¶

This section explores the importance and benefits of a personal website for researchers. Then, coding and non-coding website generators with different levels of complexity are discussed, explaining their features and differences. Several deployment options and maintenance strategies are also presented, helping researchers to choose the best solution for their needs.

Motivation and Background¶

A personal website is an online space where researchers can share their work and additional interests with a broad audience. It can serve as a platform to present research findings, projects, talks, publications, CV or resume, and other professional information. But this space is not necessarily limited to academic content; it can also be a place to share personal interests, hobbies, and other activities. As a result, this website can be customised to express the individual’s unique identity and values. This online presence can help researchers expand their visibility, engage with a wider audience, connect with potential collaborators, and even create new career opportunities.

Frameworks¶

What is a framework?¶

In website development, a framework is a set of pre-written code, tools, and libraries that help developers build and maintain websites more efficiently. Frameworks provide a structured foundation, offering reusable code modules, common design patterns, and guidelines, which help streamline the development process and promote best practices. They essentially “frame” the development by managing basic functionalities and allowing developers to focus on the unique aspects of their projects rather than repetitive tasks.

Benefits of using a framework¶

Frameworks provide several benefits in website development:

• Code Reusability: Common functions are built-in, which reduces redundancy.
• Efficiency: They allow faster development by eliminating the need to code every component from scratch.
• Scalability: Frameworks provide a solid structure that can grow with the website.
• Security: Many frameworks come with built-in security features and updates, which help mitigate vulnerabilities.

Popular frameworks¶

Here, we list some commonly used frameworks. They have been divided into two categories depending upon whether person wants to create a website using low-code or high-code options.

No-Code/Low-Code frameworks¶

• Canva
• Ghost
• GitHub profile
  • The repository rzashakeri/beautify-github-profile has instructions and advice to customise your GitHub profile.
• Squarespace
• Wix
• Wordpress

High-Code frameworks¶

Static website generator¶

• Academic pages
• Blogdown (R)
• Fast Html (Python)
• Hugo
• Jekyll
• Pure HTML/CSS/Javascript
• Quarto (R/Python/Julia)

Dynamic website generator¶

• Django