Speaker 1: For those of you who've maybe looked into building a website,
Speaker 1: you know, navigated the complexities, or even just grappled with
Speaker 1: the hosting costs, which can be surprising. What if we
Speaker 1: told you there's a powerful, really elegant way to build
Speaker 1: and host truly beautiful websites completely for free.
Speaker 2: Yeah it sounds almost too good to be true, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: But today we're taking a deep dive into exactly that,
Speaker 2: this remarkably accessible world of free web development. Our mission
Speaker 2: really is to unpack how you can get a professional
Speaker 2: online presence up and running using two surprisingly powerful tools,
Speaker 2: public cms and GitHub pages.
Speaker 1: Right, and we've been immersing ourselves in Brad Moore's book
Speaker 1: Designing Websites with pub Land GitHub Pages create, maintain, and
Speaker 1: host beautiful websites for free. It's a really comprehensive guide,
Speaker 1: a bit of a treasure trove, actually, and our goal
Speaker 1: for this deep dive is to distill the most impactful bits,
Speaker 1: the key insights, to give you the clarity and maybe
Speaker 1: the confidence to launch your own thing exactly.
Speaker 2: Get ready for maybe some aha moments, because by the
Speaker 2: end of this you should not only understand the core concepts,
Speaker 2: but also grasp the practical steps, you know, the how
Speaker 2: to to get your site live and all without breaking
Speaker 2: the bank or getting lost in technical jargon.
Speaker 1: Okay, so when we talk about building websites, I think
Speaker 1: many of us our minds immediately jump to those complex, dynamic,
Speaker 1: database driven sites, right, the ones constantly fetching content. So
Speaker 1: what exactly is a static website and why should that simplicity?
Speaker 1: Why should it genuinely interest you?
Speaker 2: Well, the real revelation about stack sites, I think, isn't
Speaker 2: just their speed or security. Those are huge, it's how
Speaker 2: they fundamentally simplify the whole web infrastructure for you. I mean,
Speaker 2: imagine building a solid online presence without constantly worrying about
Speaker 2: server updates or database breaches or tricky backend debugging.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that alone sounds appealing, right.
Speaker 2: A static site is kind of like a maybe a
Speaker 2: published book or a sculpture. Once it's made, it's fixed,
Speaker 2: it stays the same until you decide to create and
Speaker 2: publish a new version. Dynamic sites, on the other hand,
Speaker 2: and they're more like a live TV show, maybe with
Speaker 2: a server constantly assembling new scenes behind the curtains based
Speaker 2: on every interaction.
Speaker 1: Okay, so it's not constantly rebuilding itself with every single
Speaker 1: user click. That sounds inherently more robust, definitely more efficient
Speaker 1: to manage. But are their trade offs? What about interactivity?
Speaker 1: Can they still feel modern?
Speaker 2: You've hit on a key benefit there. Static sites load
Speaker 2: incredibly fast, lightning fast sometimes, and they are significantly more secure,
Speaker 2: precisely because there's no back end database for hackers to
Speaker 2: target or exploit. And as for interactivity, that's where JavaScript
Speaker 2: comes in. Modern static sites, you know, boosted with JavaScript,
Speaker 2: can still deliver really dynamic like experiences, animations, interactive forms,
Speaker 2: all that stuff. The core content is static, sure, but
Speaker 2: the user experience can be anything but static.
Speaker 1: That distinction is really important. I think so for you
Speaker 1: the listener, this approach means your site is essentially always on,
Speaker 1: accessible twenty four to seven. It offers high visibility, and
Speaker 1: you have complete control over your content. It's pretty ideal
Speaker 1: for small businesses, organizations, maybe individuals just looking to share
Speaker 1: ideas or offerings.
Speaker 2: Exactly, or fostering community through blogs, newsletters, contact forms. It
Speaker 2: really does democratize powerful web development, makes it accessible.
Speaker 1: Okay, so now we understand the elegant simplicity maybe of
Speaker 1: static sites. The obvious next question is how do you
Speaker 1: actually build one? And that's where, as you said, the
Speaker 1: magic of public CMS and get up pages comes in
Speaker 1: allowing us to get online for free.
Speaker 2: Right, So our first star here is public cms. Think
Speaker 2: of it like your personal website factory, but it runs
Speaker 2: right on your desktop. It's a fantastic choice for pretty
Speaker 2: much anyone, individuals, small businesses who wants to secure, fast
Speaker 2: and really easy to maintain website without needing deep coding skills.
Speaker 1: Ye, how does it actually work? Then?
Speaker 2: Well? Publici works by compiling all your content, your text, images,
Speaker 2: themes into fixed s HTML files right there on your computer.
Speaker 2: And it's available pretty widely. Runs on Windows, macOS, both
Speaker 2: Intel and the newer Apple chips, and several Linux versions too,
Speaker 2: so it's very accessible. Plus, and this is a big
Speaker 2: deal for many, it has built in tools for GDPR
Speaker 2: and CCPA compliance that gives you significant peace of mind
Speaker 2: on the data privacy front.
Speaker 1: Okay, so publy I builds the site files on my computer.
Speaker 1: Then what where do they actually live online so people
Speaker 1: can see them?
Speaker 2: Ah? That's role number two for gethub pages. It's essentially
Speaker 2: a free cloud based hosting service specifically designed for these
Speaker 2: static website files. What's really brilliant about it is you
Speaker 2: don't need to get bogged down in complex web hosting stuff,
Speaker 2: you know, configurations or even domain name setups right at
Speaker 2: the start. GitHub handles all that for you initially, so
Speaker 2: it simplifies that whole back end process massively. So the
Speaker 2: workflow simplified looks like this. Number One, you create and
Speaker 2: manage your site locally on your computer using public CMS.
Speaker 2: Number two, Public compiles it and then pushes transfers those
Speaker 2: site files up to GitHub Pages, which acts as your
Speaker 2: remote server. And number three, finally, your website content gets
Speaker 2: delivered from GitHub page straight to the end user in
Speaker 2: their web browser. Honestly, seeing what you've created come alive
Speaker 2: online for the first time. It's genuinely thrilling.
Speaker 1: That does sound incredibly empowering taking control like that. So
Speaker 1: what sort of practical tools and maybe smart habits will
Speaker 1: you need to set yourself up for success here?
Speaker 2: Okay, beyond your computer itself, you'll probably want a free
Speaker 2: image viewer, something like earfun View for Windows or Nomacs
Speaker 2: form Echos is great for basic image browsing, maybe some
Speaker 2: simple resizing, and obviously a good web browser like crime
Speaker 2: is essential. But the most and I mean most indispensable habit,
Speaker 2: and I speak from a painful experience here is write
Speaker 2: everything down.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, the forgotten password nightmare.
Speaker 2: Exactly. We've all been there right staring at a log
Speaker 2: in screen, just racking our brains for that password. But
Speaker 2: for your website's ecosystem, PUBLICI, GitHub, maybe your domain resure later.
Speaker 2: A forgotten credential isn't just annoying, it can literally halt
Speaker 2: your entire operation. So the simple habit, this little notebook,
Speaker 2: it becomes your digital safety net. It prevents hours of lockout, frustrum.
Speaker 2: Trust me on this one.
Speaker 1: A very small investment for potentially huge savings in time
Speaker 1: and stress. Okay, that notebook is key. What about creating
Speaker 1: and managing those critical passwords themselves? Any best practices?
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely excellent question. When you're creating passwords, first rule,
Speaker 2: ditch the personal info, no names, pet names, birthday is
Speaker 2: none of that. Instead, try embracing the power of multiple short,
Speaker 2: unrelated words. Like four or five short words strung together.
Speaker 2: It can be way stronger and surprisingly easier to remember
Speaker 2: than just a random jumble of characters like x U
Speaker 2: seven seven tags on fee right.
Speaker 1: The correct hor's battery stable.
Speaker 2: Idea exactly that concept. Yeah, though don't use that specific one.
Speaker 2: Obviously capitalize maybe one or two of the words include
Speaker 2: a number, but maybe not a significant date. Avoid spaces usually.
Speaker 2: Special characters can add strength, sure, but they aren't always
Speaker 2: necessary unless a site forces you. But the single most
Speaker 2: crucial rule, do not reuse passwords ever across different systems.
Speaker 1: That's the big one.
Speaker 2: It is for ultimate security and just convenience. Really consider it.
Speaker 2: Using a dedicated password safe something like keypass is a
Speaker 2: good free option.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So for the initial setup to actually get started building
Speaker 2: your site, you'll need a dedicated email address. A new
Speaker 2: outlook dot com address is often recommended. It adds a
Speaker 2: layer of security and looks a bit more professional for
Speaker 2: your website operations. And of course you need a GitHub account,
Speaker 2: and within GitHub you'll create what's called a repository. Think
Speaker 2: of it just as a dedicated project folder online for
Speaker 2: all your website's files.
Speaker 1: Okay, foundational setup is clear, email, GitHub account, password safety, net.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the fun part, making the site
Speaker 1: actually look stunning and adding compelling content. How does public
Speaker 1: handle that?
Speaker 2: Right? Publicy really does shine here, especially with visual customization.
Speaker 2: It uses themes to control the whole look and feel
Speaker 2: of your site. Public itself offers I think it's twenty
Speaker 2: nine official themes now. Thirteen are free, sixteen are premium,
Speaker 2: and the great thing is they're all kept up to
Speaker 2: date by the developers, so they stay compassed with new
Speaker 2: Pubblelie releases.
Speaker 1: That's good to know. How do you get and use
Speaker 1: a theme?
Speaker 2: It's a pretty simple three step process actually. First you
Speaker 2: find and get a theme you like from the public
Speaker 2: Marketplace online, Second, you install it globally within the public
Speaker 2: CMS application on your computer, and then third you activate
Speaker 2: it locally specifically for the website project you're working on.
Speaker 2: And here's a crucial tip one I really can't stress enough.
Speaker 2: Always back up your site before you activate a new theme.
Speaker 2: Why's that because some theme changes, especially if they alter
Speaker 2: content structures, can be irreversible. You really don't want to
Speaker 2: lose hours of work just trying out a new look.
Speaker 2: A quick backup saves potential tears.
Speaker 1: Okay, noted? Why is warning? So once you have a
Speaker 1: theme in place, how do you start making it your own?
Speaker 1: You know, stamp your personal brand on it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can easily apply a custom image as your
Speaker 2: website logo. That's usually step one. Then there's the hero section.
Speaker 2: You know that big graphic and text block off you
Speaker 2: right at the.
Speaker 1: Top mm hmm, the main banner area exactly.
Speaker 2: That's perfect for making an immediate visual impact, and you
Speaker 2: can customize that heavily. You also get full control over
Speaker 2: adjusting the primary colors and the fonts used across the site.
Speaker 2: For example, Railway is a popular clean choice for body text,
Speaker 2: while maybe merriwether Sands works nicely for headings. Pubbly is
Speaker 2: also pretty smart. It caches Google fonts locally, which helps
Speaker 2: your site load faster. And don't forget the little things
Speaker 2: like the faby con that tiny icon that shows up
Speaker 2: in the browser tab next to your site name. It's
Speaker 2: a small detail, but it adds that professional polish right.
Speaker 1: What about personalizing the author's presence, say if it's a
Speaker 1: blog or a portfolio site, and how do you structure
Speaker 1: the navigation?
Speaker 2: The men use Absolutely in Public's author settings, you can
Speaker 2: really flesh things out. Add your bio in the description
Speaker 2: field like the example Bobby's bio in the source, upload
Speaker 2: an avatar image, even add a featured image specifically for
Speaker 2: your author page, and always always remember to add a
Speaker 2: keyword rich SEO meta description for that author page. It
Speaker 2: helps search engines understand who you are and what your
Speaker 2: profile is about.
Speaker 1: Okay SEO even for the author page. Good tip and.
Speaker 2: Menus menucreation is super easy. You can build your main
Speaker 2: navigation menu and add individual menu items effortlessly. Public supports
Speaker 2: different kinds of links too. You can link to your
Speaker 2: homepage obviously, or to lists of posts with specific tags.
Speaker 2: You can add external links, like for a contact dust
Speaker 2: page that goes to an email address or another site.
Speaker 2: A quick tip on external links, it's generally best practice
Speaker 2: to make them open in a new browser tab, and
Speaker 2: you might want to add a no follow attribute.
Speaker 1: What does no follow do?
Speaker 2: It basically tell search engines, hey, don't pass any of
Speaker 2: my website's ranking authority or link juice to this external site.
Speaker 2: It's a way to manage your site's SEO reputation, especially
Speaker 2: if you link out a lot internal links. Though links
Speaker 2: to other pages or posts within your own site, those
Speaker 2: should usually open in the same window for a smoother
Speaker 2: user experience, and rearranging menu items is just simple drag
Speaker 2: and drop.
Speaker 1: Very intuitive, that sounds flexible and as you start creating
Speaker 1: more content, say blog, post or articles. How do you
Speaker 1: keep it all organized? For yourself and for visitors?
Speaker 2: Tags are definitely your best friend here. They're vital for
Speaker 2: categorizing everything. You might have tags like news, musings, tutorials,
Speaker 2: whatever fits your content. You create the tags, and you
Speaker 2: can even add featured images and specific meta descriptions for
Speaker 2: the tag pages themselves, which again gives you another little
Speaker 2: boost for your site's SEO.
Speaker 1: Okay, so tags help organize. Now actually adding the content,
Speaker 1: the posts and pages, what's that experience like?
Speaker 2: In Pobolheim, Publa offers a couple of main editors. There's
Speaker 2: the ys wag editor that stands for what you see
Speaker 2: is what you get. It feels a lot like using
Speaker 2: a classic word processor, you know, with a toolbar for bold, italics, lists,
Speaker 2: et cetera. You format as you type. Then there's the
Speaker 2: block editor. This one's a bit different. You build your
Speaker 2: content by assembling predefined blocks. A block for text, a
Speaker 2: block for an image, a block for a heading. It's
Speaker 2: kind of like building with digital legos. It offers maybe
Speaker 2: more structured control.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Is there another option?
Speaker 2: Yes? For purely static content like a terms and conditions
Speaker 2: page or a privacy policy. The markdown editor is also available.
Speaker 2: Markdown uses really simple symbols, like a hash sign hashtag
Speaker 2: for a header or double asterisks text for bold. It's
Speaker 2: very clean and distraction free, and Pabla even includes a
Speaker 2: little view help cheat sheet if you're new to it. Now,
Speaker 2: here's a critical point to remember about the editors. Once
Speaker 2: you create a post or a page using one editor,
Speaker 2: say the Block editor, you must always edit that specific
Speaker 2: piece of content using the same editor.
Speaker 1: Ah. You can't switch back and forth between wysiweigi and
Speaker 1: Block on the same post exactly.
Speaker 2: Trying to switch can seriously mess up the formatting and structure.
Speaker 2: So pick one editor for a piece of content and
Speaker 2: stick with it.
Speaker 1: Good to know. Okay, within those editors, what are the
Speaker 1: fundamental building blocks when you're actually crafting your posts and pages.
Speaker 2: Well, you'll start with a compelling title, obviously than your
Speaker 2: main body text. The source actually uses some fun chat
Speaker 2: GPT generated lorem ipsum examples like lunar lasagna just as placeholder.
Speaker 1: Text viaser lasagna.
Speaker 2: Huh yeah. You can easily embed images, of course, and
Speaker 2: here adding alternative text or alt text for every image
Speaker 2: is crucial, not just for accessibility, for visually impaired users
Speaker 2: using screen readers, but also for SEO search engines, read
Speaker 2: that alt text right describe the image precisely. You can
Speaker 2: also create bulleted lists. Numbered lists adds stylish block quotes
Speaker 2: for highlighting text, and obviously link to other internal pages
Speaker 2: or external resources seamlessly. And I'll see it again. Because
Speaker 2: it's important, always, always add a short, keyword focused meta
Speaker 2: description for every single post and page.
Speaker 1: Even though Google says it's not a direct ranking factor anymore.
Speaker 2: Even so, think of it as your sales pitch in
Speaker 2: the search results. It might not directly boost your rank,
Speaker 2: but it heavily influences whether someone actually clicks on your
Speaker 2: link versus someone else's, so it's crucial for click through rates.
Speaker 2: You can also customize your homepage quite nicely. You can
Speaker 2: set any existing page you've created as your site's main homepage,
Speaker 2: and you can even optionally put your blog into a
Speaker 2: subfolder like your side dot com forth loss blog by
Speaker 2: using something called a post's prefix. This lets you create
Speaker 2: a kind of hybrid site, maybe a main business site
Speaker 2: with an attached blog.
Speaker 1: Okay, that covers the core content, but what about adding
Speaker 1: more dynamic features, things like say an image gallery or
Speaker 1: a contact form seems tricky for a static site, and also,
Speaker 1: how do we keep things compliant with all the privacy
Speaker 1: regulations floating around?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Public makes adding those kinds of interactive elements surprisingly straightforward. Actually.
Speaker 2: For image galleries, it has built in support using a
Speaker 2: popular library kind of photoswipe, it's really easy. You just
Speaker 2: add multiple images to a page and you can customize
Speaker 2: their layout, maybe use the wide option to make them
Speaker 2: span the content area, and add descriptive captions below each image.
Speaker 2: Just a small note, the specific gallery options and how
Speaker 2: they look can vary slightly depending on the public theme
Speaker 2: you're using.
Speaker 1: Right, themes can influence features. Okay, gallery sound easy enough,
Speaker 1: but a contact form that's crucial for so many sites.
Speaker 1: How does that work without a back end server on
Speaker 1: a static site to process the submission.
Speaker 2: That's a great question, and you're right. Static sites inherently
Speaker 2: can't process form data themselves, so that's where third party
Speaker 2: services come into play. You'll need a service like jotform,
Speaker 2: which was the one demonstrated in the source material. They
Speaker 2: offer free plans, which are often enough to get started.
Speaker 2: These services essentially handle the form submissions for you. The
Speaker 2: way it works is you build your form on their platform,
Speaker 2: and they give you a little snippet of JavaScript.
Speaker 1: Code, and you put that code into PUBLICII.
Speaker 2: Exactly, you embed that JavaScript snippet directly into a public
Speaker 2: page using its HTML editor view. It sounds technical, but
Speaker 2: it's usually just copy and paste. But and this is vital,
Speaker 2: you absolutely must test those form submissions thoroughly after setting
Speaker 2: it up. Send a test message, make sure you receive
Speaker 2: it and sure the whole process works as expected.
Speaker 1: Makes sense? Test test test? What about comments on blog posts?
Speaker 2: Same idea, Pretty much the same principle. Yeah, for comments,
Speaker 2: you typically use other third party plugins or services like
Speaker 2: comment or cousins were mentioned as examples. The general process
Speaker 2: is similar. You download and install the comments plug in
Speaker 2: globally within public First, then you usually need to register
Speaker 2: an account with the external comment service provider to get
Speaker 2: a unique ID for your site. Finally, you activate and
Speaker 2: configure that plug in locally within public CMS, putting in
Speaker 2: your unique ID. One crucial thing about comments, Though they
Speaker 2: are disabled by default in public CMS, you have to
Speaker 2: explicitly turn them on, either in your main theme settings
Speaker 2: or on a purpose or per page basis. If you
Speaker 2: only want comments on specific content.
Speaker 1: Suck good default setting for privacy. Okay, speaking of privacy,
Speaker 1: what about the really important legal stuff like privacy policies,
Speaker 1: terms and conditions cookie banners, especially with GDPR and CCPA rules.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you absolutely need to address that. It's really best
Speaker 2: practice for every website, static or dynamic, to have a
Speaker 2: comprehensive privacy policy and probably terms and conditions too. The
Speaker 2: policy needs to be transparent. It should clearly outline what
Speaker 2: personal information you collect, maybe through forms, cookies, tracking scripts,
Speaker 2: how you use it and if you share it with
Speaker 2: any third parties. It also needs to detail how you
Speaker 2: protect that data, what rights users have regarding their data,
Speaker 2: like accessing it, correcting it, deleting it, and how you
Speaker 2: comply with laws like GDPR and CCPA. The source material
Speaker 2: actually provides a starting point, a file called privacy dot airtf,
Speaker 2: which can be a really helpful template to adapt.
Speaker 1: That's useful in cookie banners. Does Publy help with that?
Speaker 2: It does? Public CMS integrates a cookie banner featured directly
Speaker 2: into its privacy settings. Now it's interesting the official public
Speaker 2: themes themselves generally don't generate cookies, but as we just discussed,
Speaker 2: third party plugins for things like comments or analytics often
Speaker 2: do use cookies, so you can enable a basic cookie
Speaker 2: banner in publicy just to inform users. You can customize
Speaker 2: the message the example given with something like this website
Speaker 2: uses limited cookies for basic functionality. These are not optional.
Speaker 2: Third party providers may use cookies as well. You can
Speaker 2: choose how it's displayed as a dismissable banner, just a
Speaker 2: little badge, or maybe open by clicking a custom link
Speaker 2: in your footter. And speaking of the futter, you can
Speaker 2: easily modify your footter menus in public to add a
Speaker 2: direct link to your privacy policy page, making it readily
Speaker 2: accessible for visitors.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we've built the site, added content, galleries, forms,
Speaker 1: handley compliance bits. We're almost there, But what about making
Speaker 1: it truly professional? The GitHub dot io address is functional,
Speaker 1: but maybe not ideal for business or brand. What does
Speaker 1: it all mean when you want an online presence that's
Speaker 1: easy for people to remember and really reflects your identity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is where we talk about moving beyond that
Speaker 2: free GitHub pages url, you know, the https dot your
Speaker 2: username dot GitHub refo kind of thing. While functional, something
Speaker 2: like my cool brand dot com or space dash b
Speaker 2: dot net from the source example just feels different. A
Speaker 2: custom domain provides that immediate sense of professionalism, credibility, and
Speaker 2: it's just infinitely easier for people to remember and share.
Speaker 1: So how does that work? What are domains?
Speaker 2: Well, domain names are essentially unique digital addresses, your unique
Speaker 2: property online. They typically end in what are called TLDs
Speaker 2: or top level domains. You know, dot com, dot org,
Speaker 2: dot net are the most common ones. To find an
Speaker 2: available one, it's smart to use a reliable whois lookup
Speaker 2: tool I can the main governing body has one. This
Speaker 2: helps you check availability and avoid potentially predatory registrars. Then
Speaker 2: you register your chosen domain name with a reputable domain registrar.
Speaker 2: Squarespace was used as the example in the source, but
Speaker 2: there are many others like name Cheap, go Daddy, Google Domains,
Speaker 2: et cetera. A good registrarer typically offers crucial features like
Speaker 2: auto renewal so you don't accidentally lose your domain, whis
Speaker 2: privacy which hides your personal contact information from public view,
Speaker 2: domain lock to prevent unauthorized transfers, and often they bundle
Speaker 2: in SSL certificates for secure HTTPS dot connections.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you register your domain name, you own my
Speaker 1: cool brand dot com. Now how does the Internet actually
Speaker 1: know that my cool brand dot com should point to
Speaker 1: the website files sitting on GitHub Pages. AH.
Speaker 2: That brings us to the magic of DNS, the Domain
Speaker 2: name system. The classic analogy is that DNS is like
Speaker 2: the Internet's phone book. It translates the human friendly domain
Speaker 2: names we type into browsers like Google dot Com into
Speaker 2: the numerical IP addresses that computers actually use to find
Speaker 2: servers and resources on the Internet.
Speaker 1: Got it, So you need to update this phone book
Speaker 1: entry for your domain Precisely.
Speaker 2: Configuring this involves two main steps. First, you go into
Speaker 2: your GitHub pages settings for your repository and tell it
Speaker 2: what your custom domain name is. Second, you need to
Speaker 2: log into your domain registrar where you bought the domain
Speaker 2: and configure its DNS records. This usually means deleting any
Speaker 2: default DNS entries the registrar might have put there. Then
Speaker 2: you'll add specific records provided by GitHub. Typically this involves
Speaker 2: adding four A records. These point the main domain like space,
Speaker 2: dash b, dot net directly to four specific IP addresses
Speaker 2: that GitHub Pages uses. The source gives examples like one
Speaker 2: eighty five point one, nine, nine point one oh eight
Speaker 2: point one, five, three.
Speaker 1: And three others okay four A records.
Speaker 2: And usually you also add a CNA means record. This
Speaker 2: is typically used for the WWW version of your domain,
Speaker 2: like www, dot space, dash dash b dot net, and
Speaker 2: you point it to your main domain name, eg. Space
Speaker 2: dash b dot net. One important thing to remember is
Speaker 2: DNS changes aren't always instantaneous. They need to propagate across
Speaker 2: the Internet's phone books, which can take anywhere from a
Speaker 2: few minutes to in rare cases, up to forty eight
Speaker 2: or even seventy two hours. Usually it's much faster, though.
Speaker 1: Patience is needed. Then, what are the final steps?
Speaker 2: Right after you've configured DNS and waited a bit for propagation,
Speaker 2: Rigorously test your new custom domain in your browser. See
Speaker 2: if it loads your GitHub page's site. If you happen
Speaker 2: to see old content or maybe an error, try clearing
Speaker 2: your browser cash first. Sometimes your browser holds onto the
Speaker 2: old DNS information. Once it's working, the very final step
Speaker 2: is to go back into your public CMS settings, specifically
Speaker 2: the server settings, update the URL there to reflect your
Speaker 2: new custom domain, and then synchronize your website one last
Speaker 2: time to make sure all internal links use the new domain.
Speaker 1: Fantastic, So now we've got the foundation, the the interactivity,
Speaker 1: the compliance, and the professional custom domain. The site is
Speaker 1: live and looking good, but how do you add that
Speaker 1: extra layer of polish, you know, make your site really
Speaker 1: pop and engage visitors from the very first second they arrive.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about some maybe advanced styling techniques.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is where you can really start to differentiate
Speaker 2: your site and add some wow factor. And the key
Speaker 2: here is often custom CSS. Public CMS allows you to
Speaker 2: add your own custom CSS rules directly within its interface.
Speaker 2: This is powerful because it lets you override the default
Speaker 2: styles provided by your theme or even add completely new
Speaker 2: styles without ever needing to touch the themes underlying HTML
Speaker 2: files directly. It keeps things clean and upgrade safe.
Speaker 1: Okay, custom CSS. What's a cool example of what you
Speaker 1: can do with it?
Speaker 2: Well, one really neat trick shun in the source material
Speaker 2: uses the standard HTML details and summary tags. These tags,
Speaker 2: built right into HTML five, allow you to create interactive
Speaker 2: FAQ sections. You put your question in the summary tag
Speaker 2: and the answer inside the main details tag. By default,
Speaker 2: the browser makes the summary clickable to reveal or hide
Speaker 2: the answer.
Speaker 1: Oh like those little drop down faqus you see.
Speaker 2: Everywhere exactly, But you can take that basic functionality and
Speaker 2: use custom CSS to make it look really polished and beautiful.
Speaker 2: You can add padding, nice background colors, subtle box shadows
Speaker 2: to the FAQ list items and the revealed detail sections.
Speaker 2: You can change the little arrow icons style how it
Speaker 2: looks when you hover over a question. Really make it
Speaker 2: fit your site's design. It's a simple HTML structure made
Speaker 2: elegant with CSS.
Speaker 1: It's a great practical example. What about guiding users getting
Speaker 1: them to take a specific action like signing up for
Speaker 1: a newsletter or clicking a buy now button?
Speaker 2: Ah? Yes, the call to action or CTA. This is
Speaker 2: where styling simple text links to look like prominent buttons
Speaker 2: really shines. You can use custom CSS to transform a
Speaker 2: standard link into something that visually screams click me. This
Speaker 2: often involves targeting a link based on its title attribute
Speaker 2: in the HTML. For instance, if you have a link
Speaker 2: like an h ref title book now book your CONSULTATIONA,
Speaker 2: you can write CSS that specifically targets the title book
Speaker 2: now and apply styles to make it look like a button,
Speaker 2: background color, padding, rounded corners, hover effects, et cetera.
Speaker 1: So you target the title attribute clever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a clean way to do it, and the
Speaker 2: broader implication here, The really important takeaway for you, the listener,
Speaker 2: is thinking about where you place these CTAs. You want
Speaker 2: to put your most important call to action buttons above
Speaker 2: the fold. That means in the top part of your homepage,
Speaker 2: the area that's immediately visible when someone lands on your
Speaker 2: site before they start scrolling. That's prime real estate. You
Speaker 2: can reliably expect visitors to look there, so use it
Speaker 2: strategically to capture their attention immediately and guide them towards
Speaker 2: the action you want them to take.
Speaker 1: Excellent advice. Okay, wow, we've really covered a lot of
Speaker 1: ground here. We've taken you on quite a journey, I think,
Speaker 1: from understanding the surprising benefits and simplicity static websites, through
Speaker 1: the hands on setup with Publi and GitHub, deep into
Speaker 1: customization with themes and content.
Speaker 2: Adding interactive features like galleries and forms, making sure things
Speaker 2: are compliant with privacy rules.
Speaker 1: Right, and finally launching a truly professional looking site using
Speaker 1: your own custom domain name. And the most remarkable part.
Speaker 1: All of this is achievable using completely free tools like
Speaker 1: publized CMS and GitHub pages. It really is quite something
Speaker 1: to build and host a quality website for free in
Speaker 1: today's digital world.
Speaker 2: It really is, and if you've followed along with the
Speaker 2: steep dive, hopefully you've seen firsthand just how accessible and
Speaker 2: frankly powerful modern web development can be now, even if
Speaker 2: you don't want to or need to, master complex coding languages.
Speaker 2: So the question to leave you with is this, What
Speaker 2: new idea, what project, what passion could you bring to
Speaker 2: life online with these tools? Now that the barrier to entry,
Speaker 2: the costs, the complexity is virtually gone, think about it.
Speaker 2: The world is definitely waiting for your story, your unique contribution,