Yo, Welcome to my corner of the internet! Link to heading

Welcome to my blog! My name is Avinash, a computer science student and problem-solver. My hobbies include listening to music, watching anime, and playing games. On this blog, I will be sharing my journey as a computer science student, my thoughts and reviews on the latest trends and developments in the field of AI, programming, anime and gaming, and also my solutions to the problems I have encountered. I’ll also share my personal experiences and insights on my hobbies. I hope you’ll join me on my journey and enjoy the content.

This blog is a project that I have been working on for the past 6 months, with a lot of procrastination. I built this blog using the static site generator “hugo” because it allows for easy deployment, fast loading times and better security by not requiring a backend, and also it uses markdown which makes it easy to write blog articles. Additionally, it doesn’t require much JavaScript which is ideal for a blog like mine that doesn’t need heavy dynamic features.

Building My Blog: Hugo and Markdown Link to heading

• Learning Hugo Link to heading

  Hugo is a powerful and efficient static site generator that allows for easy creation and deployment of websites. It is written in Go and optimized for speed and ease of use, making it a great choice for developers and non-developers alike. The tool takes a directory with content and templates and renders them into a full HTML website, and it relies on Markdown files with front matter for metadata. One of the key features of Hugo is its ability to run from any directory, making it a great option for shared hosting and other systems where you don’t have a privileged account. Additionally, it is designed to work well for any kind of website including blogs, portfolios, documentation and more. I learned about Hugo from its official documentation and also from a YouTube playlist created by Mike Dane and I decided to use it for building my blog as it allowed me to focus on creating content rather than getting bogged down with the technical side of website creation.

• Getting used to the theme Link to heading

  When I first decided to use the hugo-coder theme for my blog, I spent hours understanding how it works. I had to learn about front-matter, partials, shortcodes and how to access images stored within the theme. Additionally, I had to delve into the config.toml file to understand the theme parameters, such as author, description, keywords and avatarURL. I also learned about the theme’s social icons configuration and menu items configurations. The theme offers a wide range of customization options, allowing me to tailor it to my specific needs. I learned about all these features from the official documentation of the theme

• Deploying it on Github using Github Pages Link to heading

  As I delved deeper into the world of web development, I became increasingly interested in finding an efficient and streamlined way to deploy my Hugo sites on Github. After a bit of research, I stumbled upon the concept of using Github Pages and Github Actions to automate the process. I was intrigued, and so I decided to embark on a journey of learning how to use these tools to deploy my Hugo sites.

  The first step was to create a new repository on Github to serve as the destination for my generated HTML files. I then had to configure my Hugo site to use that repository as the destination for the generated HTML files. Next, I had to learn about the different types of Github Pages and the necessary branches that need to be used. I also had to configure the baseURL in the config.toml file, and potentially setting up a custom domain.

  I spent hours understanding how the Github Actions and Workflows work, and how to use the yaml file to host it. I also had to learn about different types of Github Pages and the necessary branches that need to be used, as well as configuring the baseURL in the config.toml file.

  It wasn’t easy, but it was definitely worth it. As I progressed through the journey, I became more and more confident in my abilities to use Github Actions and Workflows to deploy my Hugo sites. And now, every time I push my code to the Github repository, the site is built and deployed automatically. It’s a huge time saver and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

Blog Building Journey: Lessons Learned and Future Prospects Link to heading

My blog building journey has been a rollercoaster of learning and discovery. I have learned many valuable lessons from working with hugo, and I appreciate the simplicity and efficiency it offers. As I continue to work on my blog, I am constantly looking for new ways to improve and streamline the process. I have learned that using a static site generator like Hugo can make the process of creating a blog much easier and faster but is not perfect. One of the challenges I faced while working with the hugo-coder theme was the limitation of using custom icons. The theme relies heavily on the forkawesome library, which only offers a limited set of icons. This meant that I couldn’t use some of the icons I wanted to incorporate into my design. So, I had to use text instead of icons.

Meanwhile, I have recently come across an article about creating markdown blogs using the Next.js framework. This new prospect has sparked my interest and I am currently exploring it further. I plan to conduct some testing and comparisons between the two methods, and ultimately decide which one is the best fit for my blog.

In the future, I want to update this blog 1-2 times a month and I have some anime reviews lined up which I have written long ago. I will release them soon as soon as I am done applying finishing touches and making it look good in markdown.This journey of building my blog has taught me the importance of constantly seeking new ways to improve and evolve, and I am excited to see what the future holds for my blog.

Thanks for joining me on this journey, until next time!