Here's how I made this website

I made this website using the python package Django. This is the first time I've built and deployed a website by myself so it was a fun learning experience. To create the Django web app I largely followed a tutorial on the website Real Python here to setup the home page. For my purposes I considered the storing of each project in a database to be a bit restrictive so instead started by using basic static html pages to describe each project. I intend to do more dynamic things over time (my first attempt at this is here).

In order to deploy the website I first needed to buy a domain and hosting package. After comparing a few providers I decided to go with Hostinger. I selected a virtual private server (VPS) hosting package as I wanted root access to the server. I then had to configure the DNS records on the hosting account to link up the hosting with the domain.

As I hadn't deployed a website before I got some help from my friend Robbie for which I am very grateful. Robbie had previously deployed django websites (including the guindex project) and he suggested that I use nginx and gunicorn as the web and application servers to replace the django test server which isn't suitable for live sites. I proceeded to do this - first I SSHed into the server and cloned the django code. Then I had to set up gunicorn and nginx, as well as Robbie's help I found this tutorial on Real Python very useful in doing this. This tutorial was also useful in configuring security certificates as well as other security settings.

The code for this website is available on my GitHub here