Create a personal website for free

It used to be easy, back when Geocities was a thing. No code, no payment, just a cool little website. Why isn't it a thing anymore? Because websites have evolved. You need design and functionality for a basic site that wasn't even a possibility in the 90's. There are still options though.

The most popular right now is probably Squarespace. I find it's got the most intuitive designing interface and you can't really make a bad looking website. It's got a lot of functionality, like e-commerce. It will cost you $11 every month though.

There are free services like GitHub Pages, but then you need to code the page yourself. For "free" you can also set up your own Wordpress, but then you're still paying for the servers. Anything you find online will either be costly or time consuming to set up.

My own need is to get a website online in 5 minutes that contains just information, maybe some images. I didn't find a solution so as a coder I built my own. It's called Markdownsites.com. It's also not free, but for $21 a year you get a domain and hosting in one package. For less than $2 you get a full website that is the simplest to set up - all you do is write the text you need and menu will be generated for you.

Of course this isn't for everyone. I've purposefully kept fancy design and functionality out of it - just kept the minimalistic and practical need to haves. If what you need is a high quality informational website there is not better one for such a price. And I don't mean it's cheap, I think it's just a fair price for a simple service.

Be sure to let me know how it turns out at krister.viirsaar@gmail.com.