hello world!
January 30, 2026, 1 min read
I’ve been wanting to publish a personal website for as long as I remember, and finally it’s here.
- This website was built with Hugo.
- I am hosting it using Github Pages, you can find the source code here.
- I purchased the domain from Porkbun.
- My favicon is a seal/stamp of my Chinese name (lit. “Seal of Derek Li”).
This time I wanted to build the overall aesthetic and functionality up myself rather than use something others had already built. I tried Quartz because I like the idea of Obsidian as a notetaking app but it felt almost too powerful. I’ve also tried straight up HTML/CSS templates (back in the day), but there’s something really special about choosing your own creative direction, implementing ideas you personally want, and learning in the process. Carving out a little piece of the internet as a form of self-expression I suppose.
Yes, I do still need to add quite a bit of desired functionality. I think the aesthetics are close to what I was targeting, but also might make changes. At the very least, I thought it was good enough to publish.
Indeed, progress is better than perfection.