This week, I created my own WordPress site and got some experience with what goes into setting up and managing a website. Setting up WordPress and my about page gave me a better understanding of how a website can be organized, customized, and managed by its owner.
I could see myself using this platform as a portfolio for school projects, data visualizations, or other work that I might want to share in the future. Having my own website would give me one place to organize projects from different classes and show how my skills and interests develop over time.
One of the biggest benefits of hosting my own website is having more control. Compared with social media or a website-building service, I have more freedom over the site’s appearance, organization, and content. At the same time, that control also creates more responsibility. Setting everything up takes more time, and managing the site requires some technical knowledge. A service or social media platform may be easier and faster, but there are more restrictions on what you can change. Overall, this lab helped me understand the tradeoff between convenience and control when creating a presence online.