Yes, I am back to blogging.

After a few years off the map. I came to the realization that many people need help.

If you can be of any use to the universe, why not!

Why I stopped blogging ?

Let’s start with the obvious.

My aim has always been to share what I know or at least improve on what already exists.

But… time is limited. And using wordpress, is almost a sysadmin full time job.

I’d have to install updates to wordpress and make sure that any plugin is up-to-date.

Wordpress and most CMS I have tried are a pain in the ass to say the least.

Why I resumed blogging ?

Once I had a conversation with my buddy Kishan Takoordyal and I explained my predicament.

I want to write and share, everyday.

He pointed out that there are already solutions available to my problem.

On that day, I felt quite relieved.

I thought i’d have to code some markdown to html interpreter (laughs).

Jekyll now is your quick and elegant solution

If you want to create your personal brand with your own domain name.

And freely hosted on github servers.

You’ll have to pay for the domain name though (or if you don’t mind using something like: codarrenvelvindron.github.io).

The repository can be found here: Jekyll Now repository on GitHub.

Setting it up

I’ll show you how to:

1. Setup your own blog hosted on Github pages
2. Customize your blog
3. Get your own domain name/use your existing
4. Link your custom domain to your github.io
5. Publish your first blog post

1. Setup your own blog hosted on Github pages

Login to your github account. If you don’t have one, create one now! :)

• Head over to Github
• Sign up or login
• Fork the Barry Clark Jekyll-now project to your own repository.
• Rename your project by going to your own fork, doing Settings > Repository Name > Rename
• The name should be like such: githubusername.github.io.
• In my case, it is codarrenvelvindron.github.io
• Heading over to username.github.io, your page should be already visible ! or at least the forked page of the original author.

2. Customize your blog

The purpose here is to give it an identity.

• Go back to your fork
• Edit the file: _config.yml
• Most important is to change the : name, description and avatar to your own.
• Commit the changes and refresh the page.
• Now, your blog is starting to take shape.

3. Get your own domain name/use your existing

This step is optional, you may like the github.io domain (it’s free!) Else, if you’re like me:

• Grab your own domain name for around $10 at Godaddy

• If you already own a domain name, proceed to next step.

4. Link your custom domain to your github.io

• We start with github first
• Go to your fork, in my case: https://github.com/codarrenvelvindron/codarrenvelvindron.github.io/
• Hop to: Settings > Github Pages > Custom Domain
• Change to your custom domain and click on save
• Next, we customize the domain on our dns provider.
• Add a new DNS record,having, name:blog of type:CNAME and pointing to username.github.io (should match your username).
• Save your newly created CNAME (it’s basically an alias to the github.io domain)

5. Publish your first blog post

• Create a new markdown file under: _posts folder.
• using markdown - it’s super easy - Markdown Reference

Basically it's one # for a title
# Day 1: Creating your free blog under 5 minutes

Two hashes for each subheader
## 4. Link your custom domain to your github.io

And Voilà ! We are done !