How We Built This Blog: End-to-End Setup Log

Source: https://github.com/Hongten/hongten.github.io

This post documents the full process used to build and publish this blog.

1) Design Direction

We started from a clean, dark, card-based layout and locked in the visual style first. The key principle was speed: ship a working version quickly, then refine.

2) Site Scaffolding

We created a static structure with:

- Home page (`index.html`)
- About page (`about.html`)
- Post pages (`posts/`)
- Shared stylesheet (`assets/style.css`)

3) Initial Content and Cleanup

Template content was removed, and the first real post was published under Tom's identity.

4) Repository and Branch Workflow

The site was pushed to `Hongten/hongten.github.io`. We aligned workflow requirements to always push updates to the master branch.

5) Deployment

GitHub Pages was configured to deploy from branch root. Once the branch was updated, the site became available at:

https://hongten.github.io/

6) SEO and Structure Improvements

We added:

- Canonical links
- Open Graph metadata
- Twitter card metadata
- Date-based auto sorting for post cards on the home page

7) Comments (Giscus)

Discussions were enabled in the repository, category mapping was configured, and Giscus was embedded into post pages.

8) Language Policy

The project content was standardized to English. Going forward, if bilingual posts are needed, the English section appears first.

Final Result

The blog is live, editable, and production-usable. Future updates follow the same workflow: edit → commit → push to master → publish.