Craft Your First Blog with Hugo and Cloudflare Pages

By tigonguyen |
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Introduction

Thinking about starting your very own blog? That’s a fantastic idea! In this beginner-friendly guide, we’ll walk you through the process of creating a blog using Hugo (a user-friendly website builder) and hosting it on Cloudflare Pages. Don’t worry if you’re not a tech whiz; we’re here to make this easy and fun for you.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, here’s what you’ll need:

  • A Cloudflare Pages account (sign up if you don’t have one).
  • A domain name (if you have one).
  • Basic computer skills – if you can use a computer, you can do this!

Getting started

Installing Hugo

  1. Go to the Hugo website and download Hugo for your computer’s operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux).

  2. Follow the installation instructions on their website – it’s like installing any other program.

Setting Up Your Hugo Site

Now that you have Hugo installed, let’s create your blog:

  1. Open your computer’s command prompt or terminal.

  2. Type hugo new site myblog (replace ‘myblog’ with your desired blog name) and press Enter. This creates a new Hugo site.

  3. Choose a theme for your blog by finding one you like on the Hugo Themes website.

  4. Download your chosen theme and follow the theme’s instructions to install it.

Usage

You’re ready to start adding content to your blog:

  1. Create a new blog post by typing hugo new posts/my-first-post.md in your command prompt or terminal.

  2. Open the file my-first-post.md and start writing your blog post in simple Markdown (a plain text format).

  3. Save your post.

  4. To see how your blog looks, run hugo server in your terminal and visit http://localhost:1313 in your web browser.

Deploying to Cloudflare Pages

Deploying Your Hugo Site to Cloudflare Pages in Four Main Steps

  1. GitHub Repository:
  • Create a GitHub repository for your Hugo project.
  • Push your Hugo project’s code to the repository.
  1. Cloudflare Pages Setup:
  • Go to Cloudflare Pages and log in.
  • Connect your GitHub repository to Cloudflare Pages.
  1. Build Configuration:
  • Configure build settings:
    • Production Branch: Set to “main” (or your preferred branch).
    • Build Command: hugo –minify.
    • Build Output Directory: public.
  1. Enable Auto Deployments:
  • Toggle on the “Auto Deploy” option.
  • Click “Deploy Site” to initiate deployment.

That’s it! Your Hugo blog will be live on Cloudflare Pages once the deployment is complete.

Conclusion

You’ve successfully set up your blog using Hugo and hosted it on Cloudflare Pages! This is just the beginning of your blogging journey. Keep writing, customizing, and growing your blog.

Next Steps

  • Customize your blog’s appearance by tweaking the theme or adding your own CSS.
  • Explore Hugo’s documentation for more advanced features.
  • Share your blog with the world and connect with your audience.

References