Ive been thinking on and off for the past month about putting myself together a personal website. The main incentives are:

• At some point in the near future I need to start considering this idea of getting a "real" job, so would be nice to have somthing centralised to show off and link to from my CV
• Could put a copy of my CV on the site as well (complete copy? Thinking phone numbers/full address may want to be excluded?)
• Having a few hundred files and images across a dozen file/image hosts is a bit of a pain. Espically since they seem to have a tendancy to remove content, change urls, die, etc followed by me getting emails about somthing i did a year+ ago... There is also a tendancy for me to leave links to the old version somwhere.
• I expect it looks more professional than directing people, including potential employers at files hosted on the previously mentioned hosting site.
• Provides a centralised place for me to list both complete and uncomplete projects, tech demos, provide updates, documentation and other information. Perhaps I could also start a blog for some of my personal thoughts on some things, various people keep saying I should do...
• Get some web development expierence by working on a real website.Is it worth doing? Might I be better off just picking up a word press blog (has been suggested) or some similar existing thing?
  
  Should this all go in one website (and if so under my real name or alias?) or perhaps split the professional and random stuff I'm doing personally? Should one link to the other in that case?

Should this all go in one website (and if so under my real name or alias?) or perhaps split the professional and random stuff I'm doing personally? Should one link to the other in that case?

I think it depends how 'random' this other stuff is. I don't think future employers are too interested in your new cat or the concert you went to last week. So either reserve that for Facebook or another website, or keep it well separated from your portfolio graphically as well as physically (a different path or sub domain).

I would suggest to get your own domain and preferably hosting and just use Wordpress or some other CMS as a back end, I don't see any advantage in developing your own system anymore these days, unless you really want too. And unless you are a talented artist, just go with an existing good looking template. I think it's better to have a professional looking unoriginal design than a crappy home made one.

Ah soory. By random I meant like my version of game of life using Z80 assembler, an OpenGL 2D particle engine, and other random programming stuff. As well as the more serious stuff like a number of plugins (a lot of these I developed for free for various people under permissive licences, but have not publically released), applications, and a few games at varrying levels of completeness.

Theres social networking should I ever have the desire to talk about my pet I'm sure most people that would employ me, and most people on the various programing forums I use and teams I'm involved with have no interest lol.

Then I wouldn't list incomplete works, unless it is interesting stuff you contributed to a project and you actually finished, even though the project itself isn't completed yet. Tech demos should be fine, as they are intended to be limited in scope.

You can get a domain name for $9/year at GoDaddy and hosting at 1portfolio for $8/year. For $17 even if you completely fail at it it's a pretty inexpensive project. I really enjoyed building my site. It was a great way to get some real world experience with CSS and what not. Also, it makes it really easy when I tell people that I've made games to showcase them.

I agree with, Wan, just make sure you separate your business site from your personal site. Either with a subdomain (personal.yoursite.com) or a file folder (yoursite.com/personal). That way if a company goes to your root domain they don't see pictures of your cat.

I don't see any downsides to having your own site...

Then I wouldn't list incomplete works, unless it is interesting stuff you contributed to a project and you actually finished, even though the project itself isn't completed yet. Tech demos should be fine, as they are intended to be limited in scope.

Well I wasnt planning to generaly "index" incomplete stuff, but have uptodate stuff regarding it on the hosting so that when talking to people (be it potentialy employees, freinds, other students etc) I can access it rather than it being a "sorry its x miles away on my desktop thats turned off". A fair bit of the complete stuff is library code (tends to be smaller, faster to develop, and I know lots of people that pay for such things, but a lot is not under terms that gives them full ownership, just right to use), but since for the most part I wrote examples for those, I guess there good for showing off?

You can get a domain name for $9/year at GoDaddy and hosting at 1portfolio for $8/year. For $17 even if you completely fail at it it's a pretty inexpensive project. I really enjoyed building my site. It was a great way to get some real world experience with CSS and what not. Also, it makes it really easy when I tell people that I've made games to showcase them.

I agree with, Wan, just make sure you separate your business site from your personal site. Either with a subdomain (personal.yoursite.com) or a file folder (yoursite.com/personal). That way if a company goes to your root domain they don't see pictures of your cat.

I don't see any downsides to having your own site...

Yes I was planning to get doamin + hosting. Money there isnt really an issue till it hits the $$$ Be more concerned about my other expenses...

What I was intending by "Should this all go in one website (and if so under my real name or alias?) or perhaps split the professional and random stuff I'm doing personally? Should one link to the other in that case?" wasnt about having programming stuff and personal stuff about my pets. I think if I have a desire to talk about that stuff facebook etc will always be the better place. I was refering more to professional stuff like my CV, applications/games/techdemos I have completed etc, and personal stuff like some scripts Ive written for X3: Terran Conflict, an extension DLL for Game Maker, etc. that I might link to from forums and such and other public places.

I'm leaning towards just having one central site branded under my own name (as opposed to my alias) and being sure to limit the details published (e.g. not having my CV there complete with phone numbers, house address, etc.). The distinction between the two seems somwhat blured and probebly really not worth the effort. The other choice is just to brand the whole thing as syncviews.com or somthing?

EDIT: Forum ate some of my $

I use my site both as a portfolio thing and also as a personal blog type of thing. At the end of the day, put whatever you want on it. If you want to use the site for your career, the content does not always have to be so formal and "professional". Simply showcasing what you have done is often sufficient. You can discuss your achievements in a way that will also appeal for the wider audience. In other words, the site should reflect what you are passionate about and your willingness to share it with the world.

Ok, I think I have got a good idea on what I want todo now

The only other question Ive been wondering about is the branding one. I.e. should it be under my real name or some-other-name? I'm currently leaning towards the former since I can't think of any good reason not to.