I used GitHub to host some pages made with rmarkdown::render_site()
for my wedding.
Pros
- It's free.
- I was already comfortable with using Git and remote repos, so updating is as simple as edit -> commit -> push.
- GitHub takes care of everything server-side, so I only needed to concern myself with the content.
Cons
- If you want to use a custom URL, you need to find and pay a DNS service. It only cost me $13 US for a year, though.
- GitHub will only host "static" web pages. There can still be interactive elements through CSS and JavaScript, but the server won't do anything after handing over the page to the user. So no Shiny.
How I see it, this is your decision flow:
- If you need to store persistent data or run programs behind the scenes, get a server.
- If you're comfortable with Git and GitHub, use GitHub pages.
- Otherwise, publish to bookdown.org.