How I Built My Personal Technical Blog Site Using Typecho on a Lightweight Cloud Server

Motivation for Building the Site

Two years ago I wanted a personal technical website to avoid platform restrictions (e.g., no QR codes on Zhihu, no external links on WeChat) and to have my own image hosting, which would simplify publishing articles across multiple platforms.

After purchasing the domain kfngxl.cn in September 2021, I finally used a Tencent Cloud lightweight server promotion (¥198 for two years) to start the project.

Technology Selection

Although static site generators (GitHub Pages + Jekyll/Hexo/Hugo) are convenient, I preferred a dynamic site to have full control over the server and code.

Given my background with the LNMP stack, I chose the lightweight Typecho blog system (source size ~610 KB) for its simplicity and extensibility.

Deploying Typecho

The lightweight cloud server provides 2 CPU × 2 GB RAM, an external IP, 4 Mbps bandwidth, and 300 GB monthly traffic.

Using the BaoTa panel, I performed the following steps:

1) Install Nginx, MySQL, and PHP (choose relatively recent versions).

2) Configure host – BaoTa allows direct UI editing of Nginx host settings.

3) Download and install Typecho – upload the source to the server’s web root and extract it.

4) Initialize the dynamic site – create a MySQL instance via BaoTa, record the credentials, and complete the Typecho installation wizard.

After these steps the site was accessible via the external IP.

Domain Registration and ICP Filing

I added an A record for kfngxl.cn in Alibaba Cloud DNS, pointing to the server IP.

After a brief warning from Tencent Cloud about missing ICP filing, I completed the simple filing process, which took about a week.

Site "Renovation" (Theming)

To improve the default appearance, I installed the DUX theme by uploading its source to usr/themes and configuring navigation, thumbnails, slideshows, sidebars, author bio, code highlighting, footer ICP number, and Baidu analytics.

Custom Image‑Processing Plugin

Because my blog contains many images, I needed automatic watermarking and compression.

Existing plugins conflicted, so I created a new plugin that first adds a centered watermark with a gray background, then compresses PNGs using pngquant , reducing typical 300 KB images to around 100 KB.

HTTPS Certificate

I obtained a free TLS certificate from Tencent Cloud and configured it via BaoTa to secure the site.

Finally, I submitted a public security filing as required.

Content Synchronization

Hundreds of my previous technical articles from WeChat and Zhihu are being migrated to the new site, with assistance from my spouse.

Summary of Steps

Purchase a lightweight cloud server

Install LNMP stack and Typecho

Complete ICP filing

Configure and theme the dynamic site

Apply and configure an HTTPS certificate

Submit public security filing

The main cost was time; the server cost ¥99 per year (bought during a promotion) and the domain cost about ¥150.

The final site is fully responsive on both desktop and mobile devices.