Thesis project website that outlasts your student account

Who reads it, and what each needs

Examiners and committee: A clear overview and quick access to the full text and supporting material. They'll read the thesis itself; the site helps them find their way.
Employers and funders: The question, why it matters and what you found, in two minutes. Then evidence you can do the work.
Researchers in your field: The abstract, the methods, the data and code, and the citation.
Family, participants and the public: A plain-language summary without jargon. Research participants often want to know what came of their contribution.

Sections that cover all of them

A one-sentence summary and a plain-language paragraph, written for someone outside the field.
The abstract, as submitted.
Chapter guide: a short paragraph per chapter saying what it does, so a reader can go straight to the part they need.
Key figures with captions, as images you've exported at good resolution.
Full text, data and code: links to the institutional repository, a data archive and a code repository, each with a persistent identifier where you have one.
How to cite it, in one or two common styles.
About you and contact: your current role, a photo if you like, and an email or form.

Before publishing, check your institution's and your funder's rules. Some theses are under embargo for a period because of a patent or a publication in progress, and a dissertation website shouldn't disclose results that the embargo is protecting. Ask your supervisor if you're unsure.

Where the files should live

Your website is the explanation; the files belong in archives built to keep them. Anticode's media handling covers photos and videos for the build, not documents for download, and forms don't accept uploads. So put the thesis PDF in your university's repository or a general research archive, data in a data repository, and code on a code host, then link to each. This is better practice anyway: archives assign identifiers that stay valid even if your website changes. Published pages also can't embed a PDF viewer or a slide deck from another site; a clear link is the way.

Building it and keeping it up

Describe the project: "a site for my PhD thesis on flood risk in small river catchments, with a plain summary, abstract, chapter guide, key figures, links to the repository and data, citation and contact". Editorial (Geist) suits long reading; Swiss (Inter Tight) suits figures and data. Upload your figures as images and check the alt text describes each figure's finding, not just its title. A research thesis website made by the design engine is plain HTML and CSS with no scripts, which keeps it fast and makes it easy to preserve.

For permanence, publish to a free anticode.dev address, or connect your own domain on a paid plan so the address stays yours whatever happens to the hosting. You can also export the site as one self-contained HTML file and keep a copy alongside your thesis files, so you can host it elsewhere later if you need to. A personal domain like yourname.net/thesis also gives you a place for the next project; see the academic website page for a fuller research profile.

Mistakes to avoid

Copying the abstract as the only summary. Write a real plain-language version.
Linking to files in a personal cloud folder that will be cleaned out or made private.
Using figures you don't have the right to republish, such as figures from published papers whose copyright you assigned.
Leaving an old student email as the only contact.

Limits

No PDF hosting. Link to a repository.
No private review copy. Published pages are public; send examiners a private draft by your institution's method.
No embedded presentations, videos from other sites or interactive maps. Link to them, or build an interactive figure as a separate app with sample data clearly labelled.
English only. Pages declare English as their language, and Anticode doesn't build translated versions of a site.

Questions people ask

Is a PhD thesis website worth it?

If you're applying for jobs or want your work read outside your field, yes. A short, clear site is easier to share than a repository link.

Can I make it before my defence?

Yes, but keep it to what you're allowed to share. Add the full text link once the final version is deposited.

What happens if I stop paying for a domain?

The custom address stops working. Keep the exported HTML file as a backup so you can put the site up elsewhere, and prefer repository links with persistent identifiers in anything you publish.