diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 910a957..648a388 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,3 +1,21 @@
-# freed.place
+<p align="center">
+  <a href="https://freed.place"><img height="256px" src="./static/icons/logo.png" /></a>
+</p>
 
-a little safe place on the wide web, welcome to freed.place!
\ No newline at end of file
+# Freed.place
+heya! welcome to my personal website! this site is build using pure html and css and can be easily deployed for yourself.
+
+## how to build this site?
+this site is run with Docker, a container system to make deploying applications easier.
+to install Docker on your system, please install the `docker` package from your package manager.
+after that; run `docker compose up` in the root of this repository which will start the NGINX server.
+you can then access the server at `127.0.0.1:8` or `localhost:80`.
+
+## wait... where's the old site?
+as you might have noticed, the branches in this repo begin from version 3.0.
+older versions of [freed.place](https://freed.place) are located in [another repository](https://codeberg.org/FreedTapestry21/freed.place).
+please take a look there for older versions of this site.
+please note that these older versions do not require a server to render properly. 
+
+## License
+The license which this project uses is located at `LICENSE`.