75 lines
4 KiB
Markdown
75 lines
4 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: On Websites (Or The Case For The Personal Web)
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date: 2025-05-05
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description: My thoughts on websites, DIY, and the small web.
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---
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## Preamble
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The internet is a [lovecraftian entity](/blog/the-lovecraftian-internet) in its
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size and complexity. Much of its gargantuan scope is invisible to us, the _deep
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web_, but even the surface web is mostly beyond our comprehension as
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individuals. The electric highways are, in no small part, dominated by social
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media platforms. The internet is the perfect technology for sharing ourselves
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with others, and social media makes this easy. However, it's come at a great
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cost -- to our privacy, our money, our freedom, our individuality.
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I'm not here to litigate the complicated issue that is social media's effect on
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society. I'm not here to tell you _why_ there's a problem with our digital
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platforms. What I will say is that it seems fairly uncontroversial to point out
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that social media is an _addiction_ for many of us. I'm sure that you, dear
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reader, have also considered "taking a break" or even quitting. Even if we don't
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know exactly why, we do seem to agree, as a society, that something is wrong.
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Past this introduction, I'm not here to criticize social media. I'm also not
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here to refer you to other platforms like Mastodon and Matrix. I'm here to tell
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you that **the internet doesn't have to be this way**.
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## Websites
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Today, we think of websites as _platforms_: storefronts, news, town squares,
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encyclopedias. Something maintained by companies and organizations providing a
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service. The space for _us_ to share _ourselves_, it seems, is on someone else's
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website. What format you can post in, how your profile looks; you're at the
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mercy of the service provider. So, why don't we just make our own websites?
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A website is actually remarkably simple. Sure, **web development** isn't; it's
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been increasing in complexity and bloat by the year. But a _website_ is _just_ a
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document that's hosted at some address. Visitors _download_ the document, and
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their browser _renders_ it. That's how you're reading this page, even.
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Websites don't **need** functionality. They don't need fancy graphics and
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buttons. They literally **only** need text. Everything else is fluff -- great
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fluff, my own site has images and a theme -- but fluff nonetheless. As soon as
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you realize this, you'll learn that you don't need to be a developer or tech
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wizard to publish a website. And I argue that, as creative individuals, to make
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full use of what the web is **really** great at, it's definitely worth
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publishing a website.
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## Why Should You Make A Website?
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I think there's something to be said for having a corner of the internet that's
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_truly_ your own. When you post on social media, that profile isn't **really**
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yours. If it were, how come you can't, say, change the background color? Play
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music for your visitors? How come you're limited by _how_ you can post? On
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Instagram, you can only post visual media, not really the best way to share your
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complex thoughts on something.
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Your website is **yours**. You can post what, when, and how _you_ want to. The
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_data_ is yours too. There are so many ways to express your creativity and
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personality through this medium. Take a stroll through
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[Neocities'](https://neocities.org) public offerings sometime to see what I
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mean.
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When you publish to your website, you're not thinking about likes, shares and
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friends. You just write, and upload. Whoever reads it, reads it. Unless you've
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set up some analytics (which I don't even recommend), you _don't_ know how many
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people have read your posts. And I think it's better this way.
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Stepping away from social media to cultivate my own digital garden has allowed
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me to perform a more authentic version of myself on the internet. It's great
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having one, central place to share myself with the wold. Blog posts, art,
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technical projects, my resume, all I need to do now is direct people here.
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So, do yourself a favor and try building a personal website. I think it's one of
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the most rewarding ways to participate in the internet.
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