So what is this site all about, then?
Well, it’s not really FOR anything. And sometimes that’s the point.
I have thoughts and like writing. Just my thing. I’m also tired of the modern internet, where only social media, “Big Tech” and unicorn platforms seem to count.
Back a few years I blogged on Blogger, which became Blogspot, which then needed a Google log-in … and Google is one of the things I’m tired of. I could have moved to Medium, which was up-and-coming, but I’m glad I didn’t, because they’re well down the enshittification path by now. Substack is what everybody is doing these days, but it’ll go the same way. Social media is built on sand, even when it isn’t terrible.
So here I am on a little indie site, which suits me.
I don’t need to declare what it’s about, or pass anyone my credentials, or exist at anyone’s sufference. I could even offend people if I chose, though that’s not really my idea of fun.
A while back, when creating our business website, I found out about Jamstack, and it appealed to me. A long time ago I learnt enough to create a photo gallery website using a PHP backend, but having a server creating website components on demand has come to feel wasteful. I like the idea of simple files, decoupling, and minimalism.
The business website can’t be a playground, but this can. It’s free apart from the domain registration.
I write in VS Code, but it could be any editor. Code editors are good.
I run Hugo on my laptop, and the files are in GitHub, so I could set up and re-do it anywhere. I use a free Netlify account so there’s not even a server as such – the files are just part of the vast load of web storage out there somewhere. If I ever want, I have the files and structure and could move them, though. The nice thing about Hugo is that the content is all just Markdown files anyway.
For various reasons I want to master a modern frontend framework, not least for work, so I may get wacky in places. It won’t matter. Nobody cares. I may get bored and not post anything for months or years. Nobody will notice, and there are no metrics to spoil.
If I do get to dabble with interactivity, though, some way of letting people show they’ve been here will be high on the list, because that’s what’s still missing compared to social media and established platforms.
In the meantime I’m thinking maybe an old-fashioned link list. A page of pages I like. And there’s still the magic of RSS.