Key takeaways:

1. I have been doing web development as a hobby for a long time, and wanted a new project.
2. Blog posts by other people have often helped me in my work and spare time. Now I have place where I can return te favor.
3. In contrast to large social platforms, a personal website gives more freedom of expression.

1. The fun of building websites

If building and maintaining is not your thing, I totally get it. It is laborious, it requires learning several skills, and webdesign could even be called an art. Yet, there are three reasons I overcame these hurdles:

• First is the graphical element. Before webdesign, I already loved to draw. Comparatively, I think the cool thing about webdesign is that it provides both new types of visual creativity and interactivity, rooted but not confined to the physical world.
• Second is because of the unparalleled content delivery of websites. There is nothing you can code up with that can be delivered faster, across platforms and faster than a website. You can read more how this is managed for this website in this post
• Final reason, and why I am drawn to programming in general is the scalability code. With other creative hobbies you will often find yourself going to the store to buy materials, and once your work is finished you may have one copy that you have to bring with you to show it to friends. With code, this is all overcome. In most cases, there is nothing that stands between you and what you have in mind but your own skill, patience and hard work. Maybe you have created a maze solver? Now you can run it as often as you want. Do you want to show it to friends? Just send a copy.

Programming is just a great as a creative hobby.

2. The generosity of strangers

First, let us appreciate how unique the connections are that the internet allows us to make. The internet provides a way of connecting at an ease, at a scale, and with a diversity of people that is not closely matched by any other mode. The internet allows you to connect on niche topics, share stories and help others with your lessons learned. How often have I not thanked the heavens for someone posting online about this one solution, insight or preparation? As a humanity we thrive by standing on the shoulders those who came before us, thus it is our obligation to seek to return this favor, and I believe the internet presents a unique opportunity for this purpose.

3. Have it your way

The internet is saturated with platforms that seemingly provide a space for every possible question. Programming questions? StackOverflow. Professional details? LinkedIn. Sports activities? Strava. Etc. etc. What could a personal website possible provide a visitor that these large platforms cannot? My answer: exploration, a product of the freedom of the creator to express themselves.

Platforms set uniform boundaries for all that inherently limit expressing individuality. Personal websites however, present much more creative freedom: The scope, presentation and content are all up to you. Visiting Facebook is like visiting a chain store: you know the layout, and you are there to get what you need. Visiting a personal website is like visiting someone’s home, it is unique and might see something new. If you can briefly forget conventions set up by this metaphorical retail store, what would your home look like? Websites from the early ’90s are a potential answer to this question. To me, these web pages are a beautiful example of the non-commercial personal expression that I would like to pay an homage to.

You might find these personal webpages from the ’90s a mess, hard to understand in a single glance, and the design inferior to that of current big platforms. However, as far as representing human identity goes, I believe these are good things, since the creator at least tried to create order in this mess in their own way. Now, I feel like this would be the place for a very deep lesson about we should try to understand each other in the real world, but I will leave that to the reader.