Do your own thing
Go start to build a personal website. Forget about rules, principles, or other technologies around it. Learn some HTML and CSS, build a site and start publishing. Indie Web isn’t a thing that exclusive to developers. It never was and never will be.
I want to be part of the Indie Web. Indie Web with a space in between. Small, and independent website.
I only just learnt about IndieWeb until recently when I joined Fediring and Mastodon. At first, I fall in love with the idea immediately without looking into the technical aspect. It’s a movement and a community for people who like personal websites. How can I not want to be part of it?
Nevertheless, the more I read about implementing the IndieWeb standards and syndication, I find it difficult to follow. It seems to me the IndieWeb is created for some people with tech backgrounds. I’m aware that those principles are optional but it’s way too hard for a non-developer.
Not everyone can code. Not everyone could even understand technical stuff like POSSE or Webmention. Mind you, I don’t know Markdown or Git or SSGs or using the command line. I’m using FTP to upload all the files needed for this site. Laugh all you want. But the question is, why couldn’t I just write plain HTML and start blogging?
To an imbecile like me, am I not allowed to build my IndieWeb without such knowledge? All that technical bullshit is getting in my way. It creates a wall—a barrier for people who have an interest in building a personal site.
Aside from that, I do have something not quite agree with the official guidelines of IndieWeb. To me, it’s a cool concept itself but the branding may not be necessary. It works as a hashtag on social media or a blog post, like #indieWeb. I think I tend to wish Indie Web as a general idea to promote individual websites rather than packing it into a product just for pleasing tech people.
Indie Web belongs to everyone as long as you have a personal website. One may not need anyone’s approval to be “counted in” or to be part of. With or without the technical requirements implied.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand that developers like to show off their skill sets on their own sites. Talking about their stacks or SSGs or workflow they’re using. I totally get that. But thing is, that’s exactly why designers love posting their pretty layout designs—which will never get implemented—in their portfolio.
Yet people bashing about designers who create foolish designs, developers built their personal blogs with React. We’re all the same after all.
This is my site. This is how I do my own thing. This is my Indie Web.
This is #Day7 of #100DaysToOffload.