The web is yours

The web is yours.

Our experiences on the web are mostly made by someone else. Social media networks decide what content to show you. YouTube tries to ascertain, based on all the information the platform collects about you, what it thinks you may like and recommends related videos. Google decides how to show search results.

Despite the domineering presence of large companies on the web, there is one undeniable, yet lesser spoken fact, that provides hope: You can build for the web; you can create your own experiences. You can do this by having your own personal website.

You are reading this article on my personal website, James' Coffee Blog. This site has been something I have chipped away at in my free time for years. I have made friends by having this site. I have become more a better writer (I think!). I have learned more about coding. Started during the pandemic, I created this blog as a place to write my thoughts. At the beginning, I wrote about technology. I was worried about what people might think if I started writing about something else. Then, I started writing about coffee (hence the name). I have since also documented some moments that brought me joy, what colour of anime hair I would have, my struggles with mental health, and more.

On this site, I can curate my experience, and yours, too. I have chosen to have Club Penguin images for backgrounds on my site. There is even a scavenger hunt that you can do to find all four of the different backgrounds. My site has liberal mentions of Taylor Swift, my favourite singer. I have a calculator that helps you figure out how much coffee or water you should use to make a cup of coffee. Built over time, I am as proud of all of these things as I am any other accomplishment. I made my own space on the web. I "hang up" Christmas lights on my website at Christmas. I have an emoji that changes on holidays. This is my space.

If you were ever looking for permission to make your own website, this is it. Take up space. Build your internet home.

On your own website, you can be as whimsical or as serious as you want. You can design the site how you want. You can curate your content how you want. You are in control.

You can get a web page up and running in an hour with a tool like WordPress. You can choose your theme. Or you can build a website with HTML, a 30-year-old technology that every single website uses (from Instagram to YouTube). You can make a HTML web page in an afternoon with help from an online tutorial.

The beautiful thing about the web is you can build as much or as little as you want; you are in control.

You can have a website that links to all your social media profiles. This site could be the way you share links with your friends. Instead of sharing all your social handles -- who has all the same handles across platforms, am I right? -- you could share your website and your friends can find you wherever you are.

You can write a blog where you write about your favourite movies, or roast the movies that you didn't enjoy.

You can make a website where you share your photography.

You can have a fan blog about Taylor Swift (I'm seriously considering making one of these!).

Whatever your interests or passions are -- art, radio, music, computers, exercise, mental health -- you can start a website to share your thoughts with the world.

By now, you might be thinking: well, who really has a website? I do! And many others do, too. I come across new personal websites literally every day, from coding blogs to websites made by someone in their spare time where they use their design skills to make something that looks cool. Do you need to be professional? No. You should be yourself.

Personal websites work at your own pace. I have been blogging for years and nobody has ever made me feel like I need to post about something in particular. Social networks, in contrast, make me feel that way all the time. Like I need to share my photos on Instagram so my friends can see where I am. I don't like thinking that way. Thanks, social media (he says with a sad face). I know people who blog once every few months and others who blog almost every day; everyone does what they want.

Blogs I follow have written about the following over the last few days:

• Anime hair colours, responding to my blog post on the subject.
• Concerns with Boeing 737 planes.
• Music that someone likes.
• Coffee someone is drinking.
• Machine learning.
• Words someone learned.

And more.

Okay. So maybe having a website is cool. You can express yourself on the web without a social network. But... what about my audience? Who is going to read what I write? Good question. When you publish content on the web about things you are passionate about, you can share your site with others. Share your website with friends; communities. You might not get "likes" in the same way as social media, but your blog posts don't go into a void. Share your blog on social media. There are readers out there for a myriad of subjects. You have to start writing -- ideally, on your own website -- to find them.

But James... What if I never get a reader? Email me. I'll take a look at your website! I'll be your first reader.

A few years ago, I published a blog post on how to build an automated plant watering system. Months ago, a reader reached out to me to say that it made him excited about programming again. I never foresaw that happening when I wrote the tutorial. I was writing something I was passionate about, not thinking about the potential audience. In my book, if I can make one person smile, or help one person learn, from my blog, I am happy.

Also, you don't need to have an audience if you don't want one. You can make for the sake of making; to learn. To be. There are plenty of other people out there who may find your words interesting, thought provoking, comforting.

You can weave the web you want. Design a website. Make a game. Share your art. Write words. What you do can make a difference. Websites are a way to exercise your creativity; you can do so to the extent you want.

There is one more question to answer: how do you start a website? I have a few recommendations.

1. Read the 32-Bit Cafe "Creating Your Own Website" guide.
2. Read the IndieWeb Getting Started ("Get Your Own Site") guide
3. Join a Homebrew Website Club meetup and ask how you can start building your own website.

No coding is necessary to build your own website.

What platform should I use, James? That is a personal question, but I have a few recommendations:

• Micro.blog (no coding required)
• WordPress (no coding required)
• omg.lol, a tool that has many tools to create websites that you can use with no coding experience. You can make link pages, blogs, and more!
• Neocities, a free place you can publish HTML sites. There are over 700,000 websites hosted on Neocities.
• Make your own website with plain HTML (for new coders)
• Make a website with a site generator like Eleventy (for coders who know a bit about HTML and JavaScript.

The web is yours. It's up to you to decide what you want to make, and to create the experience you want! Experiment, explore. Collaborate with friends. Most importantly, have fun!

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If you have questions about starting a website, or would like to show off a site you build, feel free to email me at readers [at] jamesg [dot] blog.