#small web

𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘ mala's scripts and tools 𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘

As an Internet Veteran* and a web developer, I have a lot of strong opinions about the Internet and the direction it's going in.

Now I'm gonna allow myself a rant and hopefully convert at least one of you, and then I'll go back to obsessing over imaginary people. Ok? Ok. *I've been online in one way or other since the late 90s/early 2000s.

Yes, much of the Internet sucks now...

In the beginning, everyone had their own site. Fansites. Art portfolios. Online journals (the word "blog" wasn't invented yet). Lots of weird places you'd stumble upon by link-hopping from site to site.

But of course, as soon as the technology took off, the market noticed. Social media came along and made it easier to create an account on their sites than make something for yourself, so that's what everyone did. And here we are now.

Instead of a million little houses built by passionate individuals and all having streets and pathways linking to each other, we have these massive walled gardens of rented flats built by commercial interest. They're keeping their users like animals in a zoo where everything is an account and a subscription and an ALGORITHM (gods I hate algorithms almost as much as I hate AI) and monetized by taking our data* and using it to show us ever-increasing amounts of ads. *Collecting more data is all this age verification/chat control nonsense is about btw. I don't believe for a second they're actually interested in "protecting children" or anything of the sort.

...but there's still hope

Good news is, the personal non-monetized Internet is still out there. It's just been buried under a fuckton of ad-infested garbage and can be tricky to find.

There are still entire communities of people taking pride in making their own personal websites instead of relying solely on social media.

The main reason is of course because it's plain ol' fun, but another big point is to break out of the zoo. To take back some semblance of control over your digital life and contribute to an Internet that is still made by and for regular people, not for corporations. If we can make websites ourselves, we negate some of the power they hold over us. No need to get quite so devastated when Tumblr/AO3/Meta/etc yet again changes something for the worse if you always have your own site to fall back on.

As neat as it is to have everyone on social media, I wish more people would set aside the time to make their own sites.

We all live online, might as well have your own house. A house you can build however you want and can be taken down and moved somewhere else should the need arise.

"But but but my audience..?"

Yeah, sure, the zoos are useful for meeting people and getting your work seen. I'm here too, aren't I? I understand you want to be where most of the eyes are. What I'm getting at is: YOU SHOULD HAVE BOTH!

Use whatever to network and find your friends and fans - but don't put all your digital eggs in one corporate basket. Just like you sync your phone to the cloud and back up your hard drive (you are backing up your hard drive, right? Right?!) you should back up your creations and post them somewhere where you have control over them. Somewhere people can see your things without having to sign up for another bloody account.

While I realise I make webweaving sound like some activism thing, it really is a cool hobby.

I can't overstate how fun and rewarding it is to have your own place on the Internet! ❣️ Poking around with the layout and content and learning how it all works under the hood. ❣️ The thrill when you wrangle the browser into submission and get it to work exactly how you want it ❣️ Making friends and trading knowledge with other web-weavers ❣️ Not to mention the pride of showing the link to people like "yeah, I made this. And I made the website it is on too 😎"

It's beyond worth it for the skills you learn and the people you meet! At least think about it, please.

"But I can't code or design, how would I even make a website? It's too much work"

Can you take a prewritten text document and edit it? That's all you need to start. Can you edit your Tumblr theme? Shit, you're halfway there already.

Creating a simple personal site really doesn't have to be that complicated.

There are boatloads of free ready-made layouts and templates you can edit and free graphics so you don't have to start from scratch. Many websites don't even have graphics at all. There are also free content management systems that, once set up, allows you to edit most things without any coding at all. Installing, say, WordPress takes 5 minutes if even that.

Not to mention the myriad of very beginner-friendly tutorials and even real live people to ask.

Us personal web enthusiasts are THRILLED whenever someone new wants to join our ranks and most will fall over themselves trying to help. We're here for you. Hell, I'm here for you. My DMs are always open, don't hesitate to give me a shout if you wanna talk websites 🤝 (or previously mentioned imaginary people, I'm not fussy haha)

A few links to get you started:

32bit.cafe is a community of personal web enthusiasts and a great place to start. They have a massive list of resources and you can join the forum or discord if you want to chat with people.

Sadgrl has a lot of guides and resources too.

Pixel Shannon's guide to making your own website

Neocities is a free host and also has some community features

check out the web revival tag right here on Tumblr

More about the personal web movement:

Intro to the web revival by Melon

The IndieWeb community

Hello, world, I have a solution to the Internet problem

Visit MelonLand's Surf Club for loads of examples of personal websites

Now, go build your house. And then send me the link. I'm not joking, I really do want to see what you come up with!

Alright witches, webring be upon ye! If you're a witch with a personal, handmade website where you talk about witchcraft in any capacity, click here to join the Witching Hour Webring!

What's a webring?: A webring is a network of websites that link to each other in one big circle. I link to the site before me and to you; you link to me and the site after you; that site links to you and the site after them... and so on! If you click through the carousel on each website, you'll eventually end up back where you started. We use them to help site visitors find more websites in a similar theme.

How to join: Click the link above or below or right here, read the guidelines, and read the instructions.

Once I check your site and add you to the webring list, you're all set! Yippee! Now we're holding hands and spinning off into the world wide web together, like the internet was meant to be.

Rainbow Range is a smallweb site dedicated to NEW webgraphics of our modern era! You can submit your own and you'll be added to the member directory and fully credited! Just be sure you're okay with other's using your homemade graphics. If you're looking for graphics to use, this site has everything fully categorized by color (available NOW), season (WIP), and occasion (WIP)!

Buy CDs and DVDs (preferably from the grottiest little local shop you can find, run by a 60yo man who chain smokes and has an encyclopedic knowledge of all music/film), go to Blockbuster with friends on Friday night, for the rest, Napster illegally download

Start carrying the good camera again, not relying on the phone for photos

No subscriptions for delivery of basic items (Deodorant? Toilet paper? Electrolytes?). No, you cannot have a recurring transaction on my credit card, fuck off

Don't use AIM social media when out of the house (texting is ok, reading is ok)

Doctoring photos is ok but only if you use your illegally downloaded copy of Photoshop (and your self taught Photoshop skills) to do it

Web 1.0 supremacy; fuck apps. Bring back kitschy animated word art on websites

Insist that politicians like George W. Bush are the worst and do not allow relativism to make you forget or temper that basic truth

Amazon.com is a pretty cool website you might've heard of? For finding books you can't get locally, like books by indie authors who only publish there. It isn't anything else.

Browsing local bookstores and going to bookstore release parties whenever possible

The average amount spent on cable TV in the US in 2000 is $60/mo, and if you can afford it, that's what's reasonable to spend on cable/streaming, no more (video rental/DVD purchase not included)

Going to the movies (sneak in the snacks to save $)

Desktop setup: the ultimate computer setup involves a huge fucking monitor (ok if it's huge in width now, rather than depth as it was then), a computer that doesn't move around the house with you, a full size clicky keyboard with separate number pad, and components that never need charging. Ideally this is in a shittily renovated basement or even in the middle of the house/kitchen

Magazine subscriptions are sweet. Might I suggest Wired or Teen Vogue?

Queer rights: legal/marriage equality is important, yeah, but more important is challenging heteronormativity. Fuck it all up. Have you read Michael Warner's The Trouble With Normal?

Taxis and public transit and asking friends for a ride to the airport. Fuck the gig economy

Big pants

No ChatGPT. If you need help writing something, ask a friend

Reality TV can be fun, but only if you're watching with a group and being really unhinged about it together

The News is something that happens max twice a day (newspaper in the morning, up to an hour of evening news, preferably PBS NewsHour, which is free on YouTube)

There's no such thing as a weight loss drug

Going to a friend's house to play video games together

Things I'm keeping from 2025:

GPS

Tasty non-dairy options

Medical breakthroughs

Wearing a mask when sick or when illness is prevalent

High-rise trousers

Neurodiversity as a concept, and improvement in our understanding of disability

The limited strides we've made wrt fatphobia, transphobia, ableism, racism, homophobia, etc

"my favorite social media site is shutting down!"

"the CEO of the site i use just committed another atrocity!"

"i want a webspace that's all my own!"

if any of these sound like you (and if you're on tumblr, i know at least one applies) you should make your own website!