Fairytale

You Should Make a Website!

This space has been set up with a placeholder for a while. I think you should make a website. I haven’t figured out how to explain why. Why should you make art? Why should you make community? Why should you learn a new skill? Why should you share these things?

You should make a website.

I've been writing my manifesto on the indie web for a while. It never seems to come together right. I hope I can replace this space with something more detailed and meaningful and coherent someday soon, but for now, please look through these resources as you consider making a website of your own!

I Want to Make a Website, But...

...I don't know any code!

There are so many huge, in-depth tutorials, guides, and resources for learning HTML and CSS. I'm going to try not to give you any of those here! Instead, here are just some relatively quick beginner guides to get you started so you can at least put your content in a premade layout.

If you want to learn more, try some of the content on 32-bit Café's resource list!

...I want to make a blog, but I don't know how to set it up.
  • Zonelets, a framework to make a simple blog!
  • Zonelots, a slightly more advanced variation of Zonelets with more features
  • Strawberry Starter, which uses markdown (a formatting style using *asterisks* and such you might recognize from Discord or Reddit) instead of HTML
  • Zoner, a variation of Zonelets that also uses markdown and drag-and-drop features.
  • Bumblebee, a more advanced version of Zonelots with even more features—this is the one I use for Storybook!
  • Bimbo Blog, which even has a commenting system using Bluesky.
...where can I host it?

All of these options are free! Nekoweb has a section in their FAQ about the differences between it and Neocities; for most purposes, neither is particularly better than the other, in my opinion. Leprd has a wider breadth of feature options for free, depending on your needs, but you'll have to contact them directly to ask for hosting.

...I need a layout!

Premade layouts:

Layout builders:

...I'll need to make a button, won't I?

Not necessarily, but it makes it easier to share your site with others!

Button makers:

Templates/borders:

You can also find tons of more detailed templates on different sozai websites—spend some time picking through Mouseling's sozai directory!

...what do I put on it?
  • Set up a webshrine
  • Write a personality quiz
  • Generate an idea from Sadgrl's list
  • Browse other websites and copy one of their page themes (this is plenty acceptable in the indie web sphere, but it's nice if you link back to the page that inspired you!)
  • Rank the songs on an album you like, or give your top songs from a band
  • Make Pokémon teams for a bunch of your favorite characters, or your OCs
  • Take photos of and share all the items in your collection
  • Tell me all about your OCs
  • Make a to do list of creative projects you want to complete, whether or not you've started them
  • Use one of these ideas from James's 100 Things You Can Do On Your Personal Website
  • Use one of these ideas from James's 100 (More) Things You Can Do On Your Personal Website
  • Make a fansite for your D&D party
  • Use one of these ideas from 32-bit Café.
  • Add or make a web shimeji to wander around your page!

What Do I Do Now?

Post in my guestbook or email me so we can be neighbors!

Find webrings on the webring webring, Brisray's webring list, ringlink, and/or other websites' webrings lists (here's mine!), and join them! Join some fanlistings, too!

Find more stuff on my resources page (especially the code snippets section) and find something cool to do with them!

Have fun!