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today is june 22 and I've just decided to start messing around with old-fashioned web design again. I taught myself html, css, and some javascript when I was in middle school, mostly by reading tutorials on other people's personal sites. those were the days; everyone was just getting online and expressing themselves with these new tools. it was an amazing time to come of age, and I begged my dad to purchase a domain and hosting for me in 2004. like many millenial teen web designers, I used paint shop pro and photoshop to create rudimentary layouts, and spent most of my free time scouring the web for new brushes and fonts. I made pixel art/blinkies, and had a hit counter and webrings on my splash page. then, as I got older, it seems as though everyone moved on without saying a word. suddenly we were all on myspace, then facebook with our new college email addresses, and social interactions became more focused on our real-life friends. we grey up and the magic was over. these days, the power of the world wide web lies with powerful corporations who have finally figured out how to maximize control and profit over users. have you tried to register a domain any time after 2010? nearly every name is owned by an LLC and is not even in use. as for web design, there is simply no need for people to learn any amount of coding anymore. everything has a template, and everything is done for you. where's the fun in that? I have been feeling nostalgic lately after having a baby and re-experiencing everything through the eyes of a child. I searched something like, "what happened to early 2000s weblogs" and after going through the rabbithole, I discovered neocities. I am so happy to find that there are many others, young and old, who miss the good old days of having to figure things out for ourselves. I am just beginning to pick up on coding after nearly 20 years, so none of this will be particularly good, but I am going to try to dedicate time to improving my skills. if I could do it when I was 12, I can do it now, can't I? I am currently working on mobile compatibility. x

☽

today is june 22 and I've just decided to start messing around with old-fashioned web design again. I taught myself html, css, and some javascript when I was in middle school, mostly by reading tutorials on other people's personal sites. those were the days; everyone was just getting online and expressing themselves with these new tools. it was an amazing time to come of age, and I begged my dad to purchase a domain and hosting for me in 2004. like many millenial teen web designers, I used paint shop pro and photoshop to create rudimentary layouts, and spent most of my free time scouring the web for new brushes and fonts. I made pixel art/blinkies, and had a hit counter and webrings on my splash page. then, as I got older, it seems as though everyone moved on without saying a word. suddenly we were all on myspace, then facebook with our new college email addresses, and social interactions became more focused on our real-life friends. we grey up and the magic was over.

these days, the power of the world wide web lies with powerful corporations who have finally figured out how to maximize control and profit over users. have you tried to register a domain any time after 2010? nearly every name is owned by an LLC and is not even in use. as for web design, there is simply no need for people to learn any amount of coding anymore. everything has a template, and everything is done for you. where's the fun in that?

I have been feeling nostalgic lately after having a baby and re-experiencing everything through the eyes of a child. I searched something like, "what happened to early 2000s weblogs" and after going through the rabbithole, I discovered neocities. I am so happy to find that there are many others, young and old, who miss the good old days of having to figure things out for ourselves. I am just beginning to pick up on coding after nearly 20 years, so none of this will be particularly good, but I am going to try to dedicate time to improving my skills. if I could do it when I was 12, I can do it now, can't I?

I am currently working on mobile compatibility.

x