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What Is the Small Web?

ar.al

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Re: What Is the Small Web?

#21

Post by okaleniuk »

I guess, my https://wordsandbuttons.online/ qualifies as a small web site. However, it was built in a very contradictory manner. I would like to challenge this: "It must be done in a manner that does not require any technical know-how whatsoever".

It doesn't take too much technical know-how to build a site. Basic HTML+CSS+JS is enough really. Writing, editing, visual design, UI design, - it all requires way too much expertise in comparison. You have to be a creative let's say 80% of the time and technical for about 20%. Reducing the last 20% only wins you 20% of the effort. But! by concentrating the technical expertise in your own head you get another level of freedom as a creative person too.

I was writing on Livejournal, habrahabr, Codrspace, and Medium before I went stand-alone. And the main reason was not ideological but rather practical. I wanted to make interactive illustrations, quizzes, and puzzles for my pages. I wanted very specific very custom things no platform would provide.

And that's why I went small web. Small web but full tech. I enjoy my creative freedom by employing let it be modest technical expertise but exactly in a way I want to employ it. And I think, investing into technical skills to get creative freedom is well worth it.

Re: What Is the Small Web?

#22

Post by pixxel »

john___matrix wrote: post #16

This is the same guy who ran that complete shambles of a vapourware project a few years back to build a smartphone right? This sounds exactly the same in that it's some vanity project under the guise of being indie or privacy focused but all he's really looking for is some more cash. I'd probably continue to steer well clear.

Yes steer well clear of this guy. I can’t remember the details as it was long ago but I distinctly remember him being lambasted by the design/dev community.

EDIT: Not to leave HN readers hanging and to back up my comment...

He raised $100,000 on Kickstarter back in 2014 to build a "privacy" focused phone. One month later he took the phone off the table due to "lack of resources". Needless to say the phone never materialised.

https://gigaom.com/2015/01/13/ind-ie-scales-back-focuses-on-...

Re: What Is the Small Web?

#23

Post by gonehome »

I think this is a good idea and I think making it easy for people to host their own services is valuable. [0]

It’s also been tried a few times with little success (sandstorm.io).

I think the problem is deeper, modern infrastructure is messy to run, it’s hard to configure, and every thing has to be specifically tweaked to work. Something that works for regular users will require extensive tooling to be useful and will need that tooling for every application and use case.

I think Urbit is probably the best long term bet (old blog post, but gets the idea across): https://urbit.org/blog/magic/

A more recent one: https://urbit.org/understanding-urbit/

Urbit abstracts away the p2p complexity so in the future users can used decentralized applications built on the platform without having to even know they’re decentralized. I think this is the only way this kind of thing can work at scale for regular users.

[0]: https://zalberico.com/essay/2020/07/14/the-serfs-of-facebook...

Re: What Is the Small Web?

#24

Post by EGreg »

john___matrix wrote: post #16

This is the same guy who ran that complete shambles of a vapourware project a few years back to build a smartphone right? This sounds exactly the same in that it's some vanity project under the guise of being indie or privacy focused but all he's really looking for is some more cash. I'd probably continue to steer well clear.

I don’t know much about this guy, but I have seen tons of projects embark on this vision.

  Matrix.org
  Mastodon
  Scuttlebutt
  Solid
We began back in 2011 and have our own version, that lets anyone host their own social network as easily as Wordpress powers blogs. That’s the goal, anyway. Here are the economics:

https://qbix.com/token

Feedback is welcome!

Re: What Is the Small Web?

#25

Post by dna_polymerase »

> Currently, all our developer tools and technical infrastructure comes from Big Tech and the Big Web. They are optimised for creating Big Tech and the Big Web.

What the fuck are you talking about? Nobody forces you to host your personal website on a k8s cluster.

> While we can repurpose some of them for our own uses, we also need tools specifically optimised for building single-tenant web applications and the Small Web.

How about Apache for local testing and a ftp server to a webspace at [INSERT WEBHOSTING COMPANY HERE]. Existed for decades, well tested and easy to use.

Re: What Is the Small Web?

#26

Post by EGreg »

input_sh wrote: post #13
Santosh83 wrote: post #4

In the era of 5G, massive storage and incredibly powerful CPUs, we really should be exploring the home server space, as it has scope for huge improvements in terms of enabling non-technical people to own their data and operate 'servers'. This would actually realise the dream of a distributed network of full-fledged peers and also put tremendous power in the hands of ordinary people.

You're assuming that ISPs are okay with you hosting a public service using their infrastructure, which they're historically very much opposed to (in order to get you to pay for a more expensive "business" account).

Dude screw ISPs. Mesh networking will power the last mile soon.

Re: What Is the Small Web?

#27

Post by ForHackernews »

gonehome wrote: post #23

I think this is a good idea and I think making it easy for people to host their own services is valuable. [0] It’s also been tried a few times with little success (sandstorm.io). I think the problem is deeper, modern infrastructure is messy to run, it’s hard to configure, and every thing has to be specifically tweaked to work. Something that works for regular users will require extensive tooling to be useful and will…

Oh god no. Urbit is not less complex or easier. It's piling on all kinds of extra superfluous nonsense in service of an ideological project, not for technical reasons.

Re: What Is the Small Web?

#29

Post by input_sh »

m0xte wrote: post #15
input_sh wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're assuming that ISPs are okay with you hosting a public service using their infrastructure, which they're historically very much opposed to (in order to get you to pay for a more expensive "business" account).

Mine doesn’t give a crap if my outbound is 200 gig a month uploading stuff to onedrive or iCloud. Why should it have that opinion on anything else? I’m paying for a pipe. The only control metric they have is asymmetry and that’s a technology tradeoff in my case (ADSL)

Oh I completely agree with you that they shouldn't care, but the odds are big that you'll find out that they do in your Terms of Service.

Re: What Is the Small Web?

#30

Post by arexxbifs »

Here are my suggestions for keeping the "small web" of the 90:s alive:

* If self-hosting on a server in your home isn't feasible, find a reputable mom-n-pop web hotel and support them with your money.

* Focus on making your site as accessible as possible to as many people as possible, regardless of where in the world they are and what hardware they're on. Don't use javascript and databases where static HTML will suffice.

* Don't skimp on links to other "small web" pages.

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