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My website is ugly because I made it

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Re: My website is ugly because I made it

#121

Post by dgellow »

wpollock wrote: post #118

You don't know ugly. Your site is fine! I wrote my website by hand in Notepad (and vi) in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, I rewrote it to use CSS. I tried to use a dark background (research suggested that was easier on the eyes, and it saved power), I tried to pick properly contrasting colors. This was the result: https://wpollock.com/ >. I used this site for 30 years, and never once received a compliment on its design…

For what it’s worth, I find it instantly familiar and comforting! Here is your first compliment :)

Re: My website is ugly because I made it

#122

Post by jjulius »

nonethewiser wrote: post #29

His website circa 2023 was not ugly. It was minamalist. NOW its ugly. Its funny because I initially agreed with him when I thought his website was the same as the 2023 version. Which I didnt find ugly. But now that I see it really is ugly I find myself with a more negative disposition towards his message.

>But now that I see it really is ugly I find myself with a more negative disposition towards his message.

Why? The whole message is about finding joy in creating whatever you want, something that is ostensibly you, in a way in which you find joy in creating it, regardless of what other people think of the final product.

The fact that many people here find it ugly and off-putting only makes the site, and the message in this piece, more endearing to me. If you're griping about the appearance, or think that the message is lost because of the ugliness, you've missed the point.

Re: My website is ugly because I made it

#123

Post by mrinterweb »

The spirit of this reminds me back to earlier days of the internet. I know a lot of people bemoaned Flash sites for weird navigation, and other issues. Not saying the Flash criticism wasn't warranted, but I did appreciate the creativity some people put into making their site unique. Too much of the internet feel homogeneous now, and with AI generated content, that is only going to get worse. I appreciate the portions of the internet that don't want to conform.

Re: My website is ugly because I made it

#124

Post by LoulouMonkey »

donatj wrote: post #2

Hah, yes! Whereas most of my developer friends have long ago moved to off-the-shelf Hugo or Jekyll templates for their personal sites, I stubbornly maintain my blog with entirely bespoke css and a backend only a parent could love. For me, the joy is not in having a website, the joy is in building the website. Why would I want to hand off the joyful part? It's like maintaining a classic car. You can buy a reliable dec…

Exactly the same journey here.

I started with Hugo and ended up building my own static site generator (https://github.com/julien-blanchard/Loulou).

It's been nothing but fun all along. And as you said, building something yourself really makes a huge difference.

https://blanchardjulien.com/

Re: My website is ugly because I made it

#125

Post by xmprt »

jjulius wrote: post #94
rchaud wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I did. The homepage is the only thing that's unique about the design. Had you arrived on any page besides that, you would think this is a bog-standard developer's blogsite, one skinny column amid a sea of white space. It's possible to have an ugly site that's still easily navigable and visually interesting, even if the author is the only user.

Respectfully, to the author's point, none of that matters and neither does anything in your previous post. The author likes it, and has fun creating it and enjoys molding and re-shaping it to their own changing desires over the years. That's what they find important to them, not anything that you've mentioned. As the author writes... >Somebody with good taste could’ve made my website, but then it wouldn’t be mine. >T…

I guess the question is if I create something that's extremely derivative and standard/boring but I say that it's uniquely myself then is that true? I suppose it could be if I'm calling myself boring.

Re: My website is ugly because I made it

#126

Post by LoulouMonkey »

oxalorg wrote: post #38
donatj wrote: post #2

Hah, yes! Whereas most of my developer friends have long ago moved to off-the-shelf Hugo or Jekyll templates for their personal sites, I stubbornly maintain my blog with entirely bespoke css and a backend only a parent could love. For me, the joy is not in having a website, the joy is in building the website. Why would I want to hand off the joyful part? It's like maintaining a classic car. You can buy a reliable dec…

Exactly this. My entire website is handcrafted, and not once but over the last decade almost ~10 times. It's fun and I almost end up revamping something every year. Everything handcrafted: - the matrix js code on home page. https://oxal.org click on the matrix for a surprise! - it's built using my own Static Site Generator: https://github.com/oxalorg/genox - my website uses a css theme, again handcrafted: https://git…

I really like your website, it's both very clear / easy to navigate and yet unusual.

Great work!

Re: My website is ugly because I made it

#127

Post by jjulius »

xmprt wrote: post #125
jjulius wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Respectfully, to the author's point, none of that matters and neither does anything in your previous post. The author likes it, and has fun creating it and enjoys molding and re-shaping it to their own changing desires over the years. That's what they find important to them, not anything that you've mentioned. As the author writes... >Somebody with good taste could’ve made my website, but then it wouldn’t be mine. >T…

I guess the question is if I create something that's extremely derivative and standard/boring but I say that it's uniquely myself then is that true? I suppose it could be if I'm calling myself boring.

We're all just an amalgamation of our experiences. As long as you're creating whatever feels true to you, and you're happy with it, then awesome!

Boring? I guess I don't really care - internal joy and contentment will always supercede "boring".

Re: My website is ugly because I made it

#128

Post by piotrpdev »

luckyandroid wrote: post #10

Even with frameworks, I don't see any joy in making something that just looks and feels the same as any other site. I understand it from a business point of view, but if you're trying to just showcase yourself or your work having flavor makes more sense even if it's not the most optimal thing for SEO or retention. Really hate how modern website building sites moved towards structured, samey sites. I miss the days of…

Haha, I suppose it's a bit risky to put spinning skeletons on your website these days since your potential future employer could see it. People are still making super cool and unique websites on Neocities[1] though.

[1]: https://neocities.org/browse?sort_by=views&tag=

Re: My website is ugly because I made it

#129

Post by mgfist »

oxalorg wrote: post #38
donatj wrote: post #2

Hah, yes! Whereas most of my developer friends have long ago moved to off-the-shelf Hugo or Jekyll templates for their personal sites, I stubbornly maintain my blog with entirely bespoke css and a backend only a parent could love. For me, the joy is not in having a website, the joy is in building the website. Why would I want to hand off the joyful part? It's like maintaining a classic car. You can buy a reliable dec…

Exactly this. My entire website is handcrafted, and not once but over the last decade almost ~10 times. It's fun and I almost end up revamping something every year. Everything handcrafted: - the matrix js code on home page. https://oxal.org click on the matrix for a surprise! - it's built using my own Static Site Generator: https://github.com/oxalorg/genox - my website uses a css theme, again handcrafted: https://git…

You might like this guy's website - https://kdrag0n.dev/

(it's not me, I also don't know him personally)

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