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NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

neocities.org

41–50 of 103 posts

Re: NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

#41
I just tried signing up for a page, and at the bottom of the signup form is instructions for entering two words. But no two words show up, and there is no place to enter them. Is this due to load issues?

Edit: The re-captcha works in Firefox and Internet Explorer, but not in Chrome.

Re: NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

#42
post #37

As much as there has been lots of trash talking here about Neocities due to it being 'just' HTML and CSS, I teach high school kids on a semi-regular basis (teaching summer camp right now) and that's the thing they're _most_ jazzed about. I told them all to sign up. They were super pumped.

Why are they most jazzed about HTML and CSS? Is it because they can create something immediate and show it to others online?

This is http://codenow.org/ in NYC, by the way. The organization partners with my employer, Jumpstart Lab.

This particular iteration is six weeks, all the kids did a weekend with us during the school year. Last week was reviewing very basic programming concepts in Ruby, then this week, we did ruby-processing, and then Sinatra, so the HTML came into play.

I think it's because it's a more graphical medium; many of them can see how it's 'neat,' but when doing just textual stuff, they get bored easily. The processing was kinda interesting, but I think the simplicity of making something graphical was what really made them get pumped. Then, now they're more excited to learn more Ruby so that they can build more complex sites, but (at least with this group) it's a means to an end.

We haven't actually deployed anything public yet, so they haven't been able to share, I bet that'll be another huge leap in interest.

Re: NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

#43
I just donated [1] $10 to the project and I haven't even setup an account yet. I just think providing an anonymous account on the internet is very important, especially in today's world of constant monitoring and eavesdropping.

I hoped others on HN donate what little they see fit.

[1] > Confirmation number: 1PC46364PK792033N

Re: NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

#44
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't implement this design. Current one is thousand times better. Minimalistic is more natural for this kind of sites.

This discussion is interesting, because I just recently listened to an interview with Tegan And Sara on NPR regarding their new album that almost perfectly emulates this (minimalism vs polish). They wanted to make their music more approachable to a wider audience, and their hardcore fans revolted because they just wanted to hear more of the same stuff. In the end, they were right, and the new album was successful. Mu…

Go with that new design, it is a vast improvement. I think you will attract a more appreciative crowd, who will be seeking something that doesn't look like a short term experiment.

Re: NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

#45
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't implement this design. Current one is thousand times better. Minimalistic is more natural for this kind of sites.

This discussion is interesting, because I just recently listened to an interview with Tegan And Sara on NPR regarding their new album that almost perfectly emulates this (minimalism vs polish). They wanted to make their music more approachable to a wider audience, and their hardcore fans revolted because they just wanted to hear more of the same stuff. In the end, they were right, and the new album was successful. Mu…

Do what you feel is best. If it was up to half the commenters with negative feedback, Neocities would've never even existed. You have the vision, you have the product, do what feels right.

Re: NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

#46
"Domain Names

yourname.neocities.org is pretty good, but there's nothing more powerful than owning your own domain. When you own your own domain, you are in control. I want to make it easy for people to add their domain name to NeoCities, and just as easy to move their content elsewhere if they decide they don't want to use us (or want to step to something more powerful like their own server).

I will be implementing domain support eventually. I'm not sure what the timeline on this is yet, it's a more difficult thing to implement, but I think it's important. So we're going to do it. Domains themselves cost money, but we will not be charging for linking domains to NeoCities sites because I feel that having your own identity that you control is important."

...but what about my page? http://ns1.neocities.org/

Re: NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

#47
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't implement this design. Current one is thousand times better. Minimalistic is more natural for this kind of sites.

This discussion is interesting, because I just recently listened to an interview with Tegan And Sara on NPR regarding their new album that almost perfectly emulates this (minimalism vs polish). They wanted to make their music more approachable to a wider audience, and their hardcore fans revolted because they just wanted to hear more of the same stuff. In the end, they were right, and the new album was successful. Mu…

I'm glad this turned into a fruitful discussion and I think you offered a great analog with Tegan and Sara's album.

Perhaps maybe we could boil most our comments down to just a simple suggestion that maybe the new design could be nudged just a bit more in the direction of "minimalistic / retro / edgy / avant-garde / anarchist". The right design could have both the accessibility you (rightly) are seeking, but still preserve a little bit of the minimalistic feel that (we felt) sets the Neocities image apart. Of course, finding the right balance is going to be challenging, but that's what makes a good designer good.

Two more quick points:

- We (the peanut gallery) could all be totally wrong. We're all rooting for you though. :)

- For every success like Tegan and Sara, everyone knows a band who tried to switch it up and just started sucking. There's nothing wrong with staying in a niche. On the other hand, we know you're ambitious and have a great vision. I think we all like that about Neocities too!

Re: NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

#48

As much as there has been lots of trash talking here about Neocities due to it being 'just' HTML and CSS, I teach high school kids on a semi-regular basis (teaching summer camp right now) and that's the thing they're _most_ jazzed about. I told them all to sign up. They were super pumped.

This is how I got started with programming. Then later I wanted to make some things conditionally displayed, so I learned a scripting language. Then I wanted to write non-spaghetti code, so I learned more about how to structure projects. Etc.

I think it's an organic way to learn. It's instantly rewarding.

Re: NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

#49
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are they most jazzed about HTML and CSS? Is it because they can create something immediate and show it to others online?

This is http://codenow.org/ in NYC, by the way. The organization partners with my employer, Jumpstart Lab. This particular iteration is six weeks, all the kids did a weekend with us during the school year. Last week was reviewing very basic programming concepts in Ruby, then this week, we did ruby-processing, and then Sinatra, so the HTML came into play. I think it's because it's a more graphical medium; many of them…

Thanks for the info. I wish I had this back in the 90s.

Did they try Ruby Shoes (or whatever replaced it) as a fun side GUI project?

Re: NeoCities can now handle two million web sites

#50

Woo, thanks for the shoutout to Ten Megabyte Manifesto [0] again. 20 megabytes is likely a good thing (and I guess I have to update my manifesto a little bit! though I maintain that you can still build quality stuff in under 10MB of html/css/js), and the promise of a better upload interface is great too. I'm hoping you'll choose to/be able to implement directory support but any improvement in the meantime is great. K…

I would argue that if you want directories, etc., implement your own version of neocities. Apparently the code is available.
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