Rediscovering the Small Web
neustadt.fr
Rediscovering the Small Web
1–10 of 126 posts
Re: Rediscovering the Small Web
#2When I picture it in my head I think of the early web as more of a library. Over time it has transitioned into a shopping mall.
If I continue with this thought exercise, a lot of the big indoor shopping malls around me have been knocked down and replaced with standalone outdoor stores (walled gardens?).
I'm not sure where things are going next.
Re: Rediscovering the Small Web
#3When I picture it in my head I think of the early web as more of a library. Over time it has transitioned into a shopping mall. If I continue with this thought exercise, a lot of the big indoor shopping malls around me have been knocked down and replaced with standalone outdoor stores (walled gardens?). I'm not sure where things are going next.
Author here. That's an interesting analogy — especially given that small book stores and libraries (to a lesser extent) still do exist, albeit in much smaller numbers, attracting fewer patrons.
A lot of web traffic today transits through applications and platforms. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; although I'd hate to see even more walled gardens. My hope is only that the small and independent web not go forgotten/ignored.
Re: Rediscovering the Small Web
#4When I picture it in my head I think of the early web as more of a library. Over time it has transitioned into a shopping mall. If I continue with this thought exercise, a lot of the big indoor shopping malls around me have been knocked down and replaced with standalone outdoor stores (walled gardens?). I'm not sure where things are going next.
I thought the exact same thing about the web as being a library. It's nice hearing someone else say it, it's validating.
However, I feel like it's moved more in the direction of being like broadcast television: lots of content that's designed to be consumed once and then forgotten. Maybe the television analogy oversimplifies the matter. Still, I think the more that content creators view their content as going into a permanent library, the better the quality.
Re: Rediscovering the Small Web
#5I just got into ham radio. The websites related to the hobby are basically what the web was like before everything coalesced around search and social networks.
Re: Rediscovering the Small Web
#6I just got into ham radio. The websites related to the hobby are basically what the web was like before everything coalesced around search and social networks.
In my experience, that's true of many specific hobbies--bicycling, sailing, gardening, etc. It's especially true of hobbies where purchasing ever-more-expensive things isn't so important. Hobbies like cars have more magazine-like and shopping-mall-like sites compared to less consumerist ones (although bikes can be like that too).
Re: Rediscovering the Small Web
#7My own website is starting to "revert" to this concept. A few years ago, it was primarily an about page and a resume. Now it has a blog, a links page, and a "knowledge base" that's mostly just notes for myself.
I'm too burnt out on web "best practices" to care about that for my personal sites anymore.
If you're curious: https://benovermyer.com
Re: Rediscovering the Small Web
#8My own website is starting to "revert" to this concept. A few years ago, it was primarily an about page and a resume. Now it has a blog, a links page, and a "knowledge base" that's mostly just notes for myself. I'm too burnt out on web "best practices" to care about that for my personal sites anymore. If you're curious: https://benovermyer.com
Indeed! It's so much more interesting to learn about what people are interested in, beyond just their professional competencies. I really like that you have your guiding philosophies, hobbies, languages and even Hogwarts house on your about me page.
Kinda makes me want to make a more detailed about me page. If I enjoy these kinds of details, surely some other people will too. Might do it this weekend.
Re: Rediscovering the Small Web
#9I've been thinking about this for ages, and I want my own contribution to this to be a simple webring service.
If you're unfamiliar with the concept, a webring was a simple circular linked list. You had a link on your knitting-themed site to the "next knitting-themed site", that site had a link to the next one, etc.
To join the ring, you just emailed someone and said "hey, I, too, have a knitting-themed site, can you add me to your webring?", they looked at your site, and changed their link to your site, you added the link they previously had, and the ring continued.
I want to build something simple that'll serve a small widget with previous/next/random site buttons, it'll work like the webrings of old regarding the curation aspect, so to get added you'll need to be referred to by someone.
Would you use something like that? You'd basically just drop a bit of HTML on your page and it wouldn't load heavy JS/analytics/crap, just whatever was necessary to paint a few links.
Re: Rediscovering the Small Web
#10I've been thinking about this for ages, and I want my own contribution to this to be a simple webring service. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, a webring was a simple circular linked list. You had a link on your knitting-themed site to the "next knitting-themed site", that site had a link to the next one, etc. To join the ring, you just emailed someone and said "hey, I, too, have a knitting-themed site, can you…
Absolutely. Working on this for a rural area near me with many local artisans. A simple "Our Friends" section that rotates and encourages users to explore artisans in the area.