very, very cool indie web primer and mention of the cafe! (h/t to @capjamesg for sending it my way)
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Interesting to read one of these kinds of pieces that provides a proper introduction. I did balk at this bit though:
There are videos about how and why you should create your own digital garden (a form of microblogging similar to keeping a commonplace book)
Of all things to invoke to explain “digital gardening”…. I would have thought “microblogging” would be the complete opposite. The way folks talk about “digital gardens“ in terms of revisiting over time and editing over time (as if there’s a lot of novelty to that) has always left me with the impression that the term resonates the most with folks who’ve spent a lot of time on Twitter.
Despite the indie web’s inclusivity and celebration of marginalized identities, participation does have a bit of a barrier of entry: you may need to learn some HTML basics.
Potentially, but not necessarily. For my beginner guide I’ve compiled a few web builders of a more indie nature like @stefan ‘s Simple Webpage Builder.
However, vibe-coding your own site with generative AI isn’t really in the spirit of the indie web, and you may end up with something you don’t know how to fix or adjust yourself.
Indeed.
If you’re looking for community-building and navigation tools, there is an indie web wiki and there are webrings galore — collections of similarly-themed personal websites, all connected in a “ring,” with one site linking to the next and so on. There are also small browsers, search engines, discussion spaces, directories, RSS feeds, and blogrolls, as well as a monthly digital carnival (hosted by a different site every time; a theme is set and different sites are tagged to respond).
I’m surprised this bit doesn’t mention 88x31 button walls. To me those are the main way to surf the personal web.
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i never really understood the concept of digital gardens tbh… i tried looking at the indieweb wiki but i always find its pages kind of vague and hard to understand
I always thought of it like building your own database of knowledge. A “second brain” type of thing, but that’s just the way I use it. I’m sure everyone kind of makes it fit their own needs.
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The idea as I’ve seen it explained is that it’s non-chronological and edited over time, like a wiki, which is why it’s usually been contrasted against blogs, but then it’s like… well that’s basically any webpage other than a blogpost then, and maybe some blogposts as well. So to me the concept seems so general as to be nigh superfluous, but it does seem to have really resonated with some folks, and if it gets people motivated to work on things then good for them.
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Aww this was nice to read! I sent it to a few of my friends, always kinda hoping one of them might take an interest in exploring this side of the web more and a lot of them are using substack rn
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