WHY DID YOU MAKE A WEBSITE?
I found the creative merit of personally-crafted websites interesting. Until finding a host in Neocities, I had never sat down to teach myself how to hand-code a webpage before. Why not start?
Having my very own zone drawn out in the Net's sands, a permanent dwelling I can take anywhere I wish, that I can add to as frequently or infrequently as I happen to, appealed to me.
To my (dis)credit, I've never been a socially-oriented person. Meaning, the animated stage presence required on social media to be likeable bothers me far too much when I don't even really want those rewards.
I'm naturally private and deliberate: I'd rather spend a week considering an article or forum response two people will read than five minutes banging out a post a thousand will.
So, I soon let those quick-fix social media platforms go and now dedicate my spare time to surfing the independent web.
I have a fondness for the DIY ethic. I enjoy the 'scenic route' both literally and figuratively: there'll always be a faster solution, but I find joy in gaining knowledge. Sure, using a website builder would shave off a few hundred hours, but I would miss out on developing the skills I have. Pushing through to solve those problems that would make someone else throw their hands up in defeat. I would miss out on the bond forged with my website from spending those several hundred hours in its files. I find gradual, purposeful processes rewarding, not burdensome. We all should slow down and do something the hard way once in a while.
I've shaped what you see from code editors showing nothing but a blinking cursor and clambered into the source code belly of the beast, so I regard this the same way as a sculpture. I feel that in some way it has become an extension of me; something I've placed my hand on for so long the cast preserved my fingerprints.
Growing up alongside this website — it reflecting what I have learned, was a beautiful thing to notice. I wanted a space to poke a little something under the door to the Net. I also wanted a grand project with no true end. I don't know what this website will look like or what it will host in a few more years. It will evolve like anything else.
WHAT WAS THE PROCESS?
The first version of the website emerged in August 2022 and looked like this. After a few months, I graduated from that familiar Sadgrl layout,
following it up with several major iterations containing an increasing amount of independent work and technical understanding. The version of the site we are standing on right now began in July 2025 — taking me a month to rebuild from scratch.
For this version, I set out to rewrite everything in an empty, separate folder to ensure no ancient rookie errors or poor formatting remained. Pretty much every page uses flexbox in some way. Truly the hero of our time.
My ethos for this site is responsiveness, accessibility, and tactility.
- Responsive — Each page has been built with the native ability to keep its essentials practical for most devices that can browse the web.
- Accessible — Accessibility has been improved through responsiveness, mobile-access, semantic HTML, alt text, no flashing effects, and contrast.
While I have provided definitions for jargon where possible, be warned that some content may be unusual or unnecessarily verbose.
- Tactile — Many elements react to mouse navigation, giving a 'live' quality to them while keeping effects mild and nonessential.
You might notice this website has less going on than others on Neocities. This is intentional. I don't believe constructing a flashy, maximalist aesthetic is worth sacrificing accessibility.
I have kept layouts responsive, organised, and easy to visually comprehend. I've avoided flashing gifs, over-embellishment, illegible text, or overwhelming animation. I encourage other webmasters to keep this in mind for their own work, too. If a design can't be made adaptable, the experience of others shouldn't be sacrificed over it 'looking cool'.
CAN I COPY SOMETHING?
It wouldn't be right for me to say every line of code here is mine so you somehow can't CTRL+C CTRL+V from inspect element. Nothing is nailed down, and neither am I wielding the hammer for it.
I wouldn't have been able to grasp the language if I didn't take pry apart stolen elements before I wrote up my own.
However, I encourage potential new webmasters to reverse-engineer my code. Preferably enough that I don't notice you used it as a template.
Please improve on it and customise it for your taste rather than paste huge swathes of CSS. Everything you see here was typed out by hand after a few years
of gradual self-studyfreeCodeCamp is incredible — you can build something to be proud of.
For the written and drawn content of this website, I permit saving, sharing, and archiving for non-commercial purposes alongside appropriate attribution to me.
The work and derivatives must always remain free to access.
