Everyone Should Have A Personal Website - Like We Used To

I was approximately 7 years old when I created my first website on a free website builder. And then my second. And my third. And fourth. And so on. I was testing every damn free website builder in existence at the time. Website builders you've probably never even heard of - Piczo, Moonfruit, Yolasite, FamilyLobby, Webstarts, just to name a few... Thankfully, they're all gone for good, wiped out of existence, which spares me from dying of cringe. Perhaps not so thankfully - most of those types of websites are gone, too. A relic of the time.

Remarkably, I was able to see one of my oldest sites archived by the Wayback Machine. Most of it doesn't load anymore, but I was surprised to see any of it at all. This site was incredibly miscellaneous. I even had a few users? And a branded, downloadable toolbar with my site name. Lmao. The footer was miles-long, with dozens of clickable/adoptable virtual pets, if anyone remembers those. In the bottom right corner there was a hit counter: 784 visits.

Eventually I upgraded beyond those free website building platforms, and started buying domains. It wasn't my first, but eventually I did buy a domain of my name. I hardly ever did anything with it, though. Last year, after enrolling in college, I began taking courses in digital design. I made a site in Notepad with the help of some HTML+CSS resources. I knew more when I was younger. Even managed to install PHP applications and such, but over time I had forgotten all of it.

Now here I am, amusing myself once again by working on publishing a new personal website. For awhile I kept going back and fourth on the idea, thinking that it feels conceded. But why? The culture around websites changed. When I was growing up (and certainly people older than me can remember better), the internet was made up of personal websites! Just dozens of shitty homepages and random musings from anyone and everyone. Many of those sites didn't have some hyper-specific purpose. It was simply "Dave's Website" or whatever. It was fun. It was something that almost anyone felt empowered to do. Nowadays, personal websites seem as though they are usually reserved by those who are marketing themselves as influencers and whatnot. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that! But part of me really longs for what the internet used to be. 7 year old me wouldn't have been concerned with the intricacies of maintaining a personal brand.

Social media has become horribly toxic, but many people continue to reluctantly stomach it as a way to keep in touch with friends and family. A lot of folks are concerned about not owning their data, and generally, with the current state of internet culture more broadly. Bluesky and Mastodon have piqued the interest of tech-oriented people, but I have to wonder if personal websites are making a comeback, too? What better time is there to finally get around to creating a personal site? So many digital marketers keep saying that webpages are dead, and that you only need a Linktree or something - no need for your own website. That's utter blasphemy to me! Maybe most people won't understand (and that's okay). But some people share my sentiment. In fact, a lot of people do.

The future of the internet feels incredibly uncertain. Despite that, if you're looking for an excuse to create a personal website for any kind of purpose - or no purpose at all - you should just do it! Don't worry about it being good. Does it spark joy? If nothing else, it's proof of your existence. It'd be something real. Just like you.

Links:
Building a website like it's 1999... in 2022
TOP TEN GEOCITIES SCREENSHOTS 2013 – 2023
Sites on Neocities