Endgame Viable

I was going to talk about community sites and aggregators but I’m not quite ready to post that yet.

Instead, I’m going to blast through the 100 questions for webmasters which was referenced on the Blaugust discord. I don’t know where it came from or who wrote it or when it was written, but it sounds fairly ancient given the use of the term “webmaster.”

1. Please introduce yourself.

Hi, I'm Tom aka. UltrViolet.

2. How long have you been making websites?

My first website went online somewhere in the 1998 timeframe.

3. And what got you into the hobby?

I saw other people with web sites and thought it was cool.

4. What kind of website are you most interested in?

Blogs and applications.

5. What's your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?

I usually have an overall goal but probably more of the latter.

6. Please link to your biggest inspirations.

Hrm. For web site design? Can't think of any.

7. What's your favourite part about making websites?

Having a place to put my thoughts.

8. And the thing you struggle with the most?

Finding the time.

9. Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?

I strive for consistency.

10. How confident are you with CSS?

Confident as long as I have resources to find the exact syntax.

11. Do you know how to correctly use <dl>?

I can't recall ever seeing or using `dl` before. It surprises me that browsers support it because it sounds ancient.

12. What is your favourite HTML element?

I don't have a favorite.

13. If you're making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?

I'm not the right target audience for this quiz. Previously I just started typing tags into a blank file but today I'd likely be asking AI to build a starting template for me.

14. Do you know JavaScript?

Yes. Kind of.

15. How about PHP?

Yes. Or I did, but I haven't touched it in years and I doubt I ever will again.

16. Does your website have a theme that you stick to?

Visual or ideological? It has a visual theme but not an ideological one.

17. Are you more focused on content or design?

100% content.

18. Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?

Yes.

19. What do you think of nostalgia-focused or "retro" websites?

Fun to look at, but I wouldn't want to stay there.

20. Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?

Yes and yes, but not regularly.

21. What are your opinion on buttons and banners?

I don't like buttons and I try to keep banners small.

22. What do you think of button walls in particular?

I don't know what that is, but it doesn't sound like I'd like it.

23. If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?

It was look similar, but I might not use Hugo again if I were starting over.

24. Are you envious of other people's websites?

Sometimes.

25. What text editor do you use?

VSCode or forks thereof.

26. Why do you use that one?

I'm very comfortable typing into programming text editors.

27. Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?

I host my images from an AWS S3 bucket.

28. This might not be relevant to you, but what's your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?

I don't know what that is.

29. How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?

Not much. It's static.

30. Do you keep local backups of your files?

The local files are the source of truth, the git repo online is the backup.

31. Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?

Simple.

32. Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?

I often stick to purple highlights.

33. Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?

Not really.

34. Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?

I know _of_ many webmasters.

35. Do people in your real life know about your website?

Some, but they don't care.

36. Do you update your website very often? How often is "very often"?

Twice a month is my goal.

37. And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?

Rarely.

38. Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?

Mostly hobby-focused and sometimes outside world-focused.

39. Do you do web design professionally?

No.

40. If not, would you like to? And if you're comfortable answering, what do you do for work?

No. My official title is software engineer.

41. Do you communicate with people by email very much?

Almost never. Email is obsolete tech.

42. Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?

I don't look at social media much anymore.

43. How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?

I only hang out in a couple Discord channels.

44. Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?

Not usually.

45. Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?

I used to have more than one but I've consolidated into one site now.

46. On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?

Many topics.

47. Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?

It's my "writer" self.

48. Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?

Hrm, don't think so?

49. Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?

Sure.

50. What are practices that you think people should avoid?

Ugh. Too hard.

51. What about under-utilised practices, or things you think people should do more?

Ugh. Too hard.

52. Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?

I try to use HTML5 semantic tags on my blog.

53. Do you consider different browsers?

Not really. Chromium is the universal browser now.

54. Speaking of, what's your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.

I'm stuck in Chrome because it has all my bookmarks.

55. And what OS are you on?

MacOS usually for development.

56. Do you have a strong opinion on that, or do you just happen to use it?

MacOS/Linux just happens to be easier for development.

57. Are your websites mobile-friendly?

Mostly.

58. What are your thoughts on autoplay?

Hate it.

59. What are your thoughts on webrings? Are you in any?

They're obsolete.

60. Do you have any web shrines? What do you like to see in that sort of page?

No and I've never heard the term before.

61. Are your websites "cliche", in your opinion?

I mean all blogs are cliches, so I guess yeah.

62. What is your ideal website? Are you striving for that, or for something else?

My blog is pretty much exactly how I want it.

63. Are you an artist? Do you draw or design your own assets?

Kind of but I don't practice so not really.

64. What are your favourite resource sites?

I know of none off the top of my head. Google I guess.

65. Is there a habit you just can't get away from no matter how hard you try?

Undoubtedly.

66. What's your biggest advice for a new webmaster?

Start slow.

67. Do you keep all your styling in CSS? Or do you hard-code some?

Ideally all styling should be in CSS, but I'm not religious about it.

68. What do you think of frameset layouts?

No idea what you're talking about without Googling it.

69. How about table-based layouts?

I avoid tables where possible.

70. Do you subscribe to the ideas of "one-column", "two-column" and "three-column" layouts? Do you use any of these?

One-column always.

71. Do you spend longer on the HTML or the CSS?

CSS for sure.

72. Have you ever made a page with no CSS? It's useful for your thoughts.

Disagree.

73. Do you ever find yourself making layouts with nothing to put on them? Or do you only make layouts when the need arises?

Never. Always the latter.

74. Would you consider yourself a beginner? Or advanced? Somewhere in the middle?

Intermediate probably.

75. Do you have a habit of looking at the source code of websites you visit?

Sometimes.

76. How did YOU learn how to make websites?

It's been so long I don't remember, but probably by looking at other websites.

77. Do you ever force elements to do things they're not supposed to?

No.

78. Thoughts on floating elements?

I don't like things floating on my websites.

79. When you're sizing stuff, what do you use first? Do you use px, em, %, or something else?

I usually use em or %.

80. Do you have a favourite font?

Not especially, but I tend to gravitate toward sans-serif fonts.

81. Would you run a website with another person? How would that work?

Maybe and I have no idea.

82. Do you surf the Web to find new personal websites very often?

Rarely. I usually only go to trusted sites.

83. Do you bookmark other people's websites? How would you feel knowing someone else bookmarked yours?

Rarely.

84. What do you want people to be most impressed with when they see your website?

The content.

85. Are you interested in technology outside of websites? Do you collect?

No I don't collect.

86. How often and for how long are you online?

I'm online pretty much all day every day, in the sense that there is always a phone or computer nearby that is connected to the Internet. I'm not always looking at it, though.

87. When it comes to your website, who is your target audience?

Somebody like me.

88. Have you ever been interested in XHTML?

I can't remember what distinguishes XHTML from HTML but it sounds like obsolete tech.

89. Do you program in general? Have you ever written a program for use with or on your website, not counting simple JavaScript?

Yes. It's my job.

90. Speaking of programs that help you make websites, what do you think of static site generators (SSGs)? Have you ever used one?

I use Hugo.

91. Do you keep a hitcounter? Why or why not?

No. What good is it?

92. Do you frequent forums? Which ones?

No.

93. Do you write your page content directly into the editor, or do you prepare it elsewhere, like a text document or a Word document?

Yes, I write in Markdown in a VSCode-style text editor.

94. Do you think you appear cool to others? A more accurate answer now: do other people ever say you're cool?

Not that I know of.

95. Are you embarrassed of your old work? Have you ever deleted everything out of shame?

Yes, everybody is embarrassed of their old work, but I've never deleted anything.

96. Would you close down your website if you couldn't update it, or would you leave an archive?

I'd leave it an archive for sure.

97. Do you reveal a lot about yourself on your website? Or are you more secretive?

Nothing much.

98. Are you willing to reveal who your best online friend is, and/or if they have a website?

Nah.

99. And do you optimise the images on your website?

In that I size them fairly small and use webp, yes.

100. We're out of time! How do you feel after answering 100 questions? ....other than exhausted.

That was a lot.