Web Matters

Some people speak of digital gardens, linklogs and personal wikis. Of how to bring back a Geocities-era web without the baggage. Other people instead prattle about profiles, feeds and mentions. Choose wisely.

Writing

Long-form and stand-alone pieces (oldest first).

Plain old webpages still matter: an essay on new media (plain text version).
Distributed social networks: a personal survey: my overview of alternatives (plain text version).
Just another website: an essay about the state of web design and how we can reclaim it.
Notes on the small web: (And web-adjacent technologies.)
RSS (news)feeds and how to tame them: An introduction that explains the what and why for a change, not just where to click (plain text version).

Tools

(Recently updated first.)

AntiWiki: A helper for small websites.
BrutalWiki: Wiki engine based in Brutalist (web) design principles.
Clinklog 2: Static site generator optimized for linklogs and microblogs.
Console Form 2: Tiny Javascript library to embed a command console into a webpage.
Statickle: Static site generator in a Tcl script: download, unpack, run!
Fcp Calendar: Tiny, self-contained Javascript calendar.

Themes, skins and stylesheets

Industrial Web: 90s-era colors, modern sensibilities
Stark Retro: Style websites like it's 1994.

This page is a live demo of Diary 2, a drop-in stylesheet, or "classless" like the cool kids say. Feel free to use it with attribution.

PmWiki skins

Newsprint: Minimal, fluid grayscale design.
Leatherbound: Fluid design with an Old West sort of vibe.
Fiction: Scalable design with a bookish motif.

See also: Stark Retro, based on the stylesheet described above.

Thanks to the simplicity of the format, these are probably the easiest to port or adapt. You can also find them on Codeberg.

Miscellaneous themes

Newsprint for Pelican: a port of the PmWiki skin above
Soft Brown and Electronic Bash: two themes for BashBlog; free for personal use

The latter two are unmaintained and unsupported. Each consists of two stylesheets to be copied into the blog directory.

Portfolio

The old SPAG Magazine: (as graphic designer)
No Time To Play: (as editor, webmaster and main author)
Soft Records — Music matters!: (as programmer, consultant ~~and webmaster~~)