100 Questions for Webmasters

These questions were taken from mouseling.net. I thought I was going to dive deeper in some of them, but I wasn’t as inspired as I expected 🤷‍♂️.

1. Please introduce yourself.

I’m a dude who’s never been to any English-speaking country.

2. How long have you been making websites?

I think I made my first website in 2000 or 2001.

3. And what got you into the hobby?

I dunno, I just wanted to “own” a space on the internet. The web was magical back then.

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

I like personal sites by animanga fans.

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

This is the first site I’ve made without a design. Websites are typically designed first and implemented later, so this is a bit of a disaster, ngl.

6. Please link to your biggest inspirations.

I don’t have any inspirations related to websites.

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

Writing content. I like having a space where I can pour my thoughts.

8. And the thing you struggle with the most?

For this website, I imposed a few restrictions on myself, and now I’m paying for it: it must work without JavaScript; it won’t have embedded iframes unless they’re for YouTube videos; I must credit every single image I use unless it was made for promotional or presentational purposes…

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

I might change it later, but right now I’m using the same layout everywhere.

10. How confident are you with CSS?

Quite confident.

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

Not really. But let me tell you something: there aren’t “correct” ways to use HTML tags. You can only tell when something is used incorrectly. Anything that’s not obviously wrong isn’t necessarily “correct.” People worry too much about when or where to use this or that, like <aside> or <time>, but it’s mostly a matter of style and the optional advantages you’re looking to gain.

12. What is your favourite HTML element?

I guess it’s <div>.

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

I draw the basic layout on paper. I try to make sure I have an idea of what the site should look like on different screen sizes.

If you’re asking about the implementation itself, then the answer is that I set up the environment for it.

14. Do you know JavaScript?

Yeah.

15. How about PHP?

Not really.

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

In terms of content, yes. Aesthetically, no… or maybe it does.

17. Are you more focused on content or design?

Content.

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

I do, but not for this site. I’m not particuarly interested in buying one for it.

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

They’re cool looking, but more often than not they lack original content and seem to have no deeper purpose.

I mean, I talk about the past a lot on my own site, but I go beyond “omg let’s put a bunch of images everywhere featuring transparent devices from the 2000s and 90s anime girls.” I lived during that period of time; I even remember the ’90s clearly, so I talk about the present and what I miss from the past. I know when I’m not romanticizing stuff and when I am. Ornamental nostalgia should have something to ornament.

I think many of them are made by zoomers and zillenials (I hate generational discourse too, don’t @ me bro) and it’s not that crazy that they like that sort of thing. Being in your 20s in this era sounds horrible, and the current state of the internet and consumer technology has a lot to do with that. They experienced enough of the past to know the present isn’t very good, and they’re still young people who typically can’t express themselves properly, even in creative ways.

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

It is valid and I never check.

21. What are your opinion on buttons and banners?

They’re kinda useful for linking to other sites, but I despise them accesibility-wise. The font sizes they use for them are too small.

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

I don’t care much about them.

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

About this website? I don’t like everything about it (it looks a bit boring) but it was the result of a conscious decision. I wouldn’t make anything different.

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

No, but I envy artists who can draw for their websites or even make their websites about their art.

25. What text editor do you use?

Emacs.

26. Why do you use that one?

It started as a joke because a friend of mine started used Vim many years ago.

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

Everything here is hosted on Neocities.

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

From what I’ve experienced, Nekoweb is technically better. I think their servers even give me quicker response times.

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

Around 5 MB.

30. Do you keep local backups of your files?

Yes.

31. Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?

I like pretty websites that are easy to navigate.

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

I don’t.

33. Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?

No.

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

I think I am the only one with a personal website. I know someone who made his own personal website, but that was for professional purposes.

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

No. A few of them know I have a website, but they’ve never seen it.

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

I rarely update my website. I do so whenever I feel like it, if I have the time.

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

I wish it was prettier and more interesting to see, but I would need to become an actual artist or do some graphic design. It would also require a lot of time to implement.

If you wonder why it looks like that… it’s because I spent too much time on Tumblr during the 2010s. Many Tumblr themes had an anime character filling otherwise blank space.

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

It’s about me, my hobbies, and my personal views.

39. Do you do web design professionally?

No. I could, because I have the knowledge, but it’s too boring.

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

I’m not interested at all.

My job involves programming.

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

No. I wish it was more common. Instant messaging was cool until everyone started to think everyone else had to be available at all times as long as they were awake with a phone in their pocket. Email is still treated with its asynchronous nature in mind so people seem to not care as much if you don’t reply within days.

I use social media, but not too much. Instagram, X, and Facebook are terrible, and I dare to say Instagram is worse than X. Bluesky is kinda bad, but it being new makes it not as bad. Mastodon and other decentralized social media are utter garbage and I’m ashamed I once thought they were a good idea, and this has nothing to do with the fact that they’re clunky to use.

I don’t use my website as a replacement for social media, but it does let me do some stuff I couldn’t or wouldn’t do on specific platforms.

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

I’m on Discord and Telegram. I’ve only used Matrix a couple of times. I don’t trust Discord or Telegram, but even so, I still use them fairly often.

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

As of late I listen to whatever I have on my playlist. Right now I’m listening to Hunger by Florence + The Machine.

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

I don’t have other websites as a hobby. There are some services I need to host like Navidrome, but those serve a completely different purpose.

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

I try to talk about anything while associating it with animanga or other weeb stuff.

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

My digital self and my physical self are two sides of the same persona.

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

No.

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

Yeah but I should use grid more.

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

I dunno. I don’t think people who mantain personal websites can fuck up too bad, even if their code is broken.

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

Flexbox is magical. It’s rarely used on Neocities and Nekoweb despite it being not that hard to understand.

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

I use it whenever I can.

53. Do you consider different browsers?

Only the major ones. I don’t care about Safari though. And I CERTAINLY don’t care about iOS web browsers, they all are Safari underneath.

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

I use Firefox. It’s technically inferior to Chromium-based browsers, but it werks™ and it doesn’t rely on Google as much.

There’s no perfect browser. You can’t deviate too much from the common options unless you’re okay with being left behind in security patches or being unable to render most websites.

55. And what OS are you on?

I use Arch Linux.

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

My opinion is that you shouldn’t use Windows unless you absolutely have to (I’m sorry, designers who use Adobe). I’ve used Linux since the mid 2000s, when Canonical would mail you a CD with Ubuntu right to your house for free. Back then I just thought it was “cool” because I was really interested in computers. I still am, but nowadays I hate talking about Linux because its community is unnecessary annoying.

Linux isn’t perfect. It’s not that great. But it’s not Windows. The discourse should always be about how shitty Windows is. Most people should be able to make a permanent switch to Linux even without dual booting. Around 2016 it became my main OS and I decided that games that couldn’t run on Linux weren’t worth playing. I live a happier life.

57. Are your websites mobile-friendly?

Always.

58. What are your thoughts on autoplay?

I understand why people dislike it, but I love autoplay. I’m very fond of certain tracks because of it, like this one.

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

Their functionality is a bit awkward. I’m not in any. I guess they’re a good way to get to know more sites dynamically, but I also think it’s a solution that made more sense in the past. There are probably better ways to increase sites’ visibility even without feeds or search engines.

I would join a webring anyway.

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

I don’t have shrines. I don’t expect to see anything in particular in them.

I visit other people’s shrines sometimes and I might like them, but I think it’s a very restrictive concept unless you specifically want to design the looks of a page around something you really like.

61. Are your websites “cliche”, in your opinion?

I don’t think so.

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

I want something more stylish than what I’ve made. Maybe using my own art. I strive for “good content” tho.

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

I’ve drawn in the past, and I wish I did it enough to call myself an artist.

64. What are your favourite resource sites?

I don’t have one. I don’t use them.

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

No.

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

If you maintain a personal website, then don’t expect anyone to read it. Write for yourself. Be your own public.

Truth is, people still read what you publish. Don’t assume nobody reads your site, even if you host it on platforms like Neocities where you might get 0 likes every time. I spend a good portion of my time reading blog entries and looking at digital art. I might not drop a like, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it or that I wasn’t present.

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

I suppose the question is about whether I use the style attribute or not.

I only use style if I’m generating that style dynamically or if I need a workaround for a specific problem in the framework/library/whatever that I’m using.

68. What do you think of frameset layouts?

We are not in the 90s anymore!!!

69. How about table-based layouts?

Please, don’t. If you don’t want to learn much, then just learn a bit of flexbox.

They’re fine. They work. I suppose the current design of my website could be considered one of them.

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

CSS.

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

I guess. I can’t recall.

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

The layout I design and implement will always depend on the content I want to publish.

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

I think I’m advanced. I can do much better than what you see here.

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

No. I look at other people’s code if something on their websites is broken and makes navigation or reading difficult, like poorly absolutely-placed elements or inaccessible iframes due to privacy concerns.

76. How did YOU learn how to make websites?

I think I started doing experiments to learn HTML5, CSS3, Vue, Hugo, Nginx, Express, Gunicorn, Flask, Spark, Ktor, and other stuff. I didn’t have a particular project, I just wanted to learn so I read a lot and did many little experiments.

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

No.

78. Thoughts on floating elements?

It’s fine if you want a floating element by the side of your text.

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

It really depends on what I’m working on. I think in most cases I’ll use %.

80. Do you have a favourite font?

I like anything based on Garamond. I’m sorry. It looks so scholarly.

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

I don’t think I would. I don’t have a reason to do so.

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

Maybe I do it like once a week though, at least for five minutes. I check the ones I already like quite often.

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

I do, sometimes. My bookmarks are a mess.

If I found out someone bookmarked mine, I would want to know why.

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

Not sure if impressed is the right word. I want them to share or understand my perspective when it comes to the mess that the internet has become. I always read the same opinions about social networks, and I think they’re terrible but not for the reasons everyone thinks they are. I mean, I even think the idea of having “many decentralized microblogging instances” like Mastodon is utterly dumb.

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

I’m not really that interested. I don’t collect anything tech-related.

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

I spend many hours online. I always have.

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

Adults over 25 who like anime and manga and hate the modern internet.

88. Have you ever been interested in XHTML?

No?

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

Yes, “that’s what I do.” For this website in particular, I use Go’s template language because it’s built with Hugo. I also have a script that helps me with some stuff in the build process.

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

I like them. I’ve used Hugo, and to a lesser extent, Gatsby.

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

No. I don’t care.

92. Do you frequent forums? Which ones?