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diff --git a/posts/2019-04-06-why-have-a-website-in-2019.html b/posts/2019-04-06-why-have-a-website-in-2019.html deleted file mode 100644 index 067fe85..0000000 --- a/posts/2019-04-06-why-have-a-website-in-2019.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,170 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html lang="en"> - <head> - <link rel="stylesheet" href="/includes/stylesheet.css" /> - <meta charset="utf-8" /> - <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /> - <meta - property="og:description" - content="The World Wide Web pages of Adam Carpenter" - /> - <meta property="og:image" content="https://nextcloud.53hor.net/index.php/s/Nx9e7iHbw4t99wo/preview" /> - <meta property="og:site_name" content="53hor.net" /> - <meta property="og:title" content="Why Have a Web Site in 2019?" /> - <meta property="og:type" content="website" /> - <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.53hor.net" /> - <title>53hornet ➙ Why Have a Web Site in 2019?</title> - </head> - - <body> - <nav> - <ul> - <li> - <a href="/"> - <img alt="home" src="/includes/icons/home-roof.svg" /> - Home - </a> - </li> - <li> - <a href="/info.html"> - <img alt="information" src="/includes/icons/information-variant.svg" /> - Info - </a> - </li> - <li> - <a href="https://git.53hor.net"> - <img alt="git" src="/includes/icons/git.svg" /> - Repos - </a> - </li> - <li> - <a href="/software.html"> - <img alt="software" src="/includes/icons/floppy-variant.svg" /> - Software - </a> - </li> - <li> - <a type="application/rss+xml" href="/rss.xml"> - <img alt="rss" src="/includes/icons/rss.svg" /> - RSS - </a> - </li> - </ul> - </nav> - - <article> - <h1>Why Have a Web Site in 2019?</h1> - <blockquote> - Adam, why on earth do you have a website? Wait... Is this a - <em>blog</em>? It's 2019, why don't you just use Facebook?! - </blockquote> - - <p> - I've wanted to have my own website for a long time mostly because I like - playing with technology. I think it's cool that I can make a few files - on a computer in my closet available for the entire world to see. The - web has become a near-necessity in our daily lives and it's only been - around for a couple of decades. That has always fascinated me enough to - drive me to see if I can do it on my own. I started self-hosting my own - web server about a year ago now and it's been an awesome study in the - way all of the tech we use on the web works. - </p> - - <p> - A written website is also a good way to keep up on my writing skills. - I've graduated college and won't be writing essays for the foreseeable - eternity. Which is fine except that I have no reason to write creatively - or formally anymore. Having this site encourages me to continue turning - thoughts into words, even though it's more casual than a term paper. - </p> - - <p> - This extends into the professionalism of a personal website. Normally - you can't point your employer towards your Twitter profile as the - distillation of your online footprint. Having a website, especially one - that separates professional and personal interests, is ten times better - than a resume, especially in the world of technology. It lets you tell - people exactly who you are and what you do, without forcing them to - navigate through an auth wall or a bunch of puppy photos. Your - professional and personal lives don't bleed together quite as much and - it makes for a kick-ass business card. - </p> - - <p> - Most importantly however, I enjoy the level of control that I gain with - creating and operating my own website, something I have also sought for - a long time. In high school I set up an old Dell from my school's - recycling center with Windows XP and Microsoft Internet Information - Services. It didn't have SSL or even a domain name but it was reachable - over the WAN. I set up an upload system so that my friends and I could - 'post' memes and funny messages for each other on raw html pages written - with Microsoft Word. That was the extent of its functionality. It was - slow, insecure, and went offline every time the router got a new IP - assigned to it. But I didn't care. It was a site the school couldn't - block. It had no name and no rules and nobody could tell us what to do - with it because it was ours. And we called it the - <em>Troll Nexus Center</em> because that's what you do when you're 15 - </p> - - <p> - My reasons then for building the Troll Nexus Center still stand now. - <em - >Having your own website is having your own piece of internet - property.</em - > - I first heard this wording from - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azkWYxyqh3Y" - >Luke Smith over on his YouTube channel</a - > - and it's one-hundred percent true. Tumblogs, Google Sites, Facebook - profiles, and GitHub Pages are all like renting an apartment. Sure, - there are some really nice apartments out there but it's not the same as - owning your own home. You have to pay rent obviously, and rent is - subject to change once your lease is up. If anything breaks you text - your landlord and wait to have it fixed. You aren't allowed to fix it - yourself and sometimes it doesn't get fixed at all. And of course you're - limited by how much you can customize things to your own liking. Whether - it's painting walls or knocking them down. - </p> - - <p> - These limitations may or may not apply to you. Whether you're paying for - storage, server space, metrics, or watching an ad every five seconds, - these services aren't free either. And you certainly can't fix - everything that goes wrong with them. I started on Google Sites. It's a - truly fantastic system. Building a site is like putting a PowerPoint - slide together. I just plain outgrew it. There were too many things I - wanted to do that I simply couldn't. I was also at the mercy of Google's - constant change. After I finished constructing my first site, Google - <a - href="https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2016/11/a-totally-rebuilt-google-sitesnow.html" - >announced they would be shutting down the old Google Sites in favor - of an entirely new platform under the same name</a - >. Weeks of work got thrown out the window. You might also not care - about ads or customization. You may be intimidated by doing things - yourself and prefer that the landlord take care of everything. - Personally, I like the challenge and the craftsmanship that comes with - doing something myself. And I like being in total control of my server, - site, and content. Not from a tinfoil hat perspective but from a "gosh I - really wish I could just share more than 15 gigabytes of family video - with my relatives in New York and Ohio" perspective. - </p> - - <p> - So that's why I created my own website. If you want to know - <em>how</em> I host my own website, look for another post about my - server setup where I'll explain everything I'm hosting and how I got it - all hooked up. And that's a wrap. Now you know why I'm here instead of - somewhere else online. Sure, I do have Facebook and YouTube accounts but - I don't frequently update anything on either of them. This site is my - home online. It's where I keep all of my interests, hobbies, and - memories for sharing with others. - </p> - - <p> - Now you know where to find me. If you want to keep up with me, be - old-fashioned and subscribe to my RSS feed. - </p> - </article> - </body> -</html> |