100 Questions for Webmasters
This webmaster questionnaire was going around neocities. Unfilled here. Created by mouseling
- Please introduce yourself.
Hiya, I'm Nullmi. Or Naomi/Nomy if you prefer a more standard name.
- How long have you been making websites?
Since 2023, so about 2 years or so.
- And what got you into the hobby?
After I left tumblr and graduated college, I found it difficult to keep up-to-date with fandom. Naturally I drifted off towards OC content, but social media is quite notorious for ignoring original works. I tried a few sites that had a passionate OC community. Toyhouse was the closet site I came across, but its main focus was trading or selling characters.
There wasn't an emphasis on world building or OC stories on Toyhouse (or if there is I must have missed it under the sea of exclusive, limited time $100 adoptables). So I tried similar OC building sites like charahub and unvale. I even went back to gaiaonline for a little bit. But none of them stuck. (I went back to gaiaonline again to take request art but that's an entirely different story.)
I mostly stuck to mastodon.art and pillowfort as my main social media, but both sites didn't have a big community for OCs. I don't remember how it happened exactly but I eventually came across zelkova on pillowfort which lead me to their neocities site.
I wasn't aware that you can make a site for your OCs, I had thought that neocities was full of retro-aesthetic early 2000s websites. I didn't think I would have a space in the community. I went around linked banners, found a few webrings and found other webmaster's OC /world building sites. After discovering this side of neocities I felt like I found a perfectly wonderful corner of the web to settle into.
- What kind of website are you most interested in?
Mostly world building & OC, personal art & opinion/review sites.
- What's your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?
I make a wire frame of how I want the site to look like in a vector program.
- Please link to your biggest inspirations.
For web design / sites I really love:
They're simple, responsive and have great content.
Generally speaking:
And might be a little off topic in regards to webkeeping, but I really liked how Kill 6 Billion Demons incorporated logs of world building lore into comic page descriptions or other pages of the website.
K6BD Spoilers
It gets really insane when the lore pieces / side topics finally get brought up into the main story. Read up on your Psalms.- What's your favourite part about making websites?
When the code works as intended.
- And the thing you struggle with the most?
Regular updates and letting go of perfectionism.
- Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?
I generally keep the same layout - navigation links in the header and footer located at the top and bottom of the page, body content in the middle. I'm not a UI/UX designer but I generally like to follow some UI/UX rules to help visitors navigate my site.
- How confident are you with CSS?
Not at all confident, ha. My code has a lot of redundancies that might be optimized if I wasn't such a lousy coder.
- Do you know how to correctly use
<dl>?
No, but it looks handy.
- What is your favourite HTML element?
<details>
- If you're making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?
I search up tutorials. Then I try to see if I can make the concept work.
- Do you know JavaScript?
No, but I'm trying to learn.
- How about PHP?
No.
- Does your website have a theme that you stick to?
Purple?
- Are you more focused on content or design?
Content. I like to keep the designs fairly simple. It works for me
- Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?
Yes! And I regret it, ha. I don't really like having .art as my domain. Plus, NameCheap was bought out by a private equity firm recently. I'm considering a switch soon...
- What do you think of nostalgia-focused or "retro" websites?
Not in my taste. Once you dive far enough into the indie web rabbit hole, they start to feel cookie-cutter in their distinct lack of personality and content. Your online presence doesn't have to conform to an aesthetic, and that's okay. Make it ugly, make it stupid, make it yours.
- Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?
No, I haven't checked at all since I started. Checking now, it seems like I have about 7 errors. Not bad for my first time.
- What are your opinion on buttons and banners?
I love them. I love how many different ways people can show off their site links. It's such a nifty idea and more people should make one.
- What do you think of button walls in particular?
It's easy to overlook button text in the sea of pixelated graphics. The main function of a button graphic is to call one's attention and acknowledge an idea, an action or an interest. The intended function is rendered useless due to abundance of them all packed together, and frankly I find it juust a little peeving. It's like a city block full of neon signs, all vying for one person's attention. The message & intent is lost, so it's useless. It's bad design.
TLDR: Good when used sparingly. A clusterfuck otherwise.
- If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?
Something similar, but maybe with the implementation of a light and dark theme switch.
- Are you envious of other people's websites?
Not really. I am often impressed but never envious. Being envious can kill your creative drive, you know.
- What text editor do you use?
Visual Studio Code
- Why do you use that one?
I tried Sublime Text and Adobe Dreamweaver back in the day and didn't like them.
- Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?
It's good practice to host on your main server, so I mostly keep my images on neocities. I do have one blog entry that uses postimage, but I'll be fixing that when I have time.
- This might not be relevant to you, but what's your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?
After checking, Nekoweb does have FTP which is awfully tempting for my lazy ass. But otherwise, they're in the same family to me.
- How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?
69.25mb. Hmm, didn't expect anything lower than 100 mb.
- Do you keep local backups of your files?
Former CS major, so backups in triplicate. Yup. Fun fact, I still have my digital art from 2013 from my family's ipad 2.
- Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?
Simple. Highly visual sites are cool, but if I have a hard time navigating, I'm more annoyed then impressed.
- Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?
Purple.
- Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?
No, not at all. I do take long hiatuses, sure, but I'm often thinking about working on this site.
- Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?
No, but I'd like to! It's hard to keep online friends though with my timezone and work schedule.
- Do people in your real life know about your website?
Yes, my siblings. They're my beta testers.
- Do you update your website very often? How often is "very often"?
Not really. I try to update once every few months or so.
- And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?
It's more or less the same. My spaghetti code is doing its best to hold itself together. I don't want to strain my code (or my sanity) any further.
- Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?
A mix of me-focused and hobby-focused.
- Do you do web design professionally?
No.
- If not, would you like to? And if you're comfortable answering, what do you do for work?
Eh, not really. I've done wordpress site management for corporations and I wouldn't want to bring that into my personal life. For work, I'm a graphic designer.
- Do you communicate with people by email very much?
I use email if I'm commissioning someone or if I'm taking commissions myself. Keep a record of your interactions online when it comes to money.
- Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?
Yes I keep social media accounts. I don't think they're inherently bad, just heavily monetized. If you block that stuff out, or block out keywords then social media is tolerable.
- How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?
I avoid instant messengers. I was on too many workplace chat groups and often got called into work through messaging apps. Remember the days before the 'read' indicator was invented? Good times.
Anyway, I'm a former workaholic. I'm trying to get better, so I hate being constantly accessible to people. I prefer forums or social media.
- Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?
I wish I can say yes, but I mostly watch youtube in the background. When I do put on music, it's most likely a video game OST.
- Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?
One site. I'd like to make a secondary site running on Rarebit if I had a long running comic.
- On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?
I guess many? My site is mostly a hub for the stuff I've made and want to show people.
- Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?
Online personas hardly reflect an individual's true personality. No matter how hard we try, we tend to skew the perception of ourselves in a more favorable light. I think it's human nature to want to belong and to be liked by others. In that regard, my online persona is the cooler, nicer version of me.
- Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?
I've made cool mutuals! I'd like to be friends. Hi guys.
- Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?
Yes. Grid system my beloved.
- What are practices that you think people should avoid?
Flashing sites / Sites that are not mobile friendly.
- What about under-utilized practices, or things you think people should do more?
Keep your navigation links in the same location. If it's in the header position, keep it there. Don't move it to the bottom of your page, to the left, or hidden away behind another menu. Don't make me pull out the Law of UX link again. Oh, nevermind.
Also, look into responsive web design. Thanks.
- Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?
I try to.
- Do you consider different browsers?
Only Microsoft Edge since it's the only browser besides Firefox I have installed.
- Speaking of, what's your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.
Firefox. Use whatever browser works for you. Well, unless you're using Chrome. Then, use Firefox.
- And what OS are you on?
Windows 11
- Do you have a strong opinion on that, or do you just happen to use it?
It's okay after you remove a metric ton of useless crap. Some people use debloat programs, but I'm old school and clicked around in the settings menu until the OS behaved better.
- Are your websites mobile-friendly?
Yes, I spent some time ensuring that.
- What are your thoughts on autoplay?
Unnecessary.
- What are your thoughts on webrings? Are you in any?
I think they're neat! I want to join in, but I don't feel like my site is finished enough.
- Do you have any web shrines? What do you like to see in that sort of page?
I want to make a Tamama and Yuuko Ichihara shrine. Maybe even a Rose Lalonde shrine if I really feel nostalgic about Homestuck.
- Are your websites "cliche", in your opinion?
A little? I guess. I'm not the only one with an OC/Art oriented website.
- What is your ideal website? Are you striving for that, or for something else?
Tag implementation... I'll figure it out eventually.
- Are you an artist? Do you draw or design your own assets?
Yes. I draw my own assets and my own svgs haha. I had some fontawesome assets around my site but it doesn't make sense for a graphic designer to... not design their own graphics...
- What are your favourite resource sites?
- Is there a habit you just can't get away from no matter how hard you try?
- What's your biggest advice for a new webmaster?
I would refer to this page on Cave of Dragonflies. The webmaster has been in charge of their site for 20+ years so I would reckon her advice is sound.
- Do you keep all your styling in CSS? Or do you hard-code some?
Some grids are hard-coded. I can probably fix that in CSS if I spent a little more time learning how it worked.
- What do you think of frameset layouts?
Awful for legibility and often have fonts that are too small.
- How about table-based layouts?
Essentially the same as the former, no?
- Do you subscribe to the ideas of "one-column", "two-column" and "three-column" layouts? Do you use any of these?
You... do realize that columns are just a design tool and have existed since the days of traditional layout design like newspapers and magazines? They're tied to grid compositions and layouts, which hopefully isn't going to be a dying art.
You don't need to reinvent the wheel here, layout design won't change today or tomorrow. We use columns. So, for the time being, sure. I subscribe to all three. Go columns.
Btw, here's a book about grid systems that implements columns. The book is quite old but it works fairly well in depicting why layout design matters and how you can utilize columns in your work.
Also, I KNEW I used a column-based layout when I made a bootstrap site years ago. Behold, CSS column based layouts.
I subscribe to Twelve Columns
- Do you spend longer on the HTML or the CSS?
Yes.
I'm always struggling so I'm sure I spend an equal amount of time on both.
- Have you ever made a page with no CSS? It's useful for your thoughts.
Pass.
- Do you ever find yourself making layouts with nothing to put on them? Or do you only make layouts when the need arises?
Only when the need arises since I'm a content first type of person.
- Would you consider yourself a beginner? Or advanced? Somewhere in the middle?
Somewhere in the middle.
- Do you have a habit of looking at the source code of websites you visit?
I do. As for why, my suggestion to any and all creatives is to pick up Steal Like an Artist. I got my copy after quitting my first job and landing my second, and I've kept this book's advice with me to this day.
- How did YOU learn how to make websites?
I had a few myspace themes back in the day. Tumblr themes too. Then, in college I made a portfolio web site with bootstrap
- Do you ever force elements to do things they're not supposed to?
Not that I'm aware of?
- Thoughts on floating elements?
Like all design gimmicks, best used sparingly.
- When you're sizing stuff, what do you use first? Do you use px, em, %, or something else?
Percentage, but I've leaned into using em for font text.
- Do you have a favourite font?
- Would you run a website with another person? How would that work?
No, because I'm nit-picky.
- Do you surf the Web to find new personal websites very often?
All the time. I like going through neocities recently updated list.
- Do you bookmark other people's websites? How would you feel knowing someone else bookmarked yours?
Yeah, I have Cave of Dragonflies bookmarked as well as some web comic sites. Uh, I don't see a reason why someone would bookmark my site.
- What do you want people to be most impressed with when they see your website?
How easy it is to navigate. I'm very proud of my shortcut buttons on my homepage.
- Are you interested in technology outside of websites? Do you collect?
Technology outside of websites? Not sure what that means at all.
- How often and for how long are you online?
Maybe 3 hours a day? Most of that time I'm reading manwha or korean web novels ngl.
- When it comes to your website, who is your target audience?
🙋 Me, myself and I
- Have you ever been interested in XHTML?
No.
- Do you program in general? Have you ever written a program for use with or on your website, not counting simple JavaScript?
No. Did you know I'm a CS drop-out.
- Speaking of programs that help you make websites, what do you think of static site generators (SSGs)? Have you ever used one?
11ty is my go-to. I followed a guide on neocities on how to set it up, but it seems like the site link is broken.
- Do you keep a hitcounter? Why or why not?
No. I don't really care (short story)
(long story) Speaking from experience, it's all to easy to correlate the number you see to your self-worth.
I had a graphic design / marketing design job that was miserable, terrible. Campaign statistics were directly tied to our yearly performance reviews. The team and I worked long hours, worked weekends but according to the web and campaign statistics we weren't hitting our targets.
It felt like my life was a statistic and I was always falling short. The numbers just felt so arbitrary, and meaningless. Yeah, I worked past my 40 hours, I worked on the weekends and barely spent time with family, but did the numbers and view count reflect my efforts? No, and they never will.
I don't care about numbers on a screen anymore. You shouldn't either.
- Do you frequent forums? Which ones?
Around the beginning of the year I was on gaiaonline a lot. But uh, around the tail end of February there was drama going around one of the sub category of forums that eventually encroached onto the rest of the active forum categories. Had to stepped back a little to let it cool off. I never returned because I got busy.
- Do you write your page content directly into the editor, or do you prepare it elsewhere, like a text document or a Word document?
Straight into the editor.
- Do you think you appear cool to others? A more accurate answer now: do other people ever say you're cool?
No. I watch Star Trek.
- Are you embarrassed of your old work? Have you ever deleted everything out of shame?
My old 2P Hetalia fandom art will never see the light of day.
- Would you close down your website if you couldn't update it, or would you leave an archive?
I'd like to leave an archive. I wish I had done that with my tumblr, but the porn bot takeover really pissed me off and I was sick that the site never tried to fix the issue.
- Do you reveal a lot about yourself on your website? Or are you more secretive?
I don't think I'm that secretive. I've revealed my nationality, the island I live on...
- Are you willing to reveal who your best online friend is, and/or if they have a website?
I don't really have an online bestie.
- And do you optimise the images on your website?
I do my best with Affinity by making them less than 1000px. I can probably push it by using an image compressor, but I really don't want to do that for every image I have on my site.
- We're out of time! How do you feel after answering 100 questions? ....other than exhausted.
Interesting set of questions. It makes me want to dig up the ones that used to be on people's deviantart or fanfiction profiles and fill them up when I have time.