Post #3346094
2026-06-12 23:00 UTC
Replies (10)
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@ifixcoinops@retro.social 2026-06-13 15:44
It's difficult not to go down the rabbithole of "What we need is a really really good well-written HTML/CSS tutorial, I'll go write one" rabbithole, or "What if there was a lovely template that worked on desktop or mobile and was commented out the wazoo with an open invitation to use it" junk, those things already exist, when what the internet REALLY needs is * a modern WYSIWYG website maker * that is free * that normal people can use * that everybody knows about, either because it came with your computer or someone told you about it * that comes with a bunch of free hosts pre-programmed in * that the AVERAGE PERSON (IE not anyone who'll ever read this post) can use to make a website in an evening or two * (EDIT because I know FOSS people are reading this) That has a good name, not the worst most ridiculous fucking unpronounceable garbage name you've ever heard of, a name that you'd be comfortable or even proud saying in public or on television, don't call it KWebExtruder or Martin'sKoolHTMLPooper or xhngthfffrrr or some shit like that If this sounds bananas it's because you didn't use this exact program in the late 90's
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@lunareclipse@snug.moe 2026-06-12 23:06
@ifixcoinops@retro.social this reminds me of how EPUB3 is basically "what if we made an e-book format known for reflowable text, except we added fixed layout text, the entirety of HTML5, JavaScript and some other bullshit that requires you to run an extended version of chromium to implement?" Which is like, how the fuck did they lose the plot so bad, no EPUB reader that isn't a web browser supports this shit spec as a result so it's kinda dead. Entirely because instead of focusing on being a reasonably sized, possible to understand, possible to implement specification with the narrow goal of being very good at reflowable text ebooks (in direct opposition to PDF), they decided it must do everything. Why in the fuck?
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@deathkitten@firetribe.org 2026-06-12 23:09
@ifixcoinops@retro.social I legit miss the days when it was easy to just teach yourself html/css and put up a shitty fun website in an afternoon. When those of us who grew up on geocities got our fun money teen jobs and registered a domain, and hosting was cheap enough that it was perfectly normal to set up a web form where strangers could apply for a free subdirectory on your domain so they could have their own fun shitty sites away from the ads on geocities (especially once yahoo bought them). I still have the domain I registered back then, as well as a few others I've picked up since (and I'm considering dropping one or two because registration prices keep ratcheting up), but it feels less fun than it used to. I'm currently picking at moving away from the static site generator I'm using because it's decided to go full slop ahead and I don't want to just hop to another and have that one do the same thing. :neofox_sob:
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@lunarloony@dosgame.club 2026-06-12 23:15
@ifixcoinops@retro.social Hell, I'm people like us, and static site generators just elude me. Soon as you mention npm I am mentally checked out
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@skington@glasgow.social 2026-06-13 01:43
@ifixcoinops@retro.social This is the problem that the AI guys exposed unwittingly: why didn’t anybody make a GUI for static site generators; why didn’t anybody make a GUI for basically anything else people wanted to do? And the answer is a combination of (a) there’s not enough money in making stuff that people want but that’s all you’re doing; and (b) the open source people have never embraced GUI people so they only understand terminal stuff.
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@edd@freeradical.zone 2026-06-13 02:37
@ifixcoinops@retro.social Most crafts are fairly similar. Sure, fancy scroll work and the like is nice in woodworking, but claw feet get kind of dull regardless of skill. At the end of the day, EVERYTHING in woodworking is either a platform or a box (or a wombo combo platform on a box or vice versa). You don't need claw feet to make a functional (and even pretty!) boxform. And let's face it, all programs are either paper forms or board games. But they'd all mostly be better on paper/cardboard.
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@drsbaitso@infosec.exchange 2026-06-13 07:05
@ifixcoinops@retro.social "MySpace and GeoCities are actually good for the environment of the internet" is a weird, hard lesson to learn.
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@bri7@social.treehouse.systems 2026-06-13 09:28
@ifixcoinops@retro.social i loved your thread and will be bookmarking it and archiving it for future personal reference
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@eldaking@weirder.earth 2026-06-13 12:17
@ifixcoinops@retro.social If people have to know what is a static site generator (or a domain registrar, or how to hire some server company, or what is a CDN, etc), it already lost most people. You should just open "site creator" on your computer. It should be as easy as cloud tools are - somehow google lets you make a document and host it and share it, but no one can't do the same for a fucking HTML file?
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@condret@fedi.absturztau.be 2026-06-13 12:27
@ifixcoinops@retro.social sometimes boring is good