Albi's Tiny Guide to Smallweb Stuff and Getting Started, I Think
Or, "can you please get the fuck off Facebook?"
Yes, okay, finally, I am going to do a massive word vomit about my thoughts on the Smallweb, Indieweb, Not-Web3 stuff. Disclaimers first, tho:
I'll link to said-better-articles wherever I can, but this is mostly my opinion and understanding on the state of things. And more importantly, I am not a definitive guide! Especially when it comes to recommendations. I'll list what I personally use, but I strongly suggest getting out there and seeing what would work best for your use case.
🆒What I Mean by "SmallWeb"
In my own words: the rejection of the commercialized Web and its goals for profit over creativity and humanity. Also Known As
- IndieWeb
- smolweb (okay– I just made that one up)
- Yesterweb (also has a website!)
- aesthetic/tech/ideals of Web1, Web2, or Web0
- "decentralized" web (as opposed to current centralized trends)
What Others Have Said
It is worth remembering a website does not have to be a product; it can also be art. The web is also a creative and cultural space that need not confine itself to the conventions defined by commercial product design and marketing. (smallweb.page)
web0 is web3 without all the corporate right-libertarian Silicon Valley bullshit. (web0 manifesto)
Much of this is due to the fact that we’ve been falsely lead to believe that we have no choice but to remain on the big social media sites. We’ve been conditioned to believe this is just the cost of doing business if you wish to interact with other humanoids on the internet. This, of course, is bullshit. (Manifesto for a Better Web)
The Internet enabled people to express themselves without boundary. People made things that they are proud of. We created things that make us happy. Today’s biggest websites prioritize enticing visuals, maximizing their profit from intrusive ads and shilling you their latest products. (Make Boring Websites)
the now mega capitalist web has killed self expression almost on its entirety, replacing it with white or black minimalist standard profile templates, all the same. (Please, Be Ugly)
The IndieWeb is a people-focused alternative to the “corporate web”. We are a community of independent and personal websites based on the principles of: owning your domain and using it as your primary online identity, publishing on your own site first (optionally elsewhere), and owning your content. (IndieWeb)
You can see more definitions and personal manifestos on Yesterweb's web page.
⭐Smallweb at The Cozy Cat is interactive, and cute!
❔Web#
Smallweb is also reminiscent of previous eras: Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, roughly the first and second decades or so of the Internet. By that measure, we're currently in the "Web3" version of things.
Web3/Web 3.0: The movement to use newer web technologies and the singular ownership of digital assets. Contrast with Web 2.0, where everything is owned by a few central companies, and the Web Revival, where assets are created and shared freely for artistic expression. (Web Revival Glossary)
I also lump many "walled garden" social media such as Meta's platforms and Twitter to be Web3– and I call them such because they are self-contained, for the most part. And they want you to stay in their anemic gardens as much as possible.
⭐Difference Between Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0
I say no to Web3. A lot of smallweb denizens do as well. Grow Your Own Services refuses to entertain "cryptocurrencies, web3, NFTs, tokens, coins, blockchains or anything like that" due to their direct contradiction of what the smallweb is trying to accomplish:
These “web3” schemes are snake oil which everyone should avoid. They make a small number of people richer while simultaneously destroying the environment, assisting criminals and making the rest of us poorer.
It's going swimmingly, by the way. End Sarcasm.
🔪Why You Should Give A Shit
For fuck's sake, we see this time and time again: Capitalism! is! Bad! When the only thing that matters is money, everything else doesn't matter.
Big Tech doesn't give a shit about you– unless they can sell your data. And they'll get it by any means necessary. And they'll keep you on their platforms using Dark Patterns and FOMO.
When Stepping Away from Web3, You Can
- improve your mood and health
- gain more agency with your data
- personalize and enrich your online presence
- reduce information overload
- learn, grow, broaden horizons
- go where you are wanted
- avoid most Enshittification efforts
🌤️What You Can Do
The easiest solution would be to eliminate or dramatically reduce your reliance on Web3 stuff. Well... "easy" is highly debatable. Depending on how entrenched you are, it can be a process. But baby steps are better than nothing at all!
Make open-source a priority. Just uh, pay copious amounts of attention to the white techbros behind the curtain and be ready to call them out on their shit.
Protect Yourself. Review your online privacy habits and make adjustments. Privacy Guides and Surveillance Self-Defense are great places to start. And install an adblocker.
Search and Read! Click around and see what you can get into. Be inspired by a complete stranger's pixel art and blogs.
Somewhere to Start
- Grow Your Own Services
- DeGoogle (ex. your website and your life)
- Alternative Internet
- Fediverse.Party
- FDroid, FOSS Repository for Android apps
- Unplatform: an interactive walkthru for social media alternatives
For me, the holy grail has been 32bit.Cafe's Massive Resource List. There are free and affordable options, as well as even more information about anything smallweb! Navigation is on the right; pick a topic and absolutely go to town!
Also: Interacting w/ Each Other
RSS Readers aren't just for keeping up with blogs; I follow news sites and video essayists alike. Consider setting up an RSS Reader to follow sites, people, and interesting topics.
ActivityPub is a protocol that lets other websites and services "talk" to each other. For example, you can have a Mastodon account, and interact with people on Friendica. Here is also an Introduction to ActivityPub.
Hey uh also, actually do that. Join communities and servers, follow people, strike up a convo. Be nice and stuff.
🎨The Best (and most fun) Thing You Can Do: Obtain your own website!
It can be a single-page About You, a sprawling love letter to one of your favorite Sailor Scouts, or anything beyond or in between. In the pursuit of algorithmic perfection we have forgotten what it means to create just for creation's sake, and to stumble upon someone else's little room on the Internet.
The Joy of Creation
If you want to go even deeper, you can build your website! The basis of most sites are HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and what make up what are called "static" websites. But by no means you are limited to those three languages. And it doesn't have to be complicated, either.
It Also Doesn't Have to be Polished
You don't need fancy stuff to have a website. No, really, you can already do a lot with just HTML. If all you do is basic HTML and hyperlinks, that's fucking awesome! If you find code snippets or follow tutorials and have your site absolutely decked out how you please, that's also awesome!
In Defense of WYSIWYG: I personally love doin' the coding by hand– but not everyone wants to do that, or can dedicate the time to learn HTML. I cut my teeth on Frontpage– the WYSIWYG Editor in the early 2000s– before I felt confident enough to actually look at code.
The whole point is to make it yours, and dragging-and-dropping doesn't make it any less. There are places like straw.page or mmm.page that let you do just that!
About Accessibility
This may come as a shock to you, but people use the Internet in a variety of ways. Some of those people are disabled, and require accommodations that improve everyone's time on the web. It is as easy as describing your images and being a considerate human being.
⭐Access Guide is a great gateway into accessibility concerns.
💽 Rolling Your Own Webhost
Most of the the time, you just sign up for a service and be good to go.
But if you're feeling extra froggy, you can just host the damn thing yourself! But first, some more general advice when you're searching for a digital home.
Avoid GoDaddy! Doesn't matter if it's for their myriad of services or just domain registration. Unless you like shoddy customer service, server issues, and upsold and overpriced product, don't even entertain the idea.
Avoid EIG Hosting and Newfold Digital companies. They care only about pleasing shareholders– which means getting things get done as cheaply as possible. Customer support, hardware, and pricing will reflect that. Unfortunately there's a lot of 'em, but fortunately, As Full As Possible List of EIG Companies and Brands With Details does exist and is still being updated.
You probably just need a VPS. Virtual Private Servers aren't physical, so they're cheaper than traditional ones in your home, or in a data center somewhere. No worries about it catching on fire! Raiso provides a VPS101 Guide.
This is just the broad strokes rundown. I am definitely not qualified to walk you through the actual setup process; I just know enough to be dangerous.
Self-Hosting
If you okay with doing server administration– setting up and maintaining your own server– Digital Ocean has been good to me, and I've heard good things about Linode. Reddit (sigh) has additional hosting options on the cheap.
And, you'll need a panel on your server to maintain it all. YunoHost is a server admin system specifically for open-source software like Mastodon, Immich, Nextcloud, and HedgeDoc. ApisCP is another open-source option. And lastly, companies like the aforementioned DO can deploy a preconfigured server image– so there are so many options!
⭐A Gentle Guide to Self-Hosting
⭐https://selfh.st/apps/ is a directory of software you can self-host.
Managed Hosting
But if you'd rather not do alla that– or you just need somewhere to plop your static site in– I'm using DreamHost's Shared Unlimited hosting. If you have only one site, Shared Starter is just as good. Just be sure you know how and where to edit your files, whether it's SFTP or through the browser.
There's managed hosting for some software as well. For this option, they take care of server stuff and software installs/updates. The catch is, you're blocked from assuming direct control, and may hinder deep customization efforts.
PikaPods also has affordable software management. Fedi.Monster and Masto.Host are popular services for Mastodon and its forks.
The (Domain) Name
Regardless of how you host, you may need to do a teeny bit of DNS stuff to get your domain name (URL) pointing to the IP address of your server. Porkbun and Namecheap are excellent in not ripping you off. And if you can, purchase your domain for 5 or more years– prices can fluctuate yearly.
However, if you are given a subdomain through your plan (ex. ThisIsMySite.domain.com, or domain.com/ThisIsMySite) and are content with it, you can skip the domain name purchase.
⭐Grown Your Own Services has much more detail about this process: "A beginner’s guide to creating and using your own domain name."
🚏Considerations
Hey, I gotta tell ya, it ain't all peaches and cream.
The Learning Curve
For someone starting out, this shit can be daunting. And I'm sure this 1700+ 2300+ word document isn't doing it any favors. But I am really passionate about this!
It's easy for me to spout off all sorts of jargon and stuff– I was, like, actually around for when the Internet wasn't all capitalist yet (and was always a giant fucking nerd). I'm also more tech savvy than I give myself credit for, so probably won't be considered an average user.
Onboarding for newbies can stand to be a bit more streamlined and... friendly. Fortunately, a lot of people like to help others get over the initial frustrations. Like me. I literally cannot shut up about this. Ask me questions! (And by g-d if I'm wrong on something, correct me!)
It goes without saying that the technical stuff can be a headache, but there's also a different way of being online that trips people up. And without an algorithm to recommend things to you, it's on the onus of the user to seek out what they want to interact with. While the "you haven't looked hard enough" comments are occasionally snide, they do have a point. You gotta do a bit more legwork for the content.
Speaking of snide...
People are Still Jerks
When it's not sealioning techbros, it's trolls. When it's not trolls, it's just jerks. Sometimes that jerk also looks down on you for still using Windows. Decentralized services aren't the magic bullet against these types. And, yanno, not everyone gets along.
I know better than most. As a Black Queer on the Internet, I've no shortage of horror stories about my time online– and while I'm advocating for Getting the Fuck Off Facebook, I do so with several large caveats (like with my essay about Mastodon).
It's a day ending in Y if you're a marginalized person. But at least this time there are a bit more tools in your arsenal. And unlike some platforms, there is no shortage of people that give a shit about your safety and experience, and are determined to create a better Internet– from Yesterweb's manifesto to services like The Bad Space and constant brainstorming on the subject.
Recuerda, and Protect Ya Neck.
🌈 Now What?
Don't be afraid to open support tickets, ask questions, reach out to other people, and read up on any tutorials and documents. And always be open to learning more!
Tell people, yo! Leave a comment if you got something, I want to see too!
Have Fun!
