newsonaut
Turning inner space into outer space
Sunday, June 14, 2026
I’m happy to join the IndieWeb Webring but it wasn’t exactly easy
In my newfound zeal for the indie web, I joined the IndieWeb Webring. You can see my version of it at the bottom of the page.
You get some code to copy and paste into your site, but as I soon discovered, the presentation can be whatever you imagine it to be. I wanted to make mine obvious but also fit in with the Newsonaut style.
Going from site to site on the ring, I found all manner of implementation. Some were big and bold, others were tiny or hidden in an accordion. Some were part of a site interface that was almost entirely inscrutable. And then there were some that I swear were missing entirely.
Are you allowed to do break the ring? Shouldn’t you get kicked off for doing that?
Also, it seems a bit like cheating if you make the next site in the ring open in a new tab. Is it because they're hoping visitors will stay on their site longer?
I’m assuming that people who choose to be part of the IndieWeb Webring must be at least a bit tech savvy, given the requirement that you must use IndieAuth on your site.
I read this article and was no wiser as to what that meant. After some digging around, I found a service that makes it much easier.
Being part of the web ring means you can be included in a directory, but only if you include something called an h-card on your site. This was new to me, but I eventually figured it out.
So where, you might ask, is my h-card? Well, I hid it with display: none, because I couldn’t think of a way to make it work with my layout. Ideally, it would be on the About page, but IndieWeb Webring wasn’t able to find it there.
I’m of two minds about this whole experience. On the one hand, it seems unnecessarily difficult to join. Luckily for me, I’m used to working with code so it didn’t scare me off. On the other hand, it might be a good way of making sure the web ring doesn’t get overrun with bots and opportunists.
More posts in the Indie category
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
You can tell it's a personal website because it has personality
Gordon McLean and Case Duckworth had a good back-and-forth about typography and layout. Gordon says you should make your website uncluttered and easy to read. Case says there are reasons why you might not want to do that.
Read for yourself:
Gordon: Sort your sites out!
Case: Your sites are fine!
Gordon: Your sites are OK I guess
As you can see from my own recent posts, I’m with Gordon. Check out Go big (with serifs) or go home or How to make your blog or forum post hard to read.
But I do understand one of Case’s main arguments. A messy, hard-to-read blog not only stands out from the corporate web, it can be a way of taking a stance.
Weirdness has more than aesthetic value; it’s also praxis: all deviation from expected corporate norms contributes to a website’s illegibility by the Algorithm. Thus, a “weird” layout is an expression against the commercial web just as much as it is an expression for the author’s own tastes and creativity.
That got me thinking about the difference in appearance between personal and corporate websites. It’s easy to tell which is which, but how?
Some are indeed intentionally weird, or apparently have little talent for design. But others are slick. They are created by people who obviously know a lot about design. Still, you can tell they’re all part of the small web.
What they have in common is that they are a reflection of someone’s personality. Some people have odd personalities, and that’s fine. Others love fine typography, and that’s fine, too.
A beautiful site that’s easy to read might be the product of someone who is comfortable with the corporate world, but not necessarily. Instead, it may simply show an allegiance to their craft.
Principles of design and typography have been honed over hundreds of years. Those who learn them care about something bigger than what is implied by corporate or commercial.
More posts in the Indie category
Saturday, June 6, 2026
Link like the indie web depended on it
The one easy thing you can do to help surface indie blogs and websites is to link to them. That way, if someone comes across your site, you can help them continue on to similar sites.
The best links are the ones in context. If you’re writing about something that a reader finds interesting, a link in your post signals that they can learn more about the subject by clicking.
Over at the 32-Bite Café forum, I learned about a collection of links to posts about links at Coyote’s Link Hub called In Praise of Links.
Yes, the word “links” or “link” came up four times in that sentence, but it was worth it. An article like this on a particular subject is quite helpful. Anyone curious about the subject of links, or any other area you opt for, can use it as a base to explore from.
A blog roll can also be good. If someone likes your site in general, there is a chance they will like sites that you recommend.
I’m not so sure about web rings, though. Unless they specialize in a narrow subject area, you’re taking a chance on going to a random site that you don’t care about. Still, if you’re bored, it’s better than doom scrolling.
As a side note, I advise against making links open in a new tab. People can decide for themselves if they want a new tab with a simple right click. Why force it on them?
More posts in the Indie category
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
From random to recommended: exploring the indie web
I’ve been interested in the concept of the indie web for a few years now, but have struggled to take part in a meaningful way.
I wrote about an early attempt in 2024 when I discovered that you can get a random RSS feed from indieblog.page. To this day, I continue to get 10 random posts every day in my feed reader.
The problem, though, is that those posts are rarely of any interest. They tend to be extremely niche. Typically, they are about a technology I don’t understand or something personal suitable mainly for friends and relatives.
I haven’t given up, though.
Kagi Small Web is another way to randomly find indie web posts. I find that it’s good for filling in a few minutes of boredom, but I’m pretty sure I’ve found only a few articles that I enjoyed reading.
There is a more recent effort called Blogosphere, where you can go through the latest posts of indie sites chosen by the developer. With a fair bit of scrolling, I can find one or two articles worth reading — so it's not bad. You can also sign up and follow your favourites, but why not do that with your feed reader?
The latest I’ve come across is Bubbles, which came out about a month ago. It allows for up-voting and comments, both of which help surface articles worthy of your attention. It’s like getting recommendations from like-minded people. There is also a daily briefing for the top posts, and a hall of fame for the top blogs.
It might seem a little too close for comfort to the corporate world of Reddit, but I’m willing to live with that. If the indie world is going to flourish, it needs a way to make itself known. Bubbles might not be the best way to do this, but it’s the best I’ve found so far.
More posts in the Indie category
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Explore the indie web with a random RSS feed
If you’re an RSS stalwart like me, you may be on the lookout for cool new feeds. One way to go exploring is with random posts from indieblog.page.
You can subscribe to a daily feed of one, three, five or 10 posts. Or you can go weekly with five, 10, 15 or 20 posts.
I’ve been trying it for a few days now — 10 a day, baby! — and been receiving a steady diet ranging from the arcane to the mundane, with many curiosities in between.
There’s been nothing I want to subscribe to yet, but I’m OK with that. It’s still early days.
Edit 10 days later: I've found about half a dozen that I liked enough to subscribe to. It's been a worthy experiment.
More posts in the Indie category
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Join the independent web for fun, not profit
I’ve been making personal websites from scratch since the days of dial-up.
Two of those sites are still going. Newsonaut started up in 2010. Thriftmac — a collection of hundreds of links to free Mac apps — has been going since 2006.
The IndieWeb movement started in 2011 — maybe I'm part of it and didn’t know it. But I’m not so sure.
IndieWeb, from what I can gather, refers to creating your own website with your own design so that you are in control — as opposed to a corporation like Facebook that may not have your best interests at heart.
That makes sense to me, but I would more likely be part of a maker web movement if such a thing existed. I make and maintain websites because I enjoy it. Just like other people love to knit, for example. The joy is making something, not in what you can get out of it.
Joan Westerberg wrote a fine article: The creator economy trap: why building on someone else's platform is a dead end. She makes great points about why you should have your own website and use it as the basis for a platform.
But she also says it’s hard. If you’re trying to make money on the internet, then absolutely it’s hard. It’s hard regardless of how you do it. I tried it for a few years and quit after I realized I was making way too little for the effort required.
Now I’m back to doing it for fun.
You can do it for fun, too. Play around with a bit of HTML and CSS on your computer. You don’t need a domain name. You don’t have to publish. Just see what you can do. If you keep at it and find you’re still having fun, then think about publishing. Going live will cost you, but think of it like other pastimes — they all cost something. If you’re having fun, though, it’s worth it.
The idea of an independent web has been around since at least 2001, which, according to Tantek Celik was “perhaps the heyday of independent web”.
From what I can tell, supporters are mainly a bunch of tech nerds like me who enjoy doing web stuff. They should just admit it. What they really want is for other people to join in the fun.
More posts in the Indie category
