100 Questions for Webmasters

Another round of answering questionnaires found on internet! This time is it 100 Questions for Webmasters. Here we go!

This post was originally published on abhinavsarkar.net.

Please introduce yourself.

I’m Abhinav Sarkar, a person who happens to be a software engineer at work and a webmaster for fun.

How long have you been making websites?

Over 26 years!

And what got you into the hobby?

When I was first introduced to computers in the nineteen hundreds, I found web pages to be the easiest way of making interactive programs. I started with writing small games in JavaScript.

What kind of website are you most interested in?

I’m mostly into blogs and personal websites. I like websites with good and readable typography and well organized content.

What’s your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?

Since I have no formal background in design, I usually go around tweaking my websites as per my liking till they feel good to me.

Please link to your biggest inspirations.

• Brandur
• Maggie Appleton
• Justin Le
• blinry
• Bob Nystrom

What’s your favourite part about making websites?

Going from ideas to something tangible, then spending hours tweaking them to make them how I want them to be.

And the thing you struggle with the most?

I cannot tell if what I end up with will be consider good by others. It seems good to me, but it is really good?

Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?

Some pages on this website have slightly different layouts, but the variation is low.

How confident are you with CSS?

I’m quite confident with basic level CSS at this point. I’ve written hundred of lines of CSS for this website. But I’m not a CSS wizard, I can’t do any fancy stuff with it.

Do you know how to correctly use <dl>?

Yes. Several of my web pages have description lists.

What is your favourite HTML element?

<details> to hide all nitty-gritties away.

If you’re making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?

Copy the basic HTML5 template.

Do you know JavaScript?

Yes.

How about PHP?

Not anymore.

Does your website have a theme that you stick to?

Yes.

Are you more focused on content or design?

Mostly on content, once in a while I review/refresh the design.

Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?

Yes.

What do you think of nostalgia-focused or “retro” websites?

I like them but I often find them unreadable. Personally, I wouldn’t want to have or make such a website.

Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?

Yes. Yes.

What are your opinion on buttons and banners?

Love buttons, dislike banners. I’ve got some buttons down below here.

What do you think of button walls in particular?

They are okay.

If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?

I think it would be something very similar. This is my vibe.

Are you envious of other people’s websites?

Not really. I know enough to be able to make any kind of website, I choose not to.

What text editor do you use?

Zed.

Why do you use that one?

It’s fast and not resource hungry. It is minimal but has everything I need.

Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?

A mix of both.

This might not be relevant to you, but what’s your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?

No opinion.

How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?

I just looked it up: 278 MB, 125 MB of which is images.

Do you keep local backups of your files?

Yes.

Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?

I prefer making simple ones. But I like checking out visual ones too.

Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?

I mostly stick to black-and-white, because of high readability.

Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?

No. There is nothing to quit. This is my life now.

Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?

Many.

Do people in your real life know about your website?

Yes, they do.

Do you update your website very often? How often is “very often”?

At least once a week. It also auto-updates when I do activities, or read books, or post on my microblog.

And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?

I don’t change the overall design drastically. I’ve tweaked it over years, but small changes at a time.

Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?

All of them.

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?

No.

Do you communicate with people by email very much?

No.

Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?

I actually archive my social media on my website.

How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?

I have Telegram, WhatsApp, Zulip and Discord.

Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?

Yes I do. I like to listen to Synthwave/Chill music when I work.

Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?

Only one for now.

On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?

Many.

Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?

My real self.

Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?

Maybe. I have friends who know about my website. Not sure if it is because of the website.

Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?

Yes.

What are practices that you think people should avoid?

Making content focused websites that do not work without JavaScript.

What about under-utilised practices, or things you think people should do more?

Check for accessibility of their websites.

Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?

I use semantic HTML as much as I can/know.

Do you consider different browsers?

Yes.

Speaking of, what’s your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.

Librewolf, a fork of Firefox that focuses on privacy, security and user freedom. It is pretty much like Firefox but without the shenanigans they keep pulling off frequently.

And what OS are you on?

macOS.

Do you have a strong opinion on that, or do you just happen to use it?

I like it. If I had to choose a different one, I’d use some Debian derivative.

Are your websites mobile-friendly?

Yes.

What are your thoughts on autoplay?

Cast it into fire!

What are your thoughts on webrings? Are you in any?

Webrings are great! I love sending traffic to my webring friends. I’m in the IndieWebClub Bangalore Webring and the IndieWeb Webring.

Do you have any web shrines? What do you like to see in that sort of page?

No.

Are your websites “cliché”, in your opinion?

It is 90% a blog. Are blogs cliché?

What is your ideal website? Are you striving for that, or for something else?

A clean readable well-organized website with a touch of whimsy and unique creativity. I’m trying.

Are you an artist? Do you draw or design your own assets?

No. Yes.

What are your favourite resource sites?

I like CSS Tricks, Practical Typography, and MDN.

Is there a habit you just can’t get away from no matter how hard you try?

No.

What’s your biggest advice for a new webmaster?

Start small, learn fundamental technologies, explore, and try out new things.

Do you keep all your styling in CSS? Or do you hard-code some?

CSS.

What do you think of frameset layouts?

I don’t think of them at all.

How about table-based layouts?

They are required for some cases where CSS doesn’t work such as feed readers.

Do you subscribe to the ideas of “one-column”, “two-column” and “three-column” layouts? Do you use any of these?

No.

Do you spend longer on the HTML or the CSS?

In CSS.

Have you ever made a page with no CSS? It’s useful for your thoughts.

No.

Do you ever find yourself making layouts with nothing to put on them? Or do you only make layouts when the need arises?

No. Yes.

Would you consider yourself a beginner? Or advanced? Somewhere in the middle?

Advanced but not an expert.

Do you have a habit of looking at the source code of websites you visit?

No.

How did YOU learn how to make websites?

By reading programming books and online articles, and by trail-and-error.

Do you ever force elements to do things they’re not supposed to?

No.

Thoughts on floating elements?

They are cool.

When you’re sizing stuff, what do you use first? Do you use px, em, %, or something else?

em and rem

Do you have a favourite font?

No.

Would you run a website with another person? How would that work?

No.

Do you surf the Web to find new personal websites very often?

Yes.

Do you bookmark other people’s websites? How would you feel knowing someone else bookmarked yours?

Yes. I’d be elated.

What do you want people to be most impressed with when they see your website?

Odd little pages hidden away in corners. Find them if you can.

Are you interested in technology outside of websites? Do you collect?

I’m interested in programming and software dev in general. I don’t collect.

How often and for how long are you online?

Every day for 8–12 hours.

When it comes to your website, who is your target audience?

Mostly programmers, but also friends and family.

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?

Yes. I wrote the static-site generator for my website.

Speaking of programs that help you make websites, what do you think of static site generators (SSGs)? Have you ever used one?

Yes, I wrote the static-site generator for my website.

Do you keep a hitcounter? Why or why not?

No. I do have analytics for my website.

Do you frequent forums? Which ones?

No.

Do you write your page content directly into the editor, or do you prepare it elsewhere, like a text document or a Word document?

Both, depending on the content. I have written about my writing process.

Do you think you appear cool to others? A more accurate answer now: do other people ever say you’re cool?

Some people may have said that. Maybe.

Are you embarrassed of your old work? Have you ever deleted everything out of shame?

Yes. Yes.

Would you close down your website if you couldn’t update it, or would you leave an archive?

I’d leave an archive.

Do you reveal a lot about yourself on your website? Or are you more secretive?

I don’t reveal everything about myself, but I write quite a lot about my life.

Are you willing to reveal who your best online friend is, and/or if they have a website?

Not applicable.

And do you optimise the images on your website?

Yes. I use svgo to optimize the SVG images and cwebp to optimize PNG images. I also resize them to have responsive images.

We’re out of time! How do you feel after answering 100 questions? ….other than exhausted.

I feel good. It was nice to think and write about my webmastery.

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