Nice article about webrings, which I had forgotten about.
Thank you. One quibble: “Websites were difficult to build” — I have to disagree. Websites were far far easier to build then.
$EDITOR index.htmlThat's how I wrote my homepage
Your home page clearly uses CSS and judging by how it jerks around when I scroll there is plenty of JS too.
where did they claim they didnt use CSS? CSS can be handwritten too.
> and judging by how it jerks around when I scroll there is plenty of JS too.
Maybe be less judgemental and more looking at facts then, because there isn't.
The page linked in response is mostly CSS, and (I just went to a laptops to check) the first few lines are javascript google tags.
I think the original point was supposed to be that websites used to be just content wrapped in some simple HTML, which was easy to learn. But now the level of complexity is higher and so is the barrier to entry. I agree with this point.
So when someone replied saying “what’s stopping you from [building simple HTML sites] in 2022, thats what I did”, I was confused to see a site that included JS and was mostly CSS. Because it was seemingly trying to contradict a point about no CSS and JS. Honestly it feels like spam.
Its tangental, but I agree the source seems hand written and seems to have a well done minimalist approach, which is respectable. I regret the negative tone to my original response.
> The page linked in response [...]
The page was not linked in response. It was a sibling comment.
It does use CSS, but most of it is inline. $EDITOR index.html, as you say :)
judging by how it jerks around when I scroll there is plenty of JS too.
There's no JS save GA, but I appreciate the heads up.
If you could give details on what setup you saw jerky scrolling on - screen size, OS, browser, zoom level - I'd be much obliged.
The good news is that it’s just as easy today to make those simple websites.
What was nice is that more thought went into it, since it was basically a blank canvas. There also was a focus on quality over quantity - your website was something you continually grew and improved. Modern content is something you churn out and forget about immediately after.
But as easier options became available, those sites disappeared. First blogs came along, which were more structured. And modern social media is even more structured as well. We went from a single blank canvas you could spend hours tinkering with to a coloring book page you're given for sixty seconds before it gets thrown away and you're given the next one.
but most of the people building wix or squarespace (or whatever all the youtuber and podcasters are promoting this week), they don't have that knowledge and don't necessarily want to learn it. easier for you doesn't mean easier for everybody.
Many ISPs included personal web hosting with their internet access service at the time as well, which usually did require a slightly higher level of knowledge, but not that high. Netscape had a point and click page editor by 1997.