WEIRD – a way to be on the web
a.weird.one
a.weird.one
How many people that understand that, need this?
WEIRD is okay, and a fine start, but using someone else's service does not usually lead to creativity or weird. Just look how weird the early web was when everyone just did their own thing.
Given that lately I can't even be bothered to write Markdown for my static site I'm looking forward to giving this a try this weekend.
Its just that the marketing copy has some of the breathless silicon valley tone and organizational structure to it like its selling a product which grates against the quirky, personal, community-first vibes of indieweb.
And hell yeah! Any excuse to put something fun on the web is a good one, excited to see what you make :)
Weird is essentially gonna be ported over to being the static, persona-first extension of Roomy: https://blog.muni.town/chatty-community-gardens/
The extended version of Weird that we’re building now however will include community hosting ranging between $10/$100 per month as part of a B2B play as opposed to the B2C model of Weird as-is, so that.
I recommend working on your elevator pitch, because while strangely eloquent, that is utterly incomprehensible.
However, I don't see anywhere on the homepage where you have an example. I think it would be really helpful if the example images you posted actually went to those pages. Or even better, can your homepage just be a demonstration of your product?
ATM, it seems quite distracting, rather than just being clear about the benefit.
That aside, this looks really cool and I wish you all the best!
(addressing erlend_sh because I saw them in the thread)
RSS is great, but together with OPML it has even more potential. Easily share bookmarks and RSS sources, easily 'retweet' interesting articles on my own timeline, easily 'subscribe' to new feeds, etc.
I'm slowly eating my own dogfood and slowly moving towards only using the real social media; the open web. It's hard, with HN and Youtube around, but I have trust in my own algorithm. Getting my info diet from around 1400 RSS sources, filtered by random request to feeds, so no violations of other websites' resources and doomscrolling isn't even possible. Really interesting sources get automatically checked by the newspaper functionality.
I see more untapped potential for RSS in combination with OPML. First I need to get completely rid of the idea that my software product needs to be for the masses. It's just not going to happen that the majority of the people are going to do more than tap an app and swipe for instant gratification, and that's okay. I'm also not willing to look down on how the masses use computing and the internet, as I see a lot of people do on HN (talking about 'the regular user' as if it's not your neighbor or your friend), so I want to make the onboarding and usage as welcome as possible. To me, that's still the true spirit of the open web.
No, not trying it in Chrome.
Re: laggy. I know... 1.0 introduced new features but also inefficiencies. The cost of working on something solo. Releasing a patch soon.
I'm getting tired of how many web developers don't realize that endless, unstoppable animation is a huge accessibility issue. My brain apparently has some deep programming to follow anything that moves, so I can't actually read anything about the project without straining my brain. For reference, I'm autistic. Many neurodivergent people have similar issues. So, unintentionally, you're excluding people that might enjoy this.
Demanding everything be 100% accessible to everyone at all times is something that I feel is not necessary. It also feels like I am imposing my demands on someone, limiting their artistic creativity to suite my disability - I don't feel comfortable with that idea. If someone enjoys all the animation and blinding colors then let them. I'm actually happy for them that they can.
I was watching a conference talk yesterday on SVG, and the speaker had an endlessly repeating dumb meme gif on their slide. I couldn’t focus on what they’re saying at all. So, I’m excluded from the information they’re sharing. Fuck that. This is a very experienced web developer who probably cares enough to make things accessible, but they don’t realize the harm they’re doing. So, at least on places like HN, I’m going to be vocal.
meme gif in a conference slide is an awful idea and very unprofessional.
The number of people that are able to handle accessibility, while also being capable of creating a captivating presentation to drive sales, is extremely low. This isn't an attack on anyone, I wish things were more black and white, but until those with accessibility needs are driving revenue more you are at the mercy of the government and ADA (if you're in the US or anywhere else similar concerns are legal).
20% of the population has high sensory sensitivity. Many of these people have issues with needless animation. Some people with ADHD also have issues. When you add them all up, it becomes a significant customer base. And even for neurotypical people, excessive animation is distracting. They’re able to tolerate it, but it’s still adding cognitive load.
And it’s been shown through usability studies that carousels are terrible across the board. Marketing people like them for some reason, but there is almost never a good reason for a carousel on the web. Marketing people and some designers like animation because it grabs your attention, and it gets a “wow” in a presentation to executives, but I’m not convinced it actually increases conversions.
https://github.com/muni-town/weird?tab=readme-ov-file#roadma...
Hillary Clinton is actively diving her head into her elbow-pit, and we cannot stop her. We can only watch in horror as she destroys the fabric of our universe and merges all that was once "cool" and "hip" into the conglomerate apathetic mainstream.
& fwiw I'm a huge AI hater, but if we _must_ have it, using it to let people make tiny apps for them and their friends easier is about as good a use as there gets. Its a shame to lose the culture of craftsmanship around code itself but if you want to make something your friend will like that's cool even if I'd have done it differently.
Similarly this site has a lot of the astehtic trappings and language of indieweb et al. but (IMO) doesn't stick the landing. And it comes off a little as the cool culture being exploited by someone who doesn't get it.
Idk if they're doing it in a greedy or sinister way, like when corporations co-opt social movements or big brands use the "quirky local indie" astehtic. It's probably someone well meaning with different taste than me. But the site does rub me the wrong way regardless
you're right, it might not be intentionally malicious, but it still comes off as wrong due to the visual and mechanical design of the service. if you want to support smallweb, it's better to host a VPS service than a shittier linktree.
That doesn't really inspire confidence in them wanting people to self-host.
"Hey! You! Do you like awesome things that are awesome? Then you gotta check out our website, where your profile... is also your website! It's like Wordpress and Notion had a Linktree-shaped baby! Make big tech as mad as an incel gamer on a school-shooting rampage!"
That and the Star vs. the Forces of Evil-inspired art style... think I'll pass.