there seems to be an invisible division among people who can generally be counted as part of "our subculture": people who in some way use and create a web independent from the large players, usually utilizing an aesthetic inspired by the past, with a focus on personal expression and limited algorithmic and corporate influence.
On one hand, we have people who attempt to emulate what we used to have as closely as possible, and on the other hand, we seem to have people who attempt to build something new that combines the good aspects of the past with what we have learned during the 2010s and 2020s. This has some direct influence on web design: for example, do we use proprietary software or not? Do we think the browser wars were endearing or destructive (e.g. do we use iframes)? Do we think that corporate ownership of the internet as it was in the 90s through AOL et al was part of a more cozy internet or the beginning of the end? I have seen some people express this idea before, but I have not seen any larger discussion about it.
Is our general goal as individuals to revive the old web as it was in the 1990s and early 2000s? Or is our goal to build something new, perhaps merely inspired by what used to be there? Do we have an ideology and a goal for our indie web, or do we just think the 90s internet was better in every way? For example, very practically: do we use modern designed, but safe, free & open source, and self hostable chat protocols like Matrix (that might not be 90s-like, but do follow our general philosophy of independence and opposition to monetization), or do we use these MSN/ICQ revival services, which were arguably the beginning of corporate influence, spyware and costly "solutions" to commodify the internet?
Of course there are many different colorful individuals in this community and the indie web overall, so it is hard to make such hard divisions possible, but there seems to be a trend to both sides, generally. For example, Melonking itself definitely works with "old" components of web design like GIFs, older 3D modelling techniques and whimsical autoplaying, but I'd be lying through my teeth if I said that I had ever seen anything like Melonking during the 90s or early 2000s. It's something entirely new, only really possible with 2020s internet speeds, tools and cultural impact. On the other hand, plenty of Neocities websites attempt to closely and uncritically emulate Web 1.0 or Web 2.0 without examining what was actually bad about the time: the culture for one, corporate influences like Microsoft running amok on our internet, and advertisements everywhere (even if it was the fun little blinkie banners). Plenty of people seem to have no ideology whatsoever about what makes the modern web bad, only that it does; and then fall in the same corporate pitfalls like Cohost, rehosting MSN/ICQ, repopulating old centralized social media, and so on, trying to emulate the 90s web.
It really is like the traditional-modern-postmodern division in art: are we just blindly imitating the traditional art of web design uncritically, or are we building a postmodern version of what we liked from back then, ironically remixed with a ton of self-awareness and today's influence into something new and better?
An ethical replacement to Wordpress and Medium could also be self hosting a Plume instance, or simply a website where you put static blog entries as plain (X)HTML.
I personally do the latter. Sure, it does not have all the bells and whistles of Wordpress with plugins, statistics and all kinds of sharing/RSS/blah options, but it is accessible, simple, lightweight and free forever.
I think the topics in school were actually fine. I learned a lot from it, really, that I still keep in mind today: random tidbits like India's history with the partition into Bangladesh and Pakistan, for example.
The problem is the format. If all you can ever think about at school is how to keep quiet, focused and at maximum strength for the exams, then you will fall off and never really consider the things to learn things to internalize, only things to be able to repeat at the exam. When I learn something out of free interest, I can spend days on it, and then I completely internalize it into my day-to-day knowledge that's imprinted in everything I do. When I am forced to learn something of someone else's choosing in someone else's timetable, I make a mental note of it and that's it.
The Montessori concept (ironically, one I learned about during Paedagogy class, which was basically psychology with bells and whistles at our school), works with the "focus phase": that feeling you get where you can immerse yourself for hours in a topic forgetting all time. You can choose your own topics to learn about within certain parameters as long as you are able to tell others about it. The entire school is a rather free space where you can walk around and every room has books, posters, libraries, plenty of games and interesting things to immerse yourself in a topic with if you care; like a geography room full of maps and history books. And if something catches your eyes, just work on it on your own and present it at the end of the year for a grade. If YOU need help, feedback and guidance, that's what the teachers are for.
In contrast to traditional schools, where you are forced to be productive at times of day that you might not be motivated to learn, much less about the only topic you are forced to put your focus on at that moment, the Montessori model is better for kids with ADHD and basically everyone who likes to learn what they themselves care about at their own pace. Unfortunately it isn't too profitable for the economy and it's a change from what people are used to, so Montessori schools are all under the umbrella of "alternative private schools" here and basically unattainable for working class families.
For example, people always say "we should have been taught how to do taxes at school instead of useless crap we never need again", but when they actually taught taxes in school, nobody learnt anything because they were all focused on the final exam and how to keep still and focused even when they were not in the mood. So yeah, I think it's not a lack of topics in school that's to blame, but the entire structure of school (which is ultimately an economic choice that would not have to exist were we in a democratically planned economy, but alas). If you feel that's utopian, fair, but I thought it was in spirit with the thread because it's actual, real schools that do it better right now.
I've always been kind of critical of Neocities because while it allows people with no computer experience to set up a website, it's all controlled by a singular entity, and really, it's not your website at all: you borrow someone else's computer to upload your HTML.
If Neocities shuts down, we will be before yet another exodus like Geocities itself and all will be lost. If they decide to monetize, people are pulled in. If they decide to ban you for the content on your website, they can.
I self-host libre.town, so I have full control over what happens on the server, including the file system and all.
That said, why not test out your design locally before uploading?
When we are strictly talking about graphics editors, like, properly, then I started off with paint dot net, and eventually moved to GIMP where I am comfortable to this day.
But if we're counting art programs I had on disk as a kid: Kai's Power Goo was a silly image distortion program mainly for fun.
Disney's Kreativstudio was a playful, German Disney themed stamp/art maker and drawing program that unfortunately has some very strong phobia triggers inbuilt, which is why I cracked the disk and threw it away.
I built an "emotrash" playlist to play via Audacious (a free n open source WinAMP clone that can use all the original WinAMP skins). It contains Disturbed, System of a Down, Fall Out Boy, Slipknot, Nirvana, My Chemical Romance of course, Gerard Way in general, Rise Against, Black Veil Brides...
Right.
In the past, this would probably have embarrassed me, but here I am in my fingerless red-and-black gloves with skulls on them, black nailpolish, split red-and-black hair, unironically listening to Bring Me To Life by Evanescence on a desktop flooded with pink skulls.
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