Marigold Town: webhosting with a small-town vibe

[xandra]

announcing marigold town!

marigold town is 100% free webhosting with a small-town theme and public-facing "storefronts," where each website is given an iframe on the homepage like an external building's facade. think webgardens combined into a webhost that is promoting all the sites hosted on the platform on the homepage's town map. for instance, a website that showcases someone's favorite flowers from their home region could be themed after a florist. a website dedicated to downloadable games could be themed after an arcade. a wiki all about tea could be a teahouse. a microsite dedicated to self-care could be a spa.

marigold town uses real-life architecture, buildings, third places, and town theming to encourage personal and hobbyist websites with a built-in way to discover the websites. there's a lot of opportunity here to show how fun web-building can be. the idea is not to have someone's main personal site on marigold.town, but a site that you want to build around the theme that is updated with some regularity.

i'm super excited about this project!! we'll be launching in october, and early adopters will help showcase what marigold town will look like.

we are live!!

[TheNothingMonster]

That's such an exciting project! I would love to participate! This sound very fun.

I have an idea for some short of horror themed "maze-like" site that will grow over time. Kind of similar to fauux's project (but not really). So, I'm guessing it will either be marked as a museum or gallery...? Not sure just yet. I'll think about it! If you have an idea, you can let me know.

Questions:
How much storage/bandwidth will there be available? What file types are allowed? Will it allow static hosting only? And I suppose this will be one site per user, right? I need to start planning!

[wygolvillage]

This is such a cute (and exciting) idea!!! I always love when people play with the idea of a website being a "place" you can "visit". I'm excited to see what kind of sites people make for this project.

[Memory]

I loooove this idea, and though I've got way too many ongoing projects ATM meaning I can't join in, I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else creates! Such a cute idea 

[shevek]

I love this! I'll see if anything comes to mind that I could host there.
I like that it encourages topic-focused websites, that is still somewhat rare in web revival spaces.

[Melooon]

I have questions! But I think most of them could be answered by a screenshot of the town itself! It sounds like a very visual idea, but there are no visuals yet, so I feel like I'd be doing a disservice too it by trying to assume things!

At any rate its certainly intriguing ! I have a few fun ideas of buildings to add  

[cuplike]

xandra ate, as expected. cool project 

[Bede]

This is such a cute idea! I love the execution so far, and I really look forward to what everyone makes!!

[xandra]

i'm so glad to see so many folks enthused about this as i am! i'm really excited. 

That's such an exciting project! I would love to participate! This sound very fun.

I have an idea for some short of horror themed "maze-like" site that will grow over time. Kind of similar to fauux's project (but not really). So, I'm guessing it will either be marked as a museum or gallery...? Not sure just yet. I'll think about it! If you have an idea, you can let me know.

Questions:
How much storage/bandwidth will there be available? What file types are allowed? Will it allow static hosting only? And I suppose this will be one site per user, right? I need to start planning!

great questions and i love your idea! don't feel like you have to attach a strict business to your idea if you're able to make another real-life metaphor like a labyrinth or hedge maze. :) that fits perfectly too! whatever you think would fit as a real-life place in a town.

final details will be announced on launch, but here's what i can answer:

• How much storage/bandwidth will there be available? we're starting at 2GB for everyone, but we can do more if needed. we're also starting at 150GB of bandwidth, but that's a very soft limit. we will likely increase that at launch.
• What file types are allowed? all file types are OK, but content illegal in the US won't be allowed, including copywritten mp3s. (this acceptable use policy is a good indicator of what will/won't be allowed.)
• Will it allow static hosting only? no! php, server-side includes, mySQL databases—it's all allowed. if you want to host a CMS, that's allowed, too.
• And I suppose this will be one site per user, right? no! one user can have multiple subdomains. we might impose a soft limit initially to prevent over-extension/burnout, but it will be around 5 subdomains per user. (consistency over intensity — we don't want there to be a bunch of placeholder sites!)

thank you all for the encouragement!!!

[ribose]

     
i love this
     

xandra, this rocks! i have the most fun with my site when i'm modeling pages after physical spaces, so this is right up my alley.

are you (or is marty the mayor) okay with the town including places that are a bit... out of time? i've taken an interest in the history of science and medicine, and i would love to set up a site like an apothecary! there could be adoptable pixel tinctures and other early medicines, and an alchemist's workshop in the back with historical info about early chemistry decorated with public domain images of surreal alchemical manuscripts. i think it could be fun! but i have some other ideas too if you'd like to keep it more modern.

[Memory]

This is an awesome idea! I'd love to make something like a museum or gallery for explaining paintings and sculptures, and place the pieces in different sections based on their time period. I don't really know where to begin from, but either way I could expand it over time.

[xandra]

     
i love this
     

xandra, this rocks! i have the most fun with my site when i'm modeling pages after physical spaces, so this is right up my alley.

are you (or is marty the mayor) okay with the town including places that are a bit... out of time? i've taken an interest in the history of science and medicine, and i would love to set up a site like an apothecary! there could be adoptable pixel tinctures and other early medicines, and an alchemist's workshop in the back with historical info about early chemistry decorated with public domain images of surreal alchemical manuscripts. i think it could be fun! but i have some other ideas too if you'd like to keep it more modern.

thank you so, so much! yes, any time period works! :) i love this idea!

This is an awesome idea! I'd love to make something like a museum or gallery for explaining paintings and sculptures, and place the pieces in different sections based on their time period. I don't really know where to begin from, but either way I could expand it over time.

definitely sounds like an awesome idea!! :D

[Grimlock]

oh this seems like a cool idea! excited to see what others do with their sites!

[TheNothingMonster]

great questions and i love your idea! don't feel like you have to attach a strict business to your idea if you're able to make another real-life metaphor like a labyrinth or hedge maze. :) that fits perfectly too! whatever you think would fit as a real-life place in a town.

Thank you! I reckon a hedge maze would fit nicely for now!
I'll sign up for the residency waiting list since I won't have enough time to be ready until the Early Adopter deadline. I wish I did!
(Do I have to fill in the town business, subdomain & username details in that case?)

• How much storage/bandwidth will there be available? we're starting at 2GB for everyone, but we can do more if needed. we're also starting at 150GB of bandwidth, but that's a very soft limit. we will likely increase that at launch.
• What file types are allowed? all file types are OK, but content illegal in the US won't be allowed, including copywritten mp3s. (this acceptable use policy is a good indicator of what will/won't be allowed.)
• Will it allow static hosting only? no! php, server-side includes, mySQL databases—it's all allowed. if you want to host a CMS, that's allowed, too.
• And I suppose this will be one site per user, right? no! one user can have multiple subdomains. we might impose a soft limit initially to prevent over-extension/burnout, but it will be around 5 subdomains per user. (consistency over intensity — we don't want there to be a bunch of placeholder sites!)

thank you all for the encouragement!!!

Woah!! That's awesome! I wasn't expecting so much freedom for a free service. Thanks for letting me know!

[xandra]

happy to announce that early adopters are beginning to get accounts starting today. emails have been sent out! :)