Why this website looks the way it does

The design principles behind this website is simplicity, efficiency and accessibility.

It should be fast and easy to browse, without putting up any barriers to use.

Furthermore I like when code is easy to read for humans. If you look behind the scenes, it's not very complex.

Lastly I have made an attempt at using as little code as possible. I have noticed that the websites today are generally full of code that tracks your every move and so much code is used to achieve slight advantages in how things are presented across platforms, because of the complexity of the layout. In contrast I have chosen to keep it simple and not track anything on a website with minimal styling. I hope you enjoy it this way.

Inspiration

I looked at a better motherfucking website. That one was inspired by this motherfucking website which in turn was inspired by txti.

txti is made by Barry T. Smith who, like me, has an affinity for efficiency and phrases it like so:

"he believes that high speed internet is a responsibility, not a service people buy."

I think that's beautiful and hopefully you agree.

Advanced features

While the vast majority of the content on this site is delivered through simple means, you will also see more advanced features in certain places. Unbeknownst to most of you (probably), what you are looking at was created using PHP. Basically it means that I as the author get to reuse elements of the page (such as the beginning and the end) on all pages, and then if I want to make changes to it, I only have to do it once. It's a bit like a wrapper:

I bake the bread for all my wraps in one place and then when you decide on the filling, the server (literally and figuratively) stuffs the wrap with the contents and voila! Page served.

The menu

We are done talking about wraps to be eaten now, here I want to discuss the navigation of the website, which can also be called a menu.

It has been put at the bottom due to a principle I learned about web-design when I was pushing pharmaceuticals. In the very simplest terms:

Do not provide undesired options

I want people to read what I write, look at the pictures I share and click the links to learn more.

Putting a big menu up top, or even worse, one that sticks with you, would completely ruin that experience.

Staying focused

Anything that is not content, such as advertisement, cookie-popups or a menu at the very top of the site would distract the reader.

One more source of inspiration that I want to highlight in terms of keeping focus, is thinking of my website as a presentation, PowerPoint if you so wish.

That in itself is a big topic, so if you want to get started, this video would be your best place to start, as it summarizes the most important aspects and reasons behind good presentations.

That is also the video, where you get an explanation for the colors used here:

Personal goals

Beyond that I want this website to be a quiet space, where you can go explore as much as time permits and when you are done, it won't force you to keep on going or entice you with clickbaity titles. Sure, some of the titles on the blog might look that way, but my hope is that it is based on genuine curiosity and not deceit.

I know all of this because that is one of the many job roles that I have fulfilled. I know how effective it is, this whole website is essentially my attempt at proving that you can make good websites without dirty tricks.

Did I succeed? Please let me know by using the front page, because I literally have no idea otherwise as there is no tracking on this site (sorry, not sorry).

That sums up the design of this site, now, what about the purpose? Read about that here.