The Worldwide Web is a cool place. We have many platforms, social networks, never-ending content, and lots of interesting people creating independent websites; and most of it was built on technology intended to be decentralized and democratic, which greatly contributed to its diversity.
Alas, after a few decades observing this ecosystem evolve comes the realization of current limitations and wasted potential: network effects and cutthroat competition leading to a consolidation of silos; anti-competitive conglomerates welcoming more user content but preventing those outside the walled garden from accessing it; a fight for attention and control of the web.
The inevitably political fight for a better Internet is vital and I'm hopeful we as a society can and will do better, but it takes time. Fortunately there's no need to wait. The independent web, IndieWeb for short, is a grassroots movement to nudge the web back into a more decentralized but interconnected place.
After the continued enshitification of platforms and deeply concerning trends in moderation or lack thereof, the time is ripe for making my website my online home and slowly divest from these problematic behemoths.
Read more at indieweb.org/why.
Having an personal Internet Domain Name is the first step towards taking ownership of one's online identity and taking control over an own corner of the Web. Because the domain serves as bedrock to that identity, it should be chosen carefully and considered permanent as much as possible. A domain costs money, but a cheap one costs less than a telephone landline.
There are a few tools like CunningBot that can help choosing a domain name and others like Instant Domain Search and Website Planet that can quickly search under which Top Level Domain a name is available. There are also tools like Namechk that probe if common platforms and social networks will have that name as an available handles, which is nice for consistency.
I was lucky in that (a part of) my surname is a top level domain so I
was able to grab myself victor.villas. This domain is quite costly but I just
can't help it, it's too satisfiying to own it.
Read more at indieweb.org/personal-domain.
If a purchasing a domain name is like buying a virtual plot of land, configuring an email would be the equivalent of installing a mail box able to receive the usual proofs of residency.
Most e-mail providers support adding a custom email address to an existing account, requiring minimal work to start using the new address and keeping all the old mail. If the current provider doesn't support it, it's likely the Domain Registrar that sells the domain also offers an inbox or forwarding service.
Having all e-mail coming through an own address allows changing providers in the future without having to change email address, thus avoiding the hassle of notifying contacts and updating sign-ups everywhere. Just point the address to a different mailbox and start receiving new mail there. This freedom reduces lock-in to specific platforms and is a simple yet effective way to diminish corporations' hold on your communications.
Self hosting email can be a big headache, so I'm sticking to iCloud for now. As an Apple One subscriber I get iCloud+ which includes custom domain support. I could easily move to a more privacy-focused provider but this is not a priority for the moment.
Owning a domain and being reachable through it with an email address is the foundation for an independent presence on the Web, but the biggest potential lies in using that property to build up a site.
Static website hosting is cheap - most often free - and powerful enough for the vast majority of people. I deploy this site via GitHub Pages because I still default to GitHub for most of my code, but there are plenty of non-Microsoft alternatives that are just as easy to set up.
I build my website with NextJS, because I already know the basics of React and it gets the hassle of setting up Webpack and TypeScript out of my way, but there's a plethora of non-Meta frameworks that are lean and powerful alternatives.
Read more at indieweb.org/homepage.
While most people think of starting with a an "about" page or section in their home page to introduce who they are, a "now" page is a more dynamic and interesting way to present what they're doing. It's the most basic form of a blog or social media presence, allowing anyone to quickly catch up.
It might be even more effective in its purpose than social media or a blog if it focuses on the big picture - "think of what you'd tell a friend you hadn't seen in a year". It's much more useful to get a direct summary than having to piece together a narrative from your activitity.
I considered having my "now" content right in the home page because I don't expect people to come in all too often, but I decided to keep it separate so it has its own descriptive URL (/notes/now) and I don't tire myself of reading it - I know that by far I'll be one reading this website the most.
Building up an IndieWeb presence from the ground up means owning the storage and distribution of content, be it microblogging posts, photo sharing, venue check-ins, book reviews etc. Managing this data and building its interfaces provides total control and flexibility, at a great cost.
And if the goal is to not merely shout at the void, further work is necessary to implement the technology that brings reach and discoverability (syndication, federation). And to have connectivity and interactivity with others, implement the tooling for that as well (webmentions, comments). A full DIY approach will be overwhelming for most people.
An easier path is to self-host a few services, retaining ownership and control, and re-using existing components to jumpstart the endeavor. It's even possible to expose the web interfaces of these services using a subdomain, technically making it a cohesive part of an indieweb site.
#TODO: Is maintaining a website and self-hosting a few services under the same domain, is it worth it to PESOS if self hosting? This wiring ends up being a small-scale reverse-syndication between one's own self-hosted components and their website.
#TODO: talk about platforms that federate content, forming what's known as the fediverse