1. Please introduce yourself.: Hi :D My name is Tom but I also go by Thomas or 9-Volt or nineVolt.
2. How long have you been making websites?: I started messing with HTML in 2017, just to see what it was like. I had aspirations of becoming a programmer, and I had messed with a few other languages like python and basic beforehand. It woudln't be until 2024 when I would make a real website, though.
3. And what got you into the hobby?: I think I saw a youtube video about Neocities and it seemed like a lot of fun to make my own site and browse all the other ones!
4. What kind of website are you most interested in?: Hmm... what "kind" of site? Idk...
5. What's your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?: It depends on what sort of page im making, honestly. Most of them were made on the fly, with a generic idea like "oh, this one should be three columns." Some of my shrines, though, are more specific. I knew I wanted my CD shrine to look like a shelf, my posters shrine to look like a wall, etc.
6. Please link to your biggest inspirations.
7. What's your favourite part about making websites?: I think once you've made a new page, just getting to sit and stare at it for a while and be like, "damn, I really made this."
8. And the thing you struggle with the most?: I think consistency and novelty.
9. Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?: Ehh, mostly. I think it makes sense thematically for my "main" pages to be similar (three columns, space background) and the more unique pages to all be different. It gives me an excuse to try different styles.
10. How confident are you with CSS?: Man, I feel like I try different things and get lucky sometimes :P
11. Do you know how to correctly use <dl>?: Gesundheit.
12. What is your favourite HTML element?: Hmm... I think details/summary is kinda underrated. My most proud usage of it is on my CD shrine---the spine is the summary, and it opens to the front cover / track list as the details.
13. If you're making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?: Depends on what its for! new main page? I use a template I made. If it's a one-off page, I usually start from scratch (save for stuff in the head tag.)
14. Do you know JavaScript?: Nope!
15. How about PHP?: Nuh-uh! JS and PHP might be fun to learn someday, though.
16. Does your website have a theme that you stick to?: Yeah---I like tron and daft punk a lot. Spacey, neon glow, blue and yellow (yellow is my fav color).
17. Are you more focused on content or design?: Hmm... good question. I think a good mix of both is important, and I try my best. If you have cool content, but an unattractive design, it's going to alienate a lot of people who might otherwise want that content.
18. Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?: Definitely thinking about it, after the issue Neocities had recently with namecheap.
19. What do you think of nostalgia-focused or "retro" websites?: I think they're a lot of fun! I'm a pretty nostalgic person myself.
20. Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?: My HTML is ALWAYS valid. Except when it isn't.
21. What are your opinion on buttons and banners?: I think they're a lot of fun!!
22. What do you think of button walls in particular?: It's fun to pick through large collections of random ones and borrow them for your own page.
23. If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?: I think it would be pretty similar.
24. Are you envious of other people's websites?: Not people's entire sites per se, but I am kinda envious of certain elements, their ideas + content, etc.
25. What text editor do you use?: I use VScode!
26. Why do you use that one?: Syntax highlighting, really helpful autocomplete, and it has a cool feature where it runs a virtual server and I can preview my webpage live as I make changes to it, to get a good idea of how it'll look.
27. Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?: It all goes on my Neocities server!
28. This might not be relevant to you, but what's your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?: I use Neocities, but I have a feeling if I found nekoweb first, I would be using that, instead.
29. How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?: Overall, my site is less than half a gigabyte.
30. Do you keep local backups of your files?: yep! I use Mega to sync my website files between my laptop and desktop.
31. Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?: It depends on what its for! Some sites are totally style over substance, which is fun for a while, but once you've seen it, that's all there is to it.
32. Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?: Yellow and blue go well together. They're not quite complimentary, though.
33. Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?: Not yet! I think I've still got plenty of ideas for pages floating around.
34. Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?: A handful of my friends have started making sites because of me! It's a great feeling to see them make friends and have fun, too.
35. Do people in your real life know about your website?: A few people! I can't say too many of my IRL friends go to it often, though.
36. Do you update your website very often? How often is "very often"?: I try my best to update it when it needs updating. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But I think having a weekly gimmick will make it easier to add things and get over the initial block of getting started.
37. And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?: I did a major overhaul recently! It was needed, since the first version of my site was pretty janky and rather ugly.
38. Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?: I would say it's focused on me and my hobbies! The site itself is one of my hobbies, after all. Hobby-ception!
39. Do you do web design professionally?: Nope! total amateur here.
40. If not, would you like to? And if you're comfortable answering, what do you do for work?: I think, like a lot of design careers, it could be crushing to have fun and experimental ideas, only to have them whittled down to appeal to the lowest common denominator. For my IRL job, I talk to airplanes.
41. Do you communicate with people by email very much?: My inboxes are a mess... I would like to do it more often, though. I want to figure out how to make my own email server.
42. Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?: I do. Instagram is a big one for me, and I've tried to quit it several times.
43. How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?: I'm on discord pretty often with my friends! It's where most of my socialization happens when I can't hang out IRL.
44. Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?: Listening to music helps me get a lot of work done, not just on my site!
45. Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?: I only have one site... for now.
46. On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?: My website's topic is me!
47. Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?: I try to be authentic on my site.
48. Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?: Not yet...
49. Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?: I guess so. I don't have a say in it, though :P
50. What are practices that you think people should avoid?: far be it from me to tell people how to make their pages!
51. What about under-utilised practices, or things you think people should do more?: See above.
52. Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?: I had to look this up. I think I use mostly generic structure with divs. I use some semantic elements, though.
53. Do you consider different browsers?: Most of my friends use chrome-based ones, so I have them test it on their computers.
54. Speaking of, what's your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.: I use firefox! I don't like the monopoly that chrome has on every single browser, and it's one less platform google can get my data from.
55. And what OS are you on?: My desktop is Win 10, currently on my laptop using MacOS.
56. Do you have a strong opinion on that, or do you just happen to use it?: I had initially installed Linux on this laptop, but I wanted to use some Mac-only applications.
57. Are your websites mobile-friendly?: For most of it, absolutely not! But a few pages here and there are meant to be accessed via QR code, so those ones are.
58. What are your thoughts on autoplay?: As long as you have options to stop it or turn it down, it's alright by me.
59. What are your thoughts on webrings? Are you in any?: I should look into them! I think its a fun way to find like-minded pages.
60. Do you have any web shrines? What do you like to see in that sort of page?: I have a lot of shrines! I like to see all sorts of people's pages of their favorite things, but especially when it's something I also adore and I get to see their angle of it.
61. Are your websites "cliche", in your opinion?: I think most sites I've seen have at least one or two "cliche" elements. There's nothing new under the sun, after all.
62. What is your ideal website? Are you striving for that, or for something else?: I don't really have an end goal in mind!
63. Are you an artist? Do you draw or design your own assets?: A few of my assets are custom (Wendie renders, my spinning logo).
64. What are your favourite resource sites?: I get them from all over the place.
65. Is there a habit you just can't get away from no matter how hard you try?: I have some in real life, but I can't name any website-specific
66. What's your biggest advice for a new webmaster?: Just have fun with it! Don't worry about how ugly or janky your site may be at first. Make it first, then you can make it good.
67. Do you keep all your styling in CSS? Or do you hard-code some?: I think most of it is CSS. I'm inconsistent with it, for sure.
68. What do you think of frameset layouts?: I had to look this up. Seems like it can be fun for text-heavy pages!
69. How about table-based layouts?: I'm sure they have their uses!!
70. Do you subscribe to the ideas of "one-column", "two-column" and "three-column" layouts? Do you use any of these?: Yeah, I think columns makes a lot of sense to me spacially. Each one has their purpose.
71. Do you spend longer on the HTML or the CSS?: I think it's equal amounts in both nowadays.
72. Have you ever made a page with no CSS? It's useful for your thoughts.: I have not! It would be fun for just writing.
73. Do you ever find yourself making layouts with nothing to put on them? Or do you only make layouts when the need arises?: I've made a few test layouts just as a proof of concept, or to try and copy someone else's layout.
74. Would you consider yourself a beginner? Or advanced? Somewhere in the middle?: Somewhere in the middle! Not fresh, but i've still got a lot to learn.
75. Do you have a habit of looking at the source code of websites you visit?: I usually only do that if they have something fun, and I want to see how it works.
76. How did YOU learn how to make websites?: W3 schools, youtube tutorials, and linkedin learning (free through my library!)
77. Do you ever force elements to do things they're not supposed to?: Sometimes :3
78. Thoughts on floating elements?: I like having a character in the bottom corner of the page sometimes :)
79. When you're sizing stuff, what do you use first? Do you use px, em, %, or something else?: I usually use pixels, and I base it off my 1440p monitor... I'm sure that's a bad habit, actually.
80. Do you have a favourite font?: I like all kinds of fonts!
81. Would you run a website with another person? How would that work?: That could be fun!
82. Do you surf the Web to find new personal websites very often?: Yeah! I'm trying to not doomscrool as much, so browsing my feed is a good time.
83. Do you bookmark other people's websites? How would you feel knowing someone else bookmarked yours?: I do! It's also always a treat when I see my button on someone else's site. It's like, wow! I'm real!
84. What do you want people to be most impressed with when they see your website?: ...my music taste.
85. Are you interested in technology outside of websites? Do you collect?: Absolutely! I love gizmos and gadgets. Music players, Stereos, old game consoles, all sorts of stuff.
86. How often and for how long are you online?: I think like most people my age, I'm online constantly. Far too much.
87. When it comes to your website, who is your target audience?: I don't have one in mind, really! If anyone finds my stuff cool, that's awesome.
88. Have you ever been interested in XHTML?: I don't know what that is. Sounds scary.
89. Do you program in general? Have you ever written a program for use with or on your website, not counting simple JavaScript?: I have! See question 2.
90. Speaking of programs that help you make websites, what do you think of static site generators (SSGs)? Have you ever used one?: I haven't used an SSG proper. I've used one of sadgrl's layout generators before though... Does that count?
91. Do you keep a hitcounter? Why or why not?: I used to. I don't have a good spot for it on my homepage, though.
92. Do you frequent forums? Which ones?: I used to frequent a lucid dreaming forum, and the facepunch forums when those were still around. Not one for forums nowadays.
93. Do you write your page content directly into the editor, or do you prepare it elsewhere, like a text document or a Word document?: I think it would be a good idea to incorporate that into my workflow, at least for text-heavy pages. VScode doesn't have spellcheck...
94. Do you think you appear cool to others? A more accurate answer now: do other people ever say you're cool?: I like to think that other people find the things I like also cool. I've had people say I'm cool, but I never know how to react '^-^
95. Are you embarrassed of your old work? Have you ever deleted everything out of shame?: I don't have a whole lot of old work on the internet, so I can't say I am.
96. Would you close down your website if you couldn't update it, or would you leave an archive?: I think I would keep it up as an archive of sorts. Preservation is important.
97. Do you reveal a lot about yourself on your website? Or are you more secretive?: I'm somewhat secretive of my personal details, like where I live and what I do for work (though some may be able to guess). As far as what I like, I think I'm pretty open about that.
98. Are you willing to reveal who your best online friend is, and/or if they have a website?: One of my best online friends is shittymeat999 (K). They have a cool site at https://shittymeat999.neocities.org/ :)
99. And do you optimise the images on your website?: Sometimes... I had to on my Death Stranding shrine.
100. We're out of time! How do you feel after answering 100 questions? ....other than exhausted.: This was a lot of fun!! I'll bet I can come back to this in a year or two and have some better insights. Now to format this and put it on my site somewhere...