Why HTML and CSS written by hand

Technical reasons

When I launched this homepage I decided that I want to do this with hand written HTML and CSS without any kind of dynamic content. There is even no client side dynamic content with JavaScript to make sure page works also with Lynx and Links etc. so all the content here is coming from static pages which does not behave differently than previous time unless I have changed those pages manually. I also do not use any kind of site generators. I just create all these pages one by one with VIM and use only copy-paste from another pages to copy my menus, headers etc.

It is year 2023 and this kind of method might sound slow, stupid and meaningless since there is possibility to create repating content using site generators and it wouldn't take much time to code my own with PHP or with Python either to suit my needs. But then again, why bother? I can use VIM, I can open any of my other pages with it, copy it and save it as a new file with different name, delete useless content for that page and then I have a empty page what is just waiting to be filled with content. I also have template HTML file for movie pages what I just save to different name, change the content and there I have new HTML file.

Whole process of creating new file takes anyway less than a minute in normal cases so would there be any benefit added to my process if I would use PHP, Python or whatever Bash script to generate static site templates? In my use case the answer is obviously no. It would just add another extra layer of complexity and would add potential for something breaking in future if the code language make something what breaks my script in future. Of course that is not quite common, but still it can happen. Also if I create script with PHP or Python I would need it to be installed but with static HTML pages I only need text editor to create my content. Less distractions, less possibilities for breaking.

Of course if I would use PHP to generate my pages dynamically I could easily modify template to make changes for the top menu for example and it would automatically update to every page in future. But if I think that a moment, how often I have updated my top menu? Only once or twice maybe. Is the trade off worth it for something what happens so rarely but would add another extra layer of complexity? In this page it is not. Also if I want to edit my top menu in all the pages, I can always learn how to do it in batch using command line tools like find, sed, awk and others.

On static sites there is also a one huge benefit. I can copy my files wherever hosting, even on AWS S3 and it just works. No need to care if there is PHP, Python or whatever installed. Also it is easy to backup this whole site since there is no any kind of databases. Almost all files are inside same directory. Bigger assets (read: game videos) are on different server because I have much more space to use in another server, but if I would have taken just bigger server here I could keep those on the same folder as well.

It is slow way of working and that is a good thing

One reason why it is good to create this home page manually is that it is slow. Yes, I count this as a benefit on a home page. It takes a little bit more time but in reality it is not much slower to create pages this way. Also, am I in hurry? If I would then I wouldn't be doing this page in the first place. This is my home page, it is a hobby, something I enjoy doing and therefore I do not count how many hours I spend doing these pages.

I think it would be beneficial for whole society to start doing things slower when it is not necessary to be fast. At least many people tell that modern workplaces have high requirements, people are busy, stressing and that will lead people to burn out. I cannot say if that is true or false in general since all workplaces are different and people have totally different exceptations and tolerances what is hectic work and what is not. Anyway it is some food for the thought that maybe we should allow us to be more slow in our hobbies instead of focusing how to do things best and most optimal way possible. Life and everything what we do in our lives should not be about making it faster and better.

It is somehow therapeutic to do things just for the fun in a non perfect way. I do not need to do things on my free time best way in terms of speed and results I get in shortest amount of time, I can do whatever I like even it takes 10x more time than doing it same way than I would do in business world. At workplace I like to do things as fast and as good as possible, but to give good balance for my life I prefer to do this site slower way without caring if I spent 1 hour or 27 hour doing some sub page. It is done when it is done, after that it is there and I do not need to touch it probably another time. And if I have to, so what? There is no time schedules or any kind of external pressure. Nobody is waiting that I will change or update my pages. It is what it is and it takes whatever it takes.

Another benefit what I have started to notice also is that it is easier for me to leave the want and/or need for perfection behind and do thing just for fun. Of course people are different and some probably do not get this kind of feelings, but I somehow feel that when I do things slower and this way and I do not even try to do everything perfect in the first place but instead just start to do things for the fun it is changing me somehow. It feels easier to do things with good enough -mentality.

2023-03-27