The website you are looking at is a static website built with a Ruby based static site generator called Middleman. Tracking what you view on my wesbite is of little value to me. Your privacy, however, is important to me, and as such there are no analytics or third-party tracking scripts that would forward data to some data broker. While I do use some Google Fonts, I have downloaded those fonts and serve them myself. I host this website on Digital Ocean (referral link), running a Caddy web server. To manage the website source code I use Git, and specifically I store my Git repositories on a self-hosted instance of Gitea in my homelab.
Images are served through an imageproxy service that allows me to serve images at different sizes and optimize them for the web. They are cached in a Digital Ocean Spaces object store.
To edit my website source code I stick to my tried and true tools. But I am also as a "modern web developer", and so I explore the new trendy tools and new workflows. I am trying to make neovim my primary text editor, though I find that I use Cursor for most tasks. When I want to do the work myself I reach for a full featured Jetbrains IDE; specifically PHPStorm, RubyMine, GoLand, and WebStorm.
Okay but why though?
Why do anything? Because it's there. And it is fun. And because the Internet can be a source of good. The internet is more than the corporate web, it is a platform where we, regular people, can share ideas and learn and grow, freely and without restriction. Free from algorithms telling us what to think and what to like. You can build your own website and own your own data. It can also be a messy and ugly process. My website is messy and I am proud of it regardless.
Your own website is also a place to play and tinker (better here than in prod). This website has been rebuilt countless times because it is geniuinely a fun thing to do. Building a website is educational. I have learned deeply about various content management systems, web development, web frameworks, building, testing, deploying, and serving websites.
Finally, it's just my home on the web, a tiny slice and view of what is going on in my world, for those that may be interested. A place from which to yell into the void.
Okay but who am I?
Just a dude who thinks the old internet was pretty fucking good and that sees it's possible to bring parts of it back.
I am a recovering consumer. An artist. A person who is trying to live the good life.