#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

Started a website (mainly a #blog) a few months ago using #Eleventy but with a starter template.

I've enjoyed it a lot, tech-wise, but had a new project idea and decided to fire up a super basic blog using Eleventy but from scratch. Just for fun.

And fun it is!

Even though I've enjoyed poking at the template I've been using to see how things work, something about piecing together this lowest-of-low-tech site from scratch is *way* more fun.

So this other project (to be revealed eventually) will probably double as my WebDev playground --- even though I want to keep it pretty minimalist in style and features.

Think I will play with this the rest of the night, as long as the power holds out, to drown out the absolute dumpster that is today's news.

#IndieWeb #SmallWeb
#indieweb indieweb.social/tags/indieweb

💛 Webring Wednesday #1: Bill’s PC 💛

This week on Webring Wednesday, we’re checking out Bill's PC. This webring is for everyone with a dedicated Pokemon space on their site. Check it out!

@indieweb @smallweb @neocities #indieweb #NekoWeb #neocities #nostalgia #oldweb #pokemon #smallweb #webdev #webrevival #webring
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

@macberg Hmmm. I don't find people use hashtags as much on Fedi. Besides #GeminiProtocol you can try #smolweb maybe #indieweb and #smallweb . Regular #Gemini is kinda useless now since it's mostly Google and crypto. I mostly find stuff by exploring links while in Gemini but some of those may get you something from time to time.

Yeah, getting away from the corporate slop of the web is nice. Just people writing about whatever with no agendas. Thanks for bookmarking my capsule! =)
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

How I use Mastodon in 2025

These are exciting times to be on Mastodon, one of the flavours of the Fediverse. Things are evolving fast, towards a space worthy of healthier online debate and exchange. Some of these conversations can be found on my own profile, if you’re curious.

Here are some of the cool things I have discovered Mastodon lets you do. If you’ve found some neat integrations or solutions, please do let me know in the comments. I am curious.

What I use

So, given that Mastodon does not have an Algorithm to keep you hooked on the platform, you are in control of what you read. If you decide not to drink from the firehose — sorted chronologically — of all the posts of all your followers, you can use Lists. With Lists you can maintain a group of people that usually write on a specific topic, or simply those whose posts you deem more relevant.

Lists I maintain on Mastodon. “Cream” are “VIP for me”. “Folks” are people I’ve met IRL.

If you use the web version of Mastodon, you can turn on column view in the settings and see all your lists, searches or hashtags in columns, Tweetdeck (RIP) style. To come back to this view, add “/deck” to your instance name (here is the example for mastodon.social). This way you can have an overview of your lists, like so:

Because Mastodon is a stable and open platform built on top of ActivityPub, people are using it to create diverse and cool stuff. If you miss an Algorithm automated curation, Phanpy is a thoughtfully designed web application, that will make your catching up with the world a joy.

Phanpy will display a bit of curation within your own personal feed.

Mastodon also plays well with the rest of the open web. Any account on Mastodon can be converted into an RSS feed simply by adding “.rss” to its Mastodon profile link. Mindblowing, I know. Let’s try this with Zeldman’s Mastodon profile link. We start from https://front-end.social/@zeldman, add “.rss” to it and get https://front-end.social/@zeldman.rss. Insert this link into your favorite RSS reader, and watch the magic happen.

Read Zeldman’s Mastodon posts on your RSS reader.

When I’m searching for snappy inspiration, want to get a feeling for the Zeitgeist, or have a fleeting idea I want to share with the world, I launch Tuba on my Ubuntu install. It’s a great Mastodon client, and a perfect example of a well-executed Gnome app.

One of the strongest points of Mastodon is also one of its main weaknesses. Content is federated in multiple instances, which means there is no single point of failure. No evil billionaire can simply acquire it and turn it to shit, and instances can refuse to federate with other instances (such as the Nazi next door, Threads by Meta, or both).

The downside of this design decision is that onboarding the application and following people in different instances can be daunting, particularly for newcomers. If you’re starting a new account, keep it simple and use mastodon.social. If you want to get more creative, try finding a community in which you would fit right in, such as one dedicated to people on the indie web, fans of knitting or journalists. Make your content searchable for optimal discovery by turning it on in the settings (h/t to Sara Joy). If you want to follow someone on another instance, the standard is to copy/paste their instance profile link into the search of your own Mastodon account. But there is another way.

Graze detected that Silvio Lorusso was on Mastodon and suggested I follow him, directly on his website. Priceless stuff.

Graze is a browser extension (I use the one for Firefox) that makes it simpler to follow people on other instances, with just one click. Their most recent update even adds a little overlay at the bottom of pages if it detects a Mastodon account out in the wild. Discover as you browse, sweet move. StreetPass has a similar concept, and I am just learning about it.

One last feature worth mentioning is verification. If you have your own domain, you can verify your Mastodon account, simply by saying these belong to the same person (you). All you need is a rel=”me” link on the HTML of your website.

What I’d love to use

In an ideal world I would mostly post from my website and have the discussions occur anywhere on the fediverse and still be readable as extensions of the post here on fredrocha.net. This is the best of both worlds, in which I can POSSIE and still have a diversity of ideas and perspectives in the conversation. I’m trying to figure out how ActivityPub, Webmentions and other technologies can work together to achieve that, specifically in the context of a WordPress install. #goals

Some accounts to follow

If you are new to the platform and are looking for some solid accounts to follow, here’s a living list (this might or not be a selection of my “Cream” and “Folks” lists, we’ll never know):

Join the fun, say hi!

I sometimes send out a tiny update. If you liked this article, chances are you will enjoy the update as well.

Processing... Join the fun!

So cool that you want to stay in touch! Expect a sparse but exciting email in your box.

Necessarily, discuss on Mastodon!

#fediverse #goals #indieweb
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

This month's indieweb carnival is on self-expression.

https://skippy.net/self-expression

#indieweb #indiewebcarnival
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

“Tell me, what are words for?” They are for blogging!

Earlier today during an informal espresso live stream in the #indieweb cafe, Spotify was playing an auto-generated daylist, something like “romantic 80s tuesday morning”, and the 1982 song “Words”Âč by the band Missing Persons came on.

When we heard this lyric:

đŸŽ¶ What are words for when no one listens? đŸŽ¶

I remarked half-jokingly in response:

Words are for blogging, whether anyone is listening, reading, or not.

Another participant noted that blogging sometimes feels like screaming into the void.

I noted it doesn’t matter if anyone is reading (or listening), it’s fine to blog for an audience of one, yourself, even just to have something to refer to or reference in the future.

When I write a post it’s often directed at only a small number of people, who may be part of a larger conversation. The point of publishing it publicly is to assert a level of confidence and credibility by the act of “putting it on the permanent record” (since nearly everything blogged is promptly indexed and archived.) with a permalink.

The lyrics have some quite prescient bits, like this:

“No one notices, I think I'll dye my hair blue
 Media overload bombarding you with action
 It’s getting near impossible to cause distraction”

Written and sung more than forty years ago. Long before the web (or #socialWeb) was a thing.

Rewriting the lyrics as a parody could be a fun project, e.g.:

đŸŽ¶ What are blogs for when no one reads them? đŸŽ¶

some existing lyrics barely need any edits, like:

“It’s like the feeling at the end of the page
 When you realize you don't know what you just read”

perhaps an exercise for the reader for now.

Previously: “Inbox Zero” (parody of The Fixx “Saved by Zero”ÂČ)
* https://tantek.com/w/InboxZero (2009-01-29 https://tantek.com/twttr/status/1160324190)


This is post 10 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts

← https://tantek.com/2025/055/t1/three-steps-indieweb-cybersecurity
→ 🔼


Glossary

blog
  https://indieweb.org/blog
blogging
  https://indieweb.org/blogging
permalink
  https://indieweb.org/permalink
why blog
  https://indieweb.org/why_post


References

Âč https://libre.fm/artist/Missing+Persons/track/Words (YouTube link inside)
ÂČ https://libre.fm/artist/The+Fixx/track/Saved+by+Zero (YouTube link inside)
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb
ĂąTell me, what are words for?Ăą They are for blogging!Earlier today during an informal espresso live stream in the #indieweb cafe, Spotify was playing an auto-generated daylist, something like Ăąromantic 80s tuesday morningĂą, and the 1982 song ĂąWordsñÂÂč by the band Missing Persons came on.When we... tantek.com
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

I use #discord every day. No wonder I have some thoughts about its future.

https://axxuy.xyz/blog/posts/2025/discord/
#blogging #blog #blogpost #indieweb #personalwebsite #enshittification
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

Bringing Static Sites to the Fediverse - Enhancements and Implementations #fediverse #indieweb #activitypub https://www.luisquintanilla.me/feed/bringing-static-sites-fediverse-enhancements-implementations-maho?utm_medium=feed
Tantek Çelik tantek.com
“Tell me, what are words for?” They are for blogging!

Earlier today during an informal espresso live stream in the #indieweb cafe, Spotify was playing an auto-generated daylist, something like “romantic 80s tuesday morning”, and the 1982 song “Words”Âč by the band Missing Persons came on.

When we heard this lyric:

đŸŽ¶ What are words for when no one listens? đŸŽ¶

I remarked half-jokingly in response:

Words are for blogging, whether anyone is listening, reading, or not.

Another participant noted that blogging sometimes feels like screaming into the void.

I noted it doesn’t matter if anyone is reading (or listening), it’s fine to blog for an audience of one, yourself, even just to have something to refer to or reference in the future.

When I write a post it’s often directed at only a small number of people, who may be part of a larger conversation. The point of publishing it publicly is to assert a level of confidence and credibility by the act of “putting it on the permanent record” (since nearly everything blogged is promptly indexed and archived.) with a permalink.

The lyrics have some quite prescient bits, like this:

“No one notices, I think I'll dye my hair blue
 Media overload bombarding you with action
 It’s getting near impossible to cause distraction”

Written and sung more than forty years ago. Long before the web (or #socialWeb) was a thing.

Rewriting the lyrics as a parody could be a fun project, e.g.:

đŸŽ¶ What are blogs for when no one reads them? đŸŽ¶

some existing lyrics barely need any edits, like:

“It’s like the feeling at the end of the page
 When you realize you don't know what you just read”

perhaps an exercise for the reader for now.

Previously: “Inbox Zero” (parody of The Fixx “Saved by Zero”ÂČ)
* https://tantek.com/w/InboxZero (2009-01-29 https://twitter.com/t/status/1160324190)


This is post 10 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts

← https://tantek.com/2025/055/t1/three-steps-indieweb-cybersecurity
→ 🔼


Glossary

blog
  https://indieweb.org/blog
blogging
  https://indieweb.org/blogging
permalink
  https://indieweb.org/permalink
why blog
  https://indieweb.org/why_post


References

Âč https://libre.fm/artist/Missing+Persons/track/Words (YouTube link inside)
ÂČ https://libre.fm/artist/The+Fixx/track/Saved+by+Zero (YouTube link inside)
#indieweb #socialWeb #100PostsOfIndieWeb #100Posts
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

Simon Willison's AI-Generated Tools Colophon #colophon #indieweb #ai https://www.luisquintanilla.me/feed/willison-tools-colophon?utm_medium=feed
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

Tsunami ghosts, anti-LinkedIn post, digital gardens, Obsidian discoveries, NPCs and more

A roundup of interesting content I stumbled on recently.

  1. A digital garden on WordPress
  2. Ghostly encounters: The legacy of the 2011 tsunami in Japan
  3. The anti-Linkedin post
  4. If most content on the Internet is cruft, how do we find the original stuff?
  5. Cool software discoveries
  6. Magpies building a nest in a tiny balcony in China
  7. Think before you click.
  8. “My neck hurts”

A digital garden on WordPress

Notes on making a digital garden on WordPress

A lot of times the Digital Garden scene seems dominated by developers. People who exist in in-between places like me feel a bit frustrated that the tools used – the static site generators – are so unfriendly to non-developer minds.

So, I’m glad that there are some folks who are building digital gardens on WordPress.

I have plans to use Obsidian and a plugin – probably either Quartz, Eveloppe or digital garden – to generate my static site one day, but this is a good workaround while I plan the possibly very complicated transition.

I did think about using Astro but the mechanics of it seem so frightening.

Ghostly encounters: The legacy of the 2011 tsunami in Japan

Do I believe in ghosts? I mean, I lived in a haunted house, so


https://youtube.com/watch?v=tr4ULTszi00&si=NbwiGtqnL2DvVsMq

The anti-Linkedin post

I’m happy to announce my retirement from UX.

Wonder if this guy wants more publicity, but I really appreciated his very, very honest LinkedIn post about retiring from UX. Had a look at his profile, and it looks like he made the transition from teaching to UX, not the easiest transition to make. And definitely not easy to leave due to the sunk cost-ness of it all.

If most content on the Internet is cruft, how do we find the original stuff?

“We’re about to drown in a sea of pedestrian takes. An explosion of noise that will drown out any signal. Goodbye to finding original human insights or authentic connections under that pile of cruft.” – The dark forest and generative AI

Cool software discoveries

  • Obsidian’s digital garden community plug-in – publish your vault online free: https://dg-docs.ole.dev/
  • Obsidian’s Mastodon threading plug-in – Share posts from your Obsidian vault to Mastodon.

Magpies building a nest in a tiny balcony in China

Video on xiaohongshu has been taken down, sadly, but it’s here on my Mastodon post.

If you’re wondering why the balcony is so tiny, if they’re anything like Malaysia (and I find many apartments in China very much like ours), it’s meant for the air conditioning compressor:

Think before you click.

“The point: there is so much content on the internet that makes us feel crappy without offering any actual information that can help you make the world a better place. When I’m taking good care of myself, I’m actively working to ignore such garbage.” – Justin Pot in his article, Think before you click

How I approach Malaysian political news, really. Heck, even world news these days.

“My neck hurts”

https://youtu.be/oQFg20ZDyH0?si=SSzWruVTr_jA0c4p

Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that while our life may suck, it may not suck as badly as an NPC’s.

#Birds #digitalgardens #indieweb #Internet #Obsidian #PKM
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

@renne @tiagojferreira @pBaesse @augustocc @gmgall @fediverse @fediverso @academicos @internet @tecnologia Na AlquimĂ­dia estamos incentivando muito o uso dos plugins ActivityPub https://alquimidia.org/fediverso/tecnologias/wordpress/ e Friends no WordPress. Inclusive, criamos um tema do Friends para melhorar a experiĂȘncia do usuĂĄrio: https://github.com/alquimidia/fedipress Acredito que essa seja uma das grandes açÔes para fortalecer a #IndieWeb.
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

Why is #Bluesky more prominent than #Mastodon in the #IndieWeb space?

#AskFedi
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

I've had so many conversations with internet and non-internet people alike in the last six months about getting off of corporate social media or otherwise taking control of your life online that I've started a conscious project to reboot it for myself and document the process. Here's the first post: https://ideastore.dev/blog/Start-the-Reboot/ #indieweb #deplatform #socialweb #blogs #blogging You can also follow the #octothorpe https://octothorp.es/~/reboot-blog
#indieweb indieweb.social/tags/indieweb

is everybody indie-rsvp-ing to the homebrew website club tomorrow ? #indieweb
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

Cool things you can do in Mastodon and perhaps you weren't aware of:

* Create an RSS link from any Mastodon profile
* Validate your profile easily using your personal domain
* Use a column interface Ă  lĂ  Tweetdeck (RIP)

Share your favorite use cases!

https://fredrocha.net/2025/03/18/how-i-use-mastodon-in-2025/

#fediverse #indieweb #openweb
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

is everybody indie-rsvp-ing to the homebrew website club tomorrow ? #indieweb
#indieweb mastodon.social/tags/indieweb

@ignoreallpreviousinstructions Yes! #indieweb!
#indieweb indieweb.social/tags/indieweb

🧡 Tuesday Tips #1 🧡

https://smallweb.thecozy.cat/blog/tuesday-tips-1/

@indieweb @smallweb @neocities ##indieweb ##neocities ##nostalgia ##oldweb ##smallweb ##Tips ##webdesign ##webdev ##webrevival