Quest Status

It feels like almost all of my writing on this site is about this site. I don't mean for it to be that way, really, but as my primary creative outlet beyond the (now every other week) podcast, it feels more and more like I want this site to be an ever-growing, ever-changing thing. Right now, it feels pretty static, which is by design. I wonder, now if it being static is a bug or feature. To be clear, I do like the site a lot, but I feel like I'm not working on it as much as I would like to. I like to tinker and break things and get in the weeds. I like being frustrated until everything works just right and I get that rush of accomplishment. With the site as it sits, I'm very stable, which is good for getting my words out there onto the net, but isn't giving me the feeling I want.

So, what do we do from here? I want the best of both worlds, ideally. A site that is both stable and unflappable and consistently works, but also a site that I can tinker with and break and learn from. The obvious solution would be to have two websites. One as a sandbox and another as a blog? Sure, that might sound reasonable, but I'd like everything to be under the same domain. So a nested site, then? The blog site exists as its unique, separate entity inside of the other, more breakable sandbox site? As long as a link always exists, or as long as the blog is always available under tk-web.quest/blog, then that should be fine, right? I'm not sure if Hugo would play nice with that, though. My permalinks would all change. There's a fair shot all my posts would re-deploy over RSS, clogging everyones' feeds again. Maybe a subdomain? blog.tk-web.quest? The permalinks would all change again, I think, and RSS would still be a problem, but at least hugo might play nicer living alongside a different site? At that point, would I be hosting two separate httpd containers? Then I'm back at two websites, but they'd still share a domain...

Another thing I need to contend with is that I consistently have "the grass is greener" syndrome when it comes to the SSG. I use Hugo and have liked it, but 11ty has a lot of traction and support. Until it fully re-launches as Build Awesome, I think I'll hold off, but if the re-launch goes smoothly and doesn't change too much about what makes 11ty good, then a switch in SSGs might be in the future. I don't really know why I would do that, but also switching sounds fun and interesting, doesn't it? If I do, I'll probably try my hand at making my own theme and template from scratch.

So, if I'm making a new site for the more "site-ey" bits, what should I put there, and how should it behave? I've got two different tracks I'm thinking down towards the answers. Let's start, as is ever my prerogative, with the practical side of things. What should be included?

• A home page - As with any good site, it all starts here. This would ideally be a light introduction to the site and the content on offer. Maybe even with some clever code to pull the latest headline from the blog?

• An About page - I'm bad at talking about myself, but this is a good place to shout the projects I've done, my professional and personal background, and my general personality. I don't want to be vapid, but I do want to show why it might be worth checking the rest of the site.

• A guide library - I love teaching things, and I know I'm not always the best at it, but I do feel like guide posts and tutorials are always evergreen and I'd love to maintain a dedicated space for them.

• More and deeper IndieWeb connections. Again, a thing I'm bad at, but I would really like to find some more community and common cause within the IndieWeb scene. I know a lot of this requires me to reach out first to other creators, so I am going to be doing some extensive diving into the webrings, cliques, and directories out there to find my people. If you think you could be my people, shoot me an email!

• A guestbook or other public communication method - I love the idea of a guestbook, but I really want to embed one into a page rather than link out to an external one, even if I can theme that with some CSS or whatever. I realize this would take my static site and make it dynamic to some degree, but I think as long as it's done in a reasonable sort of way, it can be good.

Okay, so that's a start on what should be there, now let's focus on how I want it to be.

• Multiple themes - Not just talking dark and light here, but dark and light versions of themes that are inspired by other aspects of my life and interests.

  • Black walnut, oak, poplar, and maple. A reflection of my enjoyment of woodturning. I don't want to use the textures, but rather the colors of these American tree species, spread with coatings of linseed oil, beeswax, and shellac.

  • Early 00s Blue Skybox blue, white and splashes of green or pink. A remembrance of video game and technology eras past. Windows XP, the Playstation 2, and the premise of a new digital age.

  • Deep blues, with streaks of cyan, gold, and orange. The colors of morning twilight, with a somber, but cozy mood. A reminder of nature and the quiet world that exists beyond our busy lives.

• A greater use of images than exists in my current site, but also more abstract. Maybe an excuse to take the camera out more often.

• Sound - The internet, for all its noise, is often a quiet place. I'd like to add some audio texture to it. Perhaps not with sound effects, but rather opt-in background sound specifically. Rain patter, white noise, room tone from where I write, a keyboard, flipping pages and the warm closeness of a library.

• Games, a scavenger hunt or ARG. Clues and ciphers hidden among the pages, but with the explicit instruction that page sources and hacking will never be necessary. An accessible quest to undertake within the site itself.

Is all of this possible? I'm not sure, but I sure would be interested in trying to make it happen. I'm sure my attempts will be ugly and disastrous, but that's all part of the process. Trust the process. Learn something new every day.