Hi, I'm Dirk.
You might also know me from my social profiles as "faulancr". So – this is my domain, my personal blog, my creative space. Or should I say, this could or should be my creative space?
For years I was planning to build my own website. And sometimes I did, but never really finished it. At least not for writing or thoughts, photos or todos. It was more like a placeholder, lets say business-card, something where you could get in contact with me. Which was fine, I had and still have, social profiles on mastodon, twitter, instagram. I'm part of communities, related to my work as a designer and frontend-developer, as well as to my hobbies. That's how I stay in contact with most people.
So, why do I build my own website, now(adays)?
There are a lot of reasons. Grab a coffe, read on or just have a look at all the links around.
Lets begin it that way – there is a reason for my social handle "faulancr". The meaning of "Faulenzer", for all non german speaking readers, is "lazy guy". It also comes with a slightly negative attitude. But I dont think that being lazy is a bad thing at all. Also, I dont think that I'm lazy by all means. It's just, that if I don't have to, I don't do. Give me a task, I'll be motivated. But speaking of my website, there never has been a deadline for it. It's not that I haven't tried or never built one. I literally just never launched one. There have been so many sparks that might have lightened me, the beyondTellerrand just to name one. This conference, the people around it, have been a pool of inspiration year by year. And with every year I started over and over again to build my site, often already in the train on my way back home. But I always failed. Which takes me to the next question.
Why does it look like if it is not ready?
The reason that this site looks "broken" or empty can be found on my todo list. Its missing design, css, and a lot of other stuff. Some of which was also the reason, the site never got online. There has always been a feature that wasn't perfect, articles were missing, rss/webmentions not implemented. And I always thought, lets implement just that little feature and then I can launch. But the truth is, the moment I came back to the page, implemented the small feature or sometimes failed to do so, stopped me on working at my site. Speaking of design, this story gets even worse. So if you want to know, what needs to be done, have a look at the todos. I will also have a look from time to time, grab a ticket and work on it. Or i'll add a new one; you are also welcome to send me a message if you think I need to add a feature, or could do better on one particular part or another.
So now you know
If you made it down here, thank you for your interest. I still need to explain, why I "need" a personal webspace. The reason is, I don't know exactly, but I feel like it is time for me to have fun again building my own personal website. And if that is not enough, here are some links that inspired me to do so.
- Matthias well written article "into the personal-website-verse" from 4!!! years ago and his friendly reminder "Simple truths about personal website"
- Sophie Koonins awesome talk at the btconf 2023 "This Website Is under Construction, a Love Letter to the Personal Website"
to be continued ...
tl;dr
This website is ready. And its not. I hope it will be the beginning of my never finished but done for now personal website. Like it, hate it, discuss it. Let me know what you think.
Dirk