Webmastery Questionnaire!

I saw Aid do this on her website, and I LOOOOVE questionnaires like this, so obviously I'm gonna fill it out. duhhhh

Original can be found on Mouseling's site.

1. Please introduce yourself.

Hi, I'm Molly!

2. How long have you been making websites?

I created this site in 2020, but didn't really dive into making and maintaining it until 2023. so about two years?

3. And what got you into the hobby?

yeesh i dont remember, it's been a while. I think the first time I tried HTML was during a nationwide Hour of Code event in 2016 or 2017. I remember finding Azure's site in 2023 and feeling really motivated to make my own after exploring their site.

4. What kind of website are you most interested in?

Personal websites that really show the passion the webmaster behind it has put into it!

5. What's your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?

i go wherever the wind takes me

6. Please link to your biggest inspirations.

7. What's your favourite part about making websites?

The freedom of being able to make anything I want to with no restrictions, to be as cringe as i want to be

8. And the thing you struggle with the most?

making my pages responsive...? and keeping the code neat, i think.

9. Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?

most of them have the same layout but there's a few that have different looks

10. How confident are you with CSS?

Like.... Moderately

11. Do you know how to correctly use <dl>?

tbh i've never used or encountered it before but it seems simple enough. this feels like a trick question though

12. What is your favourite HTML element?

br my beloved

13. If you're making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?

oh god it depends on what I'm doing. usually I try to get the overall containers in place first

14. Do you know JavaScript?

not yet, but i want to learn!

15. How about PHP?

same as above

16. Does your website have a theme that you stick to?

Yeah, sort of! Blues, purples, and a spacey-nighttime theme.

17. Are you more focused on content or design?

I'd say equally both. It's hard to say

18. Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?

Not currently. I'm not sure! I'm not against it, but I dont know if it would be hard to get used to a changed url after being used to this one for so long. I'd also have to change a good number of links on some of my pages.

19. What do you think of nostalgia-focused or "retro" websites?

love 'em, give me more

20. Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?

I believe so. I don't check regularly but my code editor won't display a live preview if there's a syntax error so i guess i kind of do?

21. What are your opinion on buttons and banners?

love 'em! They're a great way to express yourself, and decorate and/or advertise your website

22. What do you think of button walls in particular?

i own one. i fully support button hoarding

23. If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?

you know, I'm really not sure. I think color and design-wise it would be similar but layout-wise? no clue.

24. Are you envious of other people's websites?

oh yeah. I try not to be, but its hard. everyone has such pretty sites!!!!!!!!!

25. What text editor do you use?

Phoenix Code

26. Why do you use that one?

Because Brackets was my first code editor outside of the Neocities in-browser editor, and PhoenixCode is the successor to Brackets since support stopped.

27. Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?

It's a mix. I'm trying to move most of my images to FileGarden to reduce the amount of files being hosted on my site, but it's a slow process.

28. This might not be relevant to you, but what's your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?

Not sure why there's a debate tbh. I'm not super familiar with the discourse. To me, its just an alternative site host. If it works better for you than Neocities, go for it!

29. How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?

estimate? ~3gigs. actual size? 3.22 GB. Not too far off

30. Do you keep local backups of your files?

Yup. I have a directory I work from on my desktop, and a backup on an external hard drive I just made yesterday.

31. Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?

both! sometimes simple can be a little... boring? (that sounds harsh) but sometimes highly visual can be distracting and overstimulating. It's good to have a balance.

32. Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?

Purples and blues. They're my favorites, it's subconcious.

33. Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?

Not really

34. Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?

I'm friendly with a few mutuals! I've been trying to get my irl friends to make site but no luck :sob:

35. Do people in your real life know about your website?

Yep

36. Do you update your website very often? How often is "very often"?

Eeehhhh?? somewhat?

37. And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?

No. I'm a little tempted to re-make it though. I don't know what I'd do though.

38. Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?

In between me-focused and hobby-focused.

39. Do you do web design professionally?

No, it could be an option though

40. If not, would you like to? And if you're comfortable answering, what do you do for work?

It's a possibility. Right now, I work part-time as a hostess at a restaraunt while I finish up college, but I'm hoping to work in the film/tv industry in some way. I like video editing and camera operation, and also like live video/tv production so I wanna work in any of those areas in the future. I could also see myself doing tech for theater or other events like that.

41. Do you communicate with people by email very much?

Not really.

42. Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?

I still use Instagram a lot, and I've been getting back into Tumblr lately.

43. How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?

I use Discord to communicate with my friends! I'm in a few public servers, but I really only lurk. I don't chat a lot in them.

44. Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?

Sometimes, if what I'm doing doesn't require a lot of thought or hard focus!

45. Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?

Most of my time and energy is spent on this website, but I do have a professional portfolio website too. Right now, it's hosted with Adobe sites but I plan on coding one myself to replace it, when my license inevitable expires with my student ID.

46. On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?

nah there's a lot here

47. Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?

I present a slightly exaggerated version of myself here on my site, but it's mostly accurate to who I am in reality.

48. Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?

Not yet

49. Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?

Yeah!

50. What are practices that you think people should avoid?

hmm. bad folder structure. It's gonna be a pain to go through each of your pages to re-link everything when you inevitably change it.

51. What about under-utilised practices, or things you think people should do more?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

52. Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?

nah i use a shitload of <div>s. I need to get in the habit of using tags as they're intended though. Streamlines things.

53. Do you consider different browsers?

...not really no

54. Speaking of, what's your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.

Firefox. I recently made the switch from Opera GX. Firefix is open source and is NOT chromium-based, which is good enough for me.

55. And what OS are you on?

Windows 11

56. Do you have a strong opinion on that, or do you just happen to use it?

Not particularly. I just don't like macOS that much. No substantial reason, just a petty dislike for Apple as a company and the way they design their computers.

57. Are your websites mobile-friendly?

Ehhhhh... not completely. I have some very primitive media queries in place but I really have been meaning to get into my code and completely optimize it for mobile at some point.

58. What are your thoughts on autoplay?

I don't have any issues with it, as long as it's not being used maliciously, like as a jumpscare, etc.

59. What are your thoughts on webrings? Are you in any?

They're cool! A good way to find like-minded webmasters and websites. A relic from the olden days.

60. Do you have any web shrines? What do you like to see in that sort of page?

I love the idea! I have two unfinished shrines, and I've been meaning to make more. I just never know what to write on them ◞‸◟

61. Are your websites "cliche", in your opinion?

..no?

62. What is your ideal website? Are you striving for that, or for something else?

I don't have an "ideal!" I just think whatever makes me happy is good enough

63. Are you an artist? Do you draw or design your own assets?

yeah! I do a mix of creating my own and using pre-made assets from others

64. What are your favourite resource sites?

find them here!

65. Is there a habit you just can't get away from no matter how hard you try?

cutting corners on things and avoiding doing them in the "proper" and most effecient way.

66. What's your biggest advice for a new webmaster?

Experiment! It's okay to try something and not like it, or to not be good at something right away. A lot of webmaster-ing is trial and error! That's how I code a lot of my stuff, tbh.

67. Do you keep all your styling in CSS? Or do you hard-code some?

I try to keep it all in an external CSS sheet but have a questionable habit of putting CSS in the HTML page itself, and then scrambling to find where it is later on.

68. What do you think of frameset layouts?

I'm not sure what this means? if you mean layouts that use iframes, I'm indifferent. My old layout used to function like this!

69. How about table-based layouts?

Cool! They're easy to adapt to mobile.

70. Do you subscribe to the ideas of "one-column", "two-column" and "three-column" layouts? Do you use any of these?

..yes? Mine's a three column.

71. Do you spend longer on the HTML or the CSS?

HTML, by far. It perplexes me the most.

72. Have you ever made a page with no CSS? It's useful for your thoughts.

No, but that might be something to do in the futre....

73. Do you ever find yourself making layouts with nothing to put on them? Or do you only make layouts when the need arises?

Not particularly.... to either?

74. Would you consider yourself a beginner? Or advanced? Somewhere in the middle?

Somewhere in the middle... I know enough but I'm nowhere near as efficient as I could be

75. Do you have a habit of looking at the source code of websites you visit?

Oh absolutely.

76. How did YOU learn how to make websites?

Trial and error. Templates. Breaking down others' sites to see how they ticked, and implementing similar things into mine.

77. Do you ever force elements to do things they're not supposed to?

Oh yeah. I'm trying to stop though.

78. Thoughts on floating elements?

They float.

79. When you're sizing stuff, what do you use first? Do you use px, em, %, or something else?

first instinct is to use px for everything, % being a close second. I need to learn how to properly use other units.

80. Do you have a favourite font?

Alan Sans and Elmono are pretty cool

81. Would you run a website with another person? How would that work?

Maybe?? I'm no sure how that would work though.

82. Do you surf the Web to find new personal websites very often?

Occasionally

83. Do you bookmark other people's websites? How would you feel knowing someone else bookmarked yours?

I have LOTS bookmarked, and I love to hear that someone liked mine enough to do the same.

84. What do you want people to be most impressed with when they see your website?

i dunno lol

85. Are you interested in technology outside of websites? Do you collect?

A little bit, yeah. I don't collect anything

86. How often and for how long are you online?

A lot....

87. When it comes to your website, who is your target audience?

Anyone!

88. Have you ever been interested in XHTML?

Not sure... what that is? After googling: no that would NOT work for me I am too messy for that

89. Do you program in general? Have you ever written a program for use with or on your website, not counting simple JavaScript?

ugghh no not currently. I've been meaning to learn Java, Python, C#, and other programming languages but I've been procrastinating for years

90. Speaking of programs that help you make websites, what do you think of static site generators (SSGs)? Have you ever used one?

They're not for me. I recently tried to get one to work but no luck. I'd rather manage it myself

91. Do you keep a hitcounter? Why or why not?

Yeah! Just for fun

92. Do you frequent forums? Which ones?

I've never been much for forums, but I recently started partcipating in Treefort, a forum started by Aid and Joro!

93. Do you write your page content directly into the editor, or do you prepare it elsewhere, like a text document or a Word document?

Editor. For my essays and text-heavy posts, I write into a Google Doc and then use Word to HTML for easy formatting

94. Do you think you appear cool to others? A more accurate answer now: do other people ever say you're cool?

I would hope so. I've gotten a few compliments on my site.

95. Are you embarrassed of your old work? Have you ever deleted everything out of shame?

I may be of some of it, but I never delete anything. I used to, back when i was a pre-teen, but I could never bring myself to delete or destroy anything anymore. I just archive it instead.

96. Would you close down your website if you couldn't update it, or would you leave an archive?

Leave it as an archive!!

97. Do you reveal a lot about yourself on your website? Or are you more secretive?

I would say I'm fairly open.

98. Are you willing to reveal who your best online friend is, and/or if they have a website?

I don't think I have one, tbh!

99. And do you optimise the images on your website?

no... i should.

100. We're out of time! How do you feel after answering 100 questions? ....other than exhausted.

wow!! give me more!!!!!! i love this kind of thing.