I’ve been a huge advocate for independent blogging for a while now, both for personal and professional reasons. In fact, I’ve written countless replies to early-career folks about documenting their learning journey via a blog. Since I first founded shellsharks (circa 2019), I’ve devoted a fair bit of time not only to writing “content” but also into a lot of little features that, to me, collectively gave the site depth as well as that sense of “having everything a site should have”. Some of these features include, an RSS feed, robots.txt, humans.txt, security.txt, about page, tags, search, change log, license & disclaimer and more. I’ve poured my creativity, whimsy and mind into the aesthetic, writing and functionality of the site and as a result it has served as an ever-present source of identity and pride for me on the web.

Recently, I was introduced to the concept of the “IndieWeb” (or small web), a “people-focused alternative to the corporate web”. Intriguing right? My curiosity piqued, I soon discovered IndieWeb.org, an organization dedicated to the proliferation of IndieWeb resources, guides, community and more. They describe the IndieWeb as…

…a community of independent & personal websites connected by simple standards, based on the principles of: owning your domain & using it as your primary identity, publishing on your own site (optionally syndicating elsewhere), and owning your data. 1

Sound familiar? Sounds kinda like what I’ve been doing with my site for a while now! But what makes the IndieWeb special? Why should you or I care? Is there anything else to it? Read on to learn more!

IndieWeb

The IndieWeb (or “small web”) is a collection of people-focused websites which share a core set of principles. The IndieWeb is not simply a missionless multitude however, the IndieWeb movement is all about reclaiming the web by de-centralizing what has become all too centralized, encouraging ownership (of your site and your content), and bringing a truer sense of fun and individuality back to the Internet. So why is the IndieWeb important? I’d suggest reading the following pieces by Dan Gillmor, Jamie Tanna & Ariadne Conill, as they do a far more eloquent job than I probably would in explaining this. 1, 2

I’ve previously made known my reasons for blogging, but now with a better understanding of the IndieWeb, and what’s at stake if we don’t embrace it, I now recognize that my infinitesimally small slice of the Internet guarantees me an incorruptible continuum for my content and my identity on the web. (Check out my IndieWeb.txt file!)

Awesome! Now that we have a rough understanding of the IndieWeb ethos, let’s cover what is in my mind the principle mechanics of the IndieWeb.

Principle Mechanics

This section does not provide exhaustive coverage of how to implement IndieWeb functionality. Instead, I simply summarize five core primitives which I feel comprise an IndieWeb site. For a more official gauge on where a site scores within the IndieWeb spectrum, consider leveraging IndieMark!

  • Hosting: You need a place to host your site and store your content. There are a lot of great options out there. Ideally, choose one that allows you the ability to make some under-the-hood changes and does not limit your content portability.

  • Syndication: Share your content with the world! There are two preferred methods for syndication, PESOS and POSSE. This resource does a great job explaining both! For more examples of how this is done, check this and this out. RSS is a great starting point for helping others subscribe to new content on your site.

  • Writing: Though your site could simply serve as a more static point/identity on the web, with little to no “content” being regularly added, I recommend writing!

  • Interactivity: One of the more advanced concepts within the IndieWeb world, the ability to bake in native comments, replies, likes, etc is a greay way to build community. This interactivity helps mitigate reliance on centralized social networks for communication within Indie communities. One example of IndieWeb interactivity is Webmentions.

  • Identity: Make it unique, make it fun, make it yours. The corporate web is sterile and suffocating. Let’s bring back the whimsy of the old web.

IndieMark

IndieMark is a progressive set of requirements (from IndieWeb.org) which provide quantitative and level-based measurement of the indieweb-ness of a site. As discussed here, I’ve decided to not benchmark my site with IndieMark.

The Delightful Small Web

The Internet is vast, yet collectively we spend most of our time these days (sadly) within boring, behemoth, centralized corporate-web watering holes. Beyond the corporate web lies countless relics of the old web, unique destinations of the IndieWeb and delights of the small web.

Webrings

A webring is a collection of websites that are linked together, each pointing to and from another site in the ring. They serve as a fun way to build community and facilitate discovery of new sites! Some Webrings and -related resources are provided below.

Blogrolls

Some /blogrolls that people have published…

Explore the IndieWeb

The sites below are ways to discover, explore and find the sites of the IndieWeb

/page Directories

Learn more about “slash pages”.

IndieWeb Delights

Other fun discoveries of the IndieWeb are provided below.

Hosting

Being on the IndieWeb means first hosting a site. Here are some good Indie options.

References

Resources