Why does every personal website look like this now?

What's with the boring, soulless websites everyone has now? I remember a time when you used to find all kinds of interesting things on people's websites. These days, they're just glorified Linktrees with links to their Twitter and GitHub. Is there any way to bring back the glory days of the personal website?
🌐 My website: ericmurphy.xyz
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[@syfenx]

When you said the blog wasn't updated in 3 years I felt attacked lol

[@SteadyEddyyy]

I found this video while looking for other people who feel this way. Ive recently gone down the rabbit hole of old websites, link lists, and Neocities websites. It sucks that most of us spend our entire time on the "web" just using the same 3 or 4 apps. Today, I began working on a personal website. I have a professional one for my graphic design portfolio, but I want a sandbox to express myself. After all, learning to code on MySpace is what pushed me towards a career in design. Thanks for talking about this!

[@cherry6288]

Can i know more about u May be ur website

[@Shockwaveo]

my favorite website is about:blank

[@theawesometeg219]

So minimal, so aesthetic

[@Katsura-San124]

There are legitimate uses for social media, but having a website can be a really good compliment to your internet presence.

[@Te3time]

Social media are great places to look at ads

[@sprinklednights]

I wish I could invest more time into creating blogposts on my website, but I currently struggle with school and life, so my website looks quite bland. By the way, your quality of videos has really increased in my opinion. Kudos to you and keep going!

[@EricMurphyxyz]

Thanks!

[@joelchrono]

Hey, keep it up, most of my blogs are barely 300 words and don't necesarily talk about super complex stuff, its pretty relaxing to get home and just type some stuff like some sort of public journal

[@jirehla-ab1671]

​​@@EricMurphyxyz think its best that you use this website for showcasing yur portfolio - containing your best works. That's what the creative industry do a lot.

[@kevinmarques9334]

Impressive, very nice. Let's see Paul Allen's website.

[@vikingthedude]

“Hi 👋 “ I’m ashamed to admit mine has looked like that before

[@helloimatapir]

Why do so many professional web developers have the most amateur looking websites? Back in my day, we didn't have Flexbox, yet my GeoCities site looked way better!

[@EricMurphyxyz]

Minimalism has gone too far

[@AndreyBondarenko1979]

I remember you talked about your page years ago. I used to study your page and thought of what to use to build my own page (Gatsby or NextJS) or whatever that time you talked about, checked the links, kept ideas in my head. I can say your page was a sort of example.

[@dranon0o]

That us just how the internet should have been and was No need for over complicated visuals, just exchange information... QUICKLY I don't want to download 1-5Mb of content for each page

[@rato_gordo]

Since i switched to GNU/Linux OS's i've grow a curiosity for using tech more freely and with domain of it. I'm in the process of setting up a web server and building a web site. Your videos on that matter are really insightfull.

[@awesomemantroll1088]

It's been a year. Can I see your website now?

[@pranitmane]

i can talk about anything, any topic for hours, but talking about myself just sucks, i get frozen, cant talk more than "hi i am pranit and i am a xyz"

[@JodyBruchon]

Everyone should use their personal websites instead of social media. Starve the beasts of content and they die.

[@awesomemantroll1088]

This video has convinced me to sign up for mailing lists from tiny specks of websites, or to bookmark them and visit them more than the big-names.

[@Sylvester-d7z]

just finished making a website using hugo and hosted it on a vps. i am a nurse, not a tech professional and it was soooo satisfying to create my own site!

[@sspaeti]

Thanks for sharing, Eric. This is so true and why I've been updating my website since 2007 (many iterations I have gone through). It's so rewarding. Now I'm having my blog and adding my personal notes from Obsidian as a Second Brain on my website too. They are connected and have interactive graphs with backlinks. This is not only helpful and looking nice, but it also helps with learning, as we can associate a new term so something we know. To me, that's the future of blogging or websites. I wrote about it on my website and second brain as well :)

[@thatguynar]

Meanwhile I’m sitting here with no personal website. I’ve always had these crazy ideas for my personal website only to never really bother with it. Ended up making several dumb browser games instead lol

[@AntonioNoack]

Just try it 😄, it's not that hard, and you surely can do it 😊. Also don't worry about not having enough content. Over time you can link/include everything that fascinates you. (and I myself have an overfilled link website xD, have to restructure it at some point (have been saying this for three years now XD))

[@beanpasteposts]

When I was first taught web development that your personal website IS your business card, and it should be designed to be marketable to potential employers. It had to be bland, professional looking and sterile, and like it was made using bootstrap or tailwind with react. I’m so glad I found neocities and the amazing websites people are making on there! I now approach my personal website like it’s my online home, not a glorified resume. It’s where I crash, post about stuff I like, and even include a fanpage or two! Websites are supposed to be fun! I think alot of people have sadly forgotten that.

[@sethproaps8899]

My approach is my website is my online home like you said, but I have a few pages that aren't listed on the main one that I use as demos or a business card just so I don't have to run two servers.

[@DrunkenUFOPilot]

If you have to make your personal site bland to impress employers, it's better to not be employed! Of course, not totally serious, since everyone needs income. But have personality and quirky interests and deeper philosophical ponderings or unique insights into some human endeavor - that makes you interesting and life more fun and rewarding! Then put up ads to monetize it, I guess....

[@PLANET-EATER]

It's because everyone is passing around the same source code repo

[@CoasterMan13Official]

My website is just the most bare bones shit you'll ever see.

[@octopusfly]

Thanks for sharing. This resonates. One main problem you are exposing, for me at least, is a real one: Consume in the crowd or create in the void. I got some soul-searching to do. ~An American in Korea 🇰🇷

[@occultsupport]

that wallpaper 😳 I think I'm in love

[@EricMurphyxyz]

If you want it, here you go: github.com/ericmurphyxyz/wallpapers/blob/master/abstract.png

[@occultsupport]

@@EricMurphyxyz thank you 🙏

[@xrradia]

stumbled upon this video because i’m about to make my personal website. i know you’re right about the essence of the internet shifting over time but as a participant i’m kind of lost on the exact change. was born in 2002. but hopeful to push out more authentic content!

[@randomsearches369]

I have actually been reading your blogs, and I have been following you for a while. I find them insightful, and I'm looking forward to your future blogs.

[@EricMurphyxyz]

Thanks for the support!

[@FicoosBangaly]

Luke Smith said at some point that we should also bring back webrings. This will ensure we don't depend on Google for discoverability .

[@KazmirRunik]

One cool feature of videos like this is that you can click people's KZbin profiles and sometimes see links to their websites in the bio. It's one of the ways you can start a classic Web surf.

[@monadic_monastic69]

Another great example I want to highlight is Maggie Appleton's personal website!

[@MintyFreshYouTube]

I love personal sites. I’ve had one for like 2 years now, and I upload all my games, news, comics, art, and anything else on there too. It’s the greatest way to express yourself and differentiate yourself :)

[@Ryuzaki-Yagami]

It's refreshing to see younger people unplugging from the social media hoax, and rediscovering the freedom of the Jurassic period of the internet. Great essay! You're using to its full potential this rarified commodity called common sense.

[@dequan300]

Wow this flashed me back when the web was new . I think I will bust out my own website .

[@socialkruption]

Funny you mention this, I'm doing the same thing with my site right now. I'd add Chris Coyier (owned css-tricks at one point) to the list of personal websites that has content like the OG days.

[@EricMurphyxyz]

That's another good one!

[@ruinmasters]

I watched a few videos on this topic - yours is the first that's inspired me to think about the "why" behind personal websites, rather than making a glorified resume

[@neetdemon]

Really crazy that I ran into this video by the time I was thinking of re-doing my portfolio website. I want to make it more into a personal website rather than something just to sell out to the corpos.

[@AnalyticMinded]

Thanks for the video. It's a good reminder to revive my own personal website, which has been languishing for many, many months now. My problem is that I don't have that much to say, and when I do, I let perfect be the enemy of good.

[@EricMurphyxyz]

I definitely have an issue with perfectionism too, but I'm trying to get over it and just hit the publish button!

[@Blake_C137]

Hey Eric, I really enjoyed your “Ultimate Browser Tier List” and “Ultimate Search Engine Tier List” videos. I’d love to see you do a similar “Ultimate Email Provider Tier List” video with the same kind of information behind it: functionality, privacy, ads, etc.

[@EricMurphyxyz]

Coming soon :)

[@weirdo3116]

i miss the personal websites that also either hosted or linked to projects the person did. especially when the project is something related to a game. i actually want to make my own site and have it host or link to some projects i'm thinking of making. currently I have a pokedex one that I started almost 2 years ago that I still have to finish (lmao). but I want to do more stuff like one where I can show off warhammer models I've painted or one that shows crafting trees for terraria items. all of this will be written in react + nextjs btw (L M A O)

[@LeandroSilva-yo1qh]

We need a search engine to find good websites.

[@AntonioNoack]

Write it 😄.

[@sethproaps8899]

Marginalia

[@ArkboiX]

no, the question is, why does my website look like it was not made for attention but made for just being useful?

[@randomtinypotatocried]

I took mine down and never got around to revamping it. Maybe I should do so

[@richard343s]

99% of people don't need a personal website at all.

[@AntonioNoack]

and at least 95% don't have one (I'd guess)

[@algogeminus]

Everyone shares their opinions on the internet now. We need to decentralize it!

[@MatrixMaverick1980]

People’s presence are now scattered all over social medias.

[@fastertrackcreative]

Triple I find is I don't know the code that well, so there's a gap between what I want to make and what I know how to make. It needing to work cross-platform is an additional headache.

[@Remiwi-bp6nw]

my website is just a business card / portfolio combo, as is common in dev spaces, but I've been inspired lately by the personal web and I'd like to change it to something more... authentic

[@wintrywind]

I feel attacked lol, thanks for the video!

[@gregoriusmike]

People creating and working on their own websites is important for the freedom of the internet. It's also important for small and medium sized businesses to decrease reliance on big tech and tech in general.

[@DrunkenUFOPilot]

Count me in for this fight! I made a personal site way back in 1995, but found hand-writing HTML and FTP'ing up the new files for each time I posted an article was just too tedious. Tools came along to make that easier, but my career took me in other directions. Now I'm using Svelte and a cheap web hosting service to revive my personal site! I especially like that I can make whatever graphics I like, organize stuff how I like, not being confined to some big web builder's ideas of how a site should be made. This is going to be fun!

[@madthumbs1564]

I haven't noticed a problem. I have noticed though that there are some Linux users that don't understand what 'minimum specs' means. If Reddit is so bad technically; how has it been thriving with all the toxicity and down voting (mob mentality / echo chambers) to boot?

[@TheUnderMasked]

Mostly because we are mostly unremarkable people living unremarkable lives (in the grand scheme of things)

[@patricknelson]

Funny… I thought of Jared when you mentioned that (i.e. personal sites loaded with content). Ironic that you show that archetypical site; if you check mine you’ll see the same thing. In my defense, my domain has been around _forever_ and I used to host my portfolio there back when I was getting started (and my email is still there). So, at least if you see my email and go to the domain, you can learn a tiny bit about me by going to my other sites and etc. I still need to update it though (it’s outdated, as you also mentioned, lol, without even mentioning me specifically).

[@datascientist7395]

Eric, your approach to this subject is excellent. I'm going to follow the same path; I was already thinking about it, and your video was like a push in that direction. Gratitude.

[@kbaeve]

Am I watching the revival of homepages?

[@nomadicwolf6132]

As someone looking to build a personal website that is a meaningful & constant record of personal growth & professional, this was excellent and full of great examples & points. Just wish you would have linked to those websites in the description for quick reference. Thanks for the good info!

[@jst601]

One *should* have their own website, especially these days. Posting to FB or I-gram, etc., greatly increases the potential for content & identity theft.

[@alessandrospiridigliozzi7943]

what desktop theme do you use?I've never seen a topbar like the one you have! looks cool!

[@techvishnuyt]

Ahh i was waiting for you to make a video about this ngl

[@909crime]

One easy way to keep your website updated is to write a script that scrapes your social media and reposts it all on your website. (Doesnt have to be your offical website, but it could be a nice way to archive your posts)

[@hellowill]

You said it... it's just the modern business card. There';s not much reason to host other things when other sites do it for you now.

[@KingPr0o7]

Hello Eric! I’ve also noticed about end of last year. I took a shot of making my own website, and made it for something I wanted to show. You’ve inspired me to start working on it again!

[@dafoex]

Setting up a personal website is something I've been meaning to do for a while. I don't have a lot of stuff to say, but it would be a nice way to show off projects and things, as a bit of a portfolio.

[@premiumbot3991]

God damn. I genuinely feel inspired.

[@RandomGeometryDashStuff]

01:49 does instagram recompress images?

[@EricMurphyxyz]

Every big website does, yes.

[@vanilla4064]

I'm curious, how did you get your browser to look like that?

[@moussaadem7933]

Firefox still sports "user chrome" themes

[@Skyman12808]

Hello Mr Eric Which Linux Distributions Do you Recommend for Gaming

[@EricMurphyxyz]

Any distro works fine in my experience, you don't need a special "gaming distro"

[@Skyman12808]

@@EricMurphyxyz Thanks but is it ok if make a video about Recommended Linux Distributions for New users

[@fikrirahmatnurhidayat4988]

What browser do you use?

[@EricMurphyxyz]

Hardened Firefox, I have several videos about it

[@jayp2570]

Love this topic. It’s perfect

[@cyAbhishek]

Your website isn't updated since 5 months aka 2 months after you made it. I wanted to start one myself. Now I am discouraged.

[@romieabel2629]

I really want to develop my own Google Sites personal website someday ❤❤❤❤❤

[@khurtwilliams]

You’re hanging out on the wrong web. My website has NEVER looked like this. My website is over 20 years old.

[@user-lj4lo7cx7m]

What's ur website url?

[@NickDrinksWater]

My favorite website is water

[@comrade_rahul_1]

Can I know which linux distro is that? ❤

[@yehorbilovus2620]

Hello Eric. I recently installed Firefox on my laptop and I want to make it look like yours browser from this video. What is the way to do it?

[@jacobf_139]

This is an old question, so you may have already found a solution, but just in case: it is done through custom firefox CSS, which he has a few videos about how to do, and he has his own CSS theme available on his github.

[@yehorbilovus2620]

@@jacobf_139 yeah I saw his videos about it after that but thank you anyways!

[@smarttseluvka]

i want to teach myself html and css by building a website similar to this. can anyone recommend a good tutorial?

[@SiyaMedia]

Your website is cool,

[@slumberdemon]

Nice rice!

[@AloanMoreira1]

Neocities is great to make your own website

[@babthooka]

Great! Now I also have to do a website :s

[@amosnimos]

how about me site?

[@erics7004]

my name is also Eric

[@boxpaper4354]

You are so handsome