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
💸 Support the Channel: ericmurphy.xyz/donate
🎥 Watch my videos on Odysee: odysee.com/@ericnmurphy
💻 My GitHub: github.com/ericmurphyxyz

[@syfenx]

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

[@Shockwaveo]

my favorite website is about:blank

[@vikingthedude]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@JodyBruchon]

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

[@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!

[@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 🇰🇷

[@guilherme3333]

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.

[@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 :)

[@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 .

[@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!

[@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!

[@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

[@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.

[@alessandrospiridigliozzi7943]

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

[@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 :)

[@monadic_monastic69]

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

[@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 🙏

[@techvishnuyt]

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

[@dequan300]

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

[@bruhsoulz3347]

this is actually a good point, i want to, one day, be able to have my own. maybe ill learn more when i get my summer break, ive had basic experiences with html maybe it wont be that hard

[@user-xf9kr6se7o]

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!

[@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)

[@richard343s]

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

[@AntonioNoack]

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

[@premiumbot3991]

God damn. I genuinely feel inspired.

[@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!

[@aidannotfunny]

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 :)

[@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.

[@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).

[@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"

[@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))

[@LeandroSilva-yo1qh]

We need a search engine to find good websites.

[@AntonioNoack]

Write it 😄.

[@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!

[@CoasterMan13Official]

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

[@PLANET-EATER]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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!

[@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?

[@wintrywind]

I feel attacked lol, thanks for the video!

[@vatinp]

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

[@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.

[@kbaeve]

Am I watching the revival of homepages?

[@vanilla4064]

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

[@moussaadem7933]

Firefox still sports "user chrome" themes

[@comrade_rahul_1]

Can I know which linux distro is that? ❤

[@SiyaMedia]

Your website is cool,

[@jameswalker199]

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.

[@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)

[@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)

[@RandomGeometryDashStuff]

01:49 does instagram recompress images?

[@EricMurphyxyz]

Every big website does, yes.

[@fikrirahmatnurhidayat4988]

What browser do you use?

[@EricMurphyxyz]

Hardened Firefox, I have several videos about it

[@paintitblack4199]

That's a nice site. Simple and clean.

[@EricMurphyxyz]

Thanks!

[@khurtwilliams]

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

[@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

[@babthooka]

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

[@romieabel2629]

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

[@slumberdemon]

Nice rice!

[@NickDrinksWater]

My favorite website is water

[@LokeshWankhede]

This is nothing but a glorified business card 🤣 - Eric Murphy 2023.

[@jayp2570]

Love this topic. It’s perfect

[@erics7004]

my name is also Eric

[@boxpaper4354]

You are so handsome