why brainstorming
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Why Brainstorming is a page where we can brainstorm ideas for what content we should include on our /why page, a page of significant importance to those who may be interested in starting a site or joining the IndieWeb.
Why should you have your own website?
People start websites for many different reasons. We have curated some of the reasons why our community members have started their own websites below.
You can control the design of your site
If you own a website, you are not beholden to any social media platform that decides how your content shows up. Want to build a photo portfolio using your own design? Or a blog that shows words in a style that you like and can change at any time? You can do that with your own personal website.
Check out this example of an IndieWeb community member who shows their photo collection on their website:
TK...
You decide what content is displayed and where
Social media platforms give you limited control over how your content is displayed. When the platform changes, so too does the way your content shows up.
With your own website, you can choose where your most important content should appear and make it easy to access. Your most important content could be a precious photo, your portfolio, a work project that you want to show to prospective clients, a recipe, or something else entirely.
Why you should join the IndieWeb Community
If any of the reasons for starting a website resonated with you, or you have another reason why you want to start a website, you are welcome to join the IndieWeb community! We all love talking about personal websites, from their design to how to show content. No technical experience is required.
By joining the IndieWeb community, you can:
- Get advice on how to start a website from plenty of people who have been in your shoes.
- Get help evaluating all the options for starting a website that you could choose.
- Have a sounding board that you can access whenever you have ideas for your site.
If you know how to code, you may also enjoy participating in some of our more technical discussions. We often discuss topics like:
- The structure of websites.
- How to take control over your data.
- How to implement our community protocols (examples include Webmention and Micropub).
Here are some reasons why people have joined our community:
- TK...
- Let's fill this with a few testimonials.
- Add yourself here… (see this for more details)
Writings from our community
Some IndieWeb community members have written about why they have started a website. If you are curious to read more about why some of our members have started websites, check out these articles:
- TK...
META: Why is this page important?
Our existing /why page may not be approachable to people who do not know how to code or who are more interested in having a website over all of the technical details behind websites. We should consider revamping our /why page so that anyone who comes to our site feels welcomed.
Some notes from capjamesg in response to feedback from a friend on our existing /why page:
- "There's the "why join indieweb" point, and "why make your own website" point. For the latter, I think the above comment is mostly my position: it could be more succinctly made. I also think it would be a good idea to consider "what are the most important reasons to make a website for most people and list those first," in an effort to market to as large an audience as possible."
- "For example, instead of saying "Better UI/UX. E.g. better navigation and embedding than Twitter, a simple citation UI." I might say something like, "while many people are comfortable and happy with the design of today's social networks, having a personal site allows you to experiment with your own imagination and show off your personality online in a way such sites don't allow."
- I wonder if we should have a clean /why page and a /why-brainstorm page where we brainstorm ideas.
- At the moment our /why page is a bit long, repetitive, and has quite a bias towards "why have a site" versus "why join the IndieWeb"