127+ Possibilities... Things You Can With Your Personal Site

Published: 1 Jul 2024 | Updated: 7 Aug 2024

The etchings we attempt to carve for ourselves in the great stone of the internet are mere lines of code, pixels on a screen, immaterial ones and zeros. Ephemeral snowflakes forever disappearing from our grasp.

Yet, in a way, they're parts of our souls.

No doubt you're an internet citizen (is there anyone left in this world who isn't?), but have you ever considered making your markings more permanent? With, say, a place to call yours?

Creating oneself a website is a worthy endeavor, and yet. It's an empty canvas like the vastness of space, so full of possibilities it's terrifying.

So I quell the overwhelm the only way I know how. With a list.

First, if you'll indulge me: some background.

I'm Zachary Kai, and though we're separated by time and space, allow me to wave hello. It's a pleasure to meet you, dear reader.

I'm more inclined to poetry and philosophy than programming, but the beauty of our shared humanity is our common knowledge. The only reason I learned to create my site is through the generosity of countless others, and I hope to continue that noble quest.

It took me seven years to muster the courage to finally dare to take up space on the internet. I hope you won't have to wait so long.

So, what of the ideas I mentioned?

They're a constellation of potentiality waiting to explode into life: features to add, pages to create, posts to write.

Dare I say this isn't just a list. It's an invitation to paint your corner of the web with your very essence. To build walls that showcase your strength, and to let them crack just enough to let your human show.

So. Take a deep breath, dear reader. Your journey to carving out your space in the digital infinity starts here.

(Some items have a linked '*' which take you to examples on my site, attempts at bringing some of these ideas to life.)

Table Of Contents

Features To Add

Community

88×31 buttons: small nostalgic graphics linking to favorite sites or affiliations.
Directories: join a link listing of other sites with common themes or features.
Fanlistings: join a directory of other fans of topics you enjoy.
Guestbook: space for visitors to leave comments.
Links to yourself elsewhere: your other online presences.*
Reply by email: let visitors share their thoughts (link on posts and in the RSS Feed.)
Share link: an easy way for visitors to pass on your written works.*
Webrings: a group of related sites to explore.*

Design Elements

ASCII art: create artworks with nothing but text characters.
Background image: decorate the empty space around your writings.
Cartoon you: yourself, but cartoonifed for illustrative purposes.
Coat of arms: create heraldry for your site.
Color palette listing: showcase your site's color scheme.*
CSS animations: subtle motion effects for whimsy's sake.
Custom bullets: change how your unordered lists look.
Custom cursor: a unique mouse pointer design.
Dark mode: alternative color scheme for low-light viewing.
Drop caps: decorative large letter at the start of a written work or section.
Fleuron: decorative typographic ornament.*
Handwritten signoff: harken back to letterwriting.
Mascot: character representing your site.
Moodboard: organize your thoughts visually.
Photo gallery: showcase your images.

Enhancements

Art portfolio: showcase your creative works.
Assumed audiences: who a specific written work is for.
Bibliographies on posts: sources and references for your writing.*
Color themes: options for visitors to customize your site's appearance.
Easter eggs: hidden surprises for curious visitors.
Epistemic disclosure: the research and the thoughts that went into your writing.
Estimated reading time: time indicator for written works.*
Footnotes or sidenotes: additional context for your writing.
Image map: clickable regions within a single image.
List of influences: what inspires you.
Omake: bonus or extra site features.
On this day: memories for the current date.
Resume/CV: your professional background and skills.
Shrine: dedicated space honoring an interest.
Sparkline: tiny graph showing data trends.
Tag cloud: a visual representation of common topics you write about.
Tutorials: step-by-step guides on topics you know well.
Weeknotes: a series of posts reflecting on your week.

Site Structure

Breadcrumbs: navigation showing the visitor's location in your site.
Digital garden: collect your evolving thoughts and notes.
Header/footer navigation: site-wide menu options.*
Header image: eye-catching graphic at the top of your site.
Homepage link: easy way back to your main page.*
Next/previous post links: easy navigation between written pieces.
Personal wiki: interconnected knowledge base.
Published date: when a written work first became public.
Random button: surprise links on your site.
Table of contents: outline of the page structure.*
Updated date: when a piece was last modified.

Technicalities

CardDAV: A file for sharing contact information.
Changelog RSS feed: updates on site changes you make.
Code snippets: useful programming examples you've created.
Command bar: everything on your site accessible through one search bar.
Compressed archives: a .zip download of your site for offline viewing.
CSS stylesheet: define your site's look.*
Custom 404 page: an error page for broken links.*
Favicon: tiny icon representing your site in browser tabs.*
Edit button: visitors can make suggestions for improvements.
H-card: microformat for sharing contact information.
Hovercards: pop-up information boxes activated by mouse-over.
HTML comments: hidden notes in your page source.
Humans.txt file: credits the people who built the site.
Marquees: scrolling text for announcements.
Microformats: standardized data markup.
Open sourced code: share your site's codebase publicly.
OPML files: a download of your favorite RSS feeds.
Print stylesheet: customize the layout for printed pages.
Relative font sizes: text that scales with the visitor's device.
Rel=me links: verified connections to your other profiles.*
Robots.txt file: instructions for search engines.*
RSS (Atom/JSON/XML) feed: let visitors keep up-to-date (have one or one per type.)*
Secret RSS-only works: visitors shall have to subscribe to see them.
Schema: structured data for search engines.
Search: find something specific on your site.
Semantic HTML: meaningful, accessible page structure.
Style guide: The stylings you use on your site.
Text adventures: Create a game just using text and code.
Webgardens: A little piece of your site others can add to theirs.
XML sitemap: a file for search engines to understand your site structure.*

Usability

Accessibility statement: an outline of efforts to make your site usable for all.*
Audio versions: recordings of your written works.
Back to top link: a quick way to return to the page's beginning.*
Language selector: options to view pages in different languages.
Privacy statement: how you handle a visitor's data.*
Skip link: accessibility feature for getting to the start of your writing.*

Pages To Add

About: more information on you and your site.*
Antilibrary: books you want to read, but haven't yet.
Archive: a list of all archived items on your site by date.
Blog: a list of all your blog posts.
Blogroll: internet publications you enjoy.*
Bookmarks: links you want to share or return to.
Changelog: changes you make to your site.*
Colophon: how and with what you run your site.*
Contact: ways for visitors to get in touch.
Defaults: the apps you use for specific purposes.*
Downloads: any items you offer for download.
Feeds: your RSS feeds.
Hello: how you like to interact socially.*
Ideas: things you're mulling over.
Intentions: why you run your site.
Interests: what fascinates you.*
Links: where to find you elsewhere on the web.
Now: what you're currently doing.*
Playlists: themed music mixes.
Podroll: podcasts you enjoy listening to.
Projects: things you've made.
Quotes: sayings you want to share and remember.
Resources: things visitors might find useful.
RSVPs: events you've attended.
Save: referral links to services and products you use.*
Statistics: site and personal stats (posting frequency, word count...)
Sitemap: everything on your site.*
Trades: for swapping with others (digitally or by mail!)*
Today I Learned: record the knowledge as you gain it.
Uses: the tools you use in life.*
Wants: what you'd like to do or have.

Post Ideas

Annotations from your reading.
Annual reviews.
A letter to your younger self.
Behind-the-scenes.
Book notes or reviews (or movies, music, tv...)
Bucket list.
Comics.
Days in the life.
Dreams.
Essays.
Favorite media.
Gratitude journal.
Habit or mood tracker.
Interviews.
Life advice.
Link roundups.
Notes (from events, lectures, presentations... anything really.)
Pets.
Photos of your illustrated notes.
Poetry.
Post series.
Short (or long) fiction.
Sketches.
Skill inventory.
Themed directories.
Tracking articles/books read, movies/tv watched, and podcasts listened.
Travelouges.
Treasured memories.
Values.
Video game achievements.
Your beliefs and values.
'What if' thought experiments.
Words of the day.
Your collections: (items of interest, plants...)
Your recipes or ones you tried.
Your site's history.
Your zines.

Bibliography

•--♡--•

Statistics → Word Count: 1,536 | Reading Time: 5:35 mins