Your Front Page
About Me
I always find it’s really hard to write an “about me” section. Suddenly having to talk about yourself is a nightmare, but in the end this is your personal site. People want to know something about the person running it.
So, here’s your bullet points to get started. Remember, if you want to be vague, use an alias, etc. for your own safety, you can do that.
- Name/Alias
- Age or age range
- Pronouns/Gender
- Anything you want to share about your identity (Many people like showing off pride flags)
- Known languages
- Current interests
- Dormant interests
- Social media
- Astrology
- Favourite characters/colours
- Fursonas
- Pets
- Dislikes
I know some of you are looking at me about dislikes. I recognise the problems of putting triggers or squicks (and if you want to put those you can) but it can be good to put if there is something you generally dislike. You basically get a sign that says “stop telling me to watch this, I don’t like it”, “stop trying to talk to me about this ship, I don’t like it”. Will people definitely read it? No. But at least there’s a chance someone will and people might remember the section is there if they’re like “oh, did this person not like this thing I was about to show them? I’ll go check.”
And, hey, this is your reminder to check your friends’ websites for anything like that.
Use as much or as little as you like, only share what you want to share. If that’s nothing, that’s fine. No one is entitled to information about you that you don’t want to share.
If you do list current interests, you may want to make sure you set a reminder for yourself to keep that updated. How often that will be will depend on you personally and how often you get into new things. You might have a new interest every week, you might have a new one every five years, you might lose interest every two days, you might never lose interest in anything. You can decide how on top of that you can handle being.
Changelog and RSS
It’s worth keeping a changelog on your site for anyone who might be following your journey. Making sure people can see what’s been changed recently, what progress you’ve made, and what new stuff you have on offer. If you suddenly move something, people can check the changelog to see where you moved it to. If you’ve had to temporarily take a page down while you edit it, you can let them know that it will be coming back and it’s only a temporary measure. It’s also a nice way to promote anything new you’ve uploaded. Just being like “hey! Go look at this page I spent 50 hours making!”
It’s also good for you to be able to go back and check these things. You might forget what you’ve done or think you’ve done something when you haven’t. It’s documentation so that you know what you were up to last time you where updating the site.
RSS? Who uses those anymore? Well, maybe you should! Maybe its time we all do. Not having to check on things constantly, just getting a little notification to say something has changed on a website you want to follow. Whether it’s your changelog or a blog post, an RSS is a great way to keep people posted on when things have been updated on your site.
Also, it’s worth following the RSS feeds on any websites you follow. That includes things like Ao3! I have an RSS reader hooked up to tell me when there’s a new fic for a ship or fandom I like so that I don’t have to worry about missing them just because I’m not actively checking the Ao3 page. I may be biased by the fact I’m in a lot of fandoms with slow Ao3 feeds, but I’m sure that, if you narrow it down enough, it can help you keep track of whatever thing you’re looking for.
My primary RSS reader is Mozilla Thunderbird, but you can download extensions and add-ons to your web browser or rainmeter that will do the same job. It’s also worth having one to check your RSS is uploading correctly.
Guestbook
The guestbook is one of those silly little staples of old personal sites; a quick way for people to pop in and let you know they read your website. Your friends can leave silly little comments or strangers can come by and say what they enjoyed reading on your site. Someone from some obscure fandom you’re in can reach out to you and you can finally know others in your niche.
There are a number of sites that offer guestbooks, both on their site and on yours. There are some that are a paid service, some are free.
For a guestbook hosted elsewhere, I know many people use Smart Guestbook.
For a guestbook hosted on your own website, one I see frequently is HTML Comment Box, which is free and can be customised with HTML and CSS.
You can also add a live chat if you prefer. The recommendation I have seen for this is Cbox, which offers a free tier.
Feel free to do your own research, shop around, and see what people in your circle recommend.