Don’t use an SSG

When someone expresses interest in starting their own website, someone will inevitably recommend static site generators as a way to get their foot in the door. While I appreciate the pragmatism of this approach, I do not believe it is good in the long run; not for the site administrator, or the internet at large.

Personal websites, I believe, should be a complete creative expression of its creator. From the content, to the layout, colors, and fonts. It should all be as authentic as possible.

Imagine you set out to build a table. There are a multitude of decisions you have to make during the process of creating that table. What wood are you going to use? How long? What shape? How many legs? How tall? What kind of varnish? You could decide all these things before you even have anything to put on it.

Alternatively, you could purchase an IKEA table. Highly practical, easy to assemble, and inoffensive in design. Many quite difficult decisions have already been made for you. They will let you choose the colour, if you are lucky.

It is true that both these tables hold objects, but which table is more impressive? Which table conveys the vibe of it’s owner more fully?

If I could summarize the modern ills of the internet, I would say that we have put too much emphasis on convenience at the cost of everything else; Freedom, creativity, privacy, and independence all subordinated to the value of minimizing any potential friction.

By starting your own website at all, you are by default fixing at least two of these problems, but why not go all the way?

Owning an IKEA table is still better than putting shit on Facebook’s table, though.