I haven’t had much energy to write lately, but when I saw Shellsharks had completed this questionaire, I just had to join in.

1. Please introduce yourself.

My name is Apis Necros, or Bee.

2. How long have you been making websites?

I think I made my first website in fourth grade on Freewebs.com. If I recall correctly, I think it was about Sid Meier's Civilization IV, which had recently come out.

3. And what got you into the hobby?

I wanted to talk and write about my favorite video games.

4. What kind of website are you most interested in?

I like seeing peoples' tech demos, and reading their thoughts on a wide array of subjects.

5. What's your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?

Professionally, I do try to settle on a general structure for a site before writing any code. Personally, I do *think* about how I want the site to flow, though I usually just go with whatever idea comes as it arrives.

6. Please link to your biggest inspirations.

For prose: Ed Zitron
For personality in writing: Shellsharks
For genuine-ness: Jame's Coffee Blog

7. What's your favourite part about making websites?

I like having a place to express myself whether that's through my writing, my coding of the site, or through the design of it.

8. And the thing you struggle with the most?

Resisting the urge to burn it all down and start over.

9. Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?

For the most part, yeah, all my pages have the same layout.

10. How confident are you with CSS?

I'd say, like, 6 out of 10. I still rely on one of my best friends whenever I struggle, though.

11. Do you know how to correctly use <dl>?

Nope, lol.


Edit: I just went back and read the docs, and I gotta say, this questionaire was given to me in the form of a <dl>, but that's not right! This should be an <ol>!

12. What is your favourite HTML element?

I mean, the humble div is hard to ignore, but I think it's gotta be dialog because it help standardize the concept of a modal.

13. If you're making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?

I start by figuring out, generally speaking, where I want the reader's eyes to go. Where should the nav bar be? Where should the main content be? Stuff like that.

14. Do you know JavaScript?

All to well...

15. How about PHP?

Sure do! Big fan of PHP 8.2.

16. Does your website have a theme that you stick to?

No. I intended for it to be a place to talk about cyber security stuff, but at that time I thought of my site as a way to promote myself. I thought of it as branding. Over time I found myself just wanting to express my true self on here, so now that's what I do. I write about whatever I want, and I write the same way I talk as opposed to writing a LinkedIn post.

17. Are you more focused on content or design?

Definitely content. I usually have a big burst of energy to focus on design at the start of the site, but then before the design is even finish I tend find myself wanting to start on the content instead.

18. Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?

Sure do! A couple, actually.

19. What do you think of nostalgia-focused or "retro" websites?

I love them! My favorite sites to visit tend to be Y2k-core.

20. Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?

I try to keep it valid, but I'm sure there's a few "invalid" things here or there because I just disagree with why the "correct" way is "correct".

21. What are your opinion on buttons and banners?

Check my footer, lol. I think they're a great way to personalize your site.

22. What do you think of button walls in particular?

Good. We need more of them, and we need more people making buttons.

23. If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?

This design is very much so a product of me, so I know any new design I make will be very similar to this one.

24. Are you envious of other people's websites?

Eh, no? I mean, I think some people have really cool sites, and I wish mine could be that cool, but then I look at my site and think it's exactly what I need it to be, so :shrug:

25. What text editor do you use?

On desktop I use VS Code almost exclusively. I do break out Notepad++ when I need to do some heavy regex-based find & replace. On the commandline I use vim.

26. Why do you use that one?

VS Code just works™. NPP handles large files the best of any editor I've used. Vim is a flex.

27. Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?

I do host my own images, yes. I really don't have a lot, so it's not a hassle. If I had a ton of images, I'd just run a different domain to organize them there, and then just reference them on my other sites.

28. This might not be relevant to you, but what's your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?

Never heard of Nekoweb. I do like how Neocities has gotten people back into the concept of personal websites though, so if it's anything like that, I'd probably like it.

29. How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?

It's about 200mb

30. Do you keep local backups of your files?

Kinda? My site is a git repository, so I have various "backups" depending on which computer I'm on.

31. Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?

I prefer highly visual sites, though I do usually use my browser's reader mode when reading long pages. I do this regardless of the amount of visual noise on a site, though.

32. Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?

I do stick to certain colours and it is subconscious, but I don't know why.

33. Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?

Not particularly. I go through periods of not writing, but I don't think I ever **won't** need a place to yap about whatever, so I think I'll always have this site.

34. Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?

I've got a best friend that has their own site, and I consider a few of the people in the Indieweb scene friends.

35. Do people in your real life know about your website?

Some do, some don't.

36. Do you update your website very often? How often is "very often"?

I think before today it's been months since I touched it, lol

37. And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?

No, I try not to change the design very often except for maybe adding new features. I think users tend to get confused when site layouts change, and especially if they change often.

38. Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?

I'd say it's more me focused, but like, my perception of the outside world-focused. I tend to talk a lot about how I process the things going on around me.

39. Do you do web design professionally?

Sure do. Been at it for almost 10 years at the time of writing.

40. If not, would you like to? And if you're comfortable answering, what do you do for work?

N/A

41. Do you communicate with people by email very much?

Yes. I actually prefer it over instant messaging platforms a lot of the time.

42. Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?

Eh? I do link to some of my socials on here, and I do post links to my site on my social whenever I write a new post, so in some sense they are intertwined.

43. How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?

I have a handle of them. Mostly mainstream ones.

44. Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?

I almost always have music playing. And if it's not playing, I'm probably singing/humming in my head. I couldn't even begin to list off all my music, but you can find some of it over in this post.

45. Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?

I have more than one, but >90% of what I do is on one site.

46. On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?

Many, many topics on this site.

47. Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?

This is about as real of a me as if we were talking in person.

48. Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?

I'd like to think so.

49. Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?

Yeah, I think the specs are in a pretty good place.

50. What are practices that you think people should avoid?

Don't use <b> for bolding. That's what <strong> is for. Get with the times, lol

51. What about under-utilised practices, or things you think people should do more?

Tying this into the previous question, I think people should learn about the more semantic elements, and make use of them. main, aside, article, etc. They're there, and they're pretty good. I know that, mostly, they're all div's at their core, but like, you can't just have a mountain of div's. Semantic elements don't just help bots. They also help future developers (including you) understand the intent of a block.

52. Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?

lol, didn't even see this before answering the previous question. Yes, I try to make use of semantic elements where ever appropriate.

53. Do you consider different browsers?

Ehhh not really. Pretty much everything is chromium now, so as long as it looks good on chromium, it should look fine anywhere.

54. Speaking of, what's your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.

I currently use Vivaldi. It was made by the guy that originally made Opera back in the day. He made Vivaldi after he was kicked off the Opera project because he didn't want to give into what The Corporate world wanted him to do to the browser. And now we have Opera GX sponsors on YouTube. I think he was vindicated.

It is still chromium, so that’s not great, but its built in ad and tracker blocker is pretty good.

55. And what OS are you on?

At home, Windows 10 with an effor being made to move to Linux Mint. At work, Windows 11 with most of my work being done in a Debian instance of WSL.

56. Do you have a strong opinion on that, or do you just happen to use it?

I'm pretty firm in my hatred for Microsoft, but historically most of what I did on the computer just didn't work as well, if at all on Linux distros. Times are changing though, so I am making a more concerted effor to get away from Windows where possible.

57. Are your websites mobile-friendly?

I try to get, like, 95% mobile-friendliness for my site. There are a few spots where I'm just like, "Welp, what can ya do."

58. What are your thoughts on autoplay?

Hate it until I don't. Some times I want it to autoplay so I don't have to tell whatever app it is that I clicked it, since I know it'll use that information. I guess, video autoplay? Not too bad. Audio autoplay? Kill it with fire.

59. What are your thoughts on webrings? Are you in any?

I love them! I think it strikes at the very core of what the web should be. That said, I'm not in any right now.

60. Do you have any web shrines? What do you like to see in that sort of page?

I don't think I'm to familiar with web shrines. I don't think I have one.

61. Are your websites "cliche", in your opinion?

I don't think so, no.

62. What is your ideal website? Are you striving for that, or for something else?

One where the user can get where they need to in as few clicks as possible with as little visual noise as possible. I think I struck a fair balance between that and my own flair.

63. Are you an artist? Do you draw or design your own assets?

We're all artists. It came free with your human condition. But yes I do call myself an artist some times. For the most part I come up with my own design ideas, and then get feedback from other artists. For drawing, though, I defer to my wife.

64. What are your favourite resource sites?

Note really sure.

65. Is there a habit you just can't get away from no matter how hard you try?

Yearning for the past...


Oh, and excessive comma usage.

66. What's your biggest advice for a new webmaster?

Just make the thing first. You can worry about how it looks or works later.

67. Do you keep all your styling in CSS? Or do you hard-code some?

99% of my styles are in style sheets. I find in-place styling usually means you didn't think something through.

68. What do you think of frameset layouts?

Never really heard of the term.

69. How about table-based layouts?

*war flashbacks*

70. Do you subscribe to the ideas of "one-column", "two-column" and "three-column" layouts? Do you use any of these?

I think they make sense for a lot of sites. I use two columns for this site because I want my nav bar on the side, but I also like single-column.

71. Do you spend longer on the HTML or the CSS?

Definitely the CSS because I have to spent a lot of time looking up how everything works.

72. Have you ever made a page with no CSS? It's useful for your thoughts.

Nah, not really interested in that.

73. Do you ever find yourself making layouts with nothing to put on them? Or do you only make layouts when the need arises?

I make the layouts once I figure out how I want to present the information I already have.

74. Would you consider yourself a beginner? Or advanced? Somewhere in the middle?

Advanced, but in no way an expert.

75. Do you have a habit of looking at the source code of websites you visit?

Just know that if I visit your site, especially your personal site, I will look at the source.

76. How did YOU learn how to make websites?

A long time of trial and error.

77. Do you ever force elements to do things they're not supposed to?

well, some times I'll make a <a> look like and act like a button, or make a header tag have interactivity it wouldn't usually have, but I try to avoid it all costs. Nine times out of ten you can just use semantic elements.

78. Thoughts on floating elements?

Like, display: absolute;? They have their uses.

79. When you're sizing stuff, what do you use first? Do you use px, em, %, or something else?

I set the px for the page's font first, and then use em after that. Except for height and width where I'll use whatever unit of measure is best for the task.

80. Do you have a favourite font?

Consolas

81. Would you run a website with another person? How would that work?

I mean, sure? If there were a purpose to running it together I would. It would probably be the case that I would be the technical work (sans the design of the site), and the other person would be the content and design.

82. Do you surf the Web to find new personal websites very often?

No, but I often go on binges of going from site to site.

83. Do you bookmark other people's websites? How would you feel knowing someone else bookmarked yours?

Yes, I do bookmark others' sites! And if available, and I like what they post enough, I'll add them to my RSS reader. I would be honored to know someone values what I say enough to bookmark my site.

84. What do you want people to be most impressed with when they see your website?

I suppose how genuine I am. I try to be very candid. That, and maybe how well spoken I am. (I consider myself to be well spoken, though I know that may be a hot take.)

85. Are you interested in technology outside of websites? Do you collect?

Not particularly. We're in a bad time for e-waste and techno-junk. If something truly revolutionary comes out I'll be interested, but I'll also wait to make sure it's not just more smoke and mirrors.

86. How often and for how long are you online?

Far, far too long

87. When it comes to your website, who is your target audience?

Anyone and everyone

88. Have you ever been interested in XHTML?

Yeah, for a while I was interested in it, and tried to make all my sites xhtml compatible, but last I check the xhtml spec hasn't really kept up with the html spec, so I chose to try to make my sites be html valid instead.

89. Do you program in general? Have you ever written a program for use with or on your website, not counting simple JavaScript?

Sure have. I've got a whole repo of some of my other projects. I even wrote a bash script to expedite the many-stepped process of publishing changes to this site.

90. Speaking of programs that help you make websites, what do you think of static site generators (SSGs)? Have you ever used one?

This site is made with Hugo, a static site generator. I think they should be the de facto for publishing personal sites.

91. Do you keep a hitcounter? Why or why not?

No, it's more interactivity than I want my site having.

92. Do you frequent forums? Which ones?

I don't, no.

93. Do you write your page content directly into the editor, or do you prepare it elsewhere, like a text document or a Word document?

I write my pages in markdown in VS Code on my computer, commit it to a repo, login to my host server, pull the changes, and then publish it.

94. Do you think you appear cool to others? A more accurate answer now: do other people ever say you're cool?

I'd like to think at least a handful of people think I'm cool. That's all I need. I have had some people say I do cool things.

95. Are you embarrassed of your old work? Have you ever deleted everything out of shame?

I have, and I wish I hadn't. Maybe you don't need to keep everything in the public eye, but you shouldn't always be going scorched earth on what you make either. It's go to see where you came from.

96. Would you close down your website if you couldn't update it, or would you leave an archive?

This site is on the IPFS network specifically because I would like for it to be available for as long as possible.

97. Do you reveal a lot about yourself on your website? Or are you more secretive?

Again, I try to be as candid as is reasonable here. I want this to be a place where I can be myself.

98. Are you willing to reveal who your best online friend is, and/or if they have a website?

No only because I'm not sure who I would be as my best "online friend".

99. And do you optimise the images on your website?

Sorta. I host them in both webp format as well as png.

100. We're out of time! How do you feel after answering 100 questions? ....other than exhausted.

I could go for more

Bonus 101. Pick a display type: block, flex or grid.

Nine times out of ten I'm going with grid. I think Bootstrap 3 did a lot of damage to the web by making every flex. Grid is superiour and more consistent. Flex does have its place though, I guess.