What are examples of fantastic *home pages* of personal websites? 😍 Any site that really stuck with you? And why?
And what’s some useful advice regarding a great “home” that you would give someone building their site?
I’m asking on behalf of my #OwnYourWeb #newsletter subscribers = sharing is caring 🤗💚
@matthiasott I always think of @rafa home page for https://rafa.design/. It’s just a lot of fun and gives you a sense of his personality. The video of him at the top makes me grin every time.
@matthiasott @lynnandtonic's website is a must and always amazing (plus she shares the process on the blog): https://lynnandtonic.com/
@darin's sites are always mindblowing and really well crafted (I remember one with a superhero and another with an elevator iirc) https://www.darins.page/
@matthiasott I'll suggest @ash's https://ash.ms/ because making it like an old Windows PC is both impressive and funny.
@matthiasott it depends on the use case but I don’t really think home pages need to exist. Most home pages are just “about” pages, but with text too big and too much needless scrolling. In my opinion, a good home page keeps everything above the scroll, or moves you into other content immediately. For example all the social media sites home pages are just content (posts, etc).
@matthiasott umm what would you think of my own personal website. It’s kind of simple though. https://umurgdk.dev
@matthiasott I would **love** to see some homepages that aren't personal ads for designers and developers featured.
The web is **so much more** than professionals advertising their services...
@matthiasott not to sound full of myself, but I think mine is pretty good! https://billhunt.dev/
I think it’s good for people to be able to get an understanding of what your site is about at a glance, but still provoke a desire to explore more. If you’re producing regular content, I also think it’s important to let people get a taste of what you’re putting out.
You’re thinking of my crazy old personal site from almost 10 (!) years ago. There’s a link to it in the footer of my current site, I’m sure some things are broken by now though:
https://www.darins.page/archive/2015/
One #website i saved a while ago but has changed over the years is:
The best part is that the #menu functions without #javascript
@matthiasott A couple I like because they're creative and interesting and full of good things: http://sarajoy.dev (@sarajw@frontend.social) and http://ashleyblewer.com (@ashley). Bill Hunt (@krusynth) already chimed in with his, which shares those qualities. All of these are also nicely retro.
@matthiasott I don't know but... you absolutely have to read this:
https://mastodon.social/@fuuma@hackers.town/109271701525598555
@matthiasott stuff like https://neal.fun/ always bring me joy because it shows the that the small web is alive and well, playful and raising awareness at the same time :)
@darin that's the one. Wasn't there another with the character taking an elevator that goes underground? Or did I dream that one?
@flamed it's true, but @matthiasott's circles are going to have a lot of those.
A lot of my current favourite home pages come from the hobbyist world, I need to dig some up...
@matthiasott One of my favorites is https://timobecker.com/ - simple, creative, playful.
connect the dots, get a sketch 💫
@matthiasott I have a few from the CSS Joy webring:
Solita's nature vibe is just great, the fish and the rocks and the sea: https://solita.neocities.org
@si_rubber's home is in a library on a rainy day, perfect: https://si-rubber.rip/en
@flamed's splashy front page just made me smile (is that new?): https://flamedfury.com
@anomalocaris manages to be super minimal while retaining maximum personality: https://baccyflap.com
Finally Ray's is straight up "here's what I got": https://brisray.com
@matthiasott this just serves as a reminder that mine (and many of us oldie's) web sites are dull/boring - but we're realiable!
(so many nice looking websites in the replies though!)
@johnstonphilip @matthiasott I think in some cases the home pages ARE the content. These things can be just for fun, you know? Art :)
@rem I mean, for your site, going all in with a Nintendo/GameBoy/Super Mario Land-themed design could be a lot of fun! 🤩😁
@matthiasott I wish I had those skills! this was the closest I could get… slightly grey, slightly green :) https://retrobyrem.uk/
@matthiasott I change up my website design somewhat often, but I come back to this iteration of
https://heyloura.com/
because it makes me smile which in turn makes me more likely to keep adding content to it.
@zaniad @matthiasott @rafa I don't like it; it is slow to load and ineffective at putting information across.
@krusynth @matthiasott While I appreciate it is supposed to be retro, the dotty backgrounds are a bit too headachy for me.
@alvaromontoro that’s the same one. All the way at the bottom in the about section was the elevator.
@matthiasott Always amazed by @aaadaaam homepage : non usual graphic style and beautiful color combination working with depth https://aaadaaam.com/
@jden @matthiasott yeah. My analytics solution is a big CSV file with timestamp / url / origin. Also made an app to check it out 😅
Some favourite *home pages*
- @frills : https://frills.dev/
- @xandra : https://xandra.cc/
- Bytemoth: https://bytemoth.neocities.org/
Useful advice: Your home page is your websites index. Use it to direct me to the different parts of your site. Give me a brief intro to who you are leading to your about page. Give me a brief run down of your latest posts, if you post. Give me a curated tour of your website, lead me to the exciting content. Make it easy to read!
@alvaromontoro the page does not load properly unless I resize the window for some reason - but when I do it is realy fun ^^ @matthiasott @lynnandtonic
@slowe this website kindof scares me 
it reaminds me a lot of the dark days of popups 
but when one actualy uses the desktop it realy shines @matthiasott @ash
