My Neocities website is finally coming together! It's not perfect, but it’s come a long way since I first started coding it. There are also still a few things I want to add or tweak in the interface.

For starters, I want to set up a real gallery to showcase my digital art. I have a plan for that, but I’m still figuring out how to set up a modal image gallery properly.

Why I created this Neocities Page

There are a couple of reasons why I decided to create this Neocities site. First, I wanted to create a space that’s separate from my freelance work. Second, most of my online activity is spent on platforms like Tumblr, Instagram, Threads, and Cara, which, in terms of the first three, I mainly use for entertainment, and on other occasions, for posting my art. With this new Neocities site, I aim to have a place where I can express myself freely while exploring new hobbies or interests.

When it comes to social media, I tend to be mostly active on Instagram and Threads. I usually check Tumblr whenever I’m sitting at my desk. But unfortunately, I only log into Cara to submit my art, and I don’t really engage with it otherwise. And as for Facebook, I have a personal page, but I hardly use it anymore. Honestly, I’m starting to feel pretty burned out by all these social media platforms; sometimes, I even find myself disliking them.

This especially applies to Facebook. If it weren’t for some of my close friends and family using it to keep in touch, I would have deleted it ages ago. I wish I could feel the same way about Instagram and Threads. I hate to admit it, but I’m a bit addicted to those two since they’re the platforms I use most often, and I haven’t found the strength to completely delete them from my phone yet.

But I don’t want to dwell too much on my Instagram habit, that’s a topic for another day. To put it simply, I created this website because, like many other creators here, I wanted more control over what I post and how I present it.

Given the internet's landscape today, most corporate-run websites don’t prioritize meaningful connections or give artists the chance to share their work with a wider audience. Instead, it feels like everyone is pressured to constantly churn out content just to get a fraction of the views and interactions they might have received years ago. Plus, many social media apps seem to be all about data mining, and with the current political climate, concerns about surveillance are more prevalent than ever.

What I appreciate about Neocities is that it provides a refreshing alternative to that corporate approach. It’s also cool to see Gen Z getting into HTML coding and creating interesting, personal websites that are uniquely theirs.

Ultimately, my main goal for this site is to have a creative archive for my work, whether it’s my digital art or the blogs and book reviews I write. I may never have a huge following as some people do on social media, and that might apply here too, but at least I’ll have a space that’s completely my own.