Personal Homepages are really cool

Most browsers support some kind of custom home page that’s easily accessible at the press of a button, even on mobile. I love bookmarks, they’re a vital part of how I browse the web on firefox. Sadly, I find I don’t have quite the same functionality on brave mobile for Android. The good news is that a simple static page hosted anywhere is enough to provide a fantastic interface for sticking to relevant sites. Giving me the opportunity to keep sources I like readily accessible.

After making a relatively trivial homepage for myself I’ve noticed myself spending much less time idly browsing. I’m more focused on keeping up with the content I find interesting, instead of endlessly scrolling on feeds.

How to build your own homepage

1. Build the page

Even without knowing any html you can start small.

For example say you want a simple set of three links

    <a href="https://site1-link">Site 1</a>
    <a href="https://site2-link">Site 2</a>
    <a href="https://site3-link">Site 3</a>

As you get better, using the <style> tags can help keep your css rules in the same files.

2. Save the location

Throw it anywhere as ‘index.html’ and bookmark that location.
If you just want it for a single device you can save it locally.

Fancy ideas for a personal homepage

Simple enhancements:

• Static reminders
• Date & time clock
• Images and icons
• Rotating wallpaper
• A webGL background

Things get really interesting the moment you use some kind of server-side functionality

I’m considering using Alpine.js and PocketBase to build a variety of enhancements like:

• A search bar, using specific sites as options
• Dynamic backgrounds
• Alerts & Reminders
• Updating items from the homepage with a login
• Keeping it private with the login
• Calendar & Agenda
• Pulling content from feeds
• Interverse
• …Widgets?

Far from a new idea, I think homepages are a very accessible way for people to gain some digital independence.