The Nontechnical Issues

I left many poems commented out on random pages of the websites I’ve built. They’re accessible only through a website inspection, therefore mostly by web developers who command-shift-C online platforms for inspiration. By leaving poetic traces in a form of HTML comments, my point was very, if not too, simple. I wanted to offer a nontechnical reading of a code during what might end up being a tedious inspection. Looking back, I think to myself, what a dull image of a web developer. It must have flashed before me due to a similarly sluggish image I had of myself as a web developer. In response to that, I guess that writing and dropping poetry emerged as attempts to not identify with such staticity.

It’s been a long time since I wrote an HTML poem beneath my code. It looks like my image of a web developer has changed. Somewhere along the way, I’m certain that I subconsciously stroke through classic before the role, and decided to build a more characteristic ambience around it. I like that. It looks like I’m restoring my faith in web developers, for they are the ones who build the internet to which I used to and aim to belong to.

I like to think that part of restoring faith entails departure from whatever it is that kills faith in the first place. In my process of riddance, one thing became clear: classic web developers are tame because they dissociate themselves from the users, and a bit too much for my taste. Although skill differences exist and should not be discredited, both societal roles have an impact on building the internet as we know it. We are not all web developers, but we are all users.

My image of the internet’s current state is growing logarithmically dull, yet rosy. Many are the power dynamics highlighting the absence of collaboration between web developers and users. Classic tales educate that users perceive web developers as technical wizards whose responsibility is to make users’ dreams come true. Most users are happy to dwell in the position of only having to rate the technical excellence of web developers. In fact, most web developers are on a quest to preserve this professional image of themselves. They do so not only by generally pointing out the confidence produced by their technical knowledge, but also by presenting technical limitations at the project’s start. I believe that this tradition of web development shapes common user imagination. The products of common user imagination are stories about different dreams told in the same way.

“It matters what matters we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts, what descriptions describe descriptions, what ties tie ties. It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.” - Donna H.

I still don’t know what my ideal image of the internet/web developer/user would look like, but I like to think that for a longer dream dictionary, responsibilities are waiting on both ends. It’s time to question what websites are and what else they can be. The consequence of most work put into building the internet as we know it today is digital boredom felt amongst many users, including myself. Although dwelling in boredom can be lovely, I prefer the scenario in which it becomes a guiding mechanism.

Sooooo, although poetry was my little exit towards imagining beyond the current standards of what’s possible within the web buildup and digital readership, I'm afraid it was not directive enough. I decided to expand the format. ***web reviews are coming***. I want to extensively reflect on the websites which I am building and while I’m building them through web reviews (Nontechnical Issues) which will document the easily forgettable gadgets designed by my head during my coding sessions. They will be accessible through the built websites.

WEBSITES:
https://www.marliesvanhak.online/
https://www.leonleon.work/
https://falsemirror.net/
https://whilewaitingwaithere.com/
https://www.lenakarson.com/
https://www.lizaprins.com/
https://falsemirror.live/
https://vein.agency/
https://offline-stuff.netlify.app/