I used to watch a lot of Three Stooges with my dad when I was a kid. Personally, I preferred the Marx Brothers, but I didn’t control the television remote. There was this one Three Stooges skit (I don’t remember which) that had a line where one of the stooges (again, don’t remember which) says “Niagara Falls! Slowly I turned…step by step…inch by inch…” My dad would quote it without fail anytime he heard someone say the phrase “step by step”. Which I always thought was funny, because the skit was all about getting triggered by the phrase “Niagara Falls”. But he’d crack himself up with it. Now it’s the only line I remember, and it still makes me chuckle every time I hear or think “step by step”. And funnily enough, I never think of it when I hear the phrase “Niagara Falls”. Oh, how our parents form us.

Anyways, that’s how the progress on this homepage is going. Step by step. Inch by inch. And the step I’ve been taking today has been to look at some other homepages out there for examples of how these cornerstones are being used.

Do you have any idea how many awesome personal websites there are out there? Because I gave up on counting. My browser is filled to the limits of my CPU with open tabs of excellent sites that people put together.

In my search for inspiration on what kind of page/pages I’m going to build for my site, I’ve become overwhelmed with a plethora of examples. So many great examples!

About pages. Now pages. Uses pages. Blogrolls. Links. Every time I think I know what I want to do, I see another site that is doing something else cool and there are just so many excellent options.

But I have limiting factors. For one, I am not a web designer. For two…no, there is no two. That’s really my biggest obstacle. Well, that and time. Give me limitless knowledge and infinite time, and I’ll whip up a super shiny homepage. For now, though, I’ll need to accept my limitations.

That does not mean, however, that there is not a path forward. I just need to keep reminding myself to take this thing one step at a time. Step by step, inch by inch. So that’s what I’ll do.

The first step, then, is to make a plan for my plan. And that’s what today’s goal has been. I’m deciding on starting with an About page. This seems to make the most sense to me, so it’s what I’ll start with.

But I’m also going to keep these great example tabs open, and I’m going to keep adding to them as I go. I know each one will serve as further inspiration down the road, when I have the ability to add more.

With that decision made, I will spend tomorrow doing research and drafting up some ideas of how I want my page/pages to look. And of course I’ll continue to post the results of that process here.

Because that’s what happens when you build a plane while you’re flying it. It’s out there for everyone to see as it’s happening. Would I prefer a comfortably lit hangar to build in private? Absolutely! But I also know that I would abandon the build and just grab a good book instead. So here I’ll be, hammering away. Hopefully it can serve to help someone else down the road.

I like to start each week with a goal.

Okay, that’s a complete lie. But I’d really like to be the kind of person who does actually start each week with goals and intentions in mind. So this is an attempt to force that function.

The goal this week is to add a page to this site. Just one. If I end up doing more than one, I’ll give myself a pat on the back for being a good little overachiever. Of course, I’d likely need to stretch first, just to be sure I don’t pull something reaching past my head. But that could count towards my goal of starting to exercise again, so that’d be a win, too.

I don’t think I’m at risk of either of those things happening.

But I do want to add a page to the site. It might be an “about” page. Or maybe a blogroll. Not sure yet, but something. And hopefully something fun. I plan on continuing to adhere as closely as possible to the IndieWeb standards as I do this.

So that’ll be the goal this week. As always, feel free to send any thoughts/suggestions/dire warnings. I’m reading them all and am grateful for the feedback.

Which reminds me, I need to actually flesh out the contact section here. Looks like I might have my first page addition already picked out for me!

I remember my first website. Before WordPress, before MySpace, even before GeoCities. It was a simple tilde page on a local university server. And believe me when I say, it was nothing to brag about. Neither was my GeoCities page, nor my MySpace page, or even my WordPress page. They were all starts of things that never quite got to where I wanted them to go.

In many ways, this here is just another start. But this time I can actually see where I want to go. Because others have left me a map.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been watching as more and more people take to the web and start their own thing. Beautiful little projects popping up every day with actual people behind them. Some are ambitious, some are small, but all are amazing. Because each one is someone wanting to reach out to the world and help others to do the same.

One of the biggest sources of inspiration, not only for me but for many of these new bloggers, has been the push away from the monetized silos that have promised much but delivered on very little. Instead, we’ve turned to making our own things by following the examples of others, and finding our communities along the way.

Call it IndieWeb, SmallWeb, SmolWeb, Blogosphere, the Isles of Blogging, what have you, it’s all a movement toward owning our own space and making something of it. My goal here is no more or less than that. But I know I can’t do it alone.

So this is my call to you, Dear Reader. My plan right now is to build this plane as I’m flying it. So it’s going to be ugly a lot more often than not. But I’m putting it out there for any and all to provide feedback. However you’ve stumbled across this post, I encourage you to let me know how you think I can improve.

Amazingly, I’ve already heard from multiple people in response to yesterday’s post. And as silly as it may be, it was an awesome feeling to have people I’ve never met tell me they’re happy to have me in the mix. To all of you, thanks. You’re awesome. Until next time.