My Design Principles

Over the course of learning web development, I have acquired a list of principles and ideas about how it should be done and why. This page gives insight into those ideas.

First Principle: Simplicity

I like keeping my websites simple and straightforward. The more complex a website is the easier it gets to make things unintuitive, slow to navigate, and unsecure. By keeping things simple, I limit the frustration a user can experience on the website, added frustration when building/modifying the website, and weak spots hackers can exploit.

Second Principle: Style

I like my websites with a little bit of style. Making them distinctive is half of the job, and I do this in the same way lots of indie game developers make their games pop; through stylized graphics. Making art with a distinctive look and feel is a great way of differentiating yourself, while modifying what is already present to look different rather than adding onto what's already there.

Third Principle: DIY

My websites are made from scratch. I do not use templates, web content management systems, or art from other people unless explicitly told to do so. Occasionally, I will use generators to provide me with what I need, and I have my own templates which I use frequently. For the most part however, I am typing out the lines of code in Code OSS manually. This ensures I know exactly what goes on a website, and allows me greater control over how it is built.