1. Please introduce yourself.
i'm nephro / nephro p. dae / nephropidae / John FeelingMachine / "that bird that i fucking hate", an online something and a metaphorical ghost IRL. i like videogames and diet pepsi and sometimes i even enjoy things other than that.
2. How long have you been making websites?
feelingmachine was initially created under a difference name in 2022, and certainly looked the part of "babby's first website". please look at this, it'll give you more faith in yourself.
it's been through many many redesigns, layouts, pages, and even narratives since then, but i think that was kind of part of the process of it all. i learned how to make something readable and enjoyable through that, at the very least, something with a cohesive design.
3. And what got you into the hobby?
i just thought it would be neat. for actual context, at the time, i was in high school and the only teacher there that ran the computer labs had mysteriously Not had that job anymore (unsure if he got fired or just quit still), so they kind of just let anyone who signed up for those classes to dick around for an entire year. instead of just playing games, i ended up making this website. somebody in the same class saw me do that and then thought "wow i can do it too" and then gave up within a month as well.
4. What kind of websites are you most interested in?
i prefer content and readable, interesting topics over visual presentation most of the time. the most likely reason for me to be on a website is if there is something i am interesting in learning about on there, or just glossing over. a lot of the time, very visually cluttered websites distract me, and i leave them sooner than i would one that is heavily populated by text instead. this is probably hypocritical knowing i mostly use this place as a visual archive, but still. i also like more weird stuff as well -- anything to do with supernatural or conspiracy is also nice to see.
5. What's your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?
the most you'll get from me is maybe an MS paint diagram of where i want the divs to be placed, and google searches for things i knew how to do a year ago.
6. Please link to your biggest inspirations.
there are way too many candidates for this. here's one for two "categories" of inspiration instead.
website; maybe stereotypical, but mebious, a lain fanpage, was one of the first ones i saw on neocities itself.
videogame; also probably a very common response, but whatever hypnospace outlaw has going on with it.
7. What's your favourite part about making websites?
i actually do really enjoy the more technical aspects of html/css and putting everything together to match exactly how i want it to in my brain. it's a good exercise for my brain, at least.
8. And the thing you struggle with the most?
i often find myself looking at what i've put out there, and wondering if it was maybe too much, or if i'm cluttering my website too much, or if i somehow don't have enough that people would want to look at it at all. i know it's supposed to be for myself, but i worry a lot about this as well. often end up deleting or re-placing things at a whim because of this.
9. Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?
depends on what "era" i'm in, but for the most part, there is at least a shared color scheme across any pages that would not specifically request a different one (for example, the catherine shrine up at the moment is pink...because she's pink). right now, though, it is mostly a very similar layout on all pages.
10. How confident are you with CSS?
confident enough in visuals, but the placement that CSS offers pisses me off a lot, actually. it's probably what i spend the most frantic google searches on figuring out.
11. Do you know how to correctly use <dl>?
i don't use it often, but sure.
12. What is your favourite HTML element?
the <div> itself is the most powerful one as a container element, and thus, the backbone that i respect the most out of most elements. if you harness the <div> well, you can basically do anything.
13. If you're making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?
copying over the header material from another page, since that contains the backbone for everything (the global .css file, meta-info, ect).
14. Do you know JavaScript?
not at all, unfortunately. any of the JS on my page is probably somebody else's code, sorry.
15. How about PHP?
absolutely not. don't have a use for it atm here.
16. Does your website have a theme that you stick to?
the usual color scheme of black backgrounds, blue and red accents, and a machinery/terminal esque vibe to it all. most of the pages stick to this to varying degrees. i also really like using a 3px double border on the main divs for things.
17. Are you more focused on content or design?
very big on the idea that you should be prioritizing content over design (as stated before, haha).
18. Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?
you're on it right now. i've always wanted to use a .moe TLD. no, seriously, i've been wanting to do this since i heard about it in the mid 2010s. i'm not that much of an anime person, but i'm big on the psychology of moe culture and how we connect to fiction. i also just like cute anime girls. who doesn't...
19. What do you think of nostalgia-focused or "retro" websites?
as long as they have something going for them content-wise, i don't mind or notice. the reputation for retrosites, pinksites, or edgesites is that they usually just go all-in on the visuals and have nothing to offer the end-user, or are too caught up in social media brain to be able to do so. if they don't do that, i don't care how you manage your own website, and it probably will end up personalized to the webmaster and their website enough through the process.
20. Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?
i'm using this as a confession booth to say i still use the <center> element regularly when i can't properly center something easily. no i do not check. if it displays correctly it werks to me.
21. What are your opinion on buttons and banners?
very useful for having a little trinket of a website or something else in particular. long live the 88x31.
22. What do you think of button walls in particular?
they're a good staple of the smaller web enviroment for linking around and showing people what other websites you enjoy, but i think moderation is sometimes needed in terms of this.
23. If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?
i've done it once, probably something different as i did the last time.
24. Are you envious of other people's websites?
not really? i just get inspired very easily and note down certain aspects i'll use on my own pages. it's a form of flattery, probably.
25. What text editor do you use?
sometimes i use the neocities' browser editor for small edits, but at the moment of writing this, VS Codium. no i am not proud of this.
26. Why do you use that one?
i want something that lets me do live preview, and brackets is dead, and phcode both works and really doesn't and crashes on startup on certain systems including mine, so this is my next best thing.
27. Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?
most likely on the usual host, but sometimes catbox.moe comes in clutch. i had to use it when discord kept compressing images i was sending to clients as well.
28. This might not be relevant to you, but what's your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?
i do not trust nekoweb to be alive in the next five years, and i have some small gripes with the person who runs it (nothing personal, though) (ok well maybe don't make the main support for your service a discord server. stop that. No.) as well as the general atmosphere in nekoweb. don't have a lot of good things to say about it, but i do keep my domain/username there so it can redirect to neocities. neocities has been alive for long enough that i can trust it to not suddenly erase my website, and just werks. kyle drake mostly being absent except for emergencies is a good thing, really. you want your overlord to not be exercising control most of the time.
29. How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?
probably not as much as it did when i was managing two webrings as much, that's for sure. i have no clue, not much of a server knowledge person. hopefully not a lot.
30. Do you keep local backups of your files?
i work on everything locally before uploading it anyways, so yeah. also have secondary backups on my flash drives.
31. Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?
there's a good in-between here, and i've already talked about this to some detail. you probably shouldn't only be using plaintext, but if your website is mostly a bunch of graphics and i have to put a bunch of thought into where to go to actually engage in it, i'm probably not sticking around.
there's at least four of these, but look up the motherfucking website for some little blurbs that are relevant here.
32. Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?
i like black, blue, and red, so i use the three in varying amounts. mostly black though, i'm pretty used to dark colorschemes so my eyes don't feel the monitor's energy waves as much. most of my programs i can theme use gruvbox if i'm able to slap it on there.
33. Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?
yeah. multitudes of reasons. i've had some pretty nasty things said about me and what i put on my website, and it gets to me sometimes. i'm a lot stronger about that nowadays. i also just generally get the "call of the void" and wonder who would notice if i did suddenly disappear off the face of the internet sometimes. also, burnout is a bitch. it happens to me a lot.
34. Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?
i don't make friends solely based on that, but a lot of the people i talk to regularly also have their own websites, or at least have tried to at some point or another (sometimes because of me). i have a specific section for them on my button wall.
35. Do people in your real life know about your website?
when i was in college, i did an entire video project about keeping a personal website. people thought i was at least a little cool for it, but i also generally didn't reach out much in college.
36. Do you update your website very often? How often is "very often"?
not very often at all. i generally only add things if i suddenly have a good idea on what to add, and sometimes it can be months between good ideas.
37. And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?
not much anymore, i'm consistent on theming now. it's basically a staple of feelingmachine.
38. Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?
hobby-focused in most aspects of "what you're actually there to look at". most of the little tidbits like this are more personalized.
39. Do you do web design professionally?
no, took one class on it though.
40. If not, would you like to? And if you're comfortable answering, what do you do for work?
i would like a job in general that doesn't require me to stand for the entire shift, or a job at all. my NEETing is getting to me.
41. Do you communicate with people by email very much?
only if i'm reached out to first, or i need to reach out for any particular reasons. not much of a chit-chat on email person.
42. Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?
once you use tumblr, you can't leave it, so yeah. stuck there with the rest of us.
43. How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?
my primary means of communicating through others throughout my entire life is instant messaging and chatrooms, and i mostly use discord just because that's the Easiest at the moment. i use vencord for my client at least.
44. Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?
either music or something else with audio (usually a video with commentary i can keep on in the background) so i can keep focus on what i'm doing. my reccomended artists are in my about, but i have a lot more in my music folder.
45. Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?
right now, it's all on feelingmachine.moe, but i've used other websites for, for example, a very large shrine with multiple sections.
46. On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?
my city now. sectioned properly, but there's a lot of things going on here.
47. Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?
i am not psychologically able to answer this question and have my statement rendered "true".
48. Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?
i've made a few friends, but some of them do just come and go. it is how it is.
49. Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?
they're perfectly fine languages that have both stood the test on time with their basic use and still have many things that can be added on for the Modern Web Experience (quality depends).
50. What are practices that you think people should avoid?
you don't have to put everything about you on your website or publicly in general. make sure you're avoiding burnout. do not be the one guy who's website was unaccessible on firefox because the <body>? was in the <head>?. ie. just make sure you don't make any major fuckups like that. make sure you actually have something to put on your website before you make one. also please make sure your website is easily readable.
51. What about under-utilised practices, or things you think people should do more?
you can do a lot of things to gently push your placement of elements using both margins and paddings. take advantage of that.
52. Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?
generic structures just werk most of the time.
53. Do you consider different browsers?
i think people who use chromium-based browsers all go to hell when they die.
54. Speaking of, what's your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.
mozilla firefox and its derivatives are the only sane and trustable browsers left nowadays that are able to be used without many issues on most websites. ublock origin still works on it. it's also usually less resource intensive than chromium tends to be now. you can import your information from the browser you were using before if you want to use firefox. please use firefox. if you get annoyed by it you can just go to the config and they'll probably have an option. please.
55. And what OS are you on?
right now, my main OS is cachyOS, which is basically just arch linux with gui installation tools as well as a lot of other things for ease of usability regarding software and tweaks for playing games on it and whatnot.
56. Do you have a strong opinion on that, or do you just happen to use it?
i'm a linux user, so of course i'm going to have a strong opinion on this. i am not dealing with microsoft's shit on my computer, but for the specific distro, it's that i do find arch linux's package manager more friendly to use, the more frequent updating is more of a bonus. also i had some specific issues with programs i used frequently and my wifi drivers on linux mint for some reason
57. Are your websites mobile-friendly?
due to the simplicity, they can usually be viewed to some extent on a mobile device, but i do not develop for mobile. nothing on this website is that important to have to be able to view it through your smartphone i hope.
58. What are your thoughts on autoplay?
thank god browsers are sane enough that it is disabled by default. genuinely one of the worst tools for the most evil people to use. maybe i'm too spooked by the screamer era still for this, though.
59. What are your thoughts on webrings? Are you in any?
they're neat and i'm in a bunch of them. i don't have any in depth thoughts on this, i just enjoy webrings and join them sometimes.
60. Do you have any web shrines? What do you like to see in that sort of page?
i'm not too big on the amount of effort i need to put in for shrines to be worth it for me to make anymore, but i have one for catherine from gregory horror show. i like it when the webmaster forgoes any and all dignity and goes very in-depth and i get to read a lot about what they made the shrine for. do not hold back on what you love and all of that.
61. Are your websites "cliche", in your opinion?
i don't keep up enough to know this.
62. What is your ideal website? Are you striving for that, or for something else?
i would say if all websites were built kind of like mine it would both be a lot better and lot worse, but i don't really think there is an ideal website, just different purposes and use cases.
63. Are you an artist? Do you draw or design your own assets?
it's the main purpose for my website now, and at least some of my assets are homemade, but i do think there is something unique to having little decals that i also did not make in the slightest around.
64. What are your favourite resource sites?
don't use them enough to have these on the back of my hand.
65. Is there a habit you just can't get away from no matter how hard you try?
again, i use improper centering a lot just because some elements get really disgustingly hard to center. i also mix up percentages with pixels for sizing a lot, but that tends to work well with each other.
66. What's your biggest advice for a new webmaster?
first rule is to have fun and second rule is to lock in
67. Do you keep all your styling in CSS? Or do you hard-code some?
i genuinely have no idea what this means. you style using CSS. i'm pretty sure that's how it works.
68. What do you think of frameset layouts?
they work really well for when you need multiple things in one page. not sure if this is up for debate or something?
69. How about table-based layouts?
i have a soft spot for when older websites used tabling for layouts, and they tend to preserve very well.
70. Do you subscribe to the ideas of "one-column", "two-column" and "three-column" layouts? Do you use any of these?
i usually prefer the humble one-column for if i have a plethora of things to use.
71. Do you spend longer on the HTML or the CSS?
the html. that's where the Stuff goes. the css i use is simple enough and generic enough to apply to multiple things and pages most of the time.
72. Have you ever made a page with no CSS? It's useful for your thoughts.
if i want to do that, i'll just link a .txt file instead and you can view that in your text editor of choice. we both win here.
73. Do you ever find yourself making layouts with nothing to put on them? Or do you only make layouts when the need arises?
i don't make layouts for fun. i make them to put things in them.
74. Would you consider yourself a beginner? Or advanced? Somewhere in the middle?
hobbyist is a term to be used here. i know more than the average person, but i'm still very far behind somebody who does this for a living.
75. Do you have a habit of looking at the source code of websites you visit?
only if i need to see what they're doing in exacts in order to use it. i'm decent enough at knowing what can be done from how it displays alone.
76. How did YOU learn how to make websites?
trial and error and WSS as a lot of people tend to.
77. Do you ever force elements to do things they're not supposed to?
sometimes if i can't get it to happen any other way. at one point i was using two divs overlayed on the z-axis with pointer events off just to have a double-border that was two different colors, in which Is there an easier way to do this. probably. maybe.
78. Thoughts on floating elements?
good for placing things to go around text, but mixing images with floats together tends to be kind of a nightmare.
79. When you're sizing stuff, what do you use first? Do you use px, em, %, or something else?
if it's html it goes in percentages, but fonts and images will usually be in pixel increments.
80. Do you have a favourite font?
i have many favorite fonts. i like vt portable remington and vcr osd mono, but they don't lend themselves well to body text, which i use consolas for at the moment.
81. Would you run a website with another person? How would that work?
yeah, but i feel like i would end up the one doing most of the work for the things i tend to get involved in.
82. Do you surf the Web to find new personal websites very often?
i used to do this constantly, not as much anymore but i still use button listings to see what other stuff is out there. i'm not as connected to the personal web world as i used to be.
83. Do you bookmark other people's websites? How would you feel knowing someone else bookmarked yours?
i do this more often than you'd think. not going to peer into other people's bookmarks just to see if they like me or not though.
84. What do you want people to be most impressed with when they see your website?
i hope people think i'm hot shit and get my dicked suck very often. i am neither of these things of course, but i hope that's the energy i give off.
85. Are you interested in technology outside of websites? Do you collect?
i'm an often user of FOSS and other things for technological freedom, such as custom firmware for consoles i own, and what little i can do for the security of my smartphone.
86. How often and for how long are you online?
i'm basically using my computer as a life support unit at this point. if i don't explicitly have something else to do, i'm at the desk.
87. When it comes to your website, who is your target audience?
other very online weirdos and freaks, of course. not sure who else i can appeal to or not just make appalled.
88. Have you ever been interested in XHTML?
can't say i have.
89. Do you program in general? Have you ever written a program for use with or on your website, not counting simple JavaScript?
don't know any programming languages but i do have a small amount of interest into doing this in the future.
90. Speaking of programs that help you make websites, what do you think of static site generators (SSGs)? Have you ever used one?
i used to have a massive hate-boner for these, i really don't anymore, but sometimes i test them for fun and i find them genuinely harder to use than just doing it myself most of the time.
91. Do you keep a hitcounter? Why or why not?
i don't like worrying about the numbers, and despite the inaccuracy of neocities' hit counter, i find that useful enough to use.
92. Do you frequent forums? Which ones?
not much, don't like registering for a bunch of websites and often don't use the forums very often.
93. Do you write your page content directly into the editor, or do you prepare it elsewhere, like a text document or a Word document?
straight into the IDE it goes. i don't like having to re-format paragraphs after writing them, i just do it in the moment.
94. Do you think you appear cool to others? A more accurate answer now: do other people ever say you're cool?
i come off as more intimidating than cool according to a bunch of people, but once they get to know me, i'm apparently a lot more mellow than they thought i would be. really funny to think about. i hope i scare you.
95. Are you embarrassed of your old work? Have you ever deleted everything out of shame?
i don't know anyone who isn't, but honestly the archive is nice to look back on and see how i've improved since then.
96. Would you close down your website if you couldn't update it, or would you leave an archive?
in the event that i would Delete Fucking Everything, something else would have most of it archived by then and i would rather people not keep personal copies of my website locally. can't stop you, though.
97. Do you reveal a lot about yourself on your website? Or are you more secretive?
i try not to share a lot about myself publicly. it's simple internet safety not to and has been hammered into my brain.
98. Are you willing to reveal who your best online friend is, and/or if they have a website?
my best friend is chextropolis' chexter. we've known each over for years and talk on the daily, and stay near each other like two barn cats. i couldn't wish for anyone better to be able to be friends with in my entire life, really.
99. And do you optimise the images on your website?
i pride myself on being able to provide high quality images for things, and if it needs to be smaller, i'm just doing that through the styling. you can always open an image in new tab to see it higher, and you should. i have plenty of room for it, after all.
100. We're out of time! How do you feel after answering 100 questions? ....other than exhausted.
it was pretty nice to actually share something about myself for once. i probably wouldn't have done this if it wasn't specifically geared towards webmaster stuff, even if some of the questions led to very repetitive answers. i also took a break midway to make myself lunch, and spent the entire half wondering my own questions...are you supposed to put the peanut butter or the jelly on the sandwich first? much to think about.
thank you for making this questionarre, it was very fun to fill out :)

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