Gift-Wrap Your Projects

I’d like to convince you to put a little effort into making a nice web page for your project.

I look at it like wrapping a present for a friend. You could just dump the object on their doorstep, but it would mean a lot more if you hand-wrote a little card and wrapped it up in a thoughtful, clever way, right?

(Bonus if you do a really terrible drawing on the front of the card for your friend, especially if you "can’t draw.")

This is important: You don’t have to be good at it, the evidence of effort is the key!

Same thing with your project.

You already put some of yourself in your project. You know that. But nobody else knows until you demonstrate it. A web page can be like a gift to your friend, but instead of a clever "in joke" you share with that friend, you get to make up a little universe of "in jokes" with your new friends right there on the page.

Real quick: This is not about marketing or SEO or any of that garbage. Nor am I talking about growing a community or getting an audience.

This is about putting your work out there in a way that it is more likely to be appreciated. Not for any external reason, but because the project deserves it. You deserve it. You, presumably, put a ton of work into it. So I’m suggesting you put in just a little more.

Do it to:

Some ideas:

And I can’t emphasize enough: Consider making some graphics to go with it. But for the love of all that is good, make your graphics. Draw on a pad of paper and take a picture. Make ASCII art. Draw with a stick in the mud. You put time and care into your project, don’t throw all of that away with stock photos or generative "AI" slop. The whole point of all of this is to enshrine your work. If you don’t understand why I feel this way, maybe this will help: Aura Equals Idea + Time.

See also: