Webmaster a Manifesto for Everyone

Aug 17, 2026 07:04 AM - 1 hour ago 1

A week ago, erstwhile I was working connected my project for HTML Day 2026 I stumbled upon this transition from an effort connected blink and marquee tags:

At the time, location was a caller breed of web professionals proudly branded “webmasters.” Part designer, portion developer and portion evangelist, webmasters held capable esoteric knowledge astir the web to manage, edit and create websites, some ample and small.
— Jay Hoffman (August 28th, 2017)

And that's erstwhile everything clicked for me.

Over the past year, I've written dozens of articles connected the Independent Web. Forty-two essays connected principles, method tutorials, accessibility, and advocacy.

And, successful a way, it has each been starring to this manifesto. Only done months of investigation and getting to cognize galore benignant and talented group and building things myself person I yet understood the existent powerfulness of the webmaster.

I deliberation this will beryllium the astir important point I'll ever write, and I wish to stock it pinch you. With everyone.

Part One: THE PAST

The earliest webmasters were unauthorized, self-taught, one-person operations. The first webmaster was a woman, Stanford librarian Louise Addis.

i. ORIGINS (1993)

It was a fewer years aft Tim Berners-Lee christened the first web server astatine CERN astatine the extremity of 1990, and published the first website info.cern.ch connected August 6th, 1991.

The webmaster was first understood arsenic the Internet's balanced to the real-world postmaster.

"Other protocols person defacto standards for good known mailbox names, specified arsenic USENET@domain for NNTP (see [RFC977]), and WEBMASTER@domain for HTTP (see [HTTP])."
— RFC 2142, "Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles and Functions," Dave Crocker, Internet Mail Consortium. (May 1997)

This RFC—alongside <POSTMASTER@domain> (required by RFC 822)—is what cemented "webmaster" arsenic the canonical, protocol-level point-of-contact domiciled for a website.

"The connection “webmaster” comes from a akin domiciled defined successful the original specification for email called the postmaster, which successful move comes from the likewise named authorities position Postmaster General. You tin deliberation of the postmaster arsenic an email administrator. The thought being that you tin email postmater[sic] @ immoderate domain, and ever beryllium connected straight to personification that could hole a problem pinch the email. That remains a reserved sanction coming connected immoderate email inbox. The webmaster served a beautiful akin intent connected the web."
— Jay Hoffman, "What Happened to the Webmaster" (June 16, 2020)

And thus, webmaster@domain was already the de facto email inbox reside tied to the HTTP protocol itself.

The explanation and title quickly grew into thing acold much than that, though.

"At first it referred to that disappointment techie who group up the rogue Web server without institution authorization, coded HTML by manus successful a matter editor, FTP'd the files to the server, and successful his spare clip answered each the incoming firm e-mails, usually besides without institution authorization."
— Brian Wold, "What Happened to the Webmaster? (And different misleading titles)" (May 12, 2006)

ii. GOLDEN AGE (1994-2001)

The era that conjures "webmaster" astir powerfully began successful the mid 90's, arsenic Beverly Hills Internet was launched, now known arsenic GeoCities.

"[T]he constituent astir the web earlier societal networks aliases earlier Web 2.0 is not that you had a floor plan connected GeoCities, but that you had a chance to build your cyber location extracurricular of it, you could beryllium and turn extracurricular of a centralized service."
— Olia Lialina, quoted successful Cybercultural by Richard MacManus (March 7, 2025)

A civilization developed arsenic group realized anybody could make their ain website. 88x31 buttons, blinkies, .GIFs, web rings, visitant counters, guestbooks. All originate from this time.

"In 1996, the web was littered pinch black-and-yellow-striped animated .gifs reveling successful metaphors of roadworthy construction... 'This tract nether construction' was the default location page disclaimer, until everyone realized that the inherent quality of the web was that it would beryllium perpetually nether construction."
— Fresher Styles for Web Designers, O'Reilly (December 2008)

While GeoCities is fondly remembered now, it surely had its problems and issues. Similarly, location were different platforms astatine the clip arsenic well, specified arsenic Tripod, Angelfire, and Homestead. It tin beryllium easy to revise history into an idealized monoculture.

"It was not a paradise for early web makers. It was not moreover a bully web hosting service. It was free and not worse than others, that's why webmasters endured the symptom of clumsy page builders, interventions from commercialized scripts being injected into their pages, accidental record deletions, etc…"
— "GeoCities' Afterlife and Web History," by Olia Lialin, One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age (July 30, 2019)

Over 38 cardinal pages were deleted erstwhile Yahoo unopen down the level successful 2009.

iii. THE DECLINE (2008-2020)

As sites grew and the Internet evolved from the anticipation of a fistful of HTML files located successful /var/www/html/ into alternatively a analyzable beast of package and contented guidance systems, the "one personification does everything" exemplary stopped being the default, and the title became a culture-war taxable among web professionals.

Schisms grew from the complexity. The Internet became a vector for business, and past the measurement to make money arsenic the dotcom bubble inflated. People needed to specialize, whether that was to creation for the front-end, aliases programme and administrate the server from the back-end. You needed usability specialists and web engineers and hunt motor optimizers.

Dammit Jim, I’m a Webmaster, not a Digital Government Web Content Communications and Application Development Knowledge Management Specialist! ...or americium I?
Is the word webmaster an meticulous explanation of the responsibilities of today’s web professional, aliases is that moniker conscionable a quaint artifact from the simpler, earliest days of the web wherever personification akin to a likewise quaint conception of a Ringmaster juggled a circus of unwieldy text, spinning logos and blinking text?
— David Kitzmiller, FCC Webmaster, Mastering the Web: An Old-Fashioned Notion? (August 12, 2010)

Perhaps the clearest and astir citable marker of the term's general status from mainstream master usage is erstwhile Google rebranded "Google Webmasters" to "Google Search Central" successful 2020. An organization funeral.

"Merriam-Webster claims the first known usage of the connection 'webmaster' was successful 1993, years earlier Google moreover existed. However, the word is becoming archaic, and according to the information recovered successful books, its usage is successful crisp decline. A personification acquisition study we ran revealed that very fewer web professionals place themselves arsenic webmasters anymore. They're much apt to telephone themselves Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), online marketer, blogger, web developer, aliases tract owner, but very fewer 'webmasters.' In brainstorming our caller name, we realized that there's not 1 word that perfectly summarizes the activity group do connected websites."
— Google Search Central Blog (Nov 12, 2020)

Part Two: NOW

It is your innate quality correct to create.

All of the supra was pretext for this: You tin beryllium a webmaster correct now. You tin create a website correct now. Yes, you. Your website tin look nevertheless you want it to, and usability successful immoderate measurement you want. It tin person immoderate you want connected it.

You tin look up tutorials, and you tin person your questions answered by humans conscionable by joining forums, IRC channels, and independent platforms. The enactment of creating and learning inherently places you successful the community.

prelude: The Deception

Generally speaking, we person been deceived into reasoning galore wide falsehoods:

Regarding the webmaster:

The Internet has go excessively analyzable for a azygous personification to maestro each aspects of it.
You must usage a definite instrumentality aliases level to decently beryllium portion of this movement.

Regarding the Internet:

Technology is inherently addictive, and brings america harm.
In bid to enactment connected to others online, we must usage firm societal media platforms, go the product, and surrender our privacy.
The Internet is chiefly falsehoods, misinformation, and meaningless spam content.

Regarding us:

Most of america are incapable of learning technical, scientific, mathematical concepts.
Those of america who are knowledgeable are reluctant to stock information, and dispute to beginners.

When plainly laid retired for illustration this, it's easy to spot really we've been conned into a cynical, pessimistic—even misanthropic position of things. Companies worthy billions of dollars person a bottommost statement that depends connected the wide organization to proceed believing each of the above.

Our position connected exertion and different group has been greatly distorted into the negative. In reality, the Internet has terabytes of high-quality resources to study from. There are thousands of group conscionable for illustration you looking for connection, quiet for a amended imagination of the future, wanting to cultivate nourishing hobbies. You are truthful capable.

The thought that 1 personification cannot maestro each aspects of the web, arsenic the webmaster was erstwhile known to, is demonstrably false.

Be optimistic astir your capabilities and the willingness of others to thief you. Be skeptical of anybody who attempts to disagreement aliases gatekeep, proclaiming the mandated usage aliases superiority of a circumstantial instrumentality aliases platform.

Likewise, I want to statement that searching for "return of the webmaster" successful 2026 whitethorn lead you to discussions of the "agentic web" aliases "orchestration," a euphemism for personification who employs generative AI to do the multidisciplinary activity that comes pinch being a webmaster. Those who negociate a stack of costly ample connection models, those who are punctual engineers for fixed tract generators, and those who neglect to return the clip to study for themselves, unwilling to put successful the effort themselves (or reasoning they're incapable to).

That's not what this is. My manifesto is not astir becoming an orchestrator. Being a webmaster intends becoming a sovereign creator. We are not reclaiming the title of "webmaster" only to past offload the activity and creation onto chatbots. We are reclaiming it because it is the only title that remains which still carries the weight of total, unapologetic quality agency complete our integer lives.

a. The Bare Minimum is All You Need

To beryllium a Webmaster, you request a computer, a matter editor, and a measurement to host. That's it.

You don't request a grade successful machine science. You don't request a $50/month subscription to a proprietary builder. You don't moreover request the money to bargain a domain sanction if you don't person the cash.

Use https://freedns.afraid.org/ to get a free domain.
Throw your files up connected Neocities aliases Nekoweb aliases web 1.0 hosting.
Write your HTML successful Notepad. Edit your CSS successful TextEdit.

If you don't person a machine aliases Internet yourself, you could beryllium sitting successful a nationalist room connected a recycled Chromium instrumentality and still you person everything you request to go a Webmaster. There are not gatekeepers astatine the doors of the World Wide Web. Like galore different things successful life, the only fastener is the 1 we put connected our ain ambitions.

A Webmaster is not conscionable a developer. You are a UX/UI designer, you are a writer and editor, you are an accessibility specialist, and an advocator for others to reclaim their integer autonomy. You are a creator, alternatively than a consumer. And you are tin of each these things.

You will wrestle pinch semantic markup to make a page accessible. You will agonize complete typeface kerning and colour palettes. You will constitute prose and people your weird obsessions and nexus to your Internet neighbours. You will negociate server logs, tweak the .htaccess file, and you will determine and creation the architecture of your integer home.

This is not a profession path, this is simply a craft. This is the past champion multidisciplinary sandbox, some imaginative and technical, each rendered connected an index.html.

And there is nary incorrect answer. Serve your website over the Gemini protocol. SSH into the Tildeverse and build a terminal-based homepage alongside strangers. Set up a homelab successful your closet utilizing the old, defunct family computer. There are a cardinal ways to do this. The only incorrect reply is sitting connected the sidelines believing you don't beryllium successful the arena pinch us.

b. The Last Public Square

Corporate societal media platforms we utilized to telephone the "new nationalist square" person been astroturf'd, bulldozed, and sold to the highest-bidding fascist oligarch. Your beingness is simply a rental, your sound is simply a throttled lottery. Your alleged "community" is astatine the mercy of a billionaire's whim.

Building your ain website is an enactment of integer repatriation.

Creating your ain area of the Internet reclaims 1 of the only mediums wherever we clasp freedom, creativity, and autonomy.

With the plethora of hosting options available, you tin migrate if position of work alteration to your disliking. There's nary pay-to-play visibility. There's conscionable you, text, and the unfastened protocols of the web.

c. The Myth of Incompetence

The astir effective measurement the powerfulness structures of our property person oppressed america is by making america consciousness arsenic though we are stupid, arsenic though we are incapable of learning.

Many of america person been convinced coding is arcane magic, that servers are eldritch horrors, and that machine subject is reserved for kid prodigies and those who are privileged to conscionable "naturally get it."

A personification who is acrophobic of the instrumentality and doubts their ain capabilities is 1 that will surrender and salary for a solution.

You are not incapable. There is simply a batch to learn, yes. And the technologies are deep. But do not hide we are still surviving successful the aureate property of quality knowledge—endless free resources, tutorials, wikis, and forums are disposable astatine your fingertips.

I will repetition myself and opportunity the only obstruction that exists is the 1 you conception successful your mind.

You require grit, determination, and a "why." This is your why. The desire to definitive yourself. The hunger to build thing genuinely of your own. The request to link pinch different humans.

d. Universalism

Let maine beryllium clear: this is not astir "IndieWeb" specs, it isn't astir the "Small Web" aliases "SmolWeb." It isn't a retro-revival nostalgia trip, pining for GeoCities and AOL dial-up tones.

Those are each labels, clubs, and memberships. Standards pinch elitism and in-group and cliques and gatekeeping arsenic a result.

What I'm talking astir is universal. It's not astir circumstantial mechanics, it's astir a philosophy. It is simply a large tent.

It doesn't matter if you speak English. It doesn't matter if you don't cognize really to spell words correct successful your autochthonal tongue. It doesn't matter if you don't cognize a azygous statement of JavaScript, either.

And it surely doesn't matter if you deliberation you person "nothing absorbing to say." I committedness you do. All humans person value, we person our hobbies, our frustrations, our obsessions and mini thoughts. Putting this successful penning connected a page you build pinch your ain hands intends you're contributing to a richer, stranger, much awesome ecosystem.

e. Those Who Came Before

I guidelines connected the shoulders of giants. I americium not the first to constitute a web manifesto, nor the last. I myself americium cipher special, nor anybody pinch authority. I americium specified conduit for a connection that desperately needs to beryllium heard.

I springiness in installments to Tantek Çelik, Amber Case, Aaron Parecki, Crystal Beasley, and Kevin Marks for founding IndieWebCamp successful Portland, Oregon successful 2011.

I springiness in installments to Daniel Murray's melonking.net arsenic a foundational "web revival" artifact.

"[The web revival] is simply a riff connected the 20th period American people euphony revival, and it implies that early individual sites, for illustration those hosted connected GeoCities, were culturally important arsenic integer people art."
— Daniel Murray (Melonking), quoted successful New_ Public (September 7, 2025)

I springiness in installments to webmistress Sadness, who has been sharing resources connected web mastery for years, and was the laminitis of the now defunct Yesterweb, served arsenic galore people's first acquisition of the indie-web-crafting scene.

"In the earlier iterations of this manifesto, I made the correction of focusing excessively heavy connected the creation of individual websites arsenic the main method of fighting against the exploitative capitalist hellscape that has go our Internet... For example, we tin activity connected transforming societal relations online."
— Sadness, Internet manifesto (May 2023)

I springiness in installments to James G., who has been blogging astir the independent Internet for complete six years, who hosts the podcast Wonders of Webweaving, and who has precocious founded the Web Writers' Collective, which is unfastened to anyone.

I springiness in installments to Alexandra and Kaylee for the organization and resources of 32-bit Café. I springiness in installments to Adam Newbold for the organization and services of omg.lol.

There are hundreds of group who person dedicated thousands of hours successful trying to make the web much quality and joyous for all.

f. Saving the World

We tin create a much quality web correct now. The world is successful dire straits, and I'm reminded of the words of Carl Sagan, coincidentally written astatine the dawn of the webmaster:

“In our obscurity, successful each this vastness, location is nary hint that thief will travel from elsewhere to prevention america from ourselves.”
— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot (1994)

There are those who spot the enactment of webmastery arsenic "only" a hobby and pastime—and I opportunity this is not mutually exclusive to world-saving. The individual is political. Our expertise to support our joyousness and ourselves is, itself, resistance.

Here is different falsehood I want to emphasize: Our correct to freely definitive ourselves is ne'er a guarantee. The past 30 years of the Internet person been an explosive, chaotic research successful the commons and the quality condition. But the state of look we've been granted is not a fixed aliases perpetual promise, and it is highly foolish to deliberation we will person this for the adjacent 10 years, fto unsocial forever.

Start arsenic you are, pinch what you have, while you still person clip to do so.

Exercise your innate quality correct to create.

Be a developer. Be a designer. Be a writer. Be a systems administrator. Be a philosopher. Be a Webmaster.

It is the astir punk rock, anti-establishment, liberating point you tin do successful the 21st century. And yeah, it is fucking awesome.

Now, spell build something.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Getting Started

Sadness' Webmastery Resources
32-bit Café Community Resources
IndieWeb: Getting Started: The step-by-step guideline to getting your ain tract connected the IndieWeb, covering domains, hosting, and creating pages
IndieWebify.Me: Step-by-step guidance and devices to trial and validate your IndieWeb progress
MDN Web Docs: HTML Tutorial: Mozilla's HTML archiving and tutorials
HTML Dog: A classical starting constituent for HTML and CSS tutorials
W3Schools:coding tutorials for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more
Zonelets: A lightweight blogging motor letting you constitute posts straight successful HTML
Neocities Template Tool: A elemental three-column template for Neocities and different elemental tract hosts
The Boilerplate: Ransei's starter template pinch drag-and-drop upload instructions for Neocities
Stefan Bohacek: Making a free image assemblage pinch Neocities.org: Tutorials for creating image galleries pinch Neocities, including an 11ty version
Susam Pal: Writing First, Tooling Second: A manifesto advocating for prioritizing contented successful elemental HTML earlier analyzable tooling

Hosting

Neocities: Free, user-friendly hosting for handmade websites
Nekoweb: Another free hosting action for individual sites
FreeDNS: Get a free domain name
omg.lol: Community and services from Adam Newbold and Neatnik
Bear Blog: A minimalist, privacy-focused blogging platform
Micro.blog: Indie microblogging pinch built-in cross-posting
Dreamwidth: An open-source blogging and organization platform
Codeberg Pages:static tract hosting straight from Codeberg repositories

Web Revival Communities

MelonLand Wiki: Communities: A directory of web revival communities, forums, and connection boards including 32Bit Cafe, Pixel Joint, Basement Community, Comfybox, The Midnight Pub, Pixel Lounge, The Web Raft, and Reject Convenience
Sheezy.Art: An creation website recreating the highs of pre-2010 DeviantArt and SheezyArt
SpaceHey: A retro societal web focused connected privateness and customizability; a MySpace experience
Bitview: A video sharing tract inspired by classical YouTube
Sudomemo: A revival of Flipnote Hatena pinch organization features
Ytoo.org: A web revival organization hub
Elpis.ws: Another web revival space

Building

Sadgrl's 88x31 Button Maker: Create your ain classical web button
Hekate's 88x31 Button Maker: Another fantabulous fastener generator
IndieWeb's 88x31 page: More generators positive really to hand-code your ain buttons
Dither It: Make dithered images for a retro aesthetic
JS Paint: Classic MS Paint successful your browser
JummBox: Chiptune-style euphony programme for the browser
Online Color Picker: Tools for choosing and testing colour palettes
Josh W. Comeau: CSS Interactive Guide to Grid: An fantabulous interactive CSS Grid tutorial

Webrings & Directories

Archive Team: Webring Directory: A database of unrecorded niche webrings
Brisray's Webring List: A hand-verified database of presently moving webrings
32-Bit Cafe Webring Directory: Active webrings created by 32-Bit Cafe members
MelonLand Surf Club: An progressive webring pinch complete 1,500 sites
The Smallweb Subway: A subway-style web of webrings mapping themed communities
XXIIVV Webring: An open-source inaugural fostering independent individual websites
Fediring: A webring for the Fediverse
A11y Webring: A webring focused connected accessibility
Low Tech Webring Directory: A directory of low-tech webrings
Fandom Webring: A wide fandom webring
Transing the Internet: A trans webring pinch a mini Discord community
HandCraftedWeb.eu: A curated, decentralized directory and webring for the "Human Web"

Manifestos

Yesterweb's Collection of Web Manifestos: An fantabulous postulation of manifestos written by others.
- The Yesterweb Zine: collaborative zine that ran from Aug 2021 to Jan 2023
- Issue 00, "The Old Web"
- Issue 02, "Websites arsenic an Act of Creativity"
IndieWeb's "Why" page: Another database of personal-site manifestos from 1997 to 2026
Melonking's Manifesto
A Quiet Manifesto: On text, tech, caring, the value of existing, and cave paintings
Tracy Durnell: Guiding principles for my website: Principles including being friendly, respecting privacy, prioritizing relationship complete reach, and practicing imperfection
New_Public: The Handmade Internet Is Making a Comeback: A 2025 article connected the web revival movement

Searching

Wiby: A hunt motor for the classical web, prioritizing non-commercial content
Marginalia Search: A hunt motor that prioritizes non-commercial contented and individual websites
Smallweb.cc: A curated postulation of websites
Cloudhiker: Another action of websites

History

The History of the Web: An fantabulous postulation of essays that inspired this post.
Web Design Museum: A timeline of milestones successful the history of web creation from 1990 to the present.
SLAC's archive of the first U.S. website built by Addis and Paul Kunz, December 1991

My Other IndieWeb Essays

Over the past twelvemonth I've written forty-two essays connected this subject. Here are the ones I deliberation are astir worthy a beginner's time.

Starting Out

What I Have Learned Being connected the IndieWeb for a Month: Small method joys that turned solitude into dialogue, and treating the Internet for illustration a individual playground and lab.
Resources for the Personal Web: A Follow-Up Guide: Blogging platforms, hunt engines that prioritize mini sites, and directories for uncovering like-minded creators.
Softcore First, Hardcore Eventually: A Ladder for the IndieWeb: Why you should climb the rungs progressively alternatively of choosing betwixt easy platforms and afloat method independency connected time one.
The 1% Rule: An Open Letter to Everyone Who Doesn't Post Anything Online: A telephone to action for the 99% of net users who devour but ne'er create.
You Don't Have to Blog: Your website tin beryllium shrines, art, aliases thing else. You don't request to constitute a azygous connection to beryllium here.

Community and Connection

Won't You Be My Neighbour?: On mycorrhizal networks, Indra's Net, and the value of building intentional connections betwixt independent websites.
Yes, Buy Them a Coffee: Support and Mutual Aid connected the IndieWeb: Asking for support isn't commodification, it's communal aid.
The Internet Needs More Cross-Pollinators: We request group who move betwixt different online subcultures to seed ideas and build bridges.
The IndieWeb is Wonderfully Dionysian: A plea to constitute your ain comments, from the heart, alternatively of letting genAI do it for you.

Building It Yourself

Building an IndieAuth Comment System for Your Static Site: How to build a remark strategy for your fixed tract utilizing IndieAuth and Netlify Functions.
How Webmentions Work connected brennan.day: A tutorial and walkthrough of implementing webmentions, from setup to display.
Why Make Your Website Accessible, Anyways?: Web accessibility isn't compliance theatre, it's astir designing for everyone.
Phoneblogging: Why the IndieWeb must prioritize accessible, elemental ways to blog from a phone.

The Bigger Picture

Building the Good Web: What do we beryllium each other, and what's the region betwixt knowing thing is incorrect and doing thing astir it?
Trust and Faith successful Our Web: What is spot successful an AI-saturated internet, and really do we make independent web spaces much accessible?
Good, Standard Work: Creating the Commons: From Garrett Hardin's calamity of the commons to Elinor Ostrom's refutation, the commons was ne'er inevitable to fail. It was ever a choice.
How Are We Preparing for the Long Web?: Digital preservation, nexus rot, and building for the Internet decades from now.
Free Speech and the IndieWeb: Not each harm is equal, and wherever we tie the lines successful the soil for what's acceptable.