Table of Contents
Fun, Accessible, and Small
The third principle of the IndieWeb: your site should be all three simultaneously. It's a challenging balance, but all three matter.
Fun
Individual, expressive design is a feature, not an afterthought. Corporate social media gives everyone the same template. The IndieWeb does not.
Examples of what's possible:
- Collage-style layouts, pixel art, hand-drawn assets
- Colour schemes that reflect your personality
- 88x31 badges, webrings, guestbooks
- Interactive elements that feel like art
100 more personal website ideas by James G. Browse any Neocities special sauce for examples.
Accessible
Fun and accessible are not opposites. Your site must work for everyone, including people using assistive technology.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) define four core POUR principles:
| Principle | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Perceivable | Information must be presentable in ways users can perceive | Alt text for images, sufficient colour contrast |
| Operable | UI must be navigable by everyone | Keyboard navigation, no seizure-inducing content, enough time to read |
| Understandable | Content and UI must be readable and predictable | Clear language, consistent navigation, form labels |
| Robust | Content must work with current and future assistive tech | Valid HTML, ARIA where needed, screen reader compatibility |
Resources:
Small
Performance is accessibility. If your page doesn't load, nobody reads your work.
512KB Club — a movement for pages under 512 KB total weight (roughly half the recommended maximum).
Practical techniques:
- Compress and resize images before uploading
- Use modern font stacks — system fonts that load instantly with zero network requests
- Lazy load images and resources below the fold
- Progressive enhancement — HTML first, CSS second, JavaScript third
- Your site should function without JavaScript — JS fails for countless reasons: corporate firewalls, mobile network optimization, security software, slow connections
The Tension
A highly animated, image-rich site can be fun but not small. A plain-text site can be small and accessible but not fun. The goal is thoughtful craft — making deliberate decisions about what to include and why, not maximal restriction.
Good faith mindfulness, not bad faith purity testing.