Site News: (In)Sitze 3.0

Last autumn, (In)Sitze underwent some semi-major architectural changes, documented in the (In)Sitze 2.0 post. Now, after watering the seeds of my digital garden some more, it seems (In)Sitze has grown at least one foot taller. For those interested in how this site is run or in web design in general, here is an extensive list of what’s new on (In)Sitze 3.0 (and what to expect for the future):

• 🌐Probably the most significant takeaway is migrating from hosting on WordPress.com (via the Business plan) to self-hosting on WordPress.org (initially with KnownHost.) In a nutshell, the decision boils down to exchanging convenience for customizability. Self-hosting lets me take the reins on things like performance, design, and data, while accepting the responsibilty of managing maintanence, updates, and security. By no means an expert in web hosting, I will be delegating a lot of that work to plugins that do it automatically. This doesn’t impact anything visibly on the site, but if you’re curious, I recommend reading this article to get a better idea on what it means to self-host.
• 🌱In the wide world of web hosting, some services have chosen to reduce their carbon footprint by aiming for more eco-friendly efforts to power their datacenters (read more on: Green Hosting). KnownHost uses a mix of renewable energy sources, so it is not accurate to label it as “Green.” I learned this after paying for an initial month, so after that month ends, I’ll be migrating the site once more to Krystal, a well-recognized sustainable provider based in the UK, to host from their servers. Even at the tiniest level, it does bring a little peace of mind to know (In)Sitze is sourced in sounder environmental practices moving forward—one spec closer to the Solar Punk dream. Who knows, one day down the line, I might even be hosting on my own servers with solar panels.
• ☾☼ (In)Sitze goes dark (if you want it to)! You can find the Night Mode toggle at the top-left in the header if you’re viewing on desktop, or from the hamburger menu if you’re on mobile. The plugin I’m using is called Darkify, and in addition to looking cool by shuffling up the scheme, it also improves accessibliity for reading on screens, particularly helpful for readers with visual impairments. It should automatically save your preferences between pages, too. Try it out!

Updates to existing pages:

• Music: live shows embed in the Hyperlink Turnpike, B-Side 1-1 embed, new Venmo link.

New Pages:

• Visualizers: a simple gallery view of any music videos/visualizers I put out for my music.
• Browse Categories: an extensive list of categories and tags that helps organize the content of the site.

Minor additions:

• Search bar at the header (bottom of hamburger menu if you’re on mobile).
• More socials to share to on blog posts.
• Status widget actually reacts to whether I’m online or not.
• New audio player with speed multiplier settings on spoken word posts.
• The edit button that you see at the top of every blog post was vibe-coded so that anybody can read the revisions I make. Usually the edits are very minor, but curious readers may want to know how it developed, so that’s why it’s there.

What’s in store? (hypotheticals):

• Might be cool to have a Guestbook for folks passing through. Got a neat idea for the design involving Dark Souls aesthetics…
• FAQ on the About page.
• A page for webring faves.
• Tip Jar with easy access to Venmo, Paypal, Cashapp, possibly a kofi.
• User-submitted Unorthodox Paradoxes.
• Animated cursor trails for desktop and laptop.
• Nicer borders.
• The Vault.

That’s the rub! In total, the main updates to be aware of are hopping to self-hosting, going green, and going dark with a new Night Mode toggle. Hard to believe it’s been three years since the inception of (In)Sitze. Through its metamorphosis, the site has steadily hit its stride and found character. Building on it has been an enjoyable hobby outside of music, even as the two activities often go hand in hand.

If you enjoy reading these updates and want to stay in the loop about significant changes to the site, enter your email and check the “Site News” box from the subscription form at the bottom of this post. If you have any feedback or ideas on how to improve the site, shoot me an email or get in contact here.