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 using a service called KnownHost. In a nutshell, the decision boiled 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 I recommend reading this article to get a better idea on what it means to self-host.
• 🌱In the long run, on top of it being a more economical option (85%/month discount), KnownHost is also more ecological. In the wide world of web hosting, some services have chosen to reduce their carbon footprint by moving toward more environmentally-conscious means of powering their data centers. Read more on: Green Hosting. KnownHost is one of several services to join the EPA’s Green Power Partnership initiative, using solar wind energy as their primary source of energy for powering their servers. It brings a little peace of mind knowing (In)Sitze is sourced in sounder environmental practices moving forward. One degree nearer to a Solar Punk dream.
• ☾☼ (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 can also improve accessibliity for reading on screens, particularly for those with visual impairments. It should 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):

• I think it’d be cool to have a Guestbook for visitors. I thought of 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 with KnownHost, and going dark with a new Night Mode toggle. I’m sure there will be kinks to work out in the near future. Still, it’s to believe it’s been three years since the inception of (In)Sitze. Through a three-year metamorphesis, the site has steadily hit its stride and found its character. Being the architect has been an enjoyable pasttime 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.