Q: So what's the deal with the retro theme ?
In very succint terms, I profundly despise modern UI design, not just web design. I think smartphones made us walk back on every good UX design made in the early days of the Internet in the name of uniformization, and this quite honestly makes me sad ! The Web 1.0 used to be a much more vibrant, lively place than the modern aseptized corporate drivel we're algorithmically served every day. Consider this website as a futile but stalwart attempt at recapturing some of this elder magic.
Q: You do know that your colors are all wrong, don't you ?
Yeah I do. Think of it as more of an imitation rather than an attempt to outright copy old Windows GUI.
Q: What framework did you use ?
None. This is pure handwritten HTML with light touches of vanillaJS. No framework, no AI, no problem.
Oh and there is no backend either, as I deemed it superfluous considering I don't blog that much. It does use a generator script written in Python but that's about it.
Q: Where can I purchase your arcade controllers ?
You can't yet. I'm working on it !
I don't really expect too many personal questions, but once in a blue moon one or two will likely trickle down here.
Q: Just... why ?
Starting with the loaded questions, are we ? :-P
I guess I needed a personal expression space on the Internet. My own little corner of the web. I've always wanted my own website but never really had much to publish. Still don't, in fact, as you can probably tell by the rather barebones Projects section (more will come, don't worry !). I used to run a couple blogs, fortunately lost media by now, under a ton of aliases, but never anything more "serious" than that.
This isn't my first website, I wrote a few back then for associations && other non-profits, but I never really had a reason to make one for myself. Until today, at least.
Q: Any game recs ?
I'm particularly fond of Hypnospace Outlaw, Progressbar95, Stardew Valley and Elden Ring. Pretty good ways to eat my free time when I'm not writing code ;-)
Q: Why the Windows themes ? Aren't you a Linux guy ?
Oh I am, through and through. But old OS GUIs have an aura that modern GUIs fail to reproduce (for me, anyway). In fact even on Linux you'd catch me using retro UIs: Win9x and XP (through Cinnamon DE) mostly, but once in a blue moon I'm not averse to running CDE or XFCE either. Won't really comment on KDE as I'm not super familiar with it. GNOME just ain't it for me.
(Of course one would argue you usually don't run Linux for the GUI, but that's another matter entirely)
Q: Hold on, you're French... Why are you speaking only English ?/Why isn't there a French translation ?
As is the case for most IT people, I tend to work primarily in English, to the point I consider it my default language over French. This drives my fellow countrymen up the wall, unsurprisingly. My English isn't perfect either, especially my oral comprehension, but I keep practicing !
On the subject of translation, there's two things to take into consideration:
- The site architecture doesn't really support this right now
- I genuinely don't want to translate my blog