100 Questions for Webmasters.

One of those online questionnaires. Courtesy of MOUSEling.net.

1. Please introduce yourself.
I'm Toji. よろしく。
2. How long have you been making websites?
Since 1999.
3. And what got you into the hobby?
A combination of a friend talking about making his own website, and many anime fans back in the day had their own website, which was the style at the time.
4. What kind of website are you most interested in?
The kind that features females with big yabbos. In all seriousness though, anything Gundam or mecha related.
5. What's your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?
Combination of planning out the site map and navigation structure and making a mockup of the kind of layout that I want.
6. Please link to your biggest inspirations.
There wasn't any specific site that inspired Toji's World in its initial state, and the site that inspired me to turn Toji's World into a personal/combo site no longer exists.
7. What's your favourite part about making websites?
Freedom to express my interests.
8. And the thing you struggle with the most?
Coming up with a version 10 for this site and making time for it. That, and working on Return of the Magi
9. Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?
Same layout.
10. How confident are you with CSS?
Enough to make a website. I have to brush up on it occassionally, but it's not a problem.
11. Do you know how to correctly use <dl>?
No.
12. What is your favourite HTML element?
The iframe. I will die on this hill.
13. If you're making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?
Draw up the layout with pen/pencil and paper
14. Do you know JavaScript?
I know enough to tinker with it, but not to make from scratch with it.
15. How about PHP?
I know of it, but never used it.
16. Does your website have a theme that you stick to?
Yes.
17. Are you more focused on content or design?
Yes.
18. Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?
No. I'm not wealthy, or internet famous enough for that.
19. What do you think of nostalgia-focused or "retro" websites?
I came close to madness trying to find them here on the internet, but they just can't get the spices right.
20. Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?
I don't know, the last time I checked was... 2008?
21. What are your opinion on buttons and banners?
I know linking with buttons is still a thing, but do people still even use banners for linking these days? Thought that died out at the turn of the millenium.
22. What do you think of button walls in particular?
They're fine, I guess. I think it's better than the "affiliates" sections back in the day where so many sites flooded their index/home page with buttons
23. If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?
Same. But different. But still same.
24. Are you envious of other people's websites?
Yeah.
25. What text editor do you use?
Notepad.
26. Why do you use that one?
A simple tool for a simple man.
27. Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?
I host them in the same place as my website.
28. This might not be relevant to you, but what's your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?
I don't care honestly. As long as it's a webhost that is free, stable, and doesn't needlessly clamp down on what content I put on my site, that's all I really need.
29. How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?
Last I checked, it was over 200 MB in total.
30. Do you keep local backups of your files?
Yep. Except when I don't.
31. Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?
I prefer something in the middle.
32. Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?
I tend to limit myself to three or four colours where possible to make my sites easy to read.
33. Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?
Not really. Considering this website has reached the 25 year milestone, I've put a lot of time and effort to get it to where it is now.
34. Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?
I would say acquaintances at best these days, but I haven't had any webmaster friends in years
35. Do people in your real life know about your website?
No, and I'd like to keep it that way.
36. Do you update your website very often? How often is "very often"?
The blog every few weeks; the main site once or twice a year. Return of Magi? Oof, it's long overdue for an update.
37. And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?
Back in the day, I changed it every few months before it became every few years. The fact that I launched version 9 back in 2012 speaks for itself.
38. Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?
Yes.
39. Do you do web design professionally?
Nope.
40. If not, would you like to? And if you're comfortable answering, what do you do for work?
Not anymore. As for what I do for work, I'm just a simple サラリーマン.
41. Do you communicate with people by email very much?
Monday to Fridays. It's part of my job.
42. Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?
Yes, but I don't use it that often.
43. How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?
I use Line, because Japan.
44. Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?
Sometimes. Mostly stuff from Overclocked Remix.
45. Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?
More than one.
46. On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?
Many.
47. Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?
A little bit of both.
48. Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?
I did over 20 years ago (you might notice a pattern), and then we all grew up and I lost contact with everyone.
49. Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?
Yeah.
50. What are practices that you think people should avoid?
Splash pages, and auto playing background music. I thought we got over all that back in the early 2000s.
51. What about under-utilised practices, or things you think people should do more?
The option to not play background music automatically, and more sites that use iframes.
52. Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?
Generic structure. Sue me.
53. Do you consider different browsers?
Kind of, but this site is so old that I think it works on all the main browsers at least.
54. Speaking of, what's your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.
Currently I use Brave, but I have no problem using Edge or Firefox either. I ain't going to sit here and convince you, kids need to make their own decisions based on their own experiences.
55. And what OS are you on?
Windows.
56. Do you have a strong opinion on that, or do you just happen to use it?
I've used it all my life, why change now?
57. Are your websites mobile-friendly?
My blog is; my main and Evangelion sites are viewable on mobile, but I wouldn't call them "mobile-friendly."
58. What are your thoughts on autoplay?
I don't like autoplaying videos.
59. What are your thoughts on webrings? Are you in any?
I used to be a part of an Evangelion webring.... over 25 years ago. Glad to hear that webrings are still alive and kicking.
60. Do you have any web shrines? What do you like to see in that sort of page?
I used to have Akuma and Rose web shrines.... 20 years ago.
61. Are your websites "cliche", in your opinion?
No.
62. What is your ideal website? Are you striving for that, or for something else?
I don't have an ideal website. I just do a little better each time.
63. Are you an artist? Do you draw or design your own assets?
I em urtist. I dro bobs n vagene 4 moni. Nah, I can't draw for shit.
64. What are your favourite resource sites?
W3Schools.
65. Is there a habit you just can't get away from no matter how hard you try?
Sticking with one type of navigation. Good ol' iframes drop down menus.
66. What's your biggest advice for a new webmaster?
Have some content on your site first before you show it off to the world.
67. Do you keep all your styling in CSS? Or do you hard-code some?
Mostly CSS.
68. What do you think of frameset layouts?
Goddamn, I miss frames.
69. How about table-based layouts?
They do what I need them to do.
70. Do you subscribe to the ideas of "one-column", "two-column" and "three-column" layouts? Do you use any of these?
I haven't used them personally. Maybe for a future layout.
71. Do you spend longer on the HTML or the CSS?
Yes.
72. Have you ever made a page with no CSS? It's useful for your thoughts.
Yeah, my old Evangelion site back in '99-'01, and the first 4 layouts of this site.
73. Do you ever find yourself making layouts with nothing to put on them? Or do you only make layouts when the need arises?
I used to whip up layouts for no reason in the early 2000s. Now I'm hard pressed to find a reason to make a new layout.
74. Would you consider yourself a beginner? Or advanced? Somewhere in the middle?
By today's standards? Somewhere in the middle.
75. Do you have a habit of looking at the source code of websites you visit?
Sometimes, if there is a certain feature that I like, or if I want to get around something that the front end doesn't allow - like downloading an image or video.
76. How did YOU learn how to make websites?
Initially used Geocities' WYSIWYG interface, then I learned some HTML basics from a friend. After high school, I went to a technical school for a year where I learned a lot of useful stuff about website development.
77. Do you ever force elements to do things they're not supposed to?
No
78. Thoughts on floating elements?
I'm indifferent.
79. When you're sizing stuff, what do you use first? Do you use px, em, %, or something else?
Depends what it's for. I use a combination of px and %.
80. Do you have a favourite font?
Nope.
81. Would you run a website with another person? How would that work?
I tried a few times in the past, but the ideas never got off the ground. Now, I can only imagine what could have been...
82. Do you surf the Web to find new personal websites very often?
Sometimes.
83. Do you bookmark other people's websites? How would you feel knowing someone else bookmarked yours?
I add them to my links page, I guess that's kind of bookmarking; flattered.
84. What do you want people to be most impressed with when they see your website?
There isn't really anything I want them to be impressed about. Toji's World is just one more personal/combo site on the internet.
85. Are you interested in technology outside of websites? Do you collect?
No.
86. How often and for how long are you online?
At least from 9am-7pm Monday to Friday because work.
87. When it comes to your website, who is your target audience?
No one in particular. I generally welcome anybody who is anybody.
88. Have you ever been interested in XHTML?
Nope.
89. Do you program in general? Have you ever written a program for use with or on your website, not counting simple JavaScript?
I wrote programs back in uni, but that's about it.
90. Speaking of programs that help you make websites, what do you think of static site generators (SSGs)? Have you ever used one?
I've never used one personally.
91. Do you keep a hitcounter? Why or why not?
I used to.... over 25 years ago. As for why I don't anymore, my site ain't popular enough for a hit counter.
92. Do you frequent forums? Which ones?
Not anymore.
93. Do you write your page content directly into the editor, or do you prepare it elsewhere, like a text document or a Word document?
Prep it in a text document, save it as an html file.
94. Do you think you appear cool to others? A more accurate answer now: do other people ever say you're cool?
I have transcended such juvenile nonsense, and by that I mean I'm too fucking old to worry about that anymore.
95. Are you embarrassed of your old work? Have you ever deleted everything out of shame?
Nope
96. Would you close down your website if you couldn't update it, or would you leave an archive?
I would leave it as an archive, just so people know I was here, long after I die.
97. Do you reveal a lot about yourself on your website? Or are you more secretive?
I try to watch what I share about myself these days.
98. Are you willing to reveal who your best online friend is, and/or if they have a website?
The online life for me is rather solitary these days. If you asked me in the early 2000s (or even late 90s), my answer would have been different.
99. And do you optimise the images on your website?
Yep.
100. We're out of time! How do you feel after answering 100 questions? ....other than exhausted.
I feel fine.

→ Back to Random