i made a weird web page every single day in october and live to tell the tale
about a week before october hit, i saw a post from loren about getting ready for weird web october. this was the third one to be organized (shouts out to jay) but my first time participating. i wish i had written down at the start why i wanted to try it out - i guess i was just in the right headspace at the time it came across my radar - but i'm very glad that i did it because it gave me a morning routine where i got to use and share my brain in a developery way that i hadn't since the late glitch days.
my plan was simple: when i wake up and take my thyroid medicine, i need to wait an hour before i can eat or drink anything that's not water - so while i wait for my coffee time, i open up my laptop and get to work on my weird app for that day. to keep it even simpler, i chose to use p5.js as much as possible to save me time - i'm a slut for html canvas so i knew i'd be using them a lot. and most importantly, if i can't make anything that day, i wasn't allowed to get down on myself about it. this is the same boundary i set when i started my weekly retros and 3-minute vlogs. the most important rule, though, was if i wasn't having fun and learning while doing this, just stop.
it turns out, i was having fun and learning a lot while doing weird web october, so i didn't stop. before i get what i learned, etc, here's the full list of little weird web apps i made every single day in the month of october:
- reveal
- spark
- fake
- plastic
- sheet
- analog
- organic
- skeuomorph
- spicy
- layers
- stuck
- pointy
- scratch
- origami
- wooden
- instant
- branching
- geometric
- distorted
- undefined
- illusion
- skeletons
- incognito
- collage
- ascending
- net
- spiral
- smooth
- the end
- pastel
- spooky
since this challenge was not centralized to a specific hosting platform, i was able to upload my apps anywhere and still have it linked in an rss feed of submissions thanks to the octothorpes protocol - all it took was adding a link tag in each app to have it indexed. all of the links in the prompt list on the wwo site are feeds of all the submissions by prompt. everyone involved in this is a human genius!
the main thing i learned through doing this challenge is that i'm still capable to do things like this. when i left my corporate job and became a small art business owner, some of my web developer colleagues asked me if i was worried about "losing it" which i interpret as "losing the ability to code". btw it's only men that ever ask that, so i don't believe it's a real idea that applies to me, and yet because it's men asking it my instinct is to prove them wrong - tapping into the superpowers i wielded to stay and succeed in that field as long as i did. i didn't think i couldn't code every day, but i wasn't sure if i'd have the actual appetite to. to me, coding has always been making art through solving puzzles, and i was reminded that this is still the case. not using ai-assisted coding tools absolutely helped with that feeling.
now for some advice i have for others interested in participating next year, whether or not they feel like it's possible:
- i self-host my own site, so finding a place to put these apps was trivial. other participants used (and i recommend, too) neocities which lets you host static pages for free. if you need something full stack, i have this post of glitch alternatives that include some servers
- i don't use ai for anything i code, make, write etc. i encourage anyone who uses ai and/or vibe codes to consider doing an exercise like this without those tools as a way to challenge your brain and you can continue doing your regular work the way you do your regular work.
- if you do use ai, be open about it - you should be proud of your tools like the rest of us are! if you're not proud, then you may want to reflect on why are you are using tools you're not proud of for a hobby daily prompt exercise in the first place.
- i would absolutely consider using a library like p5.js if it will help you work around a specific element of your work quicker and/or easier. for example, p5 mouse events also handle touch events, so it cut the work in half for making my apps work on mobile along with desktop on top of all the sugar it provides for building with html canvas.
- most importantly, if you can't do it every day, don't get down on yourself. again, it's just a hobby daily prompt exercise, the stakes are so low here so take advantage of that by staying chill and relaxed.
next year i'll probably pick a more narrow umbrella for my projects. i'm currently taking a game development course at sfpc, so next year i may try to make a weird web game every day, or perhaps a weird level of a weird web game every day. i've also been talking to the octothorpes protocol folks about how their protocol works and how i could maybe resurrect something like the glitch community code jams with it. i don't have the bandwidth to do that right now, but it's on my mind as i plan my 2027.
whether it's weird web october, inktober, any month or art medium, organized with a community or all on your own, i highly recommend a one-month daily challenge to exercise your brain and time. i'm now getting more done in the morning, feeling more inspired around code, and feeling hopeful and in community with so many others who build weird web things like i do.
xoxo jenn