minimal computing

Minimal computing is a response to commercial systems that "make the web easy" by concealing the technologies at work as well as the social and economic consequences of those technologies. It's not an argument that Wix and WordPress are "bad" and that you shouldn't use them. It's a way of making things on the web in an informed and deliberate manner. It's a gamble that once you know how the web works, you'll choose to make minimal sites because they are more sustainable, accessible, and personally enriching than other options.

Sustainability

Content management systems like WordPress run on a server. Each and every time someone asks for information, the server accesses a database, builds the page, and sends it back to the user. To do that, the server has to be left running day and night waiting for requests.These dedicated servers consume significant amounts energy, as much as 3% of the world's total energy consumption. That is equivalent to the emissions of the entire airline industry (src). Minimal computing approaches do not require a dedicated server. They favor shared resources and the efficient use of computation and connectivity. Your website might just be an HTML file that can be stored amongst other files in a shared space and served to the web. The website's files can be distributed worldwide so that a page loads equally fast in New York, Phnom Penh, or Lagos.

Accessibility

If you're making a website, you probably have some picture in your mind of how people will use it. People will visit your site to learn, share stories, and have fun. The first user that we have in mind is always ourselves. That's normal. Your site is open to the entire world. You'll have visitors unlike anyone you've ever met. So how can we be sure that they'll have the types of experiences you intend? Minimal computing is highly global in its approach to accessibility. Can users navigate your site using a phone or screen reader? If you add images or videos to your site, will that increase the user's cost of loading the page? Could your site be shared on a thumb drive in areas without internet access? As you write content, consider terms that might seem self-evident to you but not to a global audience (more). Making minimal sites offers an opportunity to consider how own experiences with web technologies inform assumptions that often pose barriers to access and communication.

Community

Wix, WebFlow and other tools provide convenient ways to create web content, but they perpetuate the idea that you need them to make a website. They lock you into their services and the capabilities of their tools. But you are fully capable of making a site on your own and to join the community of people who create and maintain the web. There are millions of people around the world working together, sharing ideas and learning together. Making minimal sites opens the door to new skills and a new way of looking at the world wide web.