Using static websites for tiny archives
The author advocates for using static websites to organize personal digital archives, emphasizing simplicity, keyword tagging, and effective file management, while promoting this method for broader archival applications.
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The article discusses the author's approach to digital preservation by creating static websites for organizing personal archives. The author emphasizes the importance of intentionality in retaining digital files, opting to keep only those that are meaningful. Each collection, such as scanned documents, screenshots, and bookmarks, is represented by a separate website designed to enhance browsing and metadata display. The simplicity of this method, which avoids complex systems and dependencies, allows for easy access and long-term usability. The author highlights the limitations of traditional file organization methods, such as hierarchical folders, and prefers the flexibility of keyword tagging. By converting folders into mini-websites, the author can simplify file management while maintaining the ability to search and categorize files effectively. The process is described as low-tech and manageable, with a focus on small collections, which encourages thoughtful curation of digital content. The author also notes the potential for this method to be applied in larger archival contexts, promoting the idea of static websites as a viable tool for digital preservation. The article concludes with the author's commitment to gradually transition existing files into this new system, appreciating the low maintenance and ease of use that HTML provides for personal archiving.
- The author creates static websites to organize personal digital archives.
- Each collection is represented by a unique website designed for easy browsing and metadata display.
- The method emphasizes simplicity, avoiding complex systems and dependencies.
- The author prefers keyword tagging over traditional hierarchical folder organization.
- This approach is seen as beneficial for both personal and larger archival contexts.
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29 commentshttps://gist.github.com/egeozcan/b27e11a7e776972d18603222fa5...
Live:
https://gistpreview.github.io/?b27e11a7e776972d18603222fa523...
Selecting via file-picker works too. Dragging usually does not. When all works, images are inserted inline as blobs.
After adding images, if you save the page (literally file->save), the blobs are saved together. don't want a part when saving (for example, removing images)? inspect element, remove, save page.
throw the page on some server or just double click on your computer/mobile.
Ever since WordPerfect I've preferred more deterministic, lightly-formatted documents with some way to see formatting characters directly. Markdown is brilliant, basically a DSL (domain-specific language) for HTML.
The key to plain text is tooling! A couple Markdown tools I haven't seen mentioned here yet (even though they've come up on HN before) are:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/markdown-view... - pretty-render Markdown right in the browser
https://casual-effects.com/markdeep/ - standalone web-friendly Markdown formatter with many features
I also use google/facebook takeouts, reformat the results, and store+index all my human-facing correspondence in there. Text is cheap and I avoid most images. Its still under 200mb and instantly searchable with a nice UI and as a bunch of markdown files it is easily portable.
I also wrote a script to convert Kindle highlights into Markdown files. If anyone’s interested, I'd be happy to polish it a bit and share.
For public-facing content, the Static Site Generator ecosystem keeps improving. I started with Jekyll (since it's the GitHub default), moved through Gridsome, and eventually landed on Nuxt 3 Content, which feels like the sweet spot for me. If I were starting now, I might have chosen Astro.
In any case, the barrier to entry has never been lower. We can host sites for free on GitHub, and if custom styling is needed, AI models are incredibly helpful with CSS.
Markdown is like JavaScript for text formatting. Despite its quirks, it just works.
Nowadays along with html i try to archive using MHTML format instead of manually embedding
Run a simple http server and start browsing archives
FOR IMAGES I DO IS
---> Store all images in Folder
---> Open localhost server
---> Open folder in browser
---> Using javascript convert links to <img> tag with src=link
--> Once browser fetches and displays all images Save as and i have embedded MHTML archive
Or simple bash script can be used to create html with img tag and links to folder
Or you can manuaaly template a MHTML
BUT i let my browser do the heavy work why go manual,
Also instead of BASE64 EMBED, EMDEDDING DIRECTLY BINARY IMAGES IN MHTML IS QUITE MORE EFFECTIVE AND LESS MEMORY CONSUMING
Eg i have 15 images MHTML (binary encode) -> 4MB MHTML (BASE64 ENCODE) -> 5MB
Another method i use is, Run python -m http.server on any folder
Or linux : tree -H http://localhost:8000 Set recursion depth
Then open folder link from server or tree created HTML IN BROWSER
in cmd execute wget -rkpN -e robots=off http://localhost:8000
It will recreate folder with index.html for you to browse, you dont need server then for viewing
Same as export from google or twitter or youtube
The key feature it adds compared to your own setup is mapping subfolders to subdomains (+ dynamic websites, but you don't seem interested in that).
ex: ~/smallweb/example => https://example.localhost
We have a little discord community at https://discord.smallweb.run if anyone is interested.
Since I most of the time like to store articles, tutorial or nifty tricks, I like to store the entire website. For this task, my favorite Tool is SingleFile[1]. With SingleFile you can save a Website with embedded images. Also, you can add annotations, and cut away annoying Ads etc. Besides, it supports a distraction free copy of the website. I can highly recommend taking a look.
Seems like an ideal use for a very simple DIY static-site generator. Write it in Bash or Perl and it will be future-proofed forever.
I've read somewhere that Telegram exports work this way, you get a bunch of raw files somehow organised with directories and browsable by themselves, with a tiny local static website to browse them more conveniently.
So different from the last such mass export I used: Google Takeout, which produces a dumb dump of cryptic xml and raw files named in some nonsensical (to the user) scheme. To this day I'm not even sure I got all the data I asked for before deleting it cloudside.
will list your directory tree as a html file..helpful?
You can make aliases/shortcuts to files on MacOS, can't you?
is author/entrepreneur Derek Sivers' script for reproducing his bare-bones, low-overhead, long-term "Tech Independence" stack.
I find symlinks work for this, which is what I do. I have big directories with the raw pictures dumped from my devices, then categorized directories linking to them.
HTML ready sucks for archiving.
Related
Surfing the (Human-Made) Internet
The internet's evolution prompts a return to its human side, advocating for personal sites, niche content, and self-hosted platforms. Strategies include exploring blogrolls, creating link directories, and using alternative search engines. Embrace decentralized social media and RSS feeds for enriched online experiences.
Archiving and Syndicating Mastodon Posts
The article details archiving Mastodon posts to a personal website using the PESOS model, emphasizing online presence, automation, and content organization through a custom tool developed in Go.
Digital Tools I Wish Existed (2019)
The article highlights challenges in managing digital content, emphasizing the need for effective tools for organization, retrieval, and integration, advocating for a more interconnected approach to personal data management.
The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age
Concerns over digital data preservation grow as vast information is created daily, with organizations like the Internet Archive working to save at-risk content and prevent a potential "digital dark age."
Rediscovering the Small Web (2020)
The modern web is dominated by corporations, stifling personal expression. The author advocates for rediscovering smaller, independent websites, emphasizing their importance for creativity and individual interests in a commercialized landscape.