About this site

The credo

I hereby state that this website…

…is a privilege to me. I consider having a personal website (a.k.a. “home page”) that is solely mine and not controlled by any commercial platforms whatsoever, and accessible via my own domain a benefit that comes both with freedom and with power.

…is a hobby. I keep it and any sections it has or may have, such as my blog or my public notes mainly because I like to do so, and without expecting anything in return, except for my own pleasure. This site is not a money-making machine, nor am I any kind of professional content creator.

…is my own, personal space. This allows me to post content to it every day, or once every decade, whatever I feel is more appropriate and that I don’t need to apologize if I remain inactive for long periods. This also means my personal site is not here to compete with anyone, and it does not have any productivity metrics being measured.

…is made first by me and for me. All the content I create here, all the posts, all the notes, all the thoughts, anything, is a way to express myself and to allow my ideas to flow out and be converted to something that can be later referred to.

…is my ever-changing sandbox. This means it is constantly “under construction”, and I can redesign it every now and then, or change any tools or software that is used to run it, at any time, as part of a continuous experiment to satisfy myself only.

The story

This site was born at this address back in 2002, when I discovered that I could have a home page on the internet hosted at my own domain — and not at Geocities, and later at other free but more advanced webspace providers. Since then, it has matured, having several incarnations along the years, both in terms of the tools I’ve used to build it and its purpose. Apart from pure HTML and CSS, this site ran on tools such as Nucleus CMS and pMachine, now respectively not actively maintained and defunct. Later I started using WordPress and also made some experiments with static site generators, especially Hugo. This space also experienced a tiny hiatus between 2019 and 2020, with no publications, until I decided to start creating content again.

When this site started, it was nothing but a simple home page, because that was the name everyone used back in the time. This meant it had no fixed content sections and was simply filled with random pages containing my interests and hobbies. Then, as blogging became mainstream, it became my blog — first with very personal posts, recalling daily events and stuff, later mixing in some tutorials and more serious reflections, acting as a place I could come back to in order to find a documented reference to my future self, but also aiming to help others.

In 2019 I archived the whole site, creating a static copy of all its content since 2002. I downloaded the resulting ZIP file (and what a BIG file that was) and saved it so maybe I could revisit all the old stuff someday. Then I rebooted the site, because I felt a personal blog was not what I wanted anymore. I wanted to do more than blogging. Maybe write more useful, timeless stuff.

By 2021, I was getting in touch with many new concepts. PKM, for one, lifelong learning for another. As the owner of some versions of personal wikis along the years, I found out that I had been practicing PKM for so long except without naming it as such. Then I got acquainted with the practice of notetaking, and tools like Logseq and Obsidian. Then I learned about digital gardens and how they were an open door to the first web, to the handcrafted websites of the past. That’s when I saw it. It was time for yet another reincarnation of this site. Its current one.

While I was getting in touch with so many concepts, I also came across a different tool, meant for easy, streamlined site creation. Its name is Soupault, and it was created by a very fine person, Daniil Baturin, who I have to thank for bringing me back the joy of creating websites, in a fun, handicrafted way I had not felt since the days of Frontpage and Dreamweaver. Soupault is what I use to create this site now. A static site, by the way.

After so many changes, this site is again very similar to the home page it once was, like in its first incarnation. It is currently my personal, public space. Here, my thoughts, reflections, learning, and knowledge are stored and shared. I’ve kept a blog section, yes, but I have also turned my previous desire to write tutorials and to register knowledge I feel like sharing into writing notes. Some of my writing is also here. This is one of my favorite texts (in Portuguese).

In short, I want this space to be ever changing, always in motion. And you’re so very welcome to explore it all you want.