Draft for Ian to check (28 October 2026). Written from his existing pages and notes. Still to confirm:

  • Where the finished site will be hosted (the test copies run on Cloudflare and on Clook)
  • Whether to mention that AI helped write the code

I've built websites for many years, and for this one I wanted to go back to basics: plain, fast pages that work for everyone. If you're curious how it works, here's the tour.

Plain HTML, no WordPress

Every page is plain HTML, made in advance. There's no WordPress, no page builder and no database waiting to be asked. A small Python program takes the articles and podcast episodes and turns them into finished pages, using Jinja templates. That's why pages load almost instantly.

Built with help from AI

I designed the site and made the decisions; the code was written with an AI coding assistant, Claude Code, with me checking every step. It's a good example of what I teach: AI doing the heavy lifting, a person in charge.

Fast and light

  • Images are in modern formats, AVIF and WebP, at the right size for your screen.
  • Fonts are stored on this site rather than fetched from elsewhere.
  • Pages work with JavaScript switched off; the scripts only add extras.

No tracking

There are no advertising trackers and no tracking cookies unless you agree. Videos and podcast episodes load from YouTube and Captivate only when you press play. More in the privacy page.

Built for everyone

Every page is checked with a keyboard alone, at phone width, in light and dark mode, and with automatic accessibility tests. There's an accessibility menu on every page. More in the accessibility statement.

Helping people find it

This is what's usually called search engine optimisation (SEO), but really it's about being clear:

  • Every page has a plain title and description, and describes itself to search engines in structured data, a standard format they read.
  • Every page also has a plain-text copy for AI tools, and the site offers a summary for them at llms.txt.
  • AI tools and search engines are welcome to read the site, so they describe my work accurately.
  • Old versions of articles are hidden from search results, so people find the current one.

The search box uses Pagefind, which runs inside your browser, so your searches stay on your device.