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from the hope-we-don't-drain-the-battery dept.
Low-tech Magazine explains how to build a low-tech web site, using its own (solar powered) web site as an example. They cover both the web design and the actual hardware in use, an Olimex A20. The idea is to radically reduce the energy use associated with accessing the content, seeing as complex designs with Javascript have burdensome resource requirements that translate into increased use of electricity. Renewable power sources alone are not enough to address the growing energy use of the Internet. Their server is also self-hosted so there's no need for third-party tracking and cookies either.
Low-tech Magazine was born in 2007 and has seen minimal changes ever since. Because a website redesign was long overdue — and because we try to practice what we preach — we decided to build a low-tech, self-hosted, and solar-powered version of Low-tech Magazine. The new blog is designed to radically reduce the energy use associated with accessing our content.
Earlier on SN:
Conservative Web Development (2018)
About a Third of All Web Sites Run on WordPress (2018)
Please, Keep your Blog Light (2018)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Unixnut on Thursday September 27 2018, @06:59PM (1 child)
Oh, and to add, online advertising is a big mis-allocation of resources. Due to online advertising, we have the concept of the "scrape scammer" as I call them. People who set up a blog/website, etc... and just scrape other peoples content off their sites/forums/newsgroups, and paste it on their site (only sometimes attributed), in no order, or even a consistent theme, on a page absolutely loaded with adverts and JS bullcrap.
They also somehow game Google (I presume by cross linking a lot between other scraper scam sites), to be at the top of the results. 90% of the time when I search for something, I hit these blasted sites. It has actually rendered Google search useless for me. It has reached a point when it is easier for me to go my library and look up something in a book then it is to crawl through a page or more of crap to reach it online, which is the exact opposite of how the internet used to be for me.
A lot of bullshit on the net is fueled by the money brought from advertising, indeed we now even have issues of people ripping off each others videos to try to get some ad-money, necessitating a dedicated law (DMCA seems to be used the most), and a per site team and infrastructure (more costs) just to police and pull down such attempts.
Really, online advertising drives a horrible cesspit of wasted resources and human effort worldwide. I guess offline advertising does the same, but they are limited by the laws of physics and man (i.e. the kind of spying they get away with online would not be allowed in real life, although with Alexa, smart appliances, etc.. the lines are blurring).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Friday September 28 2018, @02:10PM
And... I forget if it was Proctor & Gamble, or Johnson & Johnson, or ? & ?, but some company of that size and general type.... who as a test pulled ALL their ads for six months, and observed NO change in sales. Meaning at least in their sphere, where everyone needs their products and any store "advertises" it simply by putting it on the shelf (and the company has already paid for that product placement) -- the only beneficiaries of advertising are the marketing departments.
Worth noting that marketing departments (and ad agencies) don't exist to sell product; they exist to sell ad campaigns to companies that sell product (cuz otherwise they lose their jobs). And up to half of the product's retail price can be the cost of advertising. How many sales are lost because advertising jacks the price above what at least some consumers wish to pay? that'd be an interesting spreadsheet.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.