User:Kiara/Research/workshops.log/XPUB Magical Webring
| Research Contents |
|---|
| General page |
| — Notes |
| — Project Proposal |
| — Thesis Outline |
| (more or less) Rapid Prototypes |
@ wdka - 03-11-2025
with Charlie and the xpub crew
A bit of context
The magic is about caring, sharing, feeling, connecting.
The web is about caring, sharing, connecting and sometimes feeling, to some extent.
During a conversation on this matter with Doriane, we raised a few ideas that allow to explain those implicit yet existing similarities and links the magic and the web share. Here is an edited extract of those ideas:
- A webring is the perfect depictions of decentralization: it is trans-website. The webring doesn't exist in a website but cross-website which makes it less tangible so then more magic: it exist trans-website + belongs to no one = a possibility for (re)appropriation/remix/etc.; the magic happens between the websites; we use the term "ring" but there is no ring the ring is a conceptual magical shape.
- DIWO is a good example of magical practice: physical gathering, ritual, to make up for the inaccessibility of dev/programming tutorials >> shoulder2shoulder against crypto-dev
- About declarativeness:
- The magic is declarative: formulas, incantations, "manifesting" (formulating intention): by saying repetitively something it becomes real/true/alive/comes into existence
- The web is declarative
- The CSS selector
*:not(:focus):hoveris an incantation that might be super powerful on the web and contains multiple intentions - Web extensions a "web fabulation": modifying a website in one go (= metamorphosis), through simple CSS formulas is both magic and hacking
- The CSS selector
From those ideas, that gained the ability to be voiced in reference to this post by Miriam Suzanne (picture), I developed this workshop. It thus relies on webrings, countering systems and (web) inaccessibility, indie web principles (accessibility, inclusivity, hand-coding, light websites, personal websites, etc.[1]), shoulder2shoulder, shape-shifting.
After that discussion, I sought to expand on those topics and came up with some interesting concepts:
- The web is a magical entity as a whole, both as a space and in what-it-is-made-of:
- The web, a magical space
- A network of hyperlinks, connecting and sharing in a back and forth relationship to one another
- Blogs, Tumblr and to a lesser extent forums are online bubbles where a lot of magic happens: sharing, feeling, building community, folklore and decentralization
- CSS as a ritual, CSS as a spell
- The web, magically built
- The CSS selectors
:hover | :focus | :not() | :has() | class name | id name | animation | :visitedall invoke actions or inaction, bear intention and have a strong declarative power - Using
z-indexwith a crazy value to invoke a special entity of the absolute positioning - Everything is a system and we are the hackers
- The content of a website lies in the
<body>(physical), the information about the website is in the<head>(spiritual)
- The CSS selectors
- The web, a magical space
sheezus, what's the workshop about already?!
✨ The aim of the workshop is to create a small magical webring. ✨
In order to do so, you may team up or work alone, at your own preference. We will each work on a webpage of our own choice, the theme is completely yours to choose.
Preferably, you will only work with HTML and CSS, but JS is not forbidden, as long as it is not used to generate the entire HTML (sorry Fred).
In the spirit of the web as a magical entity (space and functioning) described above, embrace the magic of the web and the magic within you and let them flow.
The webring thus created will live on cerealbox and act as a(n XPUB themed/related) ritual.
Somewhere in your code you will have to integrate this piece of code in order to make the webring work.
code will be here
Be bold,
Be yourself,
Have fun!
- ↑ I redirect you to this website if you want to know more