The thesis of A Handmade Web by J.R Carpenter explains how modern websites and social networks aren’t as “human” as they once were. The manual labor and human engagement with these older web pages express personality and independence that simply isn’t possible on newer mainstream social networks. These new websites are filled with unfamiliar components (potentially dangerous viruses, stealing data), contrasting the safe, intimate space there once was on the DIY themed early web. During the early days of the social web, creating your own website gave yourself a personalized safe space to express your identity. Nowadays on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc., we depend on these massive mainstream websites to express our online personality. The vast majority of users on these platforms are unable to understand how these websites even function because of the lack of accessible source code. If these networks continue to evolve like this, the disconnect between the user and the website will continue to separate even further. J.R Carpenter mentions that the handmade web is used as a form of resistance. What he is referring to, is the modernized way that big corporations create commercialized websites. Massive amounts of money are being pumped into these companies to simplify, yet alienate these websites and networks from humans. Artistic expression and experimentation through code becomes more and more rare nowadays because of this phenomenon. The handmade web functions as a rebellion towards these soulless and robotic functioning websites by allowing the creator to customize and self-publish meaningful art. Handmade web creators do this through manually written code to pursue writing, graphics, or any sort of artistic media that they want to put out into the online space. In my experiences exploring the internet, I have found multiple instances of websites that contain physical characteristics, similar to those mentioned in “The Handmade Web”. As a music enjoyer, one website that I love is called Every Noise At Once https://everynoise.com/Links to an external site.. This site lets you dive into an endless wormhole of music genres through its interactive map. This website’s design and functionality is different from any other and has been manually coded to visualize the massive world of music. One of my favorite websites I’ve ever come across is wwwwwwwww.Jodi.orgLinks to an external site. by the Jodi collective. The creators of this webpage are responsible for some of the first ever artists to fabricate web art. Because of this, their websites are some of the most unique and intriguing webpages to ever exist because there was no standard to follow at the time. They used different symbols and characters to create some truly weird abstract art. I love this website because you can tell that each page is manually programmed, this can be seen by looking at the source code.