The Beautiful Web

Published on Feb 11, 2026, filed under development, design. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon.)

You know the Web. You know the Dark Web. You know other forms of the Web—the Open Web and the Semantic Web; Web 2.0, Web 3.0, Web3.

There’s another Web.

The Web of homemade websites.

It’s not the Web of perfect websites.

It’s—the Beautiful Web.

It’s the beautiful Web because it’s driven by passion.

The passion to build your own website, to maintain your website, to take responsibility for your website.

The Web of showing and revealing and fulfilling yourself.

The Web of honest mistakes and unashamed authenticity.

The Web of raw—beauty.

When you see a homemade site, remember:

You’re surfing the Beautiful Web.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies (e.g., Google); I’m an active web and tool developer (code optimization, digital defense), a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and a book author (O’Reilly, Frontend Dogma).

I love trying things—in web development and engineering management, but also in politics and philosophy, where I hold to one idea in particular: that we can only be well if we take good care of everyone. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my perspectives and experiences. (Interpret charitably but be critical—and share feedback and advice that makes my work better.)