The term “digital garden” is a relatively new one, however the concept is about as ancient as the web itself. Remember when websites were thrown together on a weekend, zero professionalism but somehow retaining a classic, playful style while looking like raw HTML? Or to put it another way, when every single website wasn’t a linearly defined series of blog posts, with a tagging system if you’re lucky.
My dad’s website was built in the early 2000’s, and retains the concept of ‘microsites’. The idea is that if a single personal domain represents a person’s or organization’s contribution to the web, then entirely disjoint subdomains can be self-contained websites about the author’s passions or hobbies.
Digital gardens are a return to that version of the web, but brings the last 20 years of lessons along. For example, I use an Obsidian instance for learning computer science and also more focused efforts such as notes on driving or planning trips. I’m going to try and publish any content that may be useful for others, even if it’s primarily for myself and myself only.
Going forward, you can expect this website to contain:
Part of the understanding is that personal websites don't need to be so damn formal. Let's have fun with it!
Edit: This HN submission appeared shortly after I wrote this, relevant and worth reading: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29707808