So we’re just having a little chat :)
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Hah… just noticed something interesting that looks like it’s going to be another advantage to Web Numbers¹… look at these Kitten² screenshots and tell me if you can spot something unexpected.
Hint: it’s what’s missing.
There are no 404 errors for common hack attempts trying to exploit WordPress vulnerabilities, etc. In fact, it’s entirely quiet. Because those folks watch DNS :)
¹ https://ar.al/2025/06/25/web-numbers/
² https://kitten.small-web.org/
#WebNumbers #SmallWeb #peerToPeerWeb #personalWeb #Kitten #SmallTech
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@aral Hello Mr. Aral, I hope you are well. I want to tell you that no one cares about me, no one is donating. I have reached the depths of despair. Please donate to me and tell the other donors that I am in very bad shape.
@aral Kitten is intriguing. Small systems look naive right up until they don’t.
PS. Just discovered a bug in Mastodon where links to Web Numbers are not detected as hyperlinks.
(You’ll have to copy and paste that URL into your browser to joiun the chat.)
PPS. Just started the Persisted Kitten Chat example instead so the chat log will be preserved :)
So we’re just having a little chat :)
@kkarhan The peer-to-peer version (not the one I just demoed) is peer to peer Web.
And, you won’t be installing the Kitten Chat example, folks will be running their own personal web sites that can talk to one another.
And setting up a server is ~10 seconds and requires no technical knowledge.
(Or you can run one on your favourite single-board computer at home, if you like.)
And that’s it folks, I’m going to turn this off in a few minutes so I can get back to coding :)
Thank you all for dropping by :)
💕
Right, the server’s off.
Going to get back to coding now :)
Alt text (too long for Mastodon’s arbitrary alt-text character count limit):
Screenshot of Kitten’s Persisted Kitten Chat running at https://91.98.66.193
Persisted Kitten Chat
Status: Online
Aral Right, I just started the Persisted Kitten Chat example instead so the chat log will be preserved :)
FiXato
Matt meow
Aral Hey FiXato, Matt, welcome :)
Aral So this is how I see folks running their own Small Web sites in the future, at Web Numbers (IP addresses, really, but less scary) :)
Max Hello!
Aral (Only made possible as of this month with Let's Encrypt rolling out support for TLS certs at IP addresses.)
Hellie Hiya!
Aral Hey, Max, Hellie, how goes? oliof Hello
Hellie doing alright, interesting app!
Aral Of course, this is an example of an old-school centralised site where we're all chatting on the same server but, if you're interested, check out the end-to-end-encrypted Kitten Chat example in the repository for a peer-to-peer version :)
Aral Thanks, Hellie, the really interesting bit is that we're meeting at an IP address over https :)
Aral Oops, I meant Web Number ;)
The st a s much stin than i i i we has mahy may last a ta chat is really convenient, nothing is ever stored on any servers.
Gabriel I find it cool that Let's Encrypt supports certificates for ip addresses
FiXato if only routers and other hardware with built-in web control panels would come with LE certs...
Elenoire Ferruzzi Ciao, idk what im doing here but I'm glad I can tho woe2you Oh hey, this is neat
Aral Hey Max, yes, it's very cool (Delta Chat) although I mostly use Signal
Aral Hey Talon, welcome 😊 And yeah, this is a centralised example but imagine you're at your own Web Number and I'm at mine and we can still do this (and more)... that's the Small Web (peer-to-peer Web)
Hellooo :)
woe2you Seeing the padlock next to an IP is wacky. I'm sure I'll get used to it in time.
Aral @Gabriel, yeah, they only just started; I've been waiting for it eagerly so I could implement support in Auto Encrypt and thus Kitten so I can remove DNS from the equation for the Small Web Aral @FiXato No reason they couldn't... apart from, y'know, the mainstream is a bit shit
Aral Hey Elenoire, lovely you could make it :)
Aral @woe2you Thank you :)
Aral Hey @nemo:)
nemo
Aral @woe2you Well, you're one of the first people to see it so that's to be expected :)
Aral Right, folks, I should get back to coding so i can release this (the version of Kitten with Web Numbers support) as soon as possible. I want to launch the Small Web to a wider audience this year and there's still lots of work to do beyond Kitten :)
Aral Thank you all for popping in and saying hi :)
Aral 💕