MNML News (John Michaels)

Q: Why do you have a Brutalist Website?
A: I wanted a simple website where I could get the latest news headlines from a few high-standards news sources (BBC, NYTimes, AP, Washington Post, Al Jazeera English, etc...) without getting bombarded by auto-playing videos or having to download 20 different JS files and CSS libraries. I couldn't find one, so I built MnmlNews.com. I wanted it to be usable, fast and simple before everything else. I also wanted it to be accessible to people in low bandwidth areas or in situation where cell service is disrupted but access to information is crucial. i.e. a natural disaster like Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico which damages the cell network, or a large terrorist attack that results in the network getting bogged down. Because of the minimal/Brutalist design, the download size on the text only views is less than 100 Kb, meaning that even someone on a very slow connection can quickly get the latest headlines. I've been infatuated with Brutalist design for a while now, since before I knew it had a name. Modern web design often feels like an ever escalating arms race of frameworks and trends. Brutalist design, with its focus on simplicity and bucking the trends of the modern web, feels like the solution. I love the raw, unrefined, authentic feel of Brutalist websites. Imperfection can be beautiful, and adds a human touch to a design - just look at the Japanese artistic principle of Wabi Sabi. To me, web designs that are pixel perfect and flawlessly precise feel cookie-cutter and corporate. But when I come across a design that feels imperfect or hand made, it immediately feels more authentic.



Q: Who designed the website?
A: I (John Michaels - http://johnmichaels.io) did. I'm a software engineer by trade, currently working as a consultant/architect for big data projects, but I've done a lot of Ruby on Rails web application development. I'm a huge design enthusiast though, and have always enjoyed it when I have the opportunity to do design work.
Q: Who coded the website?
A: Same guy :D
Q: With what kind of editor?
A: I usually build my apps on a remote server, I SSH into it and use Vim for file editing. When I'm working locally I use Sublime Text. The website is powered by a Ruby on Rails application on the back end with a MySQL database, and it uses the NewsAPI.org API to get the latest article content.

http://mnmlnews.com