The official website of author and creator Matthew Wayne Selznick (that’s me) is powered by the free and open-source WordPress content management system and served from an Amazon Lightsail instance.

Podcast episode files are likewise served from Amazon Lightsail storage. Other podcast functionality is provided by Seriously Simple Podcasting.

Gravity Forms powers the contact form and certain other user entry forms. The mailing list is hosted by MailerLite. I use both Cal.com and TidyCal for bookings.

The “look and feel,” as well as many of its under-the-hood features, is thanks to a child theme of the Bricks Builder theme framework with additional functionality provided by Bricks Extras.

This site is text-first, employs images only when necessary to compliment information, and is intentionally low-frills in service to the following principles and intentions:

• I’m a creator who works in a variety of media, but I’m primarily a writer, and I mostly work with writers or with creators who strongly favor the written word in their own creative endeavors. And so: more words than pictures.
• Text loads fast, is translation-ready, and is accessible. I’d rather have a speedy site, readily available to all, than one that’s pretty for the sake of being pretty.
• I’m personally tired of the template-driven, cookie-cutter appearance of many (most?) websites. Perhaps it’s ironic to counter homogeneity with dark text on a light background, but at least you don’t have to scroll past giant “hero” images on every page to get to the information you’re looking for, right?
• Users consistently rate simple websites higher than visually complex ones, and tend to stay on them and have higher engagement with them. Sounds good to me.

The title and headers of the site are rendered in Rokkit. Primary content is rendered in Lora. Certain secondary and tertiary text is rendered in Public Sans. 

That’s it. I mean, how many fonts do you need?

Want a site like this one… or even one that’s fancier? Reach out via the Contact page, or book a complimentary discovery call and let’s see if we’re a good fit and how I might help you.