About

Welcome! My name’s Tom, and this is my home on the web.

I’m a web developer and technical product manager based in London. My background is in SEO and digital marketing, and I’ve been working in this industry for over 10 years. To read more about my experience, check out my CV.

This website

I started Bennet.org in 2014 as an experiment in hand-coded web development. That is, writing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript line-by-line without a CMS, framework, or theme. While I wouldn’t recommend this long-term, it’s a great way to learn rapidly.

A few years later I discovered the JAMstack movement, which at that time was popularized by Netlify. I became enthralled by the promise of static site generators, and in 2017 migrated to Hugo. This site has also been a sandbox for new CSS features like Grid and web platform technologies like service workers.

In 2023 I moved the website to Astro. For me, Astro strikes a good balance: it enables developers to use modern UI frameworks like React, while sending zero JavaScript to the client by default. This appeals to the old schooler in me. I still scrutinize every line of code.

My writing

I occasionally do freelance writing, focusing mostly on video games. I’ve had features commissioned by publications including Polygon and RockPaperShotgun, and have interviewed game developers including Naughty Dog and CD Projekt. I try to share links to these articles on my blog.

During this site’s early years I combined my enjoyment of web development with my passion for writing, and put together a series of individually-designed editorials which you can browse here. These haven’t been updated in years and long predate the Astro-powered incarnation of this website, but long-form content design on the web is still something which interests me.

Carnivorous plants

Since I was a child I’ve been fascinated by carnivorous plants like the Venus Flytrap, and I now have a website dedicated to this hobby: Tom’s Carnivores.

Developed continuously since 2017, the site now has a large social & email following as well as a big SEO presence. The site’s interactive tools and maps have been referenced by the BBC, Kew Gardens, the RHS, and the Eden Project.

More about me

Fun fact, at one time I was an active skydiver. I earned my FF2 freefly rating and logged over 250 group jumps in both the UK and internationally. I’m the one on the right wearing the yellow-and-blue parachute:

As I’ve gotten older my interests have mellowed considerably. I now enjoy reading science-fiction, brewing coffee, and eating very dark chocolate. I live in the UK with my wife, our kids, and a greenhouse full of unusual plants.