From bd65a742f81157b5c4c9fe399db65a0c1838f47d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Elis Eriksson Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2026 19:11:08 +0200 Subject: write about my beloved fancyindex --- content/blog/fancyindex.md | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 29 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/blog/fancyindex.md diff --git a/content/blog/fancyindex.md b/content/blog/fancyindex.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..772f825 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/fancyindex.md @@ -0,0 +1,29 @@ +--- +title: Finally replaced NGINX's Autoindex +keywords: autoindex nginx css +date: 2026-07-07 +--- + +Jeez, I've been dreading this moment for so long, and it wasn't even a hassle. + +So I finally set up FancyIndex for NGINX because the built-in autoindex honestly sucks genuine ass. Okay, maybe that's a little harsh. It works. It lists files. It does exactly what it says on the tin. But aesthetically? It's basically a directory listing with unstyled HTML from the stone age. + +For the longest time I'd been putting this off because I assumed it'd be one of those projects where you spend six hours reading documentation, rebuilding NGINX with some obscure module, sacrificing a goat to the package manager, and still end up with a blank page and three cryptic error messages. + +Instead, it took me a few minutes. + +Most of the work wasn't even getting FancyIndex running. The hardest part was deciding how I wanted it to look. It supports custom headers, footers, CSS, sorting, hiding files, and a bunch of little quality-of-life features that make a file index feel like it actually belongs on your website instead of looking like your web server accidentally exposed a folder. + +The best part is that it's still just a directory listing. No JavaScript monstrosity, no database, no fancy backend. Drop files into a directory (well, only I have FTP access so sucks to be you) and they're immediately available. That's exactly what I wanted. + +I don't know why I kept procrastinating on this one. I guess "I'll do it later" eventually became "I've been saying that for over a year." Turns out the solution was just... reading the documentation for once. + +As usual, the thing I'd built up in my head as an enormous nightmare turned out to be one of the easiest upgrades I've made to the server. + +I probably should stop doing that. + +...Nah. + +### slight note here + +The only issue I had was that the CSS href didn't want to work so I just caved and shoved a `` in the header.html -- cgit v1.3-7-ge9ab