Update Log
: made a microblog on neocities. Admittedly that doesn't mean much right now since nothing's really on it but the intention is this will basically be like my own, individual Twitter. Just me sharing lyrics, quotes, random thoughts, etc. It might end up being/feeling a little melodramatic...I think I want to lean into it as a way of expressing some of my emotions in a healthy-ish way. I've also been working slowly on building a new "Projects" page and subpages, which I'm really excited about...but also nervous about because it's turning out to be a lot more tedious work than I was expecting...I think it will be worth it in the end.
In other news, I've learned that you can reference multiple external CSS sheets in one HTML file as well as reference other CSS sheets within a CSS sheet. That's definitely coming in handy for my upcoming Projects page and also feels like it's opened the door for making a much more cohesive site. It kind of makes me want to redo my entire site......lol.
: Ok I'm really struggling to not change my layout a lot. I've also been dealing with some pretty intense mood swings recently but that's a different type of update. Anyways, I changed the color palette to something that felt more mature and calming. The pastel purple color was strnagely "loud" and uncomfortable, I didn't enjoy looking at it for too long. Anyways this color scheme feels comfier...maybe instead of creating entirely new layouts, I'll just build on little details to this one until I get a full, cohesively designed site like everyone else. Is that what everyone else does? Do I just have a ridiculously short attention span lol....
: This is going to be a super long update because it's I took off Jan-Aug from updating this site (unplanned). I was worried that I'd stayed away too long and wouldn't remember anything--and while I did forget *ahem* a lot...I'm encouraged by how quickly I've been able to refresh myself and how much muscle memory kicked in. It's funny that I first started this site in Sept 2023 and just really got my excitement back for it literally one year later. Maybe Neocities is a "winter" hobby in my brain for some reason. I made my first external css that fully mapped to the index and all of the pages too. I'm so freaking proud of that...even though I'm fully replacing the need for it just like...a week or two later. (Actually after only a couple days of fully replacing every page...). This past weekend I also made something finally resembling a fully functioning web frame that was also cute with a cohesive-ish theme. I think I'm fully learning how much time, dedication, attention to detail, skill go into designing beautiful webpages. Some of these sites are thinking about every little detail and codifying what they can...it's exhausting lol. But really I feel inspired and just...honestly proud of all of the projects that I'd done and how much I learned in basically just four months last year. I fully believe sticking to hand-coding everything in Notepad, so that there are no automations for me to reply on has helped with my memory of syntax.
(Before I forget, fun fact: this is the first time I put the marquee in my header instead of my footer. This is a geeky moment for me :> )
Last-last thing for this update: I want this index layout to be my layout for at least a month or something. I want to experiment with making pages still but I don't want updating the site where I'm tracking myself to be itself changing so much. It makes keeping track (and keeping up). I might have some other "main" pages or respository of links but I want one solid index...at least for as long as I can remmeber that I said this.
: I've been feeling really down again recently. It's been an honest roller coaster of up/down in terms of optimism for the future. So much so even within one single day.
Oh, I also learned how to add text to an image link when hovering. It's the "title" of the image source, not the "alt".
: Made a page with a blurred background which I'm super excited about becauseI had struggled with that for far too long. The positioning of the background and foreground is intentional and I'm really happy with how it came out.
: i made a page inspired by the old internet. I think I finally let it sink in that by staying away from certain design graphics, I was keeping my pages flat. I understand how to organize elements, but I was neglecting the true design part. I went pretty overboard on the animations though so I would definitely not recommend it if someone has sensitivity to that.
also i made an impromptu holiday card~
: ok the last few homepage templates i had did not include update logs so it's been a while since i've added something. this one will be long.
i made a new homepage lost & found page, and i'm so happy i did. looking back at prevoius homepages fills me with so much pride in how far i've come.
finally figured out cascading images (or one way i suppose with this page
made a 11/6 homepage that combined displays and used the anchor/id element for seamless navigation (if viewed on desktop. mobile was a mess for some sad reason)
made a page playing with text direction using a tvd character for inspiration because i couldn't think of anything else.
- made this new homepage combining some elements of previous homepages. i would say i very clearly wanted to recreate my 10/15 homepage in a neater way. some main differences were that i was able to fix the sidebar css; i kept the "base pages" separate from the project pages; i returned to not listing my projects by month. i'm still organizing them by month but i found that listing them by month was making me feel bad, because i know i haven't been doing as much in november. i've been burnt out and tired and also something happened that made me feel the need to step away from neocities for a little while.
oh i also made a bear blog because i didn't feel like designing my own. i'm actually really glad i did because it finally opened my eyes to the :root pseudo-element.
: finally fixed the xanga tribute page link on this main page. added a romeo & juliet screenplay practice page that i'd made a while back. i like the way it looks but manually editing the formatting for the screenplay is just...not worth it lol.
: hopefully fixed the external css for the new homepage look
: new homepage after starting to learn some css flex and also just wanting a less boxy look
: made an inside joke page for my partner. if anybody who sees this happens to have gone to evo 2023 and did the "jujutsu kaisen domain expansion experience," you might appreciate this. i want to put a yt video up combining the original video i used and japanese hyperpop because that's really the experience we had lol.
: made a template page for story writing where the table of contents actually works!
: made a "soliloquy" minimalist concept page. i'm probably overhyping this minimalist style page but i like it. i'm also getting to the point where i want to start adding css animations. also updated the nighthawk diner page with a quote from hemingway's "the killers," which is assumed to be an inspiration for the piece.
: NEW HOMEPAGE LOOK! i was doing html/css stuff thru to the end of september but work was so busy and i was so tired that i never got around to updating anything on neocities. then last week i was traveling so i wasn't able to do anything. so i'm putting a bunch of updates today. sorry to be annoying.
: changed index/home page to one i built fully on my own instead of the layout template i'd been using from createblog. i'm honestly in love with this and the fact that it's really mine.
: took me 2 days but finally figured out nested grids and made my first "concept" page for friends. i know design-wise i need help...but i'm happy with the grid and styling so far.
: i finally sat down and focused on css grid and i finally found Kevin Powell's youtube channel. honestly, this his learning css youtube video helped me understand it so much. i might do better with someone teaching me vs just me reading everything. anyways i know it's crap but it's the first css grid i have ever made from scratch so idgaf. i'm also super tired and have a loooong week of work ahead of me
: i wanted to try something more interesting than centered div boxes with text. so i figured out how to make div boxes (idk if that's the right terminology) with right-alignment to make it look like a conversation. originally i wanted to make this corny and romantic but then i opted for just corny so pls enjoy some egg puns i found on google images
: struggled with creating a background-image file path in css for a local file all last night and this morning so eventually i gave up. i spent most of today in a slump for unrelated reasons but i made a simple dark academia quotes page for myself. i'm definitely feeling the distance between myself and some of my webdesign goals in terms of skill, but i'm trying not to get too discouraged. i know part of this is taking the time to actually learn the programming language and rules. and at least the simpler pages can still be cute & aesthetic. (also i'm realizing i really just want to make a bunch of random web pages about my interests, i don't want to write on here. honestly, dealing with html formatting isn't worth it lol)
: made my second real page (meaning i made it from scratch myself), this time including some css. i'm honestly amazed at how simple it was and now i'm really frustrated that i didn't learn html coding in middle school and high school with everyone else lol...
: finally figured out how to center the boxes on my xanga tribute page; finally created a page with a plain black background and lime green. extremely miniimalistic and reminds me of 80s movies.
: made a "diner" page with nighthawks as a background. try to turn it into a diner page or use as index/enter/landing page?
: created a page with embedded yt playlist, "tv voicemails" from sitcoms; combined index and update log into same page
: deleted writing-related pages, started an odetochildhood section and fake xanga page, got lost in the glory and second-hand embarrassment of old internet profile icons
: my first page lol
: added more pages and a to-do list
: created blog and set up page template!