Smallweb Chatter Post

[kalloway]

How's it going, smallweb?

This is an open post to talk about what you're working on, what you'd like to show off, cool resources, things that maybe aren't working so well, etc.

Comments

[tempural]

I've been having a LOT of fun with my wiki! https://wiki.scumsuck.com/ I don't have the energy to learn how to self-host and set up PHP stuff right now, so i'm very glad that my friend kat helped me set up Dokuwiki on her server! And it's been really wonderful because this is how I've been wanting to write most of my site pages in the first place. My adhd really likes link rabbitholes that recursively circle back to each other and go on tangents...

Some use cases that I've found more convenient with the wiki format:

• list of exchange gifts I've received and made
• my new vegas mod list
• my new vegas fannish profile
• A definition of old man uke, with some examples

I managed to customize a bit of the CSS to fix a few things that were bothering me. One last thing that's been bothering me is how the floating elements on sidebars (like on the character template page) doesn't push the text or headings to the side. Maybe something to do with the headings being full-width? Hmmm must look into that more...

Having the wiki for the more "informational pages" frees up a lot of my design brain to make more fun HTML/CSS pages on my personal site! I revamped my landing page to have less text and more visuals, cuz I was doing a few IRL events where people were likely to just want to click links to social media LOL.

I've integrated my wiki into my main site, by using forbidden iframes. The iframes will hold content that I want to be able to edit on my phone - like the "now" page on the bottom of my front page, or my commission status.

but yeah, I think this is the sort of ease-of-use that people talk about with SSGs, being able to have one template for all the pages and just fill in the "content". Except I desire the ability to edit on my phone whenever I have a whim. 😏 Highly recommend the wiki format for others with my needs.

[pebbleinalake]

Ooh cool, I love looking at wiki sites. The idea of building one has always been on my bucket list, but I just have too many other projects still to get through first lol. Love how you set yours up!

Also, your landing page looks awesome! I really like the layout and the graphics for links. Very cool.

[luckyzukky]

yayyy happy to provide you the wiki :)

[axolotls]

Ohhh, it looks so good and is so cool!! Love what you've done with it!

[linky]

I love how your wiki looks!! How fun. :D

[rigormorphis]

Oh this is such a cool wiki! I've always been intrigued by the idea of a personal wiki but all the examples I saw were like, tech bros documenting their thoughts on web design philosophy or whatever, which is nice but not for me...but I love yours so much. It's definitely inspiring me to create my own.

[pebbleinalake]

My big update this week is that I finally got a custom domain set up for my site! Finding a tutorial that is actually beginner friendly proved to be almost impossible, but it's finally done. :D

[luckyzukky]

i moved my personal site onto a static site generator. i'm not really huge on like, making my own sites and stuff, i just self-host everything possible, but this site is where i well, list all those self-hosted sites. and stuff about me. and it was getting annoying manually updating a nav bar so i figured it was time.

i chose astro because my fancoder discord friends love it, and it's wonderful to work with, even as much as i hate javascript. so convenient, easy to pick up (at least at my skill level), and gets the job done while being very powerful. i managed to set up a now page with a content collection so i can preserve previous updates. that's pretty cool.

[linky]

Your site looks so nice!! I can't wait to learn how to use astro once I have the brain power to climb the learning curve. Your now page is so nice too!

[harlow_turner_chaotic_ace]

I am excited to say that I have been working on my neocities site again! I am learning more HTML stuff (I'm mostly self taught, got my only 'formal' training in high school and from an online course I halfway completed). My site is starting to look better, it still looks kind of bad but I'm having fun and making progress and learning and that's what counts. I also took a volunteer position as the webmaster for a local nonprofit. Their site runs on GoDaddy and that's no fun, but I'm glad I can use my skills to support the community.
Anyhow, I'm looking to be more involved in this community and maybe join some webrings as well.

[tre.praze.net]

wrote a static site generator in an unholy mix of lisp, python and bash so I can update my blog/journal/whatever it is without needing to ssh into the server. Does this mean I have posted anything to it since then? Lol of course it doesn't.

[luckyzukky]

that is definitely an unholy mix omg but i respect it... the power it must provide... i keep toying with the idea of taking an existing SSG like astro and incorporating a headless CMS like decap CMS to get that sort of posting front-end without losing the SSG capabilities by using a fully dynamic site, but then i'd have to like document and write how to do all that and i have a lot on my plate lol

your site looks wonderful by the way, can't wait to explore it

[axolotls]

I've been having weird issues with my sites loading really slowly the first time (and almost always via curl), always a multiple of 21 seconds. Ruled out DNS issues and anything after the reverse proxy, probably also the reverse proxy since since it only logs the request after the delay? SSL seems to be fine too... Really lost as to what it could be.

Otherwise, I've got an error getting multidomain SSL certificates that I didn't before, so gonna try troubleshooting that more soon. I plan on continuing my search for a good basic CSS stylesheet I can just pop in to style base HTML tags and make pages look like something so I can customise them more after (I think I'll just frankenstein one, gotta identify which bits I like, first, though).

[starfleetbrat]

I've mostly just been fixing little things on my neocities site and working on a fav music page that has a webdeck player on it (it plays youtube playlists). I'm a bit unsure about the player as its not really responsive, and its too big when a phone user views the site, so having a think about that. If anyone knows any alternatives please do let me know.

random resources:
https://32bit.cafe/websiteideas/ - list of ideas for things you can put on your site
https://baccyflap.com/noai/ - no ai webring
https://solaria.neocities.org/guides/accessibility - accessibility advice

[pebbleinalake]

Thank you for those resources! The website ideas page is especially helpfully for me right now as I've been struggling to come up with new content for my site.

I'm pretty sure I have a code snippet for a music player saved on my computer, so I can try looking for it when I get home if you want.

[starfleetbrat]

that would be great if you have time thanks! no worries if not though :D

[pebbleinalake]

Found it! Sorry, I didn't remember when I suggested it, but it looks like the code is specifically designed to work with bootstrap. Not sure how easy it would be to modify it if you don't use bootstrap. Just in case you can still use it, here's the link to it. It's made to work with youtube playlists.

[stepnix]

I wrote a manifesto which, among other things, encourages people to establish a smallweb presence. I tried collecting resources and ideas to make it easier, but I'm still pretty new at this

[haunted_cherries]

Made a lot of progress with updating the CSS for my Status Cafe page!! CSS is the bane of my existence sometimes, but making steps to at least TRY and learn in for the future! Still tinkering with my neocities and what I plan to do with it, but I'll still be using my Dreamwidth for now to do a lot of what I want, which is to have a journal to post both life stuff and fic I write!!

Also, happy to read everyone's update!! Good job, folks!! ^ o^)b ❤️

[linky]

Ooh I love how you did your CSS! I recently got a status cafe page myself and it's been fun to do the CSS on it. (Though I also feel you about it sometimes being the bane of your existence.)

[haunted_cherries]

THANK YOU!!! I always like trying to find way to build things that are easier on the eyes, and I love Status Cafe but GOD it is so BRIGHT HDJKSHDJKSH xD also FUNK YEAH, have fun with yours, too!! :D I stumbled on the site a while ago and really do love it for quick updates/miniblogs (and it's been helping detox from the whole "ooh likes and comments, big numbers go up" mindset xD)

(CSS BE OUT HERE HAUNTING US HDJSHDJKS xD)

[toothpastepancake]

A lot! My website hyperfixation is back. I remade my site to have less "eyes" on it...

I'm working on creating an archive of All The Fic I've Ever Written in the entire 15 years I've been writing fic, currently archiving my main fandom's 300ish works LOL, and I applied to the fanfiction webring for this page.

I also made a bunch of new pages on my site:
-My cow knickknack & doll/toy collection
-My physical media collection
-A shrine to the show the Orville (still a WIP)
-A HTML "dressup game" of my favorite character (no mobile function)


I'll be working on shrines, continuosly updating my fic archive, webrings, and the fansites I have in progress (for a niche DC background alien species).

Some cool resources:

https://petrapixel.neocities.org/layout-generator/ site generator, which I used for my site
fandom ring's site ideas & resources list
windows 7 css - my 2nd operating system ever, I love these
ribozone's code snippets
virtual pet (i think) - I need to figure this one out

[linky]

Best of luck with crossposting all your fic!!

[linky]

The biggest update to my site since the last chatter post is the wall of blorbos/fave characters! It doesn't have everyone (theres too many to list ^^;) but its a good start. I got inspired by hellomei's site to do my own spin on the concept.

I also have been updating my fandom events page as well. I added a few new pages as well as updated the list of what I've partaken in. No idea if or when I will make a page for everything I've done, but I'm glad it's up to date in terms of the list. I'm thinking of changing up the CSS for this page too.

My status cafe account also finally got activated recently so I added the widget to my home page. As well as made the CSS on the page of the account itself be similar to my website's style. I also joined the fan archives directory on nekoweb that I posted about here recently! And along all this I've done the usual fic crossposting too.

[toothpastepancake]

Love the css you did on the status cafe page!

[linky]

Thank you so much! <3

[haunted_cherries]

AHHHHH I LOVE the pink on your Status Cafe page, for me it oddly feels soft and warm? Brain be braining xD

Also FUNK YEAH, WALL OF FAVORITE BLORBOS!!! ^ o^)/

[linky]

Thank you so much!!! That makes me happy to hear :D

YAY FOR WALL OF BLORBOS!!

[grayestofghosts]

I've been adding a lot of links to my website, but have also added a minizine, a Critical Role fanfic, and more meta essays on my writing page! I was really hustling to actually get the fic formatted and uploaded onto my site to have it done in time for this post lol. It's really nice to have a place to post my casual stuff, honestly, and now that I have a template it's pretty simple to make new pages. I'm contemplating having a new style page for the fic, though. I'm wondering if the color contrast is too difficult to read for long stretches.

[paperghost]

I've been dealing with "coder's block" or some kind of selective creative block. My activity this year has been so little compared to the last two. That can be chalked up to personal life events and work, but my site was something that helped me as an outlet, so I'm bummed :(

For now I'm just letting my mind rest, but I have a draft of something that should be posted by the fall sitting here.

[kalloway]

I'm in kind of the same boat. I want to work on stuff but... idk, this part of my brain keeps not engaging. Hope things settle down and you can find your spark.

[haunted_cherries]

SUPER VALID, let your mind and body get some good rest, and give yourself some grace!! That creative spark will be back before you know it!! :D

[tozka]

I'm slowly but surely adding content to my site! I've uploaded reading lists for the past five years, added a few sticker pages, and copied over 30+ video game reviews from an old DW journal.

Next I'm going to finish copying the rest of the reviews over, and then add more fanfic recs pages (I'm working on Merlin fic recs now). I'd also like to join a few more webrings!