Small Web September Check-In 1: Links!
Sep. 7th, 2025 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enchantedsleeper posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
smallwebWe’ve reached the first check-in point for Small Web September! How is everyone doing so far? Whether you’re just getting warmed up or are already ticking off goals (or maybe you just found this and want to join – welcome!), come and share your progress in the comments of this check-in.
The theme of this week’s check-in is links! Earlier this year, I came across Coy (osteophage)’s link compilation in praise of links, which led me down a rabbit hole of reading various essays about the importance of hyperlinking and being a good steward of the web. This includes not making your own site into an effective dead end, but sending people on to interesting destinations via links that you’ve included there.
I’ve always been a lover of curating cool webpages and sites, but it struck me that I wasn’t actually doing much of this on my own little website – now, it’s a personal fanworks archive, so you could argue that linking out to random pages is a bit out of step with the purpose of it. However, it broadened my thinking about where I could start adding more links: from archiving rec lists to linking out to gifts that other fans had made for me over the years.
So, the discussion starter for this check-in is: how do you link, and to what? Do you have a link hub or set of interesting finds? Would you like to do more with links?
As a bonus: share some of your favourite interesting links (this can be anything from thought-provoking essays to just cool stuff! They don't need to be explicitly small-web-themed, although that's great too).
And of course, let us know how your Small Web September project(s) is/are going!
As a reminder, this is the first of four ‘check-in’/comment points that will be published during the event – you can check out the schedule and dates of these posts over on the event intro. There’s no cut-off point for commenting on these, so you can add something at any time – you also don’t need to comment on them all or do them in order! The themes are a loose guide, but all discussion is welcome.
For the previous kick-off/goals post, check out: Small Web September: Kick-Off & Goals!
The theme of this week’s check-in is links! Earlier this year, I came across Coy (
osteophage)’s link compilation in praise of links, which led me down a rabbit hole of reading various essays about the importance of hyperlinking and being a good steward of the web. This includes not making your own site into an effective dead end, but sending people on to interesting destinations via links that you’ve included there. I’ve always been a lover of curating cool webpages and sites, but it struck me that I wasn’t actually doing much of this on my own little website – now, it’s a personal fanworks archive, so you could argue that linking out to random pages is a bit out of step with the purpose of it. However, it broadened my thinking about where I could start adding more links: from archiving rec lists to linking out to gifts that other fans had made for me over the years.
So, the discussion starter for this check-in is: how do you link, and to what? Do you have a link hub or set of interesting finds? Would you like to do more with links?
As a bonus: share some of your favourite interesting links (this can be anything from thought-provoking essays to just cool stuff! They don't need to be explicitly small-web-themed, although that's great too).
And of course, let us know how your Small Web September project(s) is/are going!
As a reminder, this is the first of four ‘check-in’/comment points that will be published during the event – you can check out the schedule and dates of these posts over on the event intro. There’s no cut-off point for commenting on these, so you can add something at any time – you also don’t need to comment on them all or do them in order! The themes are a loose guide, but all discussion is welcome.
For the previous kick-off/goals post, check out: Small Web September: Kick-Off & Goals!
no subject
Date: 2025-09-07 09:40 pm (UTC)Funnily enough, most of the stuff I got done is related to linking! I made an 88x31 button for my website, partially because it's cool and partially because I applied for a couple of webrings, which don't necessarily require that you have a button, but I'd feel awkward being one of the few without one. XD I used ezgif to put the individual frames together, because Krita didn't have an option to just export an animated GIF. Or at least my version didn't. :T Here it is btw!
As for linking in general, I already had some outgoing links set up before I even got to this stage, just out of courtesy. The page template I used, the background image and even an r/nosleep story that inspired a certain character are all linked. Ok actually, that last one isn't linked in the Characters page, I should probably add it. Also, this just reminded me that another character's bio links to the Wikipedia page of a historical figure lol.
In the planning stages for the website, I was actually thinking of having a separate page just for my inspirations/influences, 'cause there's definitely some niche ones I'd like to share with more people. Or even recommending non-fiction I've read to in order to have more grounded worldbuilding. It's definitely an idea for further down the line, since I should focus more on the actual art I'm making downstream of those influences, but I'm keeping at the back of my mind.
On another note, I did do one thing that's not actually linked to links (sorry, I had to), namely that I finally put my website code on Github. I won't share that since it has my real name on it, but I will share the Deploy to Neocities tutorial I used to have the updates I push to that repository automatically be reflected in the website. It saves you a lot of tedium.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-07 10:19 pm (UTC)I like the idea of having a separate page for your inspirations. Seeing what influences someone else's creativity is always really interesting. I try to keep links to what inspires specific things I make, but I hadn't thought about making a broader inspiration page.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-07 10:32 pm (UTC)Thanks! I think your buttons are super cute too :3
And ok I looked up the Krita thing and apparently I just was looking at the wrong settings. >_< It can indeed export gifs on its own. Which is good for future me, but embarrassing for past me. In my defense the option says "export to video" and I thought it can't be that because... it's not a video format! lol