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smallwebSomehow it's September already and the kick-off point for Small Web September has arrived! \o/
As a reminder, this is the first of five ‘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.
This first post will be for introducing yourself and your project(s) and talking about what you’re planning to do during the month. Of course, there’s no obligation to stick to what you’ve set down and no-one will be checking up xD But it can be a nice thought exercise! You’re free to make the goal(s) as broad or as specific as you like – it’s totally up to you.
There’s no set format for this check-in, but here’s one you can use if you’d like (just copy-paste and replace the placeholders with your own answers in the comments):
Also, if anyone would like to answer it, here’s a discussion starter: What interests you about the small/indie web, and how did you learn about or get into it?
As a reminder, this is the first of five ‘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.
This first post will be for introducing yourself and your project(s) and talking about what you’re planning to do during the month. Of course, there’s no obligation to stick to what you’ve set down and no-one will be checking up xD But it can be a nice thought exercise! You’re free to make the goal(s) as broad or as specific as you like – it’s totally up to you.
There’s no set format for this check-in, but here’s one you can use if you’d like (just copy-paste and replace the placeholders with your own answers in the comments):
<strong>Name:</strong> (Username, nickname, whatever you like to go by)
<strong>Project(s):</strong> (Share a link to your project(s) if you’d like to, and/or describe what you’re making or would like to make!)
<strong>What are you hoping to work on for SWS?</strong> (This can be as general as “add to my site”, or as specific as “archive X fanworks” or “implement a responsive layout”. You could even include ‘bonus goals’ – more ambitious things you’d like to get to if you have time!)Also, if anyone would like to answer it, here’s a discussion starter: What interests you about the small/indie web, and how did you learn about or get into it?
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Date: 2024-09-02 06:17 am (UTC)Oh, I LOVE that your site has stuff dating back to 2005! I want to see if I can find stuff from then too now... it's really fun to see how our tastes evolve (or sometimes don't change :P still into yugioh since the first mcdonalds toys came out...)
Really happy to see more people archiving their art and writing too! I think one of the little tips I remembered about fic readability, is that about 1000px wide is generally the most comfortable to read? So I try to use that for most of my writing, and even have that set up as a skin on ao3 haha.
re: night mode, I saw recently that you can have night mode without using any css or javascript? It's just a line in the head that sees if the browser is in night mode, and automatically adjusts the colors: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72922557/light-dark-mode-in-html-without-css-only-html
It's really cool, I kinda want to make a site without CSS cuz I like that lightweight look :D
I use htmlcommentbox for my comments/guestbooks cuz it was the first thing I found, but seeing the other options that pebble_in_a_lake and gekisada have seem even better! Cuz you have control over the database. While the site I'm using holds all the data away from me... I do want to try some other comment methods too!
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Date: 2024-09-02 08:45 am (UTC)Thanks for explaining!
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Date: 2024-09-02 08:48 am (UTC)That's really cool :D Making fic more available is always good!
That big grid of colorful bracelets feels satisfying even to me as a visitor. It's just so lush.
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Date: 2024-09-02 10:10 am (UTC)Thank you! I'm super happy to hear it's satisfying for visitors too ♥
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Date: 2024-09-02 11:46 am (UTC)Some of my more coding-advanced friends suggested the stylesheet idea and it sounds sooo much easier than going through and putting CSS on every single fic html so I'm all for it! Good luck with yours - for what it's worth I don't think your fic pages look too busy at all! I really like how they look with the header and all!!
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Date: 2024-09-02 01:33 pm (UTC)I hear that - my fanwork history goes back to 2005, and my "omnific chart" with all my fanworks has more than 150 entries. I'm sure your list has even more, especially judging by the number of fandoms xD It makes it feel like I'll never really be finished with archiving, particularly given that I keep making new works, but I'm hoping that I'll get into a rhythm with archiving and make more progress there. Annnny minute now. I just need to stop getting hung up on the look of the thing ^^;
Absolutely, and I love getting that sense of fun and unexpected discovery back as I browse through people's websites <3 Who needs a day job, we should all just get to spend the whole day tooling around with 90s style webpages and finding cool stuff :D
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Date: 2024-09-02 02:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-02 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-02 02:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-02 05:09 pm (UTC)Ooh, I love that fanfic archive you linked!! It looks so clean and professional, and the ability to filter by tags is something I've been trying to crack for a while. I keep promising myself I'm going to redo my entire fanfic page, but I need to get much better at coding first.
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Date: 2024-09-02 06:17 pm (UTC)Project(s): Yukari Takeba shrine
What are you hoping to work on for SWS? The shrine up there is actually the reason of why I started coding! Unafortunely, it has been 2 years gathering dust. Then I told myself "I will wait until I play P3RE to refresh my memory on the game & start writting it", which still haven't happened
(anyone got a spare PS5?)So my goal is to finally get around to work on it again! My goal is more focused on writting (which I find very hard) rather than coding as I already have the layout done, but a page is a page.
At the very least I would like to finish the "Persona analysis", "Story" "Relationship" and "Why I like her" sections which are the ones I find the most important as the point of the shrine is to explain why she is one of my favortie characters, and try to make others appreciate her as well.
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Date: 2024-09-02 06:55 pm (UTC)Currently waiting to have my server isolated better from the LAN after a move to Proxmox, then, I'll see about actually working on my website lol. Sketched out a map of pages the other day, want to start laying some groundwork, figuring out how I want to use layouts in Astro, my SSG. And some styling! Feels like I've got too many branching paths hah, we'll see where it goes.
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Date: 2024-09-02 07:20 pm (UTC)Project(s): So I have 3 separate neocities sites. I've learned a lot about html and css over the last year after basically starting from nothing. My main fan related site is muttthecowcat.neocities.org. I have a blog and my petz site on it.
What are you hoping to work on for SWS? So I'd like to revamp the css for muttthecowcat and for my fashion site (mutterbutter.neocities.org). When I first made my fashion site, I used a template that had only a main text section and went back to add side bars myself. I'd like to restructure everything with a wrapper so all the pages can have sidebars that function correctly. I also want to redo the css for muttthecowcat. When I first made it's css, I just named all my divs whatever I wanted to because I didn't think it mattered. But now I know some of them are important, especially for screen readers so I'd like to fix it and hopefully my other sites as well!
Finally, I have lace bordering on mutterbutter that uses a series of divs to make it function correctly. Now that I know more about the image border function, I'd like to make a png that can be used as a lace border on it's own.
What interests you about the small/indie web, and how did you learn about or get into it?I started making neocities sites about 2 years ago. I've never done well with traditional social media because I just can't make myself post every day or make lots of image posts. I do however love learning about coding. I started out with editing my tumblr html and css and have now learned enough to make a functioning neocities page. I hope to learn more about js this year too!
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Date: 2024-09-02 07:30 pm (UTC)Name: Silvercat
Project(s): Hoping to do a combination of blogging, mod stuff on Dreamwidth, and working on my Neocities site.
What are you hoping to work on for SWS? I've got a to-do list that includes a variety of stuff.
- I have two planned blog posts that I've meant to do for ages.
- I started re-doing my Neocities site and I'd like to make progress on that.
- I have a project in progress on
- I want to get Writer's Salon going again, but at
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Date: 2024-09-02 07:50 pm (UTC)Project(s): progress on the revamp of oubliette.nu
What are you hoping to work on for SWS?
oubliette.nu is my home on the web and the hub of my entire site network (which is mostly comprised of shrines); ideally, it should be representative of the things I create, concern myself with and wish to express. Alas, the current layout and content have been up since... 2016, and a revamp has been long overdue. I nearly finished writing all the new text a while ago, and have been playing around with the layout for a week or so.
I won't have enough free time in September (will be absent for the last third of the month too) to come close to finishing the revamp, so I don't know if I'll have anything to show by the end of the month, but I am very fired up to continue work on the layout draft, and hope to make significant progress during the challenge! :D
What interests you about the small/indie web, and how did you learn about or get into it?
I've been making websites since around 2002, i.e. when everyone was getting into site-making and when there still was a wealth of fansites (shrines or otherwise) and personal sites. After running a few personal sites and smaller fansites for a few years, I didn't make sites with the purpose of creative expression for a longer period. Maintaining a personal trade post for my online TCG activities, however, kept my interest in personal sites and webdesign alive.
Shrines, a type of fanwork in the format of fan websites, and especially Sailor Moon and Final Fantasy shrines, were one of my first loves in the world wide web, and my heart has been beating for them since childhood. I love that they are personal archives of very specific nerdy subject matters, that they are informative in a way that, say, Wikis aren't, and that they are so versatile when it comes to creative expression (I love looking at layouts! seeing the thoughts behind a site name! browsing navigations! reading essays and meta! perusing personally curated galleries! seeing personal associations with other media! checking out link lists!).
I bought my first domain in 2011, and truly started making the shrines I so admired around 2015, and have since been chasing my dream of making all the shrines I want to create. Through every step of this, community – be it fandom, fellow budding webmasters, graphic sites of old or the shrine community – has always been an immense help, inspiration and joy. Browsing other people's projects and seeing all the creative energy is such a big source of happiness and motivation.
It's lovely to see a community challenge and all the different projects and aspirations. Thank you for hosting it, enchantedsleeper!
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Date: 2024-09-02 07:58 pm (UTC)Thanks for linking me to this event btw. <3
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Date: 2024-09-02 08:15 pm (UTC)Geocities/Angelfire Sailor Moon shrines are what initially drew me to the web too! How great that you're now making your own to share your love! Your Serenity/Endymion page moves me...
I'm looking forward to your Silver Millennium fanon page. :O!
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Date: 2024-09-02 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-02 08:35 pm (UTC)Archiving your FFVIII fanwork on the site sounds great. I remember how much I enjoyed seeing both the older and the current you and the changing shape of your love in your various reflections on the site, so it seems very fitting to add the fanwork you've created over the years as well.
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Date: 2024-09-02 09:09 pm (UTC)I just had a quick poke through your Wither & Bloom network; it's stunning! I love your layouts, your gorgeous header images, your interesting and articulate writing.
Also fun to be reminded of Free! and The Legend of Dragoon, both of which I haven't thought about in years! Haru was always my favourite Free! character; I was delighted by his uncontrollable drive to be immersed in water at all times. Your reading of him as autistic is interesting and makes a lot of sense.
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Date: 2024-09-02 10:38 pm (UTC)I'm currently doing a re-watch of the anime to. I'm currently in the middle of the fourth season though.
ooo I think I just found my first project then. Thanks for helping me with my indecision. :D
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Date: 2024-09-02 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 01:19 am (UTC)Project(s): Revamping my personal blog into a more writerly website
What are you hoping to work on for SWS? I'd like to reorganize my full-site blog into a website focused on my writing and literary translations, with the blog taking up just one part of the new website. The plan is to modify the theme I'm currently using to be more website-like and recategorize the posts I currently have. It's best done before the blog gets much bigger, so I jumped on this event as an opportunity to get started.
I also want to sort out the roles of my two domain names: I have a domain https://ljwrit.es that currently directs to the About page of the blog, but I plan to make it the main URL while redirecting ljwrites.blog to the blog section of the website. Any requests to the .blog domain will be transferred to the same post on the .es domain for a smooth transition. Yeah I bought two URLs for the same site, I just couldn't resist either of them! >_<
Stretch goal: Consider moving on from Github Pages to a different offering like Netflify, or maybe the VPS I run for my fedi instance. The files are static and can live wherever I can point a URL to, so I have a lot of leeway.
What interests you about the small/indie web, and how did you learn about or get into it? It was all I knew when I first got online in 1998! I used to have hand-coded fan shrines for Final Fantasy VIII and Disney's Brother Bear (ETA: oh, and a personal website and ttrpg blog, also both defunct). Then things started closing down into social media silos late aughts-ish, and the mass content purges started happening. With all that happening, it's a real pleasure to see the small and indie web flourishing the past few years. I firmly believe everyone who creates stuff to share with others should have their own online space independent of corporate social media, and I love the creativity and freedom of personal websites!
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Date: 2024-09-03 01:43 am (UTC)Project(s): My personal neocities site. Not really in a presentable enough state for me to share the link here tho ^^'
What are you hoping to work on for SWS? Main goals are to archive at least all of my fics for Boueibu Happy Kiss there and make the front page a little less better (right now it is very bare bones stuff + a section of "last updates").
For optional goals: I wanna transfer my fanwork permissions to that site (as well as make a portuguese version of said statement), add a header menu, and possibly also start adding a bit more of "foundation blocks" to other stuff I wanna add later (like, making some mostly blank pages for me to have all/most of the linking between pages I might need already set up, and to have a more clear sense of how much I'll need to add in the future).
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I got into small web I think sometime last year? I saw I handful of people I knew who cared about the idea of having fanworks up in multiple places for archival purposes also had their own personal sites for that stuff. I enjoyed the idea of basically having my little corner of the internet that I have more control of! Plus, I ended up finding out that I think coding stuff is actually pretty cool, haha.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 02:27 am (UTC)I'm definitely still very enthusiastic about some of my earliest fandoms! Hey, Yu-Gi-Oh high five :D o/\o
Oooh, thanks for the tip! I'll definitely try and put that into practice for my layouts! One thing that I've found challenging is making the layout work equally well across desktop and mobile, since I've so far just been playing around with margin width, but bigger margins makes the content very narrow on mobile if you go too far. But I think that adjusting the actual text width and making that responsive would probably work much better.
Ooooh, thank you so much for the rec! I'll have to try it out! I feel you on CSS; HTML is my beloved and is where I feel most comfortable xD I like having everything inline where I can see it. It took me several goes to really understand CSS because it just didn't lodge in my brain properly ^^;