Coding Diary
February 29, 2024
It's been a while (been a while) since I updated this site, but I'm back! Despite my extensive about of free time, I haven't had the spoons to work on this, but I've been making some moves forward with my health, so hopefully that means I'll be able to have more energy in the future to do things I enjoy.
- Updated the link to my Mastodon account to... actually link to my new Mastodon account (given my last two instances shut down between when I last checked on them and now)
- Did a bit of editing over on my About Me page, so that it now primarily focuses on my disability.
- Flash Game Player (No, I still haven't figured out how I'd do this. It's a pipe dream. I have an emulator on my laptop, but I miss playing silly little flash games on weird websites, man.)
- Library/Writing Catalogue (Most likely would take the form of "places to find my various writing, with summaries, formatted really nicely" on that bookdiv I linked before)
- Personalized Scroll (More attainable in the grand scheme of things, but my attempts to do it in the past were rather unsuccessful, so I'd probably have to ask someone to walk me through it.)
- RSS Feed (When I initially mentioned this, I think I meant an embedded RSS feed of things I had linked and shared, but much like the flash games, I don't know how attainable that is. The more practical answer would be creating a feed based on my updates, but I don't use this site as a blog, or creating an updating feed from my other social media, which I also don't know about the feasibility of.)
- Stretch Header (Basically, I want the header to do what the footer does, and span the entire top of the page. This should be simple, but I'm extremely out of practice and I'll probably forget to update this again for several months, so who knows.)
- Stargazing page (Just a cute little novelty page that I thought would be cute, should be pretty simple to code?)
- Star Warp Background Element (The trick would be implementing this in a way that wouldn't cause eyestrain, because I already need to fix the way the color fade is, but it's a fun idea.)
May 11, 2023
Today's additions to my website brought to you by: this tutorial for making a DIY RSS Reader, which I'm still... not quite sure I did properly, because the feed is blank, but I suppose I'll have to wait for some of my comics to update first and see if they show up then. But, yes, this put me in a coding mood, and now we're here.
- Added a linked button to to nebula-galaxy, which is another site I enjoy.
- Added two buttons I designed for the Renegade Publishing Discord Server back in January.
- Designed my own button! It's not especially fancy, but it exists now!
- Changed the background color of the site to be a dark-to-light purple gradient (though I think I'll have to do some edits for readability in the future.
- Flash Game Player
- Library (Writing Catalogue)
- Personalized Scroll
- RSS Feed
- Stretch Header
- Stargazing page with Shooting Star Background Element
- Star Warp Background Element
February 12, 2023
I'm certainly struggling to achieve what seems to be basic tasks today. I've tried to use CSS styles to both edit the color of the scroll-bar and background to no success. I'm planning to give HTML an attempt for the background color, but don't expect to spend much more time on coding today.
I think I need to find more "easy" things to add to this site, given that my goals for this site are either incredibly simple (a background, another webpage) or so complex they might be impossible (integrating the now-dead flash games). I'm struggling to think of anything, however, largely because coding hasn't been a prominent focus of mine the past few months.
For someone whose ultimate goals are to learn enough coding and hardware knowledge that I can decentralize my technology (a pi hole being the first thing that always seems to come to mind-- those damn mobile ads frustrate me to no end), I don't spend much time learning new skills that will get me there. It's something I need to work on.
Update 1: As you can see, it took some trial and error, but I finally succeeded in changing the background color of my site! I like a nice, subtle purple (Well, all the purples, really), so this softens the look a bit, which I quite like. I've also decided that I want to find a way to stretch the header to fit the entire top of the page, but that might be a problem for another day. I've got a bit of a headache from staring at my computer all day.
Update 2: So, I'm a liar lmao I was scrolling through updated sites I follow and was reminded that I want to use metalvalley's editable book div for my library page (which might not be a page of all my writing ever, but a collection of the things I'm most proud of, including fanfiction from Ao3, poetry from my DreamWidth, and maybe even the short creative nonfiction piece I'm getting published this year).
- Changed site-wide background color.
- Flash Game Player
- Library (Writing Catalogue)
- Personalized Scroll
- RSS Feed
- Stretch Header
- Stargazing page with Shooting Star Background Element
- Star Warp Background Element
November 18, 2022
As part of verifying my new Mastodon account(s), I added a link to my account on the home page! I'm hoping that participating in some more decentralized, leftist spaces will encourage me to do more work on this website and in other facets of my life.
- Added Mastodon to home page.
November 11, 2022
A thread on the Fandom Coders Discord Server I joined earlier this month inspired me, and I think I'd like to try to integrate an RSS feed into my website. There are a few comics I adore that update via RSS feed and it's an excellent way for me to feed my Dreamwidth updates here as well, since I occasionally post poetry (or, in the case of my current saved draft, a Dear Critter letter for Critmas this year).
- Flash Game Player
- Library (Writing Catalogue)
- Personalized Scroll
- New Background
- RSS Feed
November 1, 2022
After some careful consideration (read: shower thoughts), I decided that my initial coding diary would have been more aptly named coding notes, and have decided to retire that page layout. The information is, of course, all readily available from Codecadamy, though I now know that other resources like w3schools and freecodecamp are more comprehensive educators.
I have instead decided to turn this page into something more resembling a diary-- a conglomeration of notes, ideas, and changes made to my website. Thing of it as a changelog and a to-do list had a baby, except I get to ramble like this when the whimsy strikes.
- Edited age in About Me
- Added hyperlinked buttons to sites that I follow on Neocities, many of which have inspired elements of my own web design.
- Added Playlist
- Added sparkle cursor
- Redid Coding Diary
- Added "Wikia Sucks" badge
- Flash Games - despite the death of Adobe Flash Player, Flash games like the various Papa Louie games and Balloon Blaster (that might not be the name of it, you shot balloons, that's all I remember) are key elements to the internet I knew and loved. Finding a way to revive them on my personal site would be a dream come true.
- Library - I am, first and foremost, a writer. I've written fanfiction, poetry, and short stories. It would be a crime for me to not give all of my beloved readers a run-down of my various pieces and where they're available. This idea, however, forces me to go back and find said pieces.
- Personalized Scroll - The default scroll bar is an eyesore, especially given my desired aesthetic (if you haven't guessed it, look again /lh), but my few attempts tonight have been met with nothing but frustration. I'll have to consult some new friends.
- New Background - While the default white background served its purpose during my initial set-up, I would much rather find something neutral yet coherent to my aforementioned aesthetic to balance. I'm a habitual dark mode user, so it will inevitably be something on that end of the color spectrum.
April 30, 2022
While this portion of my "diary" is being written after the fact, I believe I can confidently say that a significant part of my motivation in creating my own website was to both hone my coding skills (woefully basic as they are) and do my part in decentralizing the interent, something that has become more and more important the more billionaires and corporations exert their control over the digital world (I'm looking at you, Muskrat).
As someone who is at the very least trying to be punk in both their words and actions, stepping away from "social media" as much as I can is a relatively simple thing for me to do, especially given my varying hobbies in different technological spheres. For an introvert like me who despises posting pictures of my life online, it's far simpler to type a few lines of code (then run into an error, correct it, find another error, curse at the computer, correct it, etc, etc) than it is to make the right post for family, friends, and even strangers to gawk at and critique. Add in the constant watchful eye of companies like Google and Facebook, and it's no wonder we always feel like we're being watched.
So, yes, making a website is a small act of rebellion. An incredibly small one, for sure, but every little thing adds up over time. Using Firefox, installing ad-blockers, learning to code, making your own website instead of using corporate-owned social media, they're all small ways to fight back against the world we live in.
That is why I code. That is why I made this website. And I hope you agree.
Today's Updates:
- Created Neocities website