Devlog

here is where i will write like big changes ive added to the page, maybe ill embed some screenshots so I can see how my site has changed overall

title - 00/00/0000

content

Changes

• change i made

some layout changes 05/16/2025

I mainly did alot of quality of life improvements today on a few different pages, theres alot of small changes so ill just list em down below.

Changes

• improved art page layout by using css grid function
• created new links page, removed experiments page from the main site. Ive been thinking about retiring the page, and making each section just its own page instead
• improved draw box UI & tried to make it a bit more mobile friendly
• added a direct link to submit art to the drawbox, as some users had trouble submitting to the google form
• change the layout in the to-do list section. Just trying out different layout ideas
• you can now click images in the art page, and they will go into "lightbox mode" just being bigger on the page
• removed random links section from the sidebar, moved it to the new links page

Drawbox! 05/14/2025

i found this really neat drawing widget on larvapuppy's site, and thought it be fun to have!

i also added a few extra settings, and improved the stroke UI. I wanted to see the actual stroke size instead of guessing

you can also make your own, but there will be a few differences. For example I added some custom brush settings, and a text field for the user, which isnt in the OC source code.

check it out via this button:

A Shrine for my cat 05/13/2025

I thought it be cute to add a page for my cat zelda, and make a custom style and layout for it :D

check it out here

New background! 05/06/2025

i also change the way i handle the sidebar, header, and footer (or components). I noticed when clicking though the page that it would flash alot, and this was because i was loading them in after the main content.

which basically cause the main content to shift for a second before the components loaded in.

i do alot of scripting for my work, so i figured a good solution would be to have a script go in and add the new changes directly to the hmtl file. So now all the elements will load in at the same time.

so the downside is i have to remember to run the script, but the upside is no more flashing, and i dont have to use some random framework either. Honestly im trying to avoid frameworks because i just dont feel like learning it. also, I also just dont want to be using a framework that might not have a ton of support either.

Flash issue vs solution

but ya i do not recommend loading elements for your page with javascript, or if you do, do it for main content, and not headers or sidebars

Changes

• added powershell script to update each page with a header, footer, and sidebar components
• removed javascript that loaded components (and causing flashing issue)
• new background. Watercolor image i found, and then edited to match theme color
• made sections background transparent so you can see the watercolor design

experiments~~~ 05/03/2025

I did a lot today. IRL my parents helped me move stuff today into my new apartment, and then we got dinner so that was cute. And then I was like hmm, time to spend more time on my site!

So firstly, i decide to play around a bit with like border images. I dont really like the one im using rn, but kinda gotta keep it there cause idk why not.

I also added a guest button there as well, bc i want more people to sign it!

i also created an experimental page to like play around with funky layouts, css, javascript and stuff. Some goofs and all. figure different sections can contain like different things i want to test out.

i also made the mobile navigation bar collasiple, button styling, etc.. just check out the change lol

Changes

• improvement to mobile navigation
• add experiments page
• created custom button syling to match the navigation buttons
• added boarder image to h1 header in index.html
• changed watercolor paintings px width to make em bigger and easier to see
• learned about how to write functions in javascript

Rounded Boarders & no hotlinking & art page 05/01/2025

all of theses buttons images are now hosting on my site instead of hotlinking. So even if the button changes, or the site disappears ill still have the image.

here is what hotlinking is, and why it isnt good according to this article by hostinger

"Hotlinking is the act of using another site’s bandwidth by displaying their website asset – like an image, video, or audio file – on a different website via a direct web link. When this happens, the original website owner must cover and pay for these server resources each time a web browser wants to load and view the asset. If you’re a website owner or a web user in general, you might have heard about hotlinking. Many webmasters consider it bad practice because it can put websites at a significant disadvantage."

i also added a new page for my art!

Changes

• changed main styling of page to add rounded boarders, different background color for sections
• downloaded all the buttons to my site, no more hotlinking!
• added a folder for screenshots, and a folder for buttons
• new art page!

title image & journal- 04/30/2025

Changes

• added handrawn image of my title for the header
• new page: journal

made sidebar, header, and footer own pages & load as components - 04/29/2025

I was getting tired of manually changing each page for my site. figured it made sense to instead have one page i can make changes for the header, footer and sidebar instead

now i just have to change it one page instead of each page. Downside is my pages will break if javascript is disabled

Changes

• header, footer, and sidebar have their own pages
• using javascript these sections will be loaded in on each page (unless i explictly dont include the script or correct div

made new art for the site, retired old temp logo- 04/29/2025

I thought it be nice to have an actual like drawing of isda as a banner. Before I was just using a floating head image but i thought maybe a actual full body drawing would be nice.
I also want to add like different art header for each page as well, i think it be cute theme wise!

i decide to also retire my first header image, its literally just wordart that i changed the hue to green

Changes:

• retired old wordart logo
• added icon to site (you can see it in the tab)
• made full body art of isda(my goblinsona) petting zelda as the header art

added github deployment - 04/28/2025 5pm

so basically I wanted a better way to edit files and deploy changes to my site. I noticed when I was making a ton of edits they wouldnt appear right away and changes would take a while to load. Made it frustrating to see if my css styling was working.

So, I was thinking like oh i wonder if github works with neocites? turns out it does! I used this guide to help me!

Now i can test my site bit by bit locally instead of having to wait for the changes to work on the main site. plus, it is bad practice to test in production :P

Pretty much now when ever I push changes to my site, the changes will automatically be deployed and added to the site. How neat :)

Changes:

• created private repo for site
• enabled way to deploy code automatically from github

I broke my dang side bar - 04/28/2025 3pm

so i finally got my navigation bar added, and it looks ok. However, I was like trying out a different tags for my main and sidebar and ended up just breaking the whole dang sidebar.

also it seems when i change the styling in my css it takes a while to actually take changes on my page. So I think i want to be able to test and update my site locally before I push the changes to the site

so gotta figure out how to host my site locally so its easier to debug and make changes LOL

Heres the list of updates:

• added a nicer nav bar
• got my first guest book signers!!
• broke the sidebar...
• got it to work later, turns out using classes instead of main and aside is better

Became a supporter - 04/26/2025

I saw a viewer counter on frutigeraeroarchive.org site and i was like omg I want that!! Turns out it was bigger rabbithole then I thought it be

I found a guide on how to implement it here but it wasnt working and I couldnt figure it out for the life of me... even had to ask Copilot for help.

basically I kept getting an error, wasnt actually able to connect to the API that let me get the statistics for my page viewer count. I kept trying to like add meta tags to let me connect, and it just kept refusing.

turns out you cant connect to API's unless your a supporter to this site LMAO. So, now im a supporter - paying that good ol $5 a month now.

heres a list of things ive added in this update:

• added a viewer counter to the footer of my page
• became a supporter to neocities
• added some more buttons to my sidebar
• created a seperate javascript file to host all the scripts ran here
• created this page! wanted to document the changes i make to this site
• added a really really crappy navbar. I will make it better I promise. I tried earlier in the day but the css stying wasnt working, so kinda a seperate task I want to attempt a different day.