For the first time ever, Fandom Coders decided to host a themed Personal Website Club day, where we decorated our websites for spooky/Halloween and Fall (or Spring for Southern Hemisphere). It was actually my idea, so of course, I participated.
I didn't do a full theme update, but I did add some Halloween elements. You can find screenshots of the updates and resources below the Read More...
I just did a small update to the site. While working on BobaBoard volunteer docs someone asked if we could have the sidebars uncollapsed by default, and I discovered that we could, so I decided to do the same here in my Sections.
Earlier this week, I also noticed that the catppuccin style guide had changed some to define a specific link color, so I updated my color scheme to support the blue link color. I have to say, I do prefer it overall.
But most importantly, when I went to update this log, I realized that my first major update to the site after switching to Docusaurus was done almost a year ago. I've actually consistently been updating and maintaining a personal website for a whole year! It's amazing what using the right tools can do for you!
I've been thinking about the future of the site, and I'd like to keep the following goals in mind:
Getting out of Docusaurus.
It's served me well, but I should really move to something where I have more control.
Adding more content.
Instead of waiting forever to update some content, I need to focus more on getting stuff in here, even if it isn't perfect.
Nailing down a good CMS.
Related to the above goal, if I want to start using my site more, I definitely need to make it quicker to get some content into. Trying out another CMS (or mastering Decap) might be the key.
Improving Accessibility.
I really need to focus on upping my alt text game and making sure that my site remains accessible even as I move to other tools.
Adding More Integrations.
I'd love to focus on giving people one place to visit to catch up with me, track me down, or see what I'm up to, rather than spreading everything across multiple accounts. I'm not sure how to go about this yet, but I've definitely been thinking about it!
And that's it, a brief look at what I've done today and what I plan on doing more of!
It's spring time forget that it's summer and I finally decided
to do some digital gardening and catch up on a bunch of content that I've wanted
to add to the site forever. My DA Resources section finally has some
content - links to other people's resources as well as my own.
I also added a new tutorial/info dump about RSS for people who don't know about it, and a recommendation for programs that have RSS readers built-in or as extensions.
I also updated my font and tweaked the CSS again. The bold color was blending in too much with links for my liking.
I've actually done two major updates since the last update log. The first made some tweaks to Netlify CMS (now Decap CMS) and updated some CSS.
Decap CMS
CSS Updates (Round 1)
While I was working on a Stylus UserCSS for another site, I realized that my site was using a different text color than the Catpuccin style guide allowed for on the dark theme. I decided to remedy that and that sent me down a rabbit hole.
I also updated frontmatter on all pages (in an attempt to work better with the CMS), but I'm still running into some issues with the CMS set-up where page titles/labels aren't showing. I'm very tempted to throw out this CMS and try with a different one.
And then came the Make It Kawaii edition.
Between these two updates I added a tutorial to my Digital Garden, and when I came back to finish updates to it, my ADD went into overdrive. It's so rare that I manage to have inspiration to make something cute that I went with it.
CSS Updates (Round 2)
Layout & Content Updates
The overall look is a much cuter and quirky site invoking old school sites but using new tech. Next up on my list:
A few weeks ago, I added some new sections to my old "Vault" section and updated the name to "Digital Garden" to more align with the philosophy that was guiding it. In the process I rearranged things a bit and tried out defining custom slugs, but I missed a few pages.
It was a quick job, mosly because I needed to get some quick AO3 tutorials posted for a project I was working on somewhere I could continue to reuse them.
Today, I fixed the slugs I missed. On the backend, I also re-ordered my CSS to make more sense and actually commented it so that people other than me might know what's happening. I added some CSS for fancy blockquotes and inline notes, which I took from other sites I'd worked on last year.
I hopefully also managed to fix the settings on Netlify CMS so this entry will post with a correct slug, which I definitely got incorrect on my last blog entry. If this is correct, then my next step with Netlify CMS will be to see if I can force it to work with pages the way I want it to.
A couple of months ago I also played around with backing up my mastodon feed here, but I'm not settled on if I want to do that or not. I did get something styled the way I want, but I've been questioning whether I think of mastodon as an ephemeral communication or something long-term and I haven't decided where I've landed. for now, I think I'll keep grabbing my rss feed every once in a while as I try to decide what I want to do.
Whew. I've been a busy bee. In the last week or so, I've done some major updates to things around here. First, I created an Author's Note to use for my AO3 works. It's something I've been debating on for a while, but basically, I wanted to be able to update ONE place, rather than having to update all the works I've ever published in case my social media changes.
Ironically, I did this last Saturday, before Elon Musk tried to explode twitter, so the potential benefits were reaped almost immediately.
However, in order for this to be as beneficial as I wanted, I realized I might eventually move off neocities, if only because I will likely want to add some more complex services to the site eventually - like forms. I was enticed (pretty easily), by Netlify's form service, as well as Netlify CMS. I've been looking for an easy way to update my blog without having to break out VSCode, and I think I found it. I haven't set CMS up yet, but it's been filed as an issue on my github.
So, a few days ago, I purchase a domain and a few days after that moved my hosting to Netlify. But I didn't stop there.
I've been wanting to update my themes for a bit and a few weeks ago while working on a project using the Dracula Dark Theme, I ran across Catpuccin which offers four different themes (one light and three dark). I liked the pastels so much, I had to use them for my website theme.
The old color schemes below are being retired.
I finally pushed a bunch of changes I was holding back for some reason.
This is my first "major" update to the site design since switching to Docusaurus and having more than a placeholder page. Although liking the initial design a ton, I grew tired of it pretty quickly. I'm still not sure I like what i have currently - it's better, but I'm not sure I'm ready to live with it for a while. The first round of "major changes" include: