4 posts tagged with "technical"

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

• Updated config to work with pages (I think).
• Styled backend with CSS so that it's not so blinding to use.

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.

• Updated text and header colors.
• Added colors for strong and em tags
• Added a plugin for images lightbox.

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)

• updated header colors to have a rainbow across levels
• updated title to rainbow gradientstyled HRs with a cute heart image
• [fix] top bar no longer renders different on docs section! (I was applying a CSS tweak incorrectly)
• cleaned up styling on summary and details tags
• [fix] corrected incorrect warning and error colors (I accidentally deleted these during the tutorial update)

Layout & Content Updates

• updated top bar navigation
• added badges and buttons
• removed twitter link
• added socials section
• updated credits
• [fix] corrected docs with incorrect header levels (apparently, I had several H1s that should have been H2s and couldn't tell until I change the colors).

The overall look is a much cuter and quirky site invoking old school sites but using new tech. Next up on my list:

• Attempting to add an updates module to my landing page linking to this blog
• FORMS - I want to add a form to my author's note page
• About Me page
• Webrings?
• Continue Decap CMS experimentation (maybe)

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.

This is my first post from Netlify CMS. Initial set-up took me a couple of hours yesterday, but I'm still tinkering with settings and such to get it to where I want it. For visitors, nothing has changed much. For me, I'm hoping this gives me some incentive to add content more frequently.

I was really looking for a way to easily post to my update log and a few pages on the go. The hope is that this gives me a reason to move my fanfic updates and fandom blogging to this site. Due to hand waves everything with twitter, I think I'm going to be moving my twitter to inactive and relying on other socials. I thought now was a good time to take some moves toward controlling my content and decentralization.

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.