Neocities
I first heard about Neocities from a friend, don't even remember when. The more I look around here, the more I like it :) I have a similar opinion about social networks (I guess it's no coincidence many people whose sites I visited here say they don't use them much).
It's really awesome how much control I have over a simple static site like this. I can change anything about it without advanced programming knowledge, unlike when you deal with a CMS or a complicated site from scratch. It does come with the disadvantage of having to edit each and every page, so I tried to get the layout and menu right from the start for this very reason. It's not much of a hassle in my case, though.
I like that all security I have to care about is my account's security. I can easily back up the files and move anywhere, and it takes so little space. It helps me not forget HTML and CSS and I learn things I didn't know before.
I'm already a part of a community and got some views simply updating. Which is great because I've always been bad at advertising and promoting my creations. I only got lucky once, years ago. It was a forum and it could be found with a search engine because there were so few others at the time. I recently saw the exact same gif I used for the diary section of that forum. Brought back memories...
I was too young to see the really old web. I remember Windows 95 and drawing my childish comics in Paint, but it wasn't until around 2007 that I went online, to find out more about Winx Club - it was way before the show was aired in my country and no one heard of it. So my web journey began with forums and collections of pictures, as well as writing in bad English I'd feel ashamed of today (not my first language). After forums reached their peak popularity, when I wasn't so active on them anymore, people seem to have moved on to social networks. Forums changed, too. I remember a time when having an HTML table with announcements was advanced. Now they became all fancy and sophisticated, especially those dedicated to text-based RPGs. Can't help envying their designing skills ^ ^'
Site Development
It began with screenshots. I had been uploading them on Tumblr previously, with more or less success. Then about two weeks ago I finally realised that my own site would be a much better option. I went through my usual stage of doubt, but now I am sure it is better. I always felt my intial choice wasn't right. Grouping pictures into posts was so much extra work, too. And now I can have all the other pages I need and organise it all, that's so cool!
Instead of focusing on just one narrow topic of Sims, I made it more general-purpose. I didn't want to bother much with adapting the layout to smaller screens, so I went with a simple one-column solution, as much as I like sidebars. There's not enough information to fill them with anyway. I might go crazy on some experimental pages later, perhaps. I also love that I can easily change the theme (background and colours) if I want to try more of the seamless patterns I have collected and hardly ever use. I'm such a fan of patterns *-*
One more thing: I avoid relying on scripts ever since I got to know people who have them turned off, to not be tracked and so on. They're a minority but I wouldn't want my site to become unusable for them. While scripts can be useful, I certainly agree that many modern sites are overloaded with them. I might only use JS for optional features.
The Story of My Nickname
from Omori Wiki
Nowadays, with so many people on the internet, choosing a unique nickname has also become a problem. I wanted to adopt a cute new name. Found my old list of randomly generated usernames and checked if those I like can be associated or confused with some other person or brand. Then I mixed some of those together and came up with LoftBunny. It even makes me think of one particular bunny from Omori (you can guess if you've played). So it was chosen.
Back to Blogging
I used to keep a couple blog in the past, and an online diary. One blog mostly consisted of my text commentary on videogames, with time it became a bother to keep and no one was reading it, so I figured it wasn't worth the effort. Another was around a narrow topic, and it just doesn't work for me - I quickly run out of things to write about. The diary strangely found some small audience, but I got bored of it eventually. I have a paper diary and I rarely write in there as well, I end up telling my friends a lot more, so it feels repetitive.
However, every now and then I feel an urge to start another blog. I'm tired of creating and abandoning them, so this one is for anytime when I have some thoughts to share that might potentially be useful to someone, or just because I want to.