i'm building a tv! (in html)
I've given myself a two week break from all "trying-to-make-it-as-an-illustrator" activities. I just want to do something fun!
Ever since the start of this week, I've been learning how to make webpages with html. I've always flirted with the idea of building my own website from scratch in Neocities, but was always scared off by the confusing language. I'm unfortunately the type of person who avoids things I'm not immediately good at. Time I spend learning something new is time I could be spending on getting work.
But now, I'm explicitly NOT trying to get work! I can put my whole self into learning this brand new skill. I initially thought that I would get 'withdrawals' from not working on my projects. But NO! This week has been the most fun I've had in a long time!
I know I learn better through self-directed projects rather than 'beginner guides'. So I gave myself a seemingly impossible goal (at my skill level) - to build a 'TV' for my new digital home.
⬆️ my initial plans, midnight channel time has changed
This TV consists of a 'screen' and 'remote'. The 'screen' will change depending on the corresponding button pressed on the 'remote'. The 'TV channels' are my rss feed, the weather, my piclog, bearblog's most recent, and the midnight channel (where the screen changes from 12:00am to 12:59am).
It was difficult at first, but I wasn't lost for long. I am constantly floored by how generous many webmasters are on Neocities. Alot of them have dedicated pages for resources that have helped them in the past. I am so grateful to all of them. I want to make a resource page of my own in the future, once my website is more finished.
Here are some of the many resources that helped me:
W3Schools - my best friend, the one I always turn to for answers. I do most of my problem solving here. They have a really nifty 'Tryit Editor' where you can see the code in action and edit it.
sadgrl.online's layout builder - I found this super helpful, mainly because there were alot of comments explaining each element. I'm not building my website on it, but it's a good reference material.
RSS guide from doqmeat.com - super straigtforward guide to putting your rss feed on your website and styling it. I also love how their website looks!
DOKODEMO's F2U graphics - cute free to use pixels
Flexbox Froggy - this little game help me finally understand how to use flexboxes.
Ctrl + Shift + i - the inspect tool. The ultimate resource. Now that I understand how to read html, it's crazy how much information you can get from inspecting websites!
Working on this TV has been the one thing I look forward to every day. It was annoying having to go to my part time job when I just want to tinker with my TV! Today, I finally have it working! Feel free to check it out here.(right now it's full of placeholders but the TV works!)
I might be getting ahead of myself, but if I learn how to make websites from scratch, I could move away from Squarespace ($324(NZD)/year?!) and Carrd. I'll host my art website on Neocities instead for a fraction of the cost. Even if something happens to Neocities, I'll still have the HTML document. I'm not bound to one place. Now that's exciting!
I have big plans for my new digital home! I still have one week until I have to face the reality of being a failure.
And I intend to enjoy it fully! ☆: o(≧▽≦)o :☆