Medjed.nekoweb.org
Big Site Update
- 03/04/2025
- 6 minute read
Excuses for my absence
First of all, I am sorry for neglecting my site for SIX MONTHS... I cannot believe it has been that long since I updated. I was really surprised that I still received followers and comments during that time. When I originally made my site, I never expected such a positive reception, it made me really happy that I got comments from people saying it inspired them.
I have been severely lacking motivation to work on my site, the original code was a mess and I wanted to do lots of things that weren't possible without basically starting from scratch. I also put off learning how to use an SSG for ages. On top of this, I started college so had that taking up my time as well. Anyway, I'm enjoying working on this site again, let me tell you about what has changed.
Generally better code
This doesn't affect the outward appearance of the site but it makes a difference to me. It's still not great, my code is littered with things that are not optimal but it's a hell of a lot better than previously. Maybe someday I will remake my website from scratch again and finally have tidy code...
Now using 11ty
The biggest learning curve in revamping my site was learning how to use the static site generator 11ty. It seemed really confusing at first but now that I have figured it out, it makes things so much easier. If you're someone with a website, particularly one with a blog, I highly reccommend you use an SSG, if it seems difficult, don't worry, I promise you that you can get the hang of it. My main motivation for using an SSG was to easily create a blog, but it has been useful in other ways too. I really like being able to use partials, it keeps my code cleaner and it's easier to find what I want to edit.
Mobile responsiveness
This is the main thing I was wanting to do but required redoing most of the code. I have never made a responsive webpage before this, so it isn't perfect, but you can now browse my site on mobile. Desktop is still the preferred way to view it, that's what my site was originally designed for after all, but I wanted to make sure things are usable. I wish more indie web devs made responsive pages. I think people have the belief that mobile websites must be boring, and while sure, it's more restrictive than making websites computers, you can still create an interesting and unique site with an 'old web' feel that works on phones.
Landing page gone
Got rid of the landing page. It previously existed to show disclaimers about mobile incompatibility and autoplaying music before you enter the site. These disclaimers are no longer neccessary since my site now works on mobile and I removed the autoplaying music.
Homepage changes
• Options menu is gone, I will remake this at some point.
• No more autoplaying music! I have no idea why I did that originally, I actually find autoplaying music pretty annoying most of the time. There is a pause/play button now so you can play the background music of your own free will. Marquee also no longer says 'Currently Playing:' before the song title/artist.
• 'Back to Landing Page' removed from navigation bar since the landing page no longer exists. Currently a placeholder while I think of more pages to add.
• Changed the side tab titles to be shorter so they don't overflow on mobile. 'Link My Button' became '88x31 Button', and 'Nekoweb Stats' became just 'Stats'. My button now also expands when you hover over it.
• Welcome text changed slightly.
• Latest blog updates section now actually shows recent blog posts.
• Removed the version numbers from my changelog updates since they were meaningless, now each update is just titled with the date. Date format was also changed, dates are now formatted like '19 Jun 1983' rather than '19/06/1983'.
• My icon in the about me section now expands when you hover over it.
• My status in the about me section no longer uses status.cafe, it now uses Nekoweb Cafe.
• Added a Last.fm widget underneath the about me section. This replaced the old site button marquee.
• New poll added, from now on these should be updated monthly as originally intended.
• Changed the title of 'Guestbook' to 'Comments'.
Blog & RSS Feed added
Pretty self explanatory from the fact you are on the blog right now. Now that I have an easy to use blog up and running you can expect more frequent updates from me and some actual content on this site. I have had a lot of ideas in my head for a while to write posts about so I'm excited to start getting them out there. I hope at least some people will enjoy reading what I write about. I also added an RSS feed so you can be notified when I publish new posts.
Links page added
Site buttons previously lived in a marquee under my about me section on the homepage, but now they are all clearly visible in the links page. Button marquees are a nice idea but I find it annoying not being able to see all the content at once. This page also features a myriad of web links I have gathered, some of which should hopefully be interesting or useful to you.
Credits page added
I technically had a credits page before, but it was just a boring, mostly unstyled list. Not that the new one is particularly exciting, but it looks better than the previous one.
Sitemap added
Another pretty boring page, but it can be useful to see a quick overview of a site. My site isn't particularly complex or hard to navigate but I figured it was better to have one just in case I someday add loads of branching pages.
Still to do:
• 'About Me' page
• More blog posts
• Options menu
• Decide on a few more pages to add, then add them
Conclusion
That's pretty much everything I have done on here. I know there's still not much substance, but I have a much more solid foundation to expand upon now so you can expect more frequent updates. I'm also always open to any suggestions on what to add/change. Thank you so much for the support for this site so far despite its inactivity, I hope to put out content soon that will give people a reason to come back here.