You’d think after Site Month, the Somnolians would slow down, right? Not quite, we’re just getting started. More site redesigns, blog posts, art! It all needs a recap!
The bulb mecca gets new digs
It was finished just a few days after the last recap, so in case you’re not aware, somnolescent.net just got a genuinely massively overhaul. Instead of me throwing something together like usual, we went all out. Everyone got involved writing bios, suggesting changes, Caby came in clutch with her adorably cryptic chibis and full color banners, there’s utterly useless ads now (and yes, that ad spot could be yours!), and I learned JavaScript and made it all interactive for the occasion.
This thing was an absolute blast to put together, and if you’d like to read more about me putting it together, the entire saga’s on my Scratchpad.
dcb goes PHP
While I was playing with JavaScript, dcb was delving into PHP, a serverside scripting staple of the modern internet. The result of all this is that his site’s gotten a lot fancier. RSS feeds and random photography on the front page, a cleaner layout and a stylesheet using almost no classes, even a damn hit counter in the footer. How’s that for nostalgiamining?
While he says he’s gonna keep at a proper overhaul for the future, it’s still really neat to see everyone continue to branch out and get more and more advanced with their sites. No stagnating around here >:3c
Caby cleanup
I held off on including Caby’s semi-redesign in the last recap because she wasn’t entirely happy with the sketchbook style she set out for herself. Something about the formlessness or the lack of color, whichever. In any case, after somnolescent.net got overhauled, she turned her attention back to her own site, which is now absolutely skeuomorphic, textured and vibey, with a variety of banners to match! Not to mention, her DeviantART-styled art gallery returns using AutoSite, so it should be far easier to maintain from here on out.
The struggle was absolutely real on this one, admittedly (you can read a bit why in my Scratchpad post about cleaning up her art gallery), but she powered through it and it turned out terrific for it, really. More Caby art is always a good thing.
Blog happenings
And, in a bizarre twist of fate, Letters From Somnolescent springs back to life! Yes, March went without a single post, but as things have gotten more relaxed, we’ve had more to say. Certainly, this isn’t the end of it. Here’s the gist:
- mariversary 2.0: I Actually Paid for This by mariteaux (April 1): “What never gets brought up though is how utterly broken Neocities actually is. Neocities is best described as a second-week Ruby on Rails prototype, yet Kyle Drake was ballsy enough to get people to pay for it anyway. Including me.”
- Life ‘n Weeb Shit by borb (April 2): “They’re both pretty goddamn delicious, but for some reason people still feel the need to compare and pick apart the one they like a bit less and man, its all content for an old but fantastic series that’s just sitting there ripe for the enjoyment. Just appreciate the food that’s been put out there for you to enjoy.”
- A circus or a seaside pier, a sausage or a can of beer by Caby (April 12): “He had a long, successful career as a comedian, but was best remembered by most, and by me, for his role in The Goodies. And that is for what I shall continue to remember him for, the entertainment and happiness he brought me and my family.”
- Old Macs! by mon (April 14): “As far as the history of this machine goes? Well, thanks to the fact whoever sold this or gave it away didn’t format the hard drive, apparently this mac was passed around a few times – first being used as a machine to keep logs at a place that taught karate and women’s personal safety classes, then being passed off to a family and being used for… Well, mid 90’s family computer things.”
Art happenings
In what I’ve wanted to be a section of each month’s recap for a while now but only just got around to implementing, I asked Caby and borb for their favorite pieces they’ve done recently and I’ve saved them for the end of this here recap. If you’re not following their DeviantARTs, here’s what you’re missing:
Suppose that’s it for now. How’s your April been?
