Having trouble finding assets for my site which don't look kinda tacky :p

[BritKnee]

Every website I before was meant to look as horrifically 90s as possible, and I do love them, but I'm trying to go for something less garish. Do any of you lot have recommendations please? ^_^

[Melooon]

It's not really about what assets you use, it's how you use them that makes a site garish or not That aside though, do you have an example of what kind of resources you think would help you create the kind of feeling you're looking for?

[BritKnee]

It's not really about what assets you use, it's how you use them that makes a site garish or not That aside though, do you have an example of what kind of resources you think would help you create the kind of feeling you're looking for?

Thats a part of my issue, I'm not sure what I'm looking for. Nothing on flamingtexts is jumping out at me, I feel all of these 90s gifs are a little over-used but I don't know what to put in their place.

[Melooon]

Then maybe you have some examples of sites that have a mood you like? (if not go find some!)

You can try this loose design system; pick a shape you like, research that shape (if it is a circle research everything circular, pipes, cakes, the moon, CDs, eyes etc); find the things about that shape or related to it that you are attracted to, the colours of those things, the sounds of them, the words associated with them. Then start to gather those things into a 2D page; lay them out in your mind or loosely on paper, figure out how they flow and relate to each other, if they were music how would they sound together? THEN start to think about what icons (gifs), title text and other glitter might suit this kind of space ^^

It sounds like maybe you are doing the opposite, starting with gifs and trying to build your site around them; that's not usually the best approach because then you're putting the designs core in the hands of some random images that will never fully live up to your self ^^

[BritKnee]

Then maybe you have some examples of sites that have a mood you like? (if not go find some!)

You can try this loose design system; pick a shape you like, research that shape (if it is a circle research everything circular, pipes, cakes, the moon, CDs, eyes etc); find the things about that shape or related to it that you are attracted to, the colours of those things, the sounds of them, the words associated with them. Then start to gather those things into a 2D page; lay them out in your mind or loosely on paper, figure out how they flow and relate to each other, if they were music how would they sound together? THEN start to think about what icons (gifs), title text and other glitter might suit this kind of space ^^

It sounds like maybe you are doing the opposite, starting with gifs and trying to build your site around them; that's not usually the best approach because then you're putting the designs core in the hands of some random images that will never fully live up to your self ^^

Thank you for this adive 

My main goal is to make a blogging site, its devoid of anything right now. Here is my old (embarrassing) site https://obritsdoomingsanctuary.neocities.org/, this is the new empty one https://no-thoughts.neocities.org/

[kurohaato]

Thats a part of my issue, I'm not sure what I'm looking for. Nothing on flamingtexts is jumping out at me, I feel all of these 90s gifs are a little over-used but I don't know what to put in their place.

I've personally found that starting out looking for graphics rarely works. I prefer starting out with a theme for the layout and working from there. Even when I use a profile picture or graphic as the inspo for a whole layout, it's because I can make a theme around it. "Oh this glittery Rin gif is so cute! I'll make a cute sparkly orange layout for it!" "Oh halloween is coming up, I'll make a layout based on this cute ghost background!" etc etc

Maybe you want to do something with the no-thoughts name, like some clouds ("head in the clouds") or base it off of that one my melody meme. Maybe you want to base it off what you want to post, like having a Windows 7 theme for a tech blog. Maybe you want to theme it around something you like, like a song you love or your favorite character in a game. That's how I developed my index page: "Oh this layout's cute but I feel like it's not me... What if I did a tropical theme with some fish and beachy music and some of my favorite summery Love Live pics?"

And if you end up not going the 90s route you can play around with other stuff too! PNGs, cute pixel art, anime girls, etc. You're not limited to the same old galaxy background and low poly gifs we've been using since '94.

[BritKnee]

I've personally found that starting out looking for graphics rarely works. I prefer starting out with a theme for the layout and working from there. Even when I use a profile picture or graphic as the inspo for a whole layout, it's because I can make a theme around it. "Oh this glittery Rin gif is so cute! I'll make a cute sparkly orange layout for it!" "Oh halloween is coming up, I'll make a layout based on this cute ghost background!" etc etc

Maybe you want to do something with the no-thoughts name, like some clouds ("head in the clouds") or base it off of that one my melody meme. Maybe you want to base it off what you want to post, like having a Windows 7 theme for a tech blog. Maybe you want to theme it around something you like, like a song you love or your favorite character in a game. That's how I developed my index page: "Oh this layout's cute but I feel like it's not me... What if I did a tropical theme with some fish and beachy music and some of my favorite summery Love Live pics?"

And if you end up not going the 90s route you can play around with other stuff too! PNGs, cute pixel art, anime girls, etc. You're not limited to the same old galaxy background and low poly gifs we've been using since '94.

Thank you! Do you know where I could find these other things (Cute pixel arts, anime girls etc) for when I have figured out what I want?

[kurohaato]

Thank you! Do you know where I could find these other things (Cute pixel arts, anime girls etc) for when I have figured out what I want?

For fandom stuff check fan wikis. Especially if you're looking for gacha games, it's not hard to find card art and the transparents from their cards (school idol tomodatchi and idol story are great for love live in particular. That's how I get most of my stuff!).

For graphics in general check out neocities' graphics tag. You can also try spacehey's Web, HTML, and Tech section, there's almost always a post sharing a small pile of graphics sites or stamps/blinkies/dividers/decome (pixels/favicons)/buttons/general gifs they found.

Glitter Graphics is where I get a lot of stuff from. The graphics are pretty dated to the 2000s, but I find that it's a part of its charm. You can also try GifCities if you want to go more 90s - it's a collection of Geocities gifs saved by the Internet Archive.

Tumblr, Pinterest, and a good old fashioned Google search can also work, just make sure if you get something from an artist they say their work is free to use or free to use with credit.

You can also just make your own! GIMP is your friend use it to go absolutely wild.