Tips for ''finishing'' your site

[KatKing]

I want to make a site that i can actually use, but i also want to make it cool and creative because thats fun to me. But ive found im only able to have one or the other, especcally because im not too good at coding yet, so everything takes a long time

i first found out about neocities about 2 years ago, and ive always wanted a site. i loved sites like Unncanny Valley and the idea of making something like that is so fun to me. but it takes so much work, i feel like ill never get to the point where i can actually *use* the site (i feel like ill always burn out before then)

surely im not the only one with this problem. i have things i want to contribute to the world beyond a pretty facade, but pretty facades are also just... pretty. and nice. and i like making them and looking at them.

https://kok0.neocities.org/ its been about 6 months since i worked on my site, and you can tell that its very much a wip. theres actually a bit to do and look at if you click around, i think i was doing better with creating content i wanted whilst also making the site, but i still got overwhelmed after a while. it just takes so long to code. i know i should start small but im such a perfectionist and over achiever. how did you guys go about making (finishing) your first site, at least to the point where it was functional?

im also just so indecisive, i kind of dont like the layout anymore its hard to work with and cluttered, i kinda just want a normal page layout. and every time i take a long break i forget alot it feels like ill never actually
have a site

also i know you probably never truly finish your site, i just mean like to the point where it is functional and at least has a home page. i cant ever get to all the fun stuff i want to do

[brisray]

The great thing about websites is that you don't have to write them all at once and they are finished when you think they are. Even if you think a page is finished but change your mind you can always go back and edit it later.

You can go wherever your creativity and interests take you. These personal sites are ours and we can do whatever we like with them.

I like the simple layout of your pages but you've got a bit of the problem with the image and audio files. You are hosting them on files.catbox.moe but they are not displaying. My browsers are giving the mesage "This site can’t provide a secure connection. files.catbox.moe sent an invalid response."

You might want to upload the files to Neocities and change the links to them.

[KatKing]

maybe im just overthinking it, but i over think most things

i always use catbox, it shows up for me? maybe something is blocking it for you? i can try uploading them on neocities

could anyone else confirm if it works?

[Guest]

could anyone else confirm if it works?

The catbox images work perfectly fine for me! No issues present, so I'm not sure what the problem is for @brisray ...

In any case, my advice to the original question posed is as follows: work on the fun stuff first. I know it may sound simple enough because believe me when I say that I often times get stuck on one page for hours, sometimes days in hyperfocus to make it exactly how I want- but that's not fun! And it ends up exhausting me... So I think it's best to leave something for a moment and work on something else until you feel ready to try again!

[brisray]

It might be that my ISP, Spectrum, has a problem with Catbox.

I checked links to Catbox files on Reddit and even [auto redacted] and can't access any of them on my laptop. My phone can though.

[brisray]

I got curious about what was happening and did a bit of checking. Changing the DNS servers on the router sometimes works, so I changed mine to Google's (8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4) but that didn't do anything.

Spectrum has something called Security Shield that protects their customers and their network so I turned that off. I can now see https://kok0.neocities.org/ in all its glory.

I checked files.catbox.moe on https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/url and a couple of security vendors do flag the site as malicious. I suppose that's bound to happen with any file sharing service depending on what files they look at and that Security Shield is being extra cautious.

[KatKing]

interesting, thank you for solving this mystery! Im torn because catbox is so useful and easy haha, i wonder how common this problem is? ive seen it get recommended several times for neocities users. Still, it will probably be best to upload images through neocities anyway

[pinkvampyr]

interesting, thank you for solving this mystery! Im torn because catbox is so useful and easy haha, i wonder how common this problem is? ive seen it get recommended several times for neocities users. Still, it will probably be best to upload images through neocities anyway

catbox has been shown to be blocked in several countries unfortunately, i hope people stop recommending it. best bet is to upload through neocities or something like https://freeimage.host/.

[Kallistero]

   My site will remain incomplete for a long time, but I also know that I'm working on it. I have a perfectionism streak, too, and the expectations often aren't enough to meet my own personal standards for my work. If it's not high-quality, it's incomplete, and if I keep it incomplete, that's an artistic decision. It becomes part of a museum of past work, which itself circles the square between aesthetics and function.

If you don't feel it's useful enough, then as the page crafter, you can personally use the site JUST by continuing to work on it. Part of the use of any piece of art is to enrich the artist, to refine one's thoughts and to solidify them onto the canvas. By working on the site, you can ALWAYS get a use out of it. So that's one thing: your site already has a use, at least to you. This is something you've offered to the world, as you are also a part of that world, and hopefully, it makes you a little more joyful, a happier self to offer to others.

Now, when it comes to making something that's more inherently useful to others, it doesn't have to start off pretty. You often make something that works before you add the paint job. I've personally had a project in the works for the past month, and most of the work has been entirely invisible to the user. Just, what is the information that goes in, what is the information that comes out, how do you want that functionality to interact with the user, and THEN how do you want to present that information & interaction?

Conversely, you could also create a façade and then wire things in behind it. That's sort of what's happening with my home page right now. Most of the buttons don't go anywhere, but it'll all get more useful as time goes on. Most of what it's doing is looking nice, with the buttons also working as a prompt for things I want to add to the site. Also, I believe that a links page is inherently useful in this space. If someone is looking at your site, then odds are, they're probably interested in looking at other ones, too!