Welcome to the first blog post I've written in over a decade! I appreciate you taking the time to check it out. I doubt it'll be as refined as my reviews. It will most likely serve as a stream of my thoughts on a topic I've selected. Anyway, the topic of my first post will be about why it took me so long to redesign my website, and general thoughts about HTML, colour profiles, and being an artist in general.

It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do with my website. I had some general thoughts, such as how I wanted it to look more like early web2.0, and less corporate. I thought the previous design I had before this was okay and was serviceable, but I ripped the colour scheme right from GitHub; plus it was a few simple tables, and that's it. I'm much happier with the state the site is in now, although, it's not in the final state, and I have plenty of additional modifications I want to implement.

First off, I don't particularly enjoy the colour scheme. I know that it's very Shadow the Hedgehog core, but it does feel cliché. Is it really me? I may be able to do better with the style, but it's serviceable for now. Another bit of code that I was having trouble with, was the hearts on the navigation bar. Something about the padding moves them up and to the left, when I want them closer and in line with the text. I haven't quite figured out how to do it yet, but I wanted to move on. Lastly, I'm uncertain if I want the boxes to be so square. I might end up giving them some rounded edges, but I haven't decided on the style for now. I've created an issue on my GitHub to address these issues in the future, mostly so I don't forget. Currently, my top priority is getting content on the page. I need to update all the pages with the new style, which will be a task itself.

Since I've started my journey, I've been thinking about a statement I used to share with people. I would tell them that I'm not a creative person, and I focus on more logical tasks, such as data collection, lists, and spreadsheets. You can sort of see that with how my website turned out, being a little plain and blocky, but it begs the question. Is this not art? Are people who make websites art? Website creation is just code, so are software developers artists? I'm not big into the art scene personally, but I find these to be interesting questions to ask. In my opinion, I believe programming in every form is a form of art. There isn't one way to code something, and you need to use a form of self-expression to get a task done. That, on top of creating some kind of UI for someone to interact with your code. You don't always end up coding an interface for your code, but the skills you need to weave anything from a website, to a data sorting tool can be considered a form of art.

People tell me that I'm a creative person, and I can see it a bit more now than I have in the past. I used to draw a little, and I used to be in a band when I was a teenager, but I never considered myself an artist. I didn't feel like I met the definition, or that because it was just a hobby, I couldn't consider myself an artist, just someone who likes to make “art”. I'm sure there will be people who disagree with me, but I believe that anyone can be an artist, and there's no reason to put such strict requirements on what we call art, and who we call an artist. It's about the experience that we're able to create for people, and the thought and passion we put into our projects.

Make time to love yourself, and build yourself up. Never get lost in the weeds of what the implications or something are when it comes to creating. Be who you want to be, create what you would like to create, and constantly strive to be the best.

~ Posted 6 April 2023 by .void