#like 'aesthetic' fonts! it says they like pretty stuff sure but also that they don't know or don't care that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

retro-rat · 3 months

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Working on some new stuff for the site. I had the idea to make stickers of pretty much this with the URL at the bottom and a QR code in the top left corner that also just links to the URL. Gonna stretch out some parts of the layout, give myself more room for text and look for a better font. I'm still leaning into the nostalgic theme with the muted pan flag colours (the blue, yellow and red)

While my formative years are on Win98, I had a long journey with XP. I've installed it tons of times, I worked with it a lot on most of my schools and work placements. I don't have brand loyalty, but I do treasure the look of everything. The layout of an OS is but a small part of the total aesthetic, but when I think back to photoshopping junk together while blasting metal in class in 2003, it's part of it. Just like the MSN noises and the crunchy voicechats. I want to clean up some of the more personal parts on the website like the Internet Loser page or the Secret About Me. I got some shit to say just for the fuck of it, sure, but maybe I should just sneak in a Journal page and leave my rambling behind that door. Might throw out more snaps in the time leading up to uploading this version.

#personal #me #web design #website #neocities #old web #aesthetic #retrorat

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strobbylemonade · 8 months

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explaining why this is poor design: new on left (light mode) and old on right (dark mode)

having tag thumbnails is quite ineffective when all tags have the same thumbnail

i don't know about other people but i personally prefer not to search by tag? i usually search by keyword because it gives me more varied content in my search. strange choice to prioritise tagging but lmk what other people think

"217 recent... 63K..." yeah this is sooo optimised for different browser sizes

when have follower counts for tags ever been important information that we need to know while navigating to a tag? on the website where "follower counts don't matter"??? this is useless information; i used to primarily use instagram, it was also useless there and mainly used to double check i didn't misspell anything.

the leading and vertical margins/padding are bad; not only makes the title and subtitles feel disconnected, but also makes it harder for your brain to distinguish between sections.

making everything larger makes it more cramped, and again, removes the spatial distinction between where one entry ends and the next one begins

props for making stuff more distinguishable for colourblind users and also easier to read from further away though. although uh some other website has done it better and... well... we'll get to that later

before we do, i had a search of what other people thought and stole this screenshot from @helpimstuckinafandom (ryuji image to stop the screenie from taking up too much space)

this is somehow WORSE - it's so cramped on the left side with so much empty space on the right, making it feel bloated and empty at the same time, the text in the different sections don't line up (they didn't used to either, i know), the enlarging of the icons reduces the negative space that was already lacking with my update, and somehow the bolded text of the search suggestions makes it feel even emptier compared to the cramped "tags" area. the good thing? less unnecessary information, like no tag follower counts, and no icons for recent searches.

alright. moving on, i sure do wonder where they got this idea for larger and bolder font choices from OH WAIT (roland image to stop it from being so damn large)

oh wait this actually looks pretty good though. so why does twitter's layout work? same reason why tumblr's old one was, frankly, pretty ugly but worked:

SPACING VS CLUTTER

there's no images for the tags / searches because there doesn't need to be! there's no information about follower counts because again, it's not important! notice their width is almost the same as tumblr's, but it still feels better because the content is smaller and the spacing appropriately allows your brain to digest things into smaller chunks.

it's also completely legible and comfortable to read no matter your browser size!!!!!!!!!!!! which tumblr fails to do! even when display names reach their character limits (see: PearlescentMoon) it's still completely legible and not confusing.

ok so if twitter's so good why do i hate it looking more like twitter? simple: brand identity. tumblr removing the stuff that makes it look like tumblr, is in fact, bad. having thick weighted, rounded fonts is not inherently bad. it's what twitter looks like, it's what apple looks like - they have a certain brand identity of legibility, professionalism, and cleanliness that they need to uphold. which is great. microsoft is straight edges and geometric shapes - utilitarian, functional, professional.

what i'm trying to say is this: if you want to keep branding tumblr as the stupid clown funny gay people ancient hellsite, then revel in the aesthetic. in the blatant html-ness of it all, it's unique, you can't get it anywhere else (you can but not on a site as popular). YES make it more accessible, YES make it more welcoming and easy to pick up and use for new users. you don't have to strip it of it's individuality to do so.

i was going to end it here but right before i hit post, i realised tumblr has a tumblr-looking, well spaced, organised and aesthetically pleasing suggestion-based navigation system already - right under the search bar. anyways. that's all. goodbye

#tumblr #design #rant

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hotchley · 3 years

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dkfjsksj omg SWEETIE when are you publishing your novel!!! bc i would SO BUY IT JUST TO SUPPORT YOU OMG

pls make it available worldwide i 10/10 would buy regardless of shipping fees

just curious: are you planning to self publish your book or go through external publishers? have you planned for how you want the cover to look like? 👀

how many pages is it so far? are you almost done or not there yet? (it's honestly fine if you're not, masterpieces take time!!!!! ❤️)

omg also do you do like moodboards/aesthetics/song playlists kind of things for your characters 🥴 bc that would be a very cool way to introduce them! but honestly i know life is tiring and very busy already so it's okay if you don't have time for this

also: where did you come up with their names? (bc honestly i keep using names of people i know irl when i write.... i once merged 2 of my friend's ex boyfriends names and tweaked them a little to form an unsub's name so 😭💀💀)

i hope writing has been going smoothly for you!! remember to drink water & take breaks! you can do it, i believe in you 🥰❤️

🌙

I love you so much! I love all of you because you really came through with these questions!! It was a very good distraction <3 I've put everything below the cut because I feel like my answers were getting very, very long x

1. OKAY SO HERE'S THE THING!

I'm currently in the process of editing, and I was going to publish it on Wattpad and enter the Wattys (if I get it up in time) and see what happens... I know Wattpad has a bit of a... reputation, but it's the most accessible platform for me and others to use, because I want it to be available to lots of different people, and that's both free and not difficult to use because you can change the colour scheme and font size.

2. On the one hand. I want it published because I think it would be really cool. It's extremely long (and by all the guidelines I've seen, a little bit too long for a young adult novel) but it's mine, and I did it, and I would want to share that with others. On the other hand, I have no idea how to go about self-publishing, and I hate being criticised, so publishing is a bit of a... iffy thing. I've also got very little knowledge of publishing in general. And I like writing for fun you know? Like I started planning my second novel, and wrote a bit of that, but then I got sucked back into this, and fanfic, and I know I don't want to write for a living.

And I'm not saying that if you publish one thing, you need to do it full-time, but still. Also, the idea of some of the people I know being aware that I wrote a novel and the contents of it... no. That just fills with my dread. So I think I'll put it up on Wattpad, and we'll see what happens!

I do have a cover! It's very amateur, but it kinda matches the one I did when I was writing it into my notebook, so to me it's something sentimental. I mean, the notebook cover was just the title, so this is a bit more exciting with an actual image lol

3. It's currently thirty-one chapters. Well, thirty-three if you include the prologue and epilogue. It's also 452 pages, but the chapters don't always start on new pages, and if you think that's bad, the second draft somehow ended up being 670 pages (but I think that's to do with the spacing getting all messed up...) As it stands, it's 172536 words umm....

I'm getting closer to finishing!! I finished chapter twenty-five last night, so I just have six chapters and the epilogue to go. I'm pretty sure some of them are shorter, but I have vivid memories of the final chapter being LONG. I just checked, it's 13,776 words... so... may split that in two whoops :)

4. YES!! YES I DO!! I have a whole pinterest board that I only made after the second draft?? It's basically what led to the third draft. I was like: oh, I'm not ready to say goodbye, let me make a pinterest board. And then when I was trying to think of things to search to make it I was like: I have no idea how to describe any of these people...

I have a moodboard for the five main characters, and one for the aesthetic of the school. And I'm thinking: the week leading up to the publication, I'm going to share each character one, and (I already have the post in my drafts) the post with all the information is going to have the Eros Academy one :)

And there's a playlist! I need to sort it out because there are some songs on there that I kinda don't really like/no longer fit with what I want it to be, but then I also just use it as something to listen to whilst I write, so maybe not... the playlist is going to be part of a) the post with all the stuff and b) the aesthetics chapter <3

4. Names.... names were complicated. Many people had them changed. If you're wondering what I mean by many:

Tiberias -> Tristan

Mr Winchester -> Mr Carter

Eleanora -> Viola

Spencer -> Peter

Green -> Gill

The Headmaster -> Rotchforth

And so many people's parents just weren't named so... I just chose their names super randomly. I chose names because I wanted them to sound all noble and fancy. And then I wanted some more normal and ordinary names. And some of them I just chose because I liked them.

I did like looking at the meanings though, just for a bit of fun

It's been fun!! I will <3 I'm also self-isolating (I tested negative, but regardless) so there's not really much else I can do... let's ignore the virtual experience, personal statement and coursework reading I'm supposed to be working on....

#🌙anon #people talk to me

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