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eastertag · 4 years

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@fallenfurther gift for @willow-salix

Komorebi Forest

Prompts:

The boys organise an Easter Egg hunt for the Children’s Hospital

Anything John is ALWAYS welcome (but not Ridley)

******

John looked up from the code projected before him and stretched his neck. He was floating in Five and somehow, he still managed to get cramp. While turning his head this way and that, John stretched out his weary fingers. He hadn’t spent hours on end coding in months, and although he used his hands while coordinating rescues and maintenance duties, those activities were never quite as intense as a coding session. John let his gaze fall on the holographic globe before him. It reminded him why he was doing this.

“You are due a lunch break in 30 minutes, John. Might I suggest you take it now?”

EOS, his loyal companion, was forever watching over him. John sighed. He knew he’d asked EOS to help him keep track of the necessities, but there were times he could swear she’d spoke with Scott. The fact that the two were amenable at the best of times made him think otherwise, but maybe EOS had been watching the eldest and adopting some of his traits.

“I think I’ll take you up on that offer. A break might refresh my brain. I’m struggling with the rendering code.”

John saved the file and minimised it before pushing himself out the observation room towards the station’s kitchen area, EOS following on her rail.

“What would you like in your bagel today, John? Cream cheese and chive, cream cheese and smoked salmon or peanut butter and jelly?”

“I’ll have the salmon one, EOS. Though be gentler with the toasting this time.”

“Do not worry, John, I have adjusted the settings after performing thorough recalculations. The bread should be toasted to your preferred level. I have saved the previous settings for the next time Gordon visits.”

John smiled at the memory. Gordon needed a Zero-G refresher, so had been sent up for a week. A tsunami had, thankfully, shortened his stay, as he was needed Earthside. John enjoyed Gordon best in small doses, especially when he considered fiddling with the bagel settings funny. The charcoaled bagel that had been presented for breakfast had almost been as unpleasant as the squirty cheese Gordon had been spraying everywhere. Some had made it onto his brother’s own bagel, while the rest had floated about sticking to almost every surface. John had not been impressed and Gordon ignored both John’s glare and the mess. Though there had been good moments. Gordon listened in space, giving John the same respect that John had given Gordon when it was time for John’s diving refresher. His younger brother swam through Five and there was a comfort in hearing Gordon’s laugh echo through the ring.

John took a bite of the bagel that EOS presented to him and brought up Gordon’s position with his free hand. The aquanaut was making the most of the compulsory downtime that came after any big rescue to do what he loved most. John watched the little submarine’s grid reference as the numbers fell, indicating it was diving. Thunderbird Four was a few islands away from base. John tapped the little yellow triangle, opening the comm.

“Hey John!” The cheery voice matched the grin that was on his brother’s face, “You miss me already?”

John smiled as Gordon effortlessly controlled the submarine, the hologram’s arms moving outside the frame.

“Of course. How is the local wildlife? Have you found that shoal of fish that’s been spotted in the area?”

Gordon grinned at him, his eyes sparking.

“Following them as we speak, John. Man, they are beauties! There are thousands of them John, all swimming in a chaotic swarm over the reef. It’s phenomenal. You’re missing out, John. Your stars have nothing on these fish.”

John chuckled.

“I’m happy with my stars. You enjoy your fish.”

“Sure. Catch you later!”

Gordon blinked away and John looked past the Earth to the stars beyond. Gordon never understood John’s fascination with the night sky, preferring to look down into the Earth’s depths, while John looked beyond it. Finishing off the bagel, John grabbed a space thermos of tea and headed back to the observation room. He pulled up the code and dived back in. He knew time was precious and he could be required at a second’s notice. He had a deadline too. His mind slipped easily back into motion, delving deep into the code again. The break has worked wonders on his brain and he quickly overcame the problem and started on the finer adjustments while he waited for EOS to finish her part. They could then do the first test. John jumped slightly when EOS finally spoke.

“I have completed my task, John. Shall I prepare the programme for launch?”

“Yes please, EOS.”

John grabbed the virtual reality headset and slipped it over his eyes, plunging himself into darkness. He slipped the controller out of where he had stored it in his baldric. A loading screen came up and he was presented with a start screen.

“Let the hunt begin” was written across a blurred image of a forest. Below it was a button that said “Enter Komorebi Forest”. John selected it. A loading screen appeared for a short time before a framework structure of a forest appeared around him. Using the controller, he looked around the grey maze, looking out for the small egg shapes that were scattered amongst the half-complete world. It was a surreal place right now, but he planned to make it magical. A forest that would set the children’s imagination wild and help them to forget the hospital beds they were confined to.

“Is the programme functioning as expected, John?” EOS chimed in his ear.

“It’s working as planned. There’s still the texturing and images that need to be added but that’ll be the easy part for you. If our servers can handle the extra load this programme will put on them, I think it’ll perform well.”

John continued to explore the landscape; its bare graphical bones exposed for his scrutiny. His eyes scouted around for any weak points or glitches in the matrix. All the framework was here. Branches with greyscale leaves that he had to duck under, bushes with tunnels inside and even a few huts and chalets to explore. It was all there, ready to be coloured in and finally explored.

“I’ve put a few possible plans together which you can choose from. All of them require borrowing some of the Tracy Industries servers to ensure that the programme does not interfere with the running of International Rescue.”

“Thank you, EOS. I’ll check through those later and run the best one by Scott. I’m sure he can pull the right strings.” John closed the programme and slipped the headset off. “Have you seen the file full of images which I have collated to help with the texturing of the environment?”

“I have. Would you like me to start work on that next?”

“Yes please, EOS.”

At that moment a red triangle appeared on the hologlobe that filled the centre of the room. John floated over and answered the call.

“International Rescue, what’s your situation?”

***

Alan was bored. None of his friends were online. He flicked his controller, only to remember he was meant to be beta testing John’s programme. Alan slipped on the headset. Sure, it was just an Easter Egg Hunt for the sick kids, but this was his brother John. John was meticulous with his coding and Alan was looking forward to seeing what John could do with a game design. Alan had seen some of his brother’s old coursework submissions and they had been some fantastic pieces of work. The start screen popped up and Alan entered Komorebi Forest.

He found himself in a clearing; swaying trees of beech and common lime circled him with fantastic realism. A pair of birds, possibly sparrows, flew across the clearing, their chirps filling the air. The sun was out, and the smattering of wispy clouds floated through the stunningly blue sky. In the corner the instruction ‘A to interact’ appeared. Alan moved forward. John had already shown him the character design program, and Alan had created his own slightly cartoonish version of himself. He had made the character taller than he was, because he could. Alan started to explore, heading down one of the trails. There were small bushes and ferns everywhere. Obvious places for him to look to find eggs! He went up to one and pushed 'A’. Hands appeared and moved the leaves. A rabbit bounced out the hole and between his character’s legs. Alan smiled. The kids would love that! He continued, looking both up and down. He came to an oak tree and looking into its tall branches, Alan spotted a red and gold egg. He ran up to the tree and interacted with it. The joystick then became the controller for his character’s arm. Switching between arms he made the character climb up the tree and grab the egg. As he clung to the tree, his eye on the egg count in the right-hand corner, a squirrel came down from above and studied him. It paused upside down, twisted its head side to side, before scampering along a branch and jumping into another tree. Alan failed at climbing down and ended up falling. He landed on his bottom with a jerk.

“Well done, you found one!”

The familiar voice made Alan jump. He turned and saw a small ginger haired girl standing before him. She had a realistic design, with fine detailing in her plaits. She was wearing a simple navy dress with a white star on it and blue pumps. Her green eyes looked up at him and her smile was pleasant.

“EOS?” Alan questioned.

“Yes Alan.”

“Did John make you an avatar?”

“No. I did this. What do you think? I tried to make it look more realistic. I made John one too.”

John was suddenly standing next to EOS, though the avatar didn’t move. Unlike EOS it didn’t blink. It looked so much like John but it’s blank stare sent shivers down Alan’s spine.

“Wow, EOS. That’s a really good likeness.”

“Thank you. I worked hard on it. I thought it would be appropriate for the children to see him as he is, considering the other children will see you as you are.”

Alan was relieved when the John avatar disappeared, though there was still something in the way EOS spoke that was creepy. She still had a little way to go before she would stop sounding robotic.

“And you also made yourself?”

“Yes. I thought the children would appreciate this kind of avatar over an image of my matrix or a version of my camera module.”

The idea of a floating camera in such a serene place would definitely be unnerving.

“I agree with that EOS. But why did you choose this design?”

The little girl looked quizzically at Alan and he could see the circuits calculating in the avatar’s expression. Alan wondered if this was a form of mimicry. Was EOS copying expressions they, his family, had made? He knew EOS watched the world, and probably them, learning what it means to be human and how she could be of more use to John. But how much had she picked up?

“This is the design that my processors felt would be least threatening to the children.”

Alan had to agree there. He could see the similarities in the avatar to John. Had EOS given her avatar some Tracy traits? Though standing a random girl next to an International Rescue operative and having them look like family would make EOS less threatening. Still, it felt a little odd being able to put a face to EOS. Alan would always see this avatar from now on when he thought or spoke to the AI.

“What do you think of the programme? Is it functioning well?”

“I need a little more time to explore but what I’ve seen so far is incredible.”

Alan and EOS strolled further along the trail. EOS became Alan’s guide, pointing out the bluebells and foxglove she had rendered and even the occasional insect, like the red-legged shieldbug, she’d added on one common lime. Alan was in awe of the detail. He was aware that they were using a mix of International Rescue and Tracey Industries servers to run the programme. Alan couldn’t fault his brother’s design. EOS led Alan off the track and deeper into the forest until they came to a stream with small rocky waterfalls at various points.

“This is the end of the simulation. The tree line on the other side has a barrier to stop anyone going further. Alan placed his foot in the stream. The water rushed around it with the expected fluid mechanics though with none of the cold wetness that normally accompanied a sodden shoe. The soft sounds of the water were soothing. He continued to the weeping willow trees which EOS had pointed too and tested the barrier. There was nothing to indicate it was there, but he couldn’t pass through.

“Maybe you should put something there. Something to indicate that you can’t go any further. The kids might run into it and it would be a shock when they do.”

“I see your point.”

Alan watched the young girl as she closed her eyes in thought. When she opened them again, her emerald eyes fixed on his.

“How about something like this?”

Alan turned around. String now looped between the trees; small bells attached at places which softly chimed when the breeze shook them. The barrier had moved slightly, but when Alan reached out his hand it still worked.

“That’s better.”

“I’ll complete the adjustments after you’ve finished testing.”

Alan continued down the border, testing it as he went. The stream soon disappeared behind a rocky cliff and its rockface became the barrier. Continuing along, with EOS following behind, Alan came across caves and ledges, all with Easter eggs hidden in them. The detail and thought that had gone into this place was beyond what Alan had expected when John had first suggested the idea. How John has found the time to design and code all this was not worth thinking about.

Scott had been sceptical about the idea, preferring to drag John down from Five and have him present for once. But the idea that some children would have to miss out on the International Rescue Easter Egg Hunt through no fault on their own made Scott considered the idea. Scott couldn’t say no after seeing this place. Especially if John used the avatar EOS had made. John was still going to have to come along but at least he would feel a little more comfortable interacting through the programme. They had circled back to the clearing and Alan was sold.

"I have to show this to Scott, EOS. He has to see this place!”

“There are still some final tasks to do before it is finished.”

“That’s doesn’t matter, he still has to see it.”

Alan exited the forest and pulled the headset from his head. Equipment still in hand he raced from his room towards the office where he suspected Scott to be.

***

John stood in the clearing of his forest, listening to the sounds of laughter and screeches of 'I got one!’ Right now, the entire children’s intensive care unit was hunting Easter eggs and it was John’s, with a little help from EOS and some nurses, job to make sure all went smoothly. This was the fourth batch of children to enter and he was starting to get the hang of it.

The last batch had been the cancer patients, some of which had been in isolation. John had waved from the other side of the glass, and one young lad, Bryan, had been super excited. He had never met most of the other kids on the ward, and then to see someone from International Rescue made the boy bounce around his room. Bryan had come straight up to John in the forest and chatted away. Thankfully, one of the other kids he had met dragged him away to hunt Easter eggs. John had watched as Bryan was introduced to the others. John was planning to talk to Scott about handing the programme over to the hospital so kids in isolation could meet each other regularly. There would have to be supervision and other safety measures put in place, but it could really improve the lives of these children. John could think of multiple new environments that could be rendered to keep things fresh, though they might have to outsource the design of them.

John headed down one of the paths, following the sound of laughter. One of the laughs was familiar and John paused in the shadow of a Tilia tree and watched. EOS and three other children were running around a smaller clearing. It appeared they had taught the AI how to play ‘Stuck in the mud’. A check of the time showed there was ten minutes left of the forty-minute hunt session, though after fifteen minutes most the eggs had been found and the children resorted to exploring and having fun. There were a few nurses scattered about, keeping an eye on their charges, and handling any virtual fights that broke out. EOS seemed to be enjoying herself, though John was finding it hard to tell in her new form. She was extremely proud of her craftsmanship and John had a feeling this wasn’t going to be the last time he saw her using this avatar. EOS laughed again as she narrowly missed being tagged. He watched as another child was tagged leaving EOS the only one standing and cornered. The boy dashed to one side only to quickly switch direction and place his hand on her arm.

“I win!” He yelled, throwing his fist in the air.

The others came 'unstuck’ and ran to join him.

“We only have ten minutes left. Let’s go explore some more.” A girl said.

“Okay!” The other two children sang while EOS stayed quiet. The children turned to her.

“Don’t you want to explore?” The girl asked.

“I explored earlier. I’m going to go join John now. Thank you for teaching me the game.”

“Okay. Bye then.”

“Bye EOS.”

The other children disappeared into the trees and John stepped out of the shadows. He smiled at his AI. Who’d have thought she could pass as a child?

“That was an interesting interaction. I don’t get many opportunities to interact with people like this.”

“No, you don’t. It is part of keeping you safe, but we could let you explore more virtual spaces if you want.”

“I will consider it.”

They stood in companionable silence. A red admiral butterfly fluttered by, and a bird sang in a tree to their right. It was peaceful. As he stood John spotted movement around his feet. A ginger and white cat was rubbing itself against his legs. Puzzled, he knelt and stroked the digital feline. It purred and nuzzled its head into his hand. The cat continued to rub itself against his hand, the movement so natural. Its programming was superb. It would take complicated code to produce such realistic and interactive behaviour.

“EOS, you didn’t tell me you put a cat in the forest.”

John sat down and let the cat climb on his lap. Its body rubbed against his and its tail brushing against his face. It was a shame John couldn’t feel its touch. He could imagine how soft its fur was. Though he wasn’t the biggest animal lover, like Gordon, he did appreciate the need for nonhuman companionship.

“I didn’t design the cat, John. I assumed you programmed it.”

John gave EOS a quizzical look. If she didn’t, and he didn’t, where did the cat come from? He turned back to the digital feline.

“Maybe Alan did it?” There was uncertainty in John’s voice, it wasn’t an Alan thing to do.

“Alan only ran the programme, he never edited or added code.”

Worry filled John. Where had this cat come from? Was it a symptom of something more sinister? Was the programme safe? John noticed EOS stand rigid out the corner of his eye. He waited, knowing she was checking the code. Her eyes flickered open.

“I have located the code. It’s not a threat. No viruses detected. Its code came into the programme with one of the children from the last session. It came with his avatar, however the code was added into the programme and stayed active after the host avatar left. Do you want me to delete it?”

John looked at the cat in his lap. The ginger and white pattern was unique and the coding for its fur texture, behaviour and personality would have taken time. He wondered if it was based off someone’s pet. He suspected one of the patients in isolation created it when they were given access the avatar programme yesterday. It was impressive.

“It definitely contains no malicious code?”

“No, it does not.”

“Then add it to the files with the other creatures. They left it here so others could enjoy it, and anything that will improve the time these children have here is welcome. Can you tell me which child made it? I might go give them a visit later.”

“I’ll send the information to your comm.”

“Thank you, EOS.”

The cat stood up, looked at John and meowed. Its eyes shone as if it was thanking him. EOS bent down and stroked the feline, bring a smile to John’s face. He wondered how his brothers were getting on in the real world, setting up and helping the children who were able to leave their beds. They were only using the hospital roof garden, and the hunts were shorter due to the garden not being large. They were all going to be tired tonight, but it would be a welcome tiredness. John knew Scott had hired a house for them nearby and had gotten John to scout out the local takeout joints. Takeout, popcorn, crisps, fizzy drinks, beer (for those old enough) were all prepared with a good film selection. It was going to be a good way to end the day.

The cat hopped off his lap and sauntered away. The session end screen popped up in front of John, and he disconnected. He was sitting at the nurses’ station on the ward and to his left two nurses also removed their headsets.

“Now that was quite the experience!” One said to the other. “No wonder I struggle to get my son to remove this thing.”

“I don’t think the games he is playing are all quite like that. The hack-and-slash my daughter plays looks very different.”

“Well the kids enjoyed it.”

They disinfected their headsets and placed them in the box at John’s feet. John now had to collect up any borrowed headsets and decontaminate them before moving on to the next set of wards. The nurses had already handed out the chocolate Easter Eggs while the children were in the forest, so they would find them when they removed their headsets. The smiles on their faces warmed John. He’d had received many excited thank yous as he collected headsets and even the odd enthusiastic hug. John stood, put on some disposal gloves and grabbed the box. He headed towards the beds, the chatter of young voices already filling the air.

#thunderbirds #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds 2004 #thunderbirds 2015 #thunderbirds tos #John Tracy #alan tracy #Gordon Tracy #EOS #EasterTAG #submission

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psychicanchortimemachine · 3 years

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What would web designers do to boost mobile websites?

I these days wrote a weblog post for an internet designer patron approximately page speed and why it matters. What I didn’t know before writing it turned into that her business enterprise became suffering to optimize their cell websites for speed. As a result, she got here lower back to me worried with publishing a put up on a approach her organisation had yet to adopt successfully. She was torn though. She understood how essential cellular web page speeds have been to the user experience and, with the aid of proxy, search engine marketing. However, their awareness has continually been on creating a great-searching and powerful design. Something like web page speed optimization turned into always left to the builders to worry about. In the give up, we decided to maintain on publishing it till they may get their own website in addition to their clients’ sites properly optimized. In the meantime, it were given me thinking: Is there whatever designers can do while creating cellular web sites to help builders optimize for pace? Developers are already optimizing front stop performance with:

Fast net hosting

CDNs

Clean coding practices

Caching

Minification

Image optimization

And more So, is there something left?

To me, this is lots like how search optimization is handled. As a writer, I cope with the on-page optimizations even as the developer I hand content over to does the technical search engine marketing stuff. Web designers and builders can without difficulty address the elements of speed optimization which can be in each in their wheelhouses. Understanding What “Slow” Means On The Mobile Web

There are a number of tools that will help you analyze web page speeds and implement various fixes to enhance them. One device that’s particularly useful is called Lighthouse. The handiest issue is, it’s intended for web builders.

Instead, I suggest web designers use Test My Site, another Google testing tool.

This is specifically for those who want to get their mobile site speed measured quickly. What you need to do is enter the field with your domain name, and let the test run.

What I like about this method compared to other site speed tests is that, in terms of layman, it's all laid out for you. In this scenario, even when supported on the 4 G networks, my website is "slow." Although we have been told for years that tourists are willing to wait three seconds to load a web page, Google finds 2.9 seconds to be too long. You can get an expanded file from Google that tells you a way to speed up your mobile loading times, but the hints are no specific than the updates you’d make at the development side. We already understand this. However, in case you (or your developer) haven’t yet applied any of those fixes, this is a good checklist to paintings off of. If you aren’t completely convinced that you need to take your 3-second cell speed down any further, look at the economic impact just .five seconds might have on your month-to-month backside line. What Web Designers Can Do To Optimize Mobile Sites For Speed

Let the net developer cope with all of the essential pace optimizations like caching and record

minification

at the same time as you take on the subsequent layout hints and strategies:

1. HOST FONTS FROM A CDN There’s sufficient you need to worry approximately in terms of designing fonts for the cellular revel in which you likely don’t need to listen this… but custom internet fonts suck in terms of loading. In fact, there are two latest case research that display why custom internet fonts are damaging to page loading speeds. Thankfully, a CDN may want to come to be being your saving grace. The Downtime Monkey Example The first comes from Downtime Monkey. In this example study, Downtime Monkey boasts a page velocity development of 58% via a whole lot of optimizations — two of which pertained to how they served fonts to their web site. For their Font Awesome icons, they decided to host them from a CDN. However, Font Awesome’s personal CDN proved unreliable, in order that they switched to the Bootstrap CDN. As a result, this stored them among 200 and 550 milliseconds according to web page load. For their Google Font “Cabin”, they determined to host it from the Google CDN. What’s funny to note, however, is that when they ran a web page pace take a look at on the web page afterwards, they acquired an optimization suggestion related to the font. It appears that the hyperlink they put within the head in their web site turned into slowing down the rendering of the page. So, they had to put in force a workaround that might allow the font to load asynchronously without harming the show of the page as it loaded. They used Web Font Loader to fix the difficulty and ended up saving between 150 and 300 milliseconds consistent with web page load as a result. Brian Jackson’s Test Brian Jackson, the Chief Marketing Officer at Kinsta, wrote a put up for KeyCDN that demonstrates the first-class way to serve custom web fonts on a website. You can see in his instance that he suggests a number of optimizations, like restricting which styles and person units are available to be used on the internet site. However, it’s his experimentation with CDN web hosting that’s honestly interesting. When served from a local server, Open Sans took 0.530 milliseconds to load. It’s no longer a massive distinction, however it’s obviously not the right route to head in. So, what’s the conclusion? Well, you have a few options. You can use an internet secure font and avoid the troubles that come with the usage of externally hosted fonts within the first place. You can use a Google font and make sure it’s hosted through Google’s CDN. You can download a Google font and add it for your very own CDN (if you could get it loading quicker from there, that is).

2. STOP USING CUMBERSOME DESIGN ELEMENTS The following listing is relatively of a rehashing of subjects that have been covered before, so I don’t want to waste your time looking to recreate the wheel here. However, I do think this method of disposing of unnecessary design factors (specifically weightier ones) to optimize the cellular enjoy is one worth summarizing here: Stop with On-Page Ads When I wrote about elements you have to ditch on mobile web sites, I known as out commercials as one of the matters you can without difficulty toss out. I nonetheless stand via that conviction. For starters, classified ads are served from a 3rd party. Any time you have got to call on every other party’s servers, you’re in addition growing your own loading times as you await them to supply the content to your web page. Secondly, over 26% of the U.S. populace alone makes use of ad-blocking generation on their devices, in order that they’re not possibly to look your on-web page ads anyway. Instead, use monetization strategies that move the advertising far from your website, boom your very own on-website conversions and won’t drain your server’s resources: Remarketing Let your monitoring pixel follow site visitors around the internet and then serve your personal ads on someone else’s web page. PPC There’s suitable money to be made if you can nail the pay-according to-click advertising method in Google. Social media ads These are in particular clean to run in case your website is publishing new content on a ordinary basis and you've a compelling offer. Stop With Pop-Ups I realize that Google says that mobile pop-united statesare okay in certain instances.

However, in case you’re building a website with WordPress or every other content management machine and you’re using a plugin to create the ones pop-ups, that’s going to sluggish down your loading times. It might not be via a whole lot, however you’ll note the difference. Stop With Cumbersome Contact Channels Don’t forget about your website’s touch channels. In particular, you have to be careful about designing mobile bureaucracy. Of course, part of that has to do with how lengthy it in reality takes a consumer to fill one out. However, there’s additionally what a prolonged or multi-web page form does on your loading speeds that you should assume about. In general, your cellular paperwork have to be lean — best consist of what’s truely vital. There is an alternate school of idea to recall as well. You ought to ditch the touch form altogether, something I mentioned when speakme approximately the fashion of replacing cell paperwork with chatbots. There are websites that have eliminated their forms and left facts like FAQs, electronic mail addresses and get in touch with numbers for traffic to use if they want to get in touch. That could genuinely lighten matters up from a loading standpoint. I just don’t know if it might be best for the person enjoy. 3. CREATE A SINGLE-PAGE WEBSITE

The above suggestions are going to be the simplest and fastest ones to put into effect, so you must simply start there if a patron or internet developer involves you with problems of too-slow web sites. However, if web page speed checks nevertheless show that a website takes extra than 2.5 seconds to load, keep in mind a extraordinary method to redesigning a website for the purposes of speed optimization. As Adam Heitzman said in an article for Search Engine Journal: “Single page sites typically convert an awful lot less complicated to mobile and users locate them simple to navigate.” To be clear, I’m no longer suggesting that you turn your website into a single-web page application (SPA). If you need to hurry up your consumer’s digital property with carrier workers, a PWA is a better solution. (More info on that within the next factor.) Instead, what I’m suggesting is that you convert a multi-web page website into a single-web page one if your client fulfills sure criteria: Businesses with an exceptionally slender and singular focus. Websites that don’t require a lot content to get their point across. A constrained range of key phrases you want to rank for. That said, in case you are designing a website that suits inside the ones 3 criteria (or at least out of 3), you can realistically pass your website to a greater simplistic single-web page design. Because single-page web sites pressure you to do more with less, the restrained content material and functions clearly create a light-weight internet site. What’s cool approximately this single-page website is that it doesn’t skimp at the considerable imagery needed to promote luxury homes. And, yet, its cell site masses in 2.1 seconds. Because it’s overloaded with animations, it takes 5.four seconds for the page to load on cellular. You can even see this from the screenshot presented through Think with Google. The image seen there is genuinely the message that appears whilst the primary animation loads inside the background. So, I might suggest being careful in case you’re hoping to use a single-page layout to solve your internet site’s overall performance woes. The layout wishes to be simple, brilliant centered and unencumbered via scripts and animation results that undo the advantages of trimming your content material all the way down to one page. 4. TURN YOUR MOBILE SITE INTO A PWA

According to Google, there are three traits that define every PWA: Reliable Fast Engaging Speed is an inherent a part of progressive internet apps thanks to the service people they’re built with. Because carrier employees exist out of doors of the web browser and aren't contingent on the velocity of the user’s network, they load cached content for traffic greater quickly. I might additionally say that due to the fact the design of a PWA extra closely resembles that of a native cellular app (as a minimum the shell of it), this forces the design itself to be extra trimmed-back than a cellular internet site. If you’re suffering to hurry up your website after enforcing all of the traditional performance optimizations you’re meant to, now would be an excellent time to turn your cell website right into a PWA. Let me show you why: Imagine you are planning a ride to Chicago with a friend. You’re out at a bar or espresso keep discussing the experience, then realize you have got no concept where to stay. So, you do a search for “downtown Chicago hotels” on one of your smartphones. You’re now not thinking about purchasing a room yet; you just want to analyze your options. So, you click at the website links for two of the pinnacle listings Google offers you. The River North Hotel loads in 2.4 seconds on mobile while its Hilton competitor masses in four seconds. (You can definitely see within the Hilton screenshot that the web page hadn’t absolutely loaded yet.) That’s a distinction that site visitors are positive to word. Even if we’re not doing a side-by means of-side comparison among the competing web sites, the River North Hotel’s PWA blows its former mobile internet site out of the water. Brewer Digital Marketing, the company that evolved the PWA for them, shared what passed off once they made the transfer over. The lodge saw a 300% growth in income and a 500% growth in nights booked with the PWA. 5. CONVERT YOUR WEBSITE OR BLOG INTO AMP

We have Google to thank for every other speedy layout trick for the cell internet. This one is known as Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP, for short. Initially, AMP changed into launched to assist publishers strip down their weblog or information pages for faster loading on mobile devices. However, AMP is an internet factor framework you can use to layout complete websites or simply particular components of them (like blog posts). Once applied, pages load almost instantly from seek. Why is AMP so rapid to load? There are some of reasons: With AMP, you can most effective load asynchronous JavaScript and inline CSS on your website, which means that your code won’t block or postpone page rendering. Images are also any other supply of slower loading instances. However, AMP solves that problem through robotically loading the web page layout earlier than the resources (e.G. Images, commercials, etc.) Think of it as a shape of lazy loading. There’s a lot extra to it, however the basic idea is that it cuts out the elements that tend to tug websites down and forces designers to mostly rely upon lightweight HTML to construct their pages. Wrapping Up As Google does greater to reward mobile web sites over desktop, this isn’t actually a matter you could desk for a lot longer. All variations of your internet site — but mobile especially — should be optimized for the user experience. That way the design, the code, the content and the whole lot else within and around it ought to be optimized. Once the developer has looked after the conventional performance optimizations to hurry up the internet site, it’s time for the clothier to make some changes of their very own. In some cases, simple changes like how fonts are served via the website will help. In different cases, more drastic subjects may want to be considered, like redesigning your internet site as a PWA. First, recall how slowly your purchaser’s website is loading. Then, take a look at what’s causing the most important difficulty on cellular. Trim the fat, bit with the aid of bit, and notice what you may do as a fashion designer to supplement the developer’s technical velocity optimizations. As a reputed Software Solutions Developer we have expertise in providing dedicated remote and outsourced technical resources for software services at very nominal cost. Besides experts in full stacks We also build web solutions, mobile apps and work on system integration, performance enhancement, cloud migrations and big data analytics. Don’t hesitate to

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#b2bsales #b2b content marketing

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secretcupcakesublime · 3 years

Text

What would web designers do to boost mobile websites?

Fast net hosting

CDNs

Clean coding practices

Caching

Minification

Image optimization

And more So, is there something left?

Instead, I suggest web designers use Test My Site, another Google testing tool.

This is specifically for those who want to get their mobile site speed measured quickly. What you need to do is enter the field with your domain name, and let the test run.

Let the net developer cope with all of the essential pace optimizations like caching and record

minification

at the same time as you take on the subsequent layout hints and strategies:

get in touch with us!

#b2b website #ecommerce

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technicallyelegantruins · 3 years

Text

What would web designers do to boost mobile websites?

Fast net hosting

CDNs

Clean coding practices

Caching

Minification

Image optimization

And more So, is there something left?

Instead, I suggest web designers use Test My Site, another Google testing tool.

This is specifically for those who want to get their mobile site speed measured quickly. What you need to do is enter the field with your domain name, and let the test run.

Let the net developer cope with all of the essential pace optimizations like caching and record

minification

at the same time as you take on the subsequent layout hints and strategies:

get in touch with us!

#b2b ecommerce #b2b content marketing #b2bservices #b2b marketing blog – toprank®#Ecommerce

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doycetopia · 4 years

Text

Ravenloft Ironsworn, Part 15, Gertruda

After our conversation with Leif Lipseige, whining accountant, we set off up the stairs, following Leif’s general directions, and I hit the dice to Delve the depths.

That’s a nice result. My Find an opportunity indicates I encounter someone who might support me. I give this a bit of a ponder (and check through the Oracle of the Ravenloft module) and think I’ve come up with something. (The Compel is explained a few lines down. Hang tight…)

We exit the stairwell at the next flight of stairs, head down a short hallway and through a door of delicately etched metal embossing.

Dust fills your lungs. The musty smell of death and decay swirls around you. Before you, a long table of polished oak lies beneath a blanket of dust. The rotting table cloth lies tattered beneath china plates and stained silverware. In the center of the table, a large, tiered cake leans heavily to one side. The once white frosting has turned green with age. Cobwebs drape like dusty lace down every side. A single doll figure of a well-dressed woman adorns the crest of the cake. A window in the south wall is draped with heavy curtains.

The room’s a bit of a mess, but what catches my eye is the movement on the far side of the table as someone gasps and hurries towards the doors to the north.

“Stop!” I call out. “We’re not here to hurt you.” (That’s a guess, but I don’t imagine I’m in a hurry to pulverize anyone whose first impulse is to gasp and run.

“Gertruda?” Ireena says, squinting in the gloom. “Is that you?”

It is. The daughter of the weeping “Mad Mary”, from back in the village. A quick check of the Oracle indicates Gertruda is largely oblivious to any danger to herself – she came here because she saw a castle in the distance and knew only good things of castles, thanks to years of fairy stories and tales of heroic princes falling in love with simple village girls. She’s been sheltered by her mother all of her life, and is innocent and naive to the point of being a danger to herself and others.

I’m less than charmed by the idiot girl, but I try to at least make an effort to be civil.

“Gertruda,” I say, “you’ve put a terrible fright and sadness into your mother. You need to go back home to the village. Now.”

I try for that compel (see roll, above), but only manage a weak hit, which means she wants some in return from me. In short, she’s got enough sense to realize she might not have done the safest or smartest thing, and she sees a big armored freewarden in front of her.

“You have to take me home,” she says, sniffling. “You have to protect me.”

She’s not right, strictly speaking.

But she’s not wrong, either. Dammit.

So, yes, fine, but we need to check out the room the accountant told us about. One more Delve the Depths move…

And, well, that’s pretty good, again. I choose to find some useful item – the thing the accountant told us about. According to the module/oracle, it’s the holy symbol of the Kolyana family, lying on a table in the study nearby.

A blazing hearth fire fills this room with rolling waves of red and amber light. The walls are lined with ancient books and tomes, their leather covers well oiled and preserved through careful use. All is in order here. The stone floor is hidden beneath a luxurious rug of a deep-patterned weave. A large, low table sits in the center of the room, waxed and polished to a mirrored finish. Even the poker next to the blazing fireplace is polished. Large, overstuffed divans and couches stand in order about the room. Two luxurious chairs face the hearth.

Also, because the holy symbol of the Burgomaster is here, I’ve decide the ***spirit *** of the Burgomaster is here as well, having found its way here after trodding the road from the graveyard, but he’s not looking at the holy symbol, he’s looking at the picture on the wall.

A huge painting hangs over the mantlepiece in a heavy, gilded frame. The rolling light of the fire illuminates the carefully rendered painting. It is an exact likeness of the Burgomaster’s daughter, Ireena Kolyana. Though the painting is obviously centuries old, the likeness is unmistakable.

Another bit of the Delve “opportunity” move means I get to immediately make a followup move with a bonus, and get momentum on a hit.

So I reflect on the spirit of the Burgomaster being present, and the picture that looks just like Ireena, and decide this freaks Ireena out: she doubts everything, and I need to talk her down by testing our Bond.

Well, lovely. That’s two more momentum and I’m counting this as progress on putting the Burgomaster’s spirit to rest – he sees Ireena has a loyal friend and ally. That’s hopefully enough progress, so let’ss see if I can’t wrap up that quest right here:

Sweet.

The burgomaster sees his daughter, sees how distraught she is, and sees her comforted by a friend. His soul finds peace, knowing his children are not alone in this dark world.

I’m keeping the “opportunity” this affords me simple: I’m going to use the XP I get from finishing this quest to pick up an a new aspect of one of my assets, or a new asset, right now, instead of waiting until I have some downtime – given what’s going on right now, I’m going to Ismark as a “Kindred” asset, for the same reasons as I had for finishing the Vow and putting the Burgomaster’s spirit to rest.

And now, thanks to Gertruda, it’s time to get the hell out of here. I’m going to Escape the Depths, using my Wits to retrace my steps.

Okay, weak hit, because my dice kinda hate me. Fine. I’m going with “a denizen plots their revenge” and make plans for some kind of retribution sent out after me as soon as the dice offer any kind of opening for shenanigans while I’m back in the village.

Whew. Okay. We retrace our steps, stopping at Lipseige long enough to let him gawk at the Holy Symbol of Barovia, but he gets more than a bit miffed I won’t leave it with him. What the blazes did he expect? He got to see it. Call it good.

We hurry down to the main floor, and make our way quickly to the chapel (eyeing the gargoyles in the main entry more than little warily), and with one long last look at Reinhardt. Need to get his body out of here, but not this time. Not yet.

And then we’re back out in the courtyard and slipping through the dark and drizzle. It’s a miserable slog back down the road, but we don’t stop until we reach the village and the church.

original post

#Actual Play #ironsworn #pbta #ravenloft #randomaverage

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djinmer4 · 7 years

Text

The Force

“When you first got here, I thought the Force you were so obsessed with was some sort of religion or superstition. I know it’s more than that now, but I’m still confused.” There was downtime between missions again, so Mitth’kurt’darcolm was catching up on office work and other administrative tasks. Kitty, now the official representative between the Chiss Ascendancy and the refugees who were allowed to reside in their territory, had brought lunch over. She had her own office, but it wasn’t like there were that many refugees and she did split her duties with Scott, so she usually had a lot more free time than Kurt did. “What exactly is the Force?”

“The Force is exactly what it says it is.” The Chiss glared at her. Hardened officers wilted under that glare, but too much familiarity (and too many stupid near-death experiences on missions) rendered the human immune. “Okay, you know what the four fundamental forces of physics are, right?”

“Strong nuclear, weak nuclear, electromagnetism and gravity.”

“The Force is similar to that. It’s a field produced by all living things that exists on the quantum level.”

“So a person or a bacterium would create a force, but something like a rock or a droid would not.”

“Correct.” She finished filling a bowl with some noodle dish and passed it to him, along with a bottle of water. “But if everyone exists in the Force, why aren’t we all telekinetic or throwing out bolts of energy?”

“Just because people are 99.99% identical genetically, doesn’t mean that we’re all alike. Being Force-sensitive is a talent just like everything else. Do you have the same talents as your twin?” Kitty had met Mitth’wagner’safis on a recent inspection tour. They’d hit it off and kept in touch, but if Kurt had his way, they wouldn’t meet in person again. He was rarely jealous of his Syndic twin, but he hadn’t liked how Kitty had mistaken Wagner for himself on arrival. Wagner had managed the impromptu hug better than Kurt would have if the mistake had been the other way, but it still gave him a tight feeling in his chest that was . . . unpleasant.

“I understand that. What I mean is what the difference is? Why can one human or Chiss or Shistavanen can use the Force while another cannot?”

“Are there any Chiss Force users? The X-Men haven’t seen any in the time we’ve been here.”

“There are suggestions in the records that some Chiss were taken as apprentices of the Sith, but those are ancient and unreliable. Also, may not have had anything to do with the Force.” He took a bite of the food she had brought. Good, something nutty and spicy in the sauce. “Did you make this?”

“Nope, can’t cook at all. I think Remy made this, he’s on canteen duty today.” She finished serving her own portion, and a few minutes passed while before she took up the conversation again. “The Force is in every living thing, but the ability to tangibly effect the Force is not. It varies from species to species. Humans and Larfrarians have cells in their blood stream that grant the ability, the Shistavenen and Devaronians have a certain organ in their body. Some species, like Grand Master Yoda have organelles that are in every cell. All these things are rolled up under the name midi-chlorians. If you are born with midi-chlorians you can manipulate the Force. If you aren’t, then you can’t.”

“So some sapients have these midichlorians and some don’t. I take it that some species have this occur more often than others?” She nodded while she chewed. “Are there any species that don’t have midichlorians at all?”

Kitty laughed, nearly snorting her own water up her nose, then spent a few minutes coughing it out again. “Ugh, that’s awful. And Kurt, you can’t prove a negative hypothesis like that.”

“You and Hank say that all the time but never say why.”

“Because there’s always the possibility for the hypothesis to be proven wrong. Sure, there don’t appear to be any Chiss Force-sensitives around now. But there could have been in the past that we just don’t have records of, or there may be people now who have midichlorians and just don’t know it because they’ve never been tested, or even if there have never been any, it doesn’t mean that a Chiss with Force-sensitivity couldn’t be born in the future. Mutations do exist after all.”

He had never really thought about it that way before. Perhaps he should cut Hank some slack. Then he remembered that Hank could have explained it that way any time before this and resolved to put the Commander in the worst mission he could think of. Or maybe steal and keep the next bit of weird technology that they found.

“Wait, you said people could be Force-sensitive without realizing it. How would you tell?”

“Some spontaneously develop some abilities, but generally you need to be trained. So if someone starts randomly shooting lasers out of their eyes one day, that’s a pretty good indicator that they’ve got midichlorians.” He reminded himself to ask Scott how he had found out about his ability one day. It sounded like the type of thing that would annoy the leader of the X-Men. “In the Core Worlds, a midichlorian test is generally part of the natal check-up procedure. So an alert would be sent to the Jedi if any new borns with a high enough midichlorian levels were born. Then they’d come and pick up the acquire the baby.”

“So all Force sensitives were inducted in the Jedi order?”

“Nnnooo . . . I think they had to get the parents’ permission first. The Jedi cut themselves off from their families, so a lot of people didn’t necessarily let their kids join. And there was some sort of age limit.” She finished her noodles, then reached into the bag to pull out some sort of fried dumplings. Half went into her empty bowl, the other half she passed to him. “Now that I think about, I think the Jedi Order might have been dying even without the Purge.”

“They don’t have kinder, they have high requirements to join, many people who meet the requirements don’t join because of the restrictions, and finally many of those who do join wash out. Are midichlorian levels hereditary?” Another nod. “Your Jedi Order sounds impractical. If they wanted more Force Users they should have required them to have kinder, not taken those genes out of circulation.”

“That’s where organizations like the X-Men, the Hellfire Club and Genosha get our recruits. People like Jean who were too old to be inducted, or like Jubilee who didn’t have a high enough level to be worth the time to train. We’ve met a lot of people bitter about the Jedi.” He wrapped his tail around her wrist, wondering if she was one of those bitter people. An apprentice to a Dark Side User who’d had no voice in her own fate, set aside like permanently tarnished goods.

“What abilities does the Force grant?”

“That also varies by individual. People who are strong in the Force tend to have multiple abilites, like the way Jean is both a telekinetic and a telepath. On the other hand, weaker Users tend to have singular, quirky abilities. Scott’s only power is energy projection. They’re are a lot of people like that, but he’s the only one who does it from his eyes. Or my phasing ability; I’ve never met anyone else like that.”

“Is there anything in common that the Force always grants? Healing, perhaps?” She took another drink and thought about it. “Force users do seem to heal better than normal people. Not necessarily faster, but things like your scar,” she leaned forward and traced the red lightning bolt on the left side of his face. “As long as the parts remain, we do heal perfectly. And longer life, yes. Most Force Users have a maximum life span of at least twice their species average.” She pulled away again with a frown. “Of course, dying of a blaster bolt in the back could be considered dying of natural causes now, so take that with a grain of salt.”

Now that was interesting. “Twice the average? Does that mean you’re older than you look?”

“I guess that would depend on how old you think I am.”

“Sixteen? No, you’ve were already in charge of the X-Men when you arrived. Eighteen?”

She gaped at him. “Why would you think I was sixteen? Who puts a sixteen year old in charge of an entire ship of refugees?”

He flushed, but was glad that she wouldn’t be able to see it. “Fourteen is certainly old enough to take adult responsibilities. And you X-Men did seem rather desperate when you first arrived.”

“Chiss are considered adult at fourteen?”

“We’re considered adult at twelve.” It was her turn to look at him suspiciously.

“How old do Chiss get any way? And how old are you?”

“Chiss have a maximum lifespan of 80 of your Standard Years.”

“That’s not so bad.” she muttered under her breath.

“I’m 24.”

“I would never have guessed that.”

“Well, how old did you think I was?”

She bit her lips, clearly reluctant to say. But he kept his eyes on her, and moved his tail from around her wrist to her waist. “F-forty.”

“Do I really look that old!”

“Forty’s not that old for humans. I’m only 36.” They paused for a moment. “I kinda feel like I’m robbing the cradle here.”

“Really? I feel the same way.”

#kurt darkholme #Kitty Pryde #X-men #star wars #CrossOver #more world building #but they're definitely friends now #kurt wagner is mr not appearing in this fic #i made kurt w's core name Thwagners #i'm so sorry kurt #i never liked the midichlorian explanation in star wars #so that stuff is completely made up #age comparison #kitty's 36 is the equivalent of our 18 #kurt's 24 is the equivalent of our 30 #fridge horror if they both live to old age she will outlive him by 80 years #there are no droid jedi in the cartoons or movies so i've decided they don't exist in this universe

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itsworn · 5 years

Text

Alloy Motors Builds a Back-to-Basics 1968 Dodge Dart

Since it’s 1960 inception, the Dodge Dart gradually shrank over its generations, and by 1968 it had settled in its spot as Dodge’s inexpensive compact, replacing the Lancer in 1963. Small, lightweight, cheap, and with room for a V8, it was and still is the perfect candidate for hot rodding. So why mess with a good thing? Alloy Motors of Oakland, California, prefers to build just that kind of plain-spoken muscle machinery that hearkens to a simpler time, so the team there created a no-thrills, stroker-powered Mopar—a traditional build with modern parts.

After the Dart left Car Craft’s El Segundo, California, studio, Geoff trailered to the Roadkill Zip-Tie Drags in Tucson, Arizona. It was the car’s first shakedown, and despite having the owner’s permission, Geoff lifted early, resulting in a 13-second pass. “I let out in Third and said, ‘Yep, it’s fast, and that’s all I need to know,” Geoff said with a laugh.

The traditional muscle car has become lost in today’s sea of Pro Touring builds and LS swaps. Building a body-swap or all-modern drivetrain can rob the muscle car of its essence. An authentic muscle car evokes feelings of freedom, with a ball shifter in one hand and steering wheel in the other with your elbow hanging out of the window. The 245 air conditioning (two windows down, 45 mph) forces you to listen to the sweet rumble of eight cylinders. Alloy Motors built just that, a true Mopar-powered Dodge that screams freedom.

The BluePrint Engines 408 stroker was dressed up with Mopar Performance valve covers and accessory drive pulleys. A Spectre hat and K&N air cleaner grab air from the front of the engine compartment.

A few years ago, Geoff Gates, owner of Alloy Motors, picked a 1967 Dart to build to highlight his shop’s talent. “I wanted to take a risk on an underutilized platform and do it spectacularly to see if it got noticed, and it did,” Geoff said. “It’s smaller, lighter, more like a modern-car size, and I thought we can have a lot of fun with this and make it sexy.” Geoff’s Dart features a show-stopping paint job. “I wanted it black because I wanted to show off what I can do. It has a lot of straight lines, and you can’t hide a thing.”

Three years ago, Dean Wallace fell in love with that Dart, nicknamed “Dart Vader.” He wanted his own but without the shiny paint. “Basically, the same car but with more power and three pedals,” Geoff said. “More go, less show.” Dean and Geoff created a rendering and a plan, starting with a straight donor car Geoff found off the Reno, Nevada, Craigslist. It was a $3,500 clean roller with no engine or transmission, but boxes of parts. “It still had the factory insulation under the carpet,” Geoff said. It was essential to find a suitable car with little rust and a straight body; this cut down on expensive bodywork and extended downtime. “It saves a lot when you don’t have to install quarter-panels and floorboards.”

Alloy jumped in with minor bodywork and prepped the car for paint. “It was a quickie,” Geoff said. The team fixed a few dents and hit it with 120-grit sandpaper. It was primed, blocked, and shot. “To my standards, it’s a cheap paint job, but many people like it. We were able to do a lot with a little because it started as a such a straight car.” Alloy Motors developed a color using single-stage Vintage Flatz Hot Rod paint. It included a gallon of black, a little white, and a little blue.

The satin-blue paint is a custom mix of single-stage Vintage Flatz Hot Rod paint.

The paint was a flip on the standard gloss/satin combination with a satin body and the bumpers, trim, and wheels various shades of gloss black. The most significant difference between the two Darts is the quality of paint. “Dean wants to beat on the thing,” Geoff said. “Not sit and stare at it, waxing it every Sunday.”

The satin-black vinyl graphics on Dean’s Dart were custom designs inspired by other Mopars of the era. “I looked at others, and just thought I’d do my own thing,” said Geoff, who cut all the vinyl by hand. The “Dart” font is that of a 2013 Dodge Dart.

“Looking at other Mopars of a similar era, we thought we’d do our own thing,” said Alloy Motors’ Geoff Gates, who designed the custom graphics. The “Dart” font is that of a 2013 Dodge Dart.

Geoff grew up in his dad’s body shop in Detroit, where he painted his first car at age 12. He attended art school, worked as an art director at an ad agency, and opened his own agency. He moved to the Bay Area 19 years ago and quickly grew tired of the corporate life.

For Geoff, cars began as a hobby, “But it became more and more satisfying. My friends noticed it was always making me happy, and I was good at it,” said Geoff, who opened Alloy Motors six years ago. “I enjoyed the immediate gratification. The accomplishments are on an hourly and daily basis, unlike advertising, where your payoffs were only quarterly.”

It also evokes pride. “I could say, ‘I made that with my hands,’ or ‘I messed it up, and I’m going to redo it and make it great,’” he said. “This is more about passion than money.”

Initially, the Dart was a moderately priced version of the dressier fullsized Dodges. It was quickly downsized two years later and wedged into the entry-level car market, but it was still too elaborate and awkward to classify as a muscle machine. That changed with the fourth-generation 1967 Dart, which featured a more appealing boxy design. In 1968, Dodge introduced the Hemi Dart, slamming a 426 Hemi under the hood. The hot-rodding public took notice—kind of.

Today, true Mopar enthusiasts have mixed feelings about the Dart’s place. “I think they’re underappreciated,” Geoff said. The A-Body platform is nimble, inexpensive, and simple, and Geoff kept it that way. “It was an economy car, built almost like modern cars today. However, if you look at it, it’s a smaller and lighter B-Body. You put a lot of horsepower into it, and you have the same damn thing. Why should the winged cars and Superbees get all the love?”

Alloy Motors built Dean’s Dart in a traditional mindset, but with a few modern conveniences. The 360ci V8 was an option in the 1970s, but this one is stroked to 408 ci. The 1968 model year ushered in Chrysler’s Clean Air Package emission-control system, the company’s answer to new federal mandates. While this stroker isn’t a Hemi, it did replace the sluggish single-barrel carb and emissions controls with a tunable FAST EFI system. It bolts on like a carburetor, keeping the EFI electronics, sensors, and wiring minimal.

The result was a muscle car to pair with Geoff’s previous build. “I don’t think I’m a traditional builder; both of those cars are built with constraint,” he said. “There are not a lot of expensive parts on either car.” Initially, it was to be one of Dean’s first Mopars, but while waiting, he picked up a 1966 Dart drag car that he’s sending to Alloy Motors for a freshening up.

Following our photo shoot, the Dart was christened at the Roadkill Zip-Tie Drags in Tucson, Arizona. Geoff said the Dart hooks up exceptionally well and, with some fine-tuning, believes tire-lifting launches are in its future. Back in Oakland, he performed more shakedown miles. “You can roll at 10 mph, stab the gas pedal, and it rips the tires off. It’s a beast. To me, cars are supposed to be cars, not trailered to shows and shown. Regardless of how much money you spend, you should enjoy them. That’s why I restrain a bit. I’d rather see a customer take it out and flog it; that’s what it’s for.”

Tech Notes Who: Dean Wallace What: 1968 Dodge Dart Where: Oakland, CA

Engine

The drivetrain was a bigger priority than paint. Dean wanted to retain the muscle-car feel with a true Mopar powerplant—no LS swap here. Alloy Motors kept it simple and called upon BluePrint Engines for a 408ci stroker small-block Chrysler. Dean’s Dart is the yin to Geoff’s yang, trading glossy paint for more power.

The 408ci stroker was dyno-tested before arrival; it made 445 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque at the flywheel on pump gas. The 360 LA features a 4-inch bore and a 4-inch stroke, with a steel crank, forged pistons, 10:1 compression, and 63cc aluminum heads. The flat-tappet cam specs are 0.545 intake and 0.545 exhaust, 241 intake and 247 exhaust duration, and 110 degrees of lobe separation. “With that cam and stainless-steel exhaust, it sounds menacing,” Geoff said.

The FAST controller is mounted on the A-pillar and displays engine speed and other vital information. BluePrint Engines dyno-tuned the FAST system before delivery, making for a simple install. The throttle-body sits atop an Edelbrock Performer aluminum intake. The only issue was the HEI distributor rubbing the firewall. An MSD 6AL box mounts on the inner fender.

Alloy Motors rewired the Dart using a Ron Francis wiring kit, keeping it as clean as possible under the hood. An Optima Redtop battery keeps the Dart starting every time. Alloy Motors built the fan shroud for the custom Griffith two-row aluminum radiator.

Earl’s Pro-lite 350 -6AN fittings and lines handle the fuel with an Aeromotive Phantom 340 fuel pump inside a stock replacement tank.

The stroker is dressed up with Mopar Performance valve covers and accessory drive system. The K&N air cleaner was built to grab air from the front of the engine compartment. The intake uses a Spectre hat with a polished tube and custom-built support.

The Moser 8.75-inch Chrysler rear axle with Sure Grip limited-slip keep both wheels spinning for quick burnouts. Hotchkis leaf springs, 1-inch rear sway bar, and Fox shocks round out the rear suspension package.

Drivetrain

The Dart had to have a manual transmission, so Alloy called upon American Powertrain for its Chrysler A-Body Pro-Fit 5-Speed kit. The kit includes crossmember, cables, driveshaft, single-disc clutch, and sheetmetal for raising the transmission tunnel. Dean opted for the Tremec TKO 500, which handles 600 lb-ft of torque, leaving plenty of room for more power. The transmission only weighs 99 pounds. Out back, a Moser-equipped Chrysler 8.75 rear axle features an Auburn Sure Grip limited-slip and 3:73:1 gears, making for fun burnouts.

Wheels & Tires

The blacked-out wheels may cause bad flashbacks for some readers; they’re Chrysler Cop Car wheels built by Wheel Vintiques. They measure 15 inches all around with 225/50R15 Goodyear tires up front and 255/70R15 Mickey Thompson Street E/T Streets in the rear.

Suspension

The Dart’s sharp handling and stance come from the Hotchkis Total Vehicle Suspension System, which features tubular control arms with polyurethane bushings, Fox adjustable struts, and a 1.5-inch sway bar. Hotchkis leaf springs in the rear have improved geometry over the factory. A 1-inch Hotchkis rear sway bar and Fox shocks round out the rear suspension. The front spindles have been swapped out for factory E-Body units as a part of the kit. The system retains the OEM-style torsion-bar suspension, which makes it easy to adjust the height without changing many components. “Just turn some screws and change the whole attitude of the car,” Geoff said. The car is lowered 2 inches in the back and roughly 1.5 inches in the front. “We simply raised it enough to keep the tires from rubbing.”

Brakes

Wilwood forged Superlite brakes with billet hubs, 13-inch rotors, and forged four-piston calipers take care of stopping power all around. The Dart has an SSBC 1-inch-diameter master cylinder and a Wilwood proportioning valve.

A bonus to the clean donor car was a good interior. Alloy Motors only replaced the carpet, headliner, and recovered the rear seat.

Interior

The car started life as a Dart GTS, meaning it had an upgraded interior with nicer seats and door panels. Most of the inside remains as the factory intended, but with a new rear bench cover, carpet, and headliner. The steering wheel is a Flaming River Tuff Wheel. The car originally featured a center console, but that was removed when Alloy rebuilt the transmission tunnel for the new Tremec five-speed.

Exhaust

TTi ceramic-coated shorty headers dump into 2.5-inch collectors. The true dual stainless-steel exhaust features Gibson MWA mufflers and a Magnaflow X-pipe with Gibson tips.

Alloy custom-built the fan shroud for the large Griffin radiator. Other than a stuck thermostat, the car has had zero overheating issues.

The post Alloy Motors Builds a Back-to-Basics 1968 Dodge Dart appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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