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historyhermann · 2 years

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“Amphibia” Emphasizes Chosen Families and Self-Acceptance

What if a Thai-American girl wakes up and finds herself in a world filled with talking frogs? Amphibia answers that question. Anne meets new friends, enemies, and tries to figure out her purpose in this strange world.

Reprinted from The Geekiary, my History Hermann WordPress blog (it will be published on there on Dec. 26), and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-second article I wrote for The Geekiary. This post was originally published on June 25, 2022.

Amphibia is an animated adventure-fantasy-comedy series by Matt Braly, an animator of Thai descent. He is also known for directing episodes of Gravity Falls and Big City Greens.

As a warning, this recommendation discusses spoilers for all three seasons of Amphibia.

Amphibia centers around a 13-year-old Thai-American girl, Anne Boonchuy (Brenda Song), who is transported by a music box to another world with her two best friends, Sasha Waybright (Anna Akana) and Marcy Wu (Haley Tju). In this wild land, filled with marshes and tropical environments, she meets talking frogs and other creatures, including a family of frogs named the Plantars.

This family is headed by the overbearing and traditional grandfather, Hop Pop (Bill Farmer). He has two kids-of-sorts: an excitable frog named Sprig (Justin Felbinger) and a spunky pollywog named Polly (Amanda Leighton). All of them live on a farm of their own in the close-knit town of Wartwood. As Anne bonds with the Plantars, she learns what friendship and being heroic means.

This all-ages animated series is filled with diversity, especially from its characters and voice actors. The latter are of Chinese, Indonesian, Pakistani, Japanese, and Thai descent. The show compliments this with wonderful animation, music, and background art.

Unsurprisingly, the series has been been nominated for four Annie Awards, one Daytime Emmy, and a GLAAD Media Award since it began airing in 2019. It includes some voice actors I'm familiar with, like Tress MacNeille and John DiMaggio, who voice characters in Disenchantment, as well as well-known gay actor George Takei.

From left to right: Sasha, Marcy, and Anne with "cool anime" powers in the final episode of Amphibia, floating the air like anime heroes or Kid Cosmic protagonists

Amphibia is more than a series centered on a girl who is adopted by a family of talking frogs. While there is the classic conflict of good vs. evil, there is also a focus on family separation, self-acceptance, and trauma. As I wrote previously, all of the main protagonists have trauma on same level or another, as the friendship between all three of them faces hardships and strains.

This is all mixed together with fantasy and sci-fi elements, and even occasionally situational comedy acts. These complex characters are written in such a way that you become invested and concerned about them, even after ending the series. The series also has plotlines focused on human and animal experimentation, and robots.

This series is part of a recent set of diverse Disney animated series. Others include The Ghost and Molly McGee, a supernatural fantasy, and will-be-ending horror comedy and fantasy The Owl House. Upcoming series such as Iwaju, Moana: The Series, Tiana, Cookies & Milk, Hailey's On It!, and Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur portend a continuation of this focus.

In the case of Amphibia, Braly based the series on his trips to Bangkok, Thailand where he thought he was an outsider. He also was inspired by video games like The Legend of Zelda and Chrono Trigger. In previous interviews he said he wanted to make the main character a Thai-American because there were few Thai protagonists in TV series or films that he watched as a kid. As a result, he has said he become influenced by the Mortal Kombat and Sonic the Hedgehog franchises.

In a December 2021 interview, Braly noted the themes of immigration, alienation, and xenophobia drawn from his own experiences. All of these themes are deeply integrated into the series. Some of this is heavily informed, according to Braly, by the 1990s series, Pepper Ann. Braly also noted that frogs were chosen for the series because they are metaphor for change and their connection to Thai culture.

Lady Olivia (right) looks at General Yunan (left) lovingly and tells her she wouldn't mind "settling down" in Wartwood with Yunan.

Amphibia is rightly praised for illustrating issues like emotional manipulation, bullying, and delightful characters. The series could also be praised for broadening "ethnic-racial representations" like Craig of the Creek and Elena of Avalor. This is something that groups like the socially conservative family-oriented non-profit, Common Sense Media, would praise.

A 2021 report from the organization notes that when people of color are portrayed stereotypically, it causes harmful views to be promoted among White audiences. This is coupled with underrepresentation of specific groups, such as Latine and Indigenous people, and misrepresentation of others.

Little mentioned is LGBTQ representation in Amphibia. Although it isn't as direct as other recent series, like Dead End: Paranormal Park or The Owl House, Braly stated that in the show's finale, they left it open as to whether someone thinks of Sasha, Marcy, and Anne romantically or not, as he loves shipping. He called it the "greatest expression of love for characters."

This gives queer fans who ship Marcanne (Marcy and Anne), Sasharcy (Sasha and Marcy), Sashanne (Sasha and Anne), or even all three in a relationship together some solace. This the case even if this so-called "Calamity Trio" are only be "gal pals" in the show's canon.

Even so, Sasha was hinted as bisexual in the show's final episode, and confirmed as such by Braly, as I noted in an earlier post. Her voice actress, Akana, is bisexual herself. She voiced Daisy in magical girl esque Magical Friendship Girl Squad: Origins and Magical Girl Friendship Squad. In the case of Daisy, Akana argued that Daisy was bisexual. However, other crew members argued she was a lesbian, and possibly trans, leading to confusion among fans.

Coming back to Amphibia, Sasha joins other LGBTQ characters such as Frodrick Toadstool and Toadie who were confirmed as a gay couple by the show's creator. More significantly is Yunan (Zahra Fazal) and Lady Olivia (Michelle Dockery) as lesbian couple. There's also Ally and Jess who run an Internet video channel together. Their colors are based off the bisexual and pansexual flags.

It is also implied that Mr. X, voiced by RuPaul, is gay, and there are some other minor LGBTQ characters. Similar to Sasha, the sexual identities of these characters are never directly stated. Mr. X is an effeminate FBI agent assisted by a silent assistant named Jenny. After Anne and frog family escape to Amphibia, Anne's birth family convince Mr. X to hear them out and to be on the same side against Andrias. This results in the military and FBI assisting Anne and her friends in the final episode.

The relationship of Yunan and Olivia, was embraced by reviewers like Jade King, who calls herself "TheGamer’s Queen of Gay Cartoons." Braly told King that the ship of these two characters was their favorite ship. He called it "very organic" and "awesome." Fans were jubilant about the news, and fully embraced it. It undoubtedly helped that Fazal was inspired by the protagonist of Darkwing Duck in voicing the character.

Considering that the final episode has a ten year time-skip, it makes the series ripe for a possible spin-off or continuation that happens in that time skip, with different protagonists than this series. While some are conflicted about a spin-off, the show could go a route a la Steven Universe Future, focusing on the aftermath of a victory, with Anne, Marcy, and Sasha having to pick up the pieces.

All three seasons of Amphibia are currently streaming on Disney+, YouTube TV, and Prime Video.

#amphibia #chosen family #self acceptance #anne boonchuy #matt braly #lgbtq #sasha waybright #marcy wu #kid cosmic #thai culture #thai creator #disney plus #bisexuals #lesbians #craig of the creek #elena of avalor

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rsthemewp · 8 months

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Which actions are necessary to make a website?

Creating a website involves several steps, and the process can vary based on your specific needs and technical expertise. Here's a general guide to help you get started:

Define Your Purpose and Goals: Clearly define the purpose of your website. Identify your target audience. Set specific goals for your website.

Choose a Domain Name: Pick a unique and memorable domain name that reflects your brand or content. Choose a domain extension (e.g., .com, .org, .net).

Select a Web Hosting Provider: Choose a reliable web hosting provider that suits your needs and budget. Consider factors like performance, support, and scalability.

Plan Your Website Structure: Create a sitemap outlining the structure of your website. Plan the main navigation and organization of content.

Select a Content Management System (CMS): Choose a CMS like WordPress to manage your website's content. WordPress is a popular choice for beginners due to its ease of use.

Design Your Website: Select a responsive and visually appealing website theme or template. Customize the design to match your brand using the CMS's customization options.

Create and Organize Content: Write and organize the content for your website. Ensure your content is engaging, informative, and optimized for search engines.

Integrate Essential Features: Add necessary features such as contact forms, social media integration, and analytics. Install any plugins or extensions required for additional functionality.

Optimize for SEO: Optimize your website for search engines by using relevant keywords and meta tags. Create a robots.txt file and sitemap.xml to help search engine crawlers navigate your site.

Test Your Website: Test your website's functionality across different browsers and devices. Ensure that all links work, forms are submitted correctly, and pages load quickly.

Launch Your Website: Register your domain and set up hosting. Point your domain to your hosting provider. Launch your website to make it accessible to the public.

Promote Your Website: Share your website on social media. Implement an online marketing strategy to drive traffic. Consider paid advertising if it aligns with your goals.

Monitor and Update: Regularly update your content to keep it fresh. Monitor website analytics to understand visitor behavior. Make updates and improvements based on user feedback and analytics.

Remember, this is a simplified overview, and the specific steps may vary depending on your technical expertise and the complexity of your website. If you're new to website creation, platforms like WordPress often provide user-friendly interfaces and extensive documentation to help you through the process. You can buy WordPress Premium Theme to easily design your website.

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synchronousemma · 2 years

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10th October: A pilfering occurs

Read the post and comment on WordPress

Read: Vol. 3, ch. 19; pp. 318–319 (“In this state of suspense” to “able to fix her wedding-day”).

Context

Someone robs Mrs. Weston’s poultry-house of all of her turkeys. Consequently, Emma and Mr. Knightley are able to set the date of their wedding.

We know that this occurs after Harriet and Robert Martin's wedding in September, and before the end of October.

Readings and Interpretations

How Much Poultry Would a Poultry Pilferer Pilfer?

We last left our couple in a state of suspense as to when Mr. Woodhouse’s sensibilities (and Emma’s concern for them) would allow them to marry. Then “Mrs. Weston’s turkey coop is robbed, and the problem is resolved” (Paris, p. 93).

Many critics point out the contrived nature of this resolution. Bernard Paris writes:

The manipulated ending is in complete accord with the laws and spirit of comedy. It saves Emma from having to make a painful choice, and it reconciles Mr. Woodhouse to the marriage. It serves Jane Austen’s thematic purposes by maintaining the illusion of Emma’s maturation. By arranging the world to fit Emma’s defensive needs, she obscures the psychological realities which she has portrayed so vividly. She does not want us to see, nor can she afford to see consciously herself, the severity of Emma’s father problem and the fact that it is unresolved. (ibid.)

Paris connects Emma’s late situation to that of Frank Churchill, in that both characters had been subject to “the damaging effects of manipulation by sick, life-denying parental figures”; on this topic “Austen has, understandably, no wisdom to offer. All that she can propose is to follow the self-effacing (or the perfectionistic) route of doing one’s duty” (p. 94). Thus the only solution is contrived incident which also serves to support the novel’s moral ethos:

[...] Emma is not forced by her situation to suspend the marriage. It would have been perfectly moral for her to proceed, expressing all the while her love and concern for her father. His unhappiness would have passed. Jane Austen’s amused tone suggests that she has some awareness of the irrationality of Emma’s decision, but she seems, nevertheless, to be basically sympathetic toward her heroine’s self-sacrificial behavior. She could not have had Emma behave differently, of course. Emma behaves as she must. But it was within the power of [Austen’s] rhetoric, if she had had a clear enough vision, to suggest the destructiveness of Emma’s solution and the preferability of the Knightleys’ alternative. As we have seen, Emma is in this instance saved from the consequences of her psychological problems by authorial manipulation of the plot. Form and theme work well together here. The comic action accords with the picture of the world which accompanies the self-effacing solution. Reality is antagonistic to Emma’s wishes as long as she is proud. When she becomes humble and unselfish, fortune turns in her favor. Virtue is rewarded. (ibid.)

Thus also Margaret Kirkham:

The final precipitation of the marriage, by Mr Woodhouse’s anxieties about a local poultry thief, is plainly intended to be taken lightly. While it fits perfectly with his character, the author expects us to enjoy the joke as she finds a piece of comic business with which to facilitate the wedding without which the book cannot be ended. I think that the reader is also supposed to see by this time what the schematic structure has been, and how an unlikely, even an absurd, plot has been worked upon so that it does not violate Nature or probability. At this point, if not before, we are to stand back from the fiction and its characters—to experience the mild alienation which results from being shown the constructional nuts and bolts—and, as we see that there was never any possibility of things working out in any other way, to ask what this particular handling of a stock situation shows us about it. (p. 125)

Michael Suk-Young Chwe also notes the manipulated nature of the robbery, but speculates that it may be attributable to Emma herself:

This “accidental” manipulation comes out of nowhere, like the gypsies who allow Frank Churchill to rescue Harriet, but it is not implausible. Austen shows us that seemingly impossible situations can be overcome with just the right change of circumstances, and what seems like a disadvantage, even the entire reason for the problem in the first place, can be used to one’s advantage. A successful manipulation is always possible if you are creative enough. Maybe the thievery was just a rumor created by Emma or her confederates, as one of the poultry houses reportedly robbed belonged to Mrs. Weston, Emma’s closest friend. Maybe Austen is showing off her own strategic thinking skills: the problem is posed at the very beginning of the novel, remains unchanged throughout, and the reader is given plenty of time to think of a solution. For Austen it is easy. (p. 185)

For Karen Newman, this prosaic incident is a telling example of how, in Austen, “our conventional expectations are often met but at the same time undermined by self-consciousness and parody” (p. 704); “Austen’s comic conclusions […] reveal the gap between sentimental ideals and novelistic conventions on the one hand, and the social realities of sexist prejudice, hypocrisy, and avarice on the other” (p. 705).

The Provisions of Poverty

It is also notable that this manipulated ending turns on poverty and food. Michael Lee writes that here “a food plot involving someone in or around the community who is impoverished enough to steal poultry becomes a stepping-stone for the marriage plot, disappearing along with the final obstacle of Mr. Woodhouse’s resistance to make way for ‘the perfect happiness of the union’” (p. 374). Though ultimately “disappear[ed]” by the plot, the hint at a starving populace remains unsettling. Sheryl Craig notes that “in Jane Austen’s lifetime, the economy had never been worse”; thus the poultry incident reminds the reader “of the hunger that must be allayed in order to maintain private property” (p. 140).

In the late 18th century, the enclosure of previously common land proved disastrous to the livelihoods of the rural poor: Janet Todd notes that

The loss of rights over ‘the commonable land which belongs to the parishioners in general’ deprived commoners of those small amounts of grazing and arable produce which enabled them to sustain economic independence, leaving them with what they could earn in wages from the large landowners. The price of a loaf of bread rose 600 per cent between the 1780s and 1801, and in the same period agricultural wages rose only about 20 per cent. Already on 17 January 1795 the Hampshire Chronicle recorded the acute distress of rural workers and commended the good people of the city for having raised £287 for relief of distress caused by the bad harvest. On 16 March 1795 the same paper carried a report on the continuing distress of the poor due to the high cost of meat and wheat, and on 27 April it reported that on 12 April 500 men of the Oxfordshire militia stationed near Seaford ‘notwithstanding the endeavours of the officers had taken arms and with bayonets fixed’ seized a vessel laded with flour at Newhaven. (p. 190)

During Austen’s time, the Poor Law placed a tax on landowners with which the country’s very poorest were to be fed: “no one could be allowed to starve to death” (Craig, p. 33), though provisions were scant (see Clark and Dutton, pp. 190–1). This law did not enjoy universal popularity. Margaret Doody places the pilfering of poultry within the context of political debate (spurred by the likes of Thomas Malthus and Herbert Spenser) about whether it were not more economically sound simply to allow the poor to starve and die. The former’s “most recent pamphlets (1814; 1815) defended the ‘Corn Laws’ banning importation of grain into England. Ostensibly Christian, Malthus advocated the sad necessity of denying food to the poor. Charity extended to keep people from dying constituted a danger to the economy” (p. 359).1 While Emma “engages in no overt philosophical commentary or argument as to whether it is right or inevitable to let the poor starve and die,” Doody argues that it is “a sustained riposte” to Malthus: “people are constantly engaged in feeding each other” in Highbury, frequently “feed[ing] those who are below them in status or income” (p. 359). Mr. Woodhouse’s reaction to the turkey theft is thus an “implicit critique” of Malthus and those who follow his principles:

“Pilfering was housebreaking to Mr. Woodhouse’s fears” (Emma, III, ch. 19). The narrative ridicules Mr. Woodhouse’s definition, even though the thieves indeed broke into an enclosure. Austen here indirectly casts ridicule on the “Alton Association,” wealthy landowners offering a reward of two guineas for information regarding stealing of poultry from enclosed ground […]. The Association zealously seeks to punish hungry persons who take turnips from the fields. (ibid.)

Particularities of the Picturesque

Does the poultry incident have anything to do with an earlier, similarly contrived, occurrence between Frank and Harriet? Willam Galperin describes how theories that govern “picturesque landscape” influence the rules of “realistic narrative” and domestic comedy (p. 21). In particular, Austen’s handling of Harriet’s encounter with the “gypsies” reflects how “the picturesque innoculates itself to […] irruptions of the other […] by admission of tempered variety and managed incident”; they are narratively “contain[ed]” and so “not a threat to the world of this novel” (ibid.). The “more ‘natural’” Frank/Harriet narrative that Emma had constructed out of that incident, however, “also projects the gypsies’ instrumentality in an order—specifically a social hegemony—that requires […] that the gypsies be taken seriously” (p. 21).2 For Galperin, the poultry theft is another moment that makes the “gypsies” instrumental in a “‘natural’” narrative (this time the Emma/Knightley match):

[...] [A]t the very end of the novel, by which point Emma is herself subject to the very [marriage] plot over which she had earlier contrived to exert control, the consummation of the story, and the strengthening of social hegemony through the consolidation of the Woodhouse and Knightley estates, is effectively motivated by the reappearance of the gypsies. Although initially resistant to his daughter’s marriage, as he is to almost any change in his everyday routine, Emma’s valetudinarian father cheerfully consents to her marriage, and to the addition of George Knightley to his household, but only in the wake of a rash of poultry pilferings in his neighborhood, which he is convinced are preliminary to housebreaking.

These pilferings—which are the work of gypsies (for there are no other suspects in the novel so far as I can tell)—are no more a threat to the social fabric of Highbury than they are likely to escalate to more invasive crimes that require, as the narrator puts it, a “son-in-law’s protection” [p. 318]. Rather the thefts, however unanticipated, are a device, a contrivance really, by which a social whole, no less than an aesthetic [picturesque] whole, perpetuates and legitimizes itself. And in this sense, they are, like the variety and activity that the picturesque composes into union, anticipated surprises: a feared and therefore palpable “roughness” to which the community, no less than the realistic domestic comedy that Austen is alleged to have written (and to some extent has written here), is continually on the alert. (ibid.)

Thus the picturesque and its derivative “theories, at once aesthetic and political,” demand a “containment of the other” that is “an opposition to substantive change and ultimately to any practice that might be deemed counterhegemonic” (ibid).

Galperin does not, however, read the novel as ultimately conservative: “despite all that Emma provides the readers by way of understanding the world it represents, it does not extend or govern that understanding sufficiently to contain the oppositional practices of characters who are plainly less reconciled to society than are other characters” (p. 22). These “oppositional practices” may be grasped by readers and especially by rereaders: “Numerous incidents and elements in the novel, including the famous Box Hill episodes—what another character, Mrs. Elton enthusiastically (and tellingly) imagines will be “a sort of gipsy party” [vol. 3, ch. 6 [42]; p. 232]—yield up possibilities to which readers […] are never directly guided by the narrator, yet to which, on subsequent readings, they are likely to be quite attentive” (ibid.). Thus Austen “make[s] the experience or consumption of the text” itself a “potentially oppositional” practice (ibid.).

Galperin’s solution to the identity of the poultry thieves is not accepted by all commenters. Jillian Heydt-Stevenson writes that “[t]he final enigma—who robbed Mrs Weston’s poultry-house ‘of all her turkies’?—remains unanswered, though, like the novel’s other riddles, it goes far to enable a wedding” (p. 164).

Footnotes

On Malthusian arguments (“[t]he opprobrium toward the hungry by the new political economy”) and food in Austen see also Lee, pp. 375–9.

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Analysis

I debated about how best to visualize these data, which are perhaps the most complex in the survey. Being an educator and therefore used to thinking in terms of proficiency, I decided to represent the data in that way: which technical skills are most needed among potential archivists.

And, to be clear, everything on this survey is not required to run an archive. I am emphatically not a coder but have run a successful archive for many years now using first eFiction and now Drupal. I had two purposes in asking this question. First: if I make tutorial materials, where is my effort best spent? You don't have to know HTML and CSS to use Drupal, but it sure makes things (especially theming!) easier if you have at least some understanding of them. Second: where are efforts to expand options for building independent archives best directed?

On the second question, Wordpress surfaces and not for the first time. There have been various efforts and making a fanfic archive plugin for Wordpress over the years. My SWG co-admin Russandol and I even tinkered with Wordpress last year, trying to build an archive using existing plugins. From what we can find of supported plugins, it doesn't seem possible at this time.

But the data here suggest that it would be ideal if it were possible. Many fans have at least some experience with Wordpress, and some have quite a bit. The ability to provide an archive option that builds on existing competence is ideal.

I do think it's likely that respondents were underestimating their skills. I do not think that only one respondent had an expert knowledge of HTML. Unfortunately, it is difficult to define what is meant by beginner, intermediate, and expert without getting bogged down, and we fandom people are very good at imposter syndrome. ("I can't possibly be an expert in this useful thing!") I'd define "expert" as "able to do what is needed using this tool or knowing how to find information to do what is needed," and I'm guessing more than a few of the "intermediates" can in fact do this for HTML, which makes me think that all of the graphs may see an upward shift in terms of expertise levels.

What is the independent archive survey?

The independent archive survey ran from 23 June through 7 July 2023. Eighty-two respondents took the survey during that time. The survey asked about interest in independent archives and included a section for participants interested in building or volunteering for an independent archive. The survey was open to all creators and readers/viewers of fanworks.

What is an independent archive?

The survey defined an independent archive as "a website where creators can share their fanworks. What makes it 'independent' is that it is run by fans but unaffiliated with any for-profit or nonprofit corporations or organizations. Historically, independent archives have grown out of fan communities that create fanworks."

Follow the tag #independent archives for more survey results and ongoing work to restore independent archives to fandoms that want them.

Independent Archives Survey Masterpost

#independent archives #fandom studies #fanfiction archives #fandom data #independent archive survey #sorry this one is so late #these data were much trickier to work with than previous sets

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popculturegenealogy · 2 years

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Family history, records, and Carmen's journey of self-discovery

From the last episode of season 2 of Carmen Sandiego.

This post, a bit like the bast one, which focused on Futurama, looks at the second season of the new animated show, Carmen Sandiego. [1] As a warning, for those that have not watched the episodes of the new season, or perhaps even the first season, this post discusses spoilers from the show itself, just to give you a heads up. The show is set, clearly, in our existing world, not in some magical world. Without further ado, let's dive in and discuss the interwoven threads of records and family history.

Reprinted from my Genealogy in Popular Culture WordPress blog. Originally published on July 28, 2020.

In the show's first season, we were introduced to Carmen Sandiego, the code-name of a 20-some Latina woman, an international master thief who stole from thieves, especially in that season's first two episodes. Despite the fact that we as the audience knew that she had previously been a part of V.I.L.E. (Villains International League of Evil), her background was relatively obscure. She had been born in Argentina presumably and only had a set of "matryoshka dolls" as her possessions, with the story that she was found by the roadside near Buenos Aires. Perhaps purposely, what is revealed about her past is piecemeal, contrasting from shows like Futurama where family trees, although non-traditional, end up being somewhat central. Carmen, who also goes by the names of "Red," "Black Sheep," "The Lady in Red," "Fedora the Explorer," "The World's Greatest Thief," "The Miss of Misdemeanor," "La Femme Rouge," and "The Crimson Shadow," among others, has no memory of her parents and grew up on V.I.L.E. Island, which is somewhere in the Canary Islands.

While her narrative in this show differs from those in previous iterations, you may think that perhaps she had Russian ancestry. As it turns out, some Russian Argentines immigrated in a sizable number from 1901-1920 if my translation (via Google Translate) of this publication is right. There were also specific colonies of Russian-German immigrants who settled in Argentina starting in the 1890s in agricultural areas. There's also 10,000 inhabitants in Choele Choel, including Russian Orthodox immigrants, sometimes called the "White Russians," who came from Russia itself. Others have noted that there were five immigration waves from Russia to Argentina since the end of the 19th century. Presently, hundreds of thousands with some people of Russian descent living in Argentina. On the other hand, the dolls themselves are deceiving as they may not indicate ancestry at all!

The latter brings us to the most recent season. Like the first season, there isn't much focus on her family roots at first. Carmen is at a bit a dead end. Shadowsan, who rescued her from Argentina, whom has Japanese heritage, says he doesn't know much about the mission, with little he can tell her. She accepts this for the time being and makes an interesting remark at the end of the third episode of the season, "The Daisho Caper":

Of course, discovering herself and her identity are important themes of the season. Even stronger is the continual use of records. Carmen's hacker friend, "Player," breaks into V.I.L.E. hard drives from his home computer to figure out what capers the evil organization is plotting and how Carmen can stop them. Apart from that, in the last episode of the season, "The Deep Water Caper," which ends the show not only on a cliffhanger but with a big bang, Carmen specifically references records and finding out the truth about her family. This is NOT the way to manage your records, people, seriously. Blowing up your headquarters and having it sink into the water is not a way to erase records. I mean, they didn't even do a good job, because she still found the files.

And because of that, this episode is perhaps my favorite of the whole season. Unfortunately, we don't see the server room since the V.I.L.E. faculty literally destroyed the whole academy, but she swims through the water and retrieves the necessary records. From this, she is able to learn more about her past and finds the case files. It shows that her nemesis, Coach Brunt was right when she taunted Carmen in the previous episode about Shadowsan: he was on a mission to Argentina to kill a man named "Dexter Wolff," obviously a code name. But other than the fact that Wolff was V.I.L.E. faculty, it doesn't say much more. She then decides to confront Shadowsan, presumably in their new headquarters in San Diego at the former "Carmen Outer Wear" company building. Telling him that she won't let him escape, he says he is not going to run and will tell her everything. So much for following Carmen's instructions when she, during the "Daisho Caper" (and in some of the prior episodes) to have no more secrets. He claims he didn't tell her the truth for his own protection.

The fact that Shadowsan, the creator of the record Carmen found, did NOT tell the full truth in the record itself, relates to a lot of archival themes. For instance, you could say that Shadowsan's report is a primary source, but since he left out certain content is almost an archival silence or "gaps or missing pieces in the historical record" to quote from the Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy. As such, he is engaging in a form of bias, as he is engaging in a "prejudice in favor of one thing or person over another," specifically in favor of Carmen. Furthermore, records themselves can "easily become lost, distorted, or orphaned" as archivist Samantha Thompson points out. There have often been distortions and omissions in records, like those in Early Modern Europe, records left by the so-called "Founding Fathers" of the U.S., or within family archives, meaning that in this sense, Shadowsan's action not unique. Due to the omissions from the report, Carmen was right to challenge its accuracy, as the latter means, in an archival context, "the degree to which data, information, documents or records are precise, correct, truthful, free of error or distortion, or pertinent to the matter." It actually reminds me of those 1990s Hollywood films I reviewed a while back which often had themes about records erasure.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Shadowsan says he went to Argentina to track down Wolff and followed him to a villa outside Buenos Aires where he found Carmen, complicating his plan to kill him. As he was about to carry out his dirty deed, another group of law enforcement, presumably INTERPOL (explaining how she can connect with Devineaux and Julia so easily) approached, ready to take him down. As he tried to escape, a young Black female agent named Tamara Fraser shot him down (maybe she thought he was pulling out a gun?). She later used this leverage to form a special investigative unit, A.C.M.E., implied to be part of INTERPOL. This means that the 'Chief' killed her father. No wonder she feels no compunction in hacking A.C.M.E., tricking the Chief by giving her a phony V.I.L.E. hard drive. Within, Player finds the file which gives the real name of the Chief (Tamara Fraser) and shows her taking responsibility for the act. Interestingly, the presence of Shadowsan and Carmen there is not recorded, so A.C.M.E. has no idea she is the son of a person their Chief killed! The episode goes on for Carmen to unearth the casket of the person who owned the house, a woman "Vera Cruz," which turns out to be a decoy, allowing her to vanish "without a trace." As such, Carmen doesn't know the name of her mother, although she holds out hope, as the episode closes, that she is out there and she will find her someday, saying: "everyone leaves a trace. Somewhere out there I have a mother who may or may not know I am alive" with Shadowsan with her until the "end of the line," declaring "then let's find her." On a related note, as viewers, we learn, through deduction, from the fake coffin that the coffin was planted in 1999, and this show having been set in the present day, that Carmen is at least 20 years old, if not older.

In the meantime, A.C.M.E., due to the hack, re-activates pompous fool and chauvinist Chase Devineaux. Of course, they had been trying to track Carmen and catch her in order to learn more about V.I.L.E., but it had been pushed by Julia, the former partner of Chase at INTERPOL, that they try to recruit Carmen. All goes well except in the process Carmen is hurt badly after escaping A.C.M.E.'s clutches in the Stockholm Caper episode. After learning this horrible truth about the Chief, it seems abundantly clear Carmen isn't going to trust them again. Why would you trust a person who killed your own father? So, I expect some sort of showdown between Carmen and A.C.M.E. or just Carmen and the Chief in the next season, if I may make a prediction.

With all being said, what can we say about the show and its themes of records and family history? Clearly, this season was much stronger in the latter theme, as the former has been a staple throughout the show itself, along with a continued focus on the use of records to halt the actions of evildoers. There is also a strong emphasis on discovering who you are, which is also present in shows like Steven Universe and Revolutionary Girl Utena, both of which I have reviewed on this blog in one way or another. It also makes me think of the 1990s show, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? where some parts of her family life are revealed at the end of the show's run. While I hold out hope that Carmen will go to a library or archives in the future, even if she does not, the show still has staying power and shows that you should pursue a focus on your family roots. That seems evident in the upcoming season.

Notes

[1] When I originally posted this in October 2019, it fulfilled a promise I made back in June to write about the show. I also talked about it back when I had my DNAChat, you know the Twitter discussion I did back in late June. If you need a refresher, I recommend you check out "Last two days of #DNAChat," "DNAChat Questions," "#DNAChat Day 5," "#DNAChat Day 4," "#DNAChat Day 3," "#DNAChat Day 2," "#DNAChat Day 1," and "Tweets introducing #DNAChat." As I pondered what to do next, although I'm not completely convinced I want to do a chat on Carmen Sandiego, DNA, "Resistance Genealogy," racial justice, or archives/libraries topics, although I may change my mind in the future. During the chat, I even asked a question on one of the days, although getting her age wrong, saying that Carmen knows little about her past, and asked participants if DNA test would help her and what they would recommend she do.

#carmen sandiego #case files #family history #genealogy #popular culture #reviews #futurama #latina #latinas #argentina #russian descent #immigration #hackers #databases #where on earth is carmen sandiego #revolutionary girl utena #steven universe

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funkymbtifiction · 2 years

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Hi Charity! Thank you for helping me with my type. I have read a bit more on ENFJ and INFJ in your wordpress, I have something I want to consult you about if that's okay.

It's not as if ENFJ doesn't feel right for me, but there is something I feel not Ni enough. I have read in your blog here and you mentioned that Ni users often visualize something completely before even taking any action. That Ni users usually plan out the entire story before writing with little revisions if any at all. I don't relate to that.

That is how an INJ writes, not how an ENJ always writes, because their Ni is somewhat under-developed in most instances. It is less complete, less structured, and less inflexible as a second function. My ENFJ friend writes things from time to time and she says things just "come" to her and she will finish the story and see how her Ni pieced together symbolism and stuff without her even being aware of it happening. She just knows it will all come together, and it does.

I'm not a dedicated writer but I do want to write sometimes. I have this seed of story inside my head. I have a theme and direction of where things will be going, but as I learn more about something else - politics, history, languages - they influence that story.

This doesn't rule out Ni secondary.

I ended up never made it past third chapters. I don't know if I'm distracted or simply doesn't possess enough interest to finish it.

Maybe you're not a novelist. Maybe you are a short story writer.

Let say I really want to write something. I will have a story from the beginning all the way to the end. Everything converges into underlying theme. I need to have a fully fleshed out world-building in place first. Because I need to be able to envision my fantasy world vividly before I can write.

This would be consistent with strong NiSe interplay. Needing to "see" it and its scope first.

I feel like this sounds more like Ne approach? Although my INFP friend seems to be more free with her writing than mine.

Us Ne's just sit down and write and let the plot go wherever it wants, because any plan gets thrown aside for whatever whims come to us in the moment. Most of my character and plot generating happens in the process of writing something, not before or after (I'll be on chapter two and an idea comes to me that will be important in chapter six, so I leave myself a note). It's all part of how Ne is unstructured and open to anything, even if it means that when we get up the next day, our main character is no longer a marine biologist but is a skydiver and wow, that would make the plot cool, can I keep anything I wrote yesterday? ... nah. (This is more Ne-dom than INP, but you get the picture. Even SJs are flexible.)

For work and life it's the same thing. I do not really have a clear sense of purpose. I mentioned in the last ask that I dream of better world and to build it for my people. I do not have the clear idea of what that 'world' is or how do I make it happen. I can see company and how that can create a job. Then I could use the revenues I gain from it to create a welfare system for my people - housing, education, immigration support. Then we can extend our reach to include political and environmental movement. I can see it quite clearly, but I don't know if I will have enough willpower to see it through. It feels almost as if I can see the end of the tunnel but I'm stumbling in the dark, trying to walk without tripping. I cannot relate to that Ni superpower "I instinctively know what I will need to do". For me, it feels more like 'I need to see this happen, but which path I need to take?'

That sounds spot-on with aux-Ni to me. I asked my ENFJ friend what she plans to do with her psychology degree, if she's going to open a practice, and she said, "I don't know... I just know that this is what I need to be doing, and when a door opens, I'll go through it and know it's the right one." She has no clear future mapped out, she just knows the steps she needs to be taking and that it will come into view at the right time.

For a job, it's the same thing. I am currently working as a sales rep for a small company. I feel listless working here. I mean, the company is great. A lot of opportunities for growth, nice team and a great boss. I know it in my gut that this doesn't bring me closer to my goal. I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like my entire being is pulling me away from this job. I feel like I'm walking on the wrong path.

ENFJ. Unconscious "this is wrong, I need to be elsewhere" thinking.

My ESTJ sister told me I'm being unreasonable (she called me Wanda Maximoff of Earth 2022 of all things!) She said there is nothing like a 'right path'. She said what I am being stubborn in my goal and I should consider something more accessible. I was like 'that's not an option. It must be this thing I envisioned!' I never understand how my sister and friends 'explore' what they want in life. I know what I want and what I want to explore isn't what I want, but how to get what I dream.

Your sister isn't ENFJ, and you are. She explores and learns through doing and you need structure and an idea (Ni).

I really can't imagine living without working toward it in some capacity. There was once when I was Fe-Se looping, maybe? I felt like there is only here and now and I lost my vision. It is the worst. Imagine having to live day by day without any purpose. I feel like I can't do anything except accept that I won't see my goal happen. I can't envision anything. All I can see is a misery. No future, no nothing. I was near suicidal at that time because I can't see a way forward at all. It also doesn't help that my ESTJ sister doesn't care enough to help me through it.

Aww. I'm glad you got out of your loop.

I don't know if this is Ni related or not. I want to date and have larger friend group but I can't see us being together for the next 10 years so I don't feel all that excited ... There was this guy who recently hitting on me. He looks great and has good job. But I can't foresee us being together in the long run, so I keep him at arm's length. I don't want to invest in a relationship that won't last. Is there anything here that disproves ENFJ? I just feel like I'm not Ni enough...

Nope. It's all consistent with ENFJ.

Another thing I wonder, would door slamming be common for Fe-dom? I have low tolerance toward stubborn people. I was having a political argument with my ESTJ sister and I never have enough energy and desire to change her thinking. It feels like a lost cause ... I have heard that Fe-doms are good at influencing people and get people in line. But I'm very impatient and I feel bad for it. I feel like I should be more assertive and quick witted so I can influence my sister toward the right thing. I also feel like I'm a bit cruel to people. If I hate someone, I have no trouble shutting them off or even bullying them.

EFJs are very assertive in trusting their feelings, and patience is a virtue rather than automatic. ;)

#question #enfj #mbti

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animeniacfan · 2 years

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All for One is the Devil, Confirmed.

My Hero Academia S6, Ep 10 Review One of the unspoken things that I like so much about My Hero Academia is the themes. Specifically, the themes surrounding All for One and One for All. All for One is, for all intents and purposes, the Devil. His brother, the first user of One for All, is God. Which leaves Shigaraki as the Anti-Christ and Deku as Jesus/the Chosen One. Why am I mentioning all of…

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#All for One #anime #Boku no Hero Academia #Dabi #League of Villains #Manga #My Hero Academia #One for All #Shigaraki #Shonen #Shonen Jump #Shonen Manga

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harmoniousworld · 2 years

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Hello, all! This is my very first blog post to Tumblr, after being a long-time WordPress user! I have yet to pick a theme for my blog, but I’m going to start with health/illness/disability. I don’t want those topics to “define” me, but I want to share the struggles. I may eventually shift the theme of my blog, or maybe take on a few themes in this blog. I just wanted to share my story... my journey through life in general. I don’t like platitudes or false inspiration, so you won’t be receiving many inspirational sayings from me. I’m optimistic, for sure, but when it comes to this illness and disability, I’ve learned to be more realistic.

I have a blog dedicated to my illness on WordPress, but I want to start fresh with a new perspective. What’s weird is that writing about my illness actually makes me frustrated. That’s why I mentioned that I may end up shifting focus on this blog. :)

I am actually typing from a wireless keyboard without actually looking at the screen. In fact, my screen is turned fully off. I will have to have my husband edit this for me when I’m done. He’s already busy enough, but if it edit this myself, it’ll defeat the purpose of me using the wireless keyboard: to avoid having to look at screens. I’ll be getting into WHY I can’t / mustn’t look at screens in my future posts!

For now, I just wanted to give more of an introduction.

I’m almost 40. I am suffering. I don’t have much in life. This blog may be the only thing that’ll keep me afloat.

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dylanais · 3 days

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One would require WordPress developers to reach its full potential.

Being online has become an indispensable part of any business. Most companies have opted to have a store for their e-commerce, a blog for their personal expression, or a website for the corporate; this is the world wide web. A professional and user-friendly website will be a key to success for any of them, but any website today needs content management system power-WordPress, which alone powers 40% of all websites online. However, building an altogether originally superb performing website using WordPress entirely requires skills more advanced than just a basic understanding of what WordPress is and what it does. Thus Hire WordPress developers. Here, we discuss in this blog why hire WordPress developers is a critical factor for your business and capabilities that can help realize a custom, scalable, and high performing website.

Why You Need Custom WordPress Developers for Web Development?

WordPress is an evolving content management system that empowers the users to provide different themes and plugins for quick web development. Pre-built solutions are great for users who first begin with WordPress and require building websites rapidly. However, pre-made website solutions are often short of the complete custom functionality, unique sets of functionalities, or scalable solutions for professional use. A professional WordPress developer will provide the following:

Custom Design and Custom Functionality

The hiring of a WordPress developer will take you above the standard and limitations of themes and plugins. A developer can also design a website that should meet the purposes of your business, or even help you project your brand identity. Custom page layouts may be needed, specific functionality in some areas, or just unique elements of design, and a website that stands out in a market- filled environment is what a developer can offer for you.

A coder can also design specific plug-ins according to your business's requirements, such as combining third-party tools, e-commerce with additional advance features, or developing a bespoke content management system.

Improved User Experience

The user experience stands at the base on which any website rests. A cluttered or slow website scares users away, thus resulting in lost opportunities. WordPress developers keenly design visually appealing and easy-to-navigate sites that are also high-performance. As a result, this translates to higher engagement rates, longer sessions, and a higher conversion rate.

SEO Optimization

Therefore, hiring a WordPress developer, familiar with SEO, is necessary to make your website more visible on Google and other search engines. In the actual development process of WordPress, the best practices are followed-for example, clean coding, fast uploading pages, mobile optimization, proper meta tags usage, and so on. Improving the structure of your site will improve its performance with higher rankings in search results, brings organic traffic, and makes it more favorable among organic visitors.

Hiring WordPress Developers for Optimal Security and Performance

Site owners who handle sensitive information, for example, customer data and payment transactions are security-sensitive. WordPress is a safe platform for your website; however, vulnerabilities can easily creep in from inexpensively coded plugins, outdated themes, or even improper security measures. Professional WordPress developers will make sure that your site is built for maximum security.

Security Enhancements

A professional WordPress developer will ensure your website is secured, among others are:

Installation of SSL certificates to ensure data encryption

Implementation of firewall to keep away bad traffic

Secure coding for it makes it difficult to allow entry of vulnerabilities such as SQL injections

Core, themes, and plugins should constantly be updated to patch up security flaws

Developers need to configure automated systems of backup monitoring and protection. This will ensure that your website is always safe and data is simply restored in case of a breach.

Performance Optimization

Website speed will significantly impact the user experience itself and even the search ranking. The user experience stands at the base on which any website rests. A cluttered or slow website scares users away, thus resulting in lost opportunities. WordPress developers keenly design visually appealing and easy-to-navigate sites that are also high-performance. As a result, this translates to higher engagement rates, longer sessions, and a higher conversion rate.

It makes sure that your website gets optimized to be fast and performant. Most developers use techniques like caching, image optimization, and code minification to shave off precious seconds from the load time. The aspect of server response speed will get improved by this. They ensure that your website comes mobile-friendly since mobile responsiveness is very important for ranking well on search results.

Web Developers for Long Term Maintenance and Support

Once you have pushed your website live, there would be a need for maintenance very actively, and this would ensure your website's long service periods without losing its performance and security-related aspects. The quality of hiring WordPress developers for a long term would ensure that your WordPress site is checked on regular intervals by updates for WordPress updates and plugins and any problems relating to them solved, too.

Scheduled Updates

WordPress regularly includes lines of updates with both security and performance, as well as functionality upgrades. Sometimes, however, these updates can go crazy and mess things up with your themes, plugins, and even your core system-and might even break your entire website. A professional WordPress developer will always handle these updates on your site so that things don't go haywire.

Bug Fixes and Troubleshooting

No website is completely fail proof against some type of technical glitch. Whether it's a bug within a plugin, server issue, or compatibility, having a WordPress developer on hand ensures that these are addressed quickly. The downtime is avoided and the site ensured to continue running at full capacity.

Ongoing Customization and Growth

As your business grows, so will your website needs. A WordPress developer can help you scale your website, whether it means adding new features, redesigning key pages, or incorporating more tools and services. Since your website will be just an open book of all its subtleties, you can guarantee that it shall grow with your business, changes in challenges and opportunities combined with all that.

How to Find the Best WordPress Developers

To Hire When hiring wordpress developers, there are a number of consideration that should help you pick the right developer for your project.

Look for developers with a history of development of sites similar to yours. Review their portfolio in the light of assessment of design skills, technical abilities, and understanding of different business needs. This is because an experienced developer will better foretell potential problems and will know how to handle them more efficiently.

Consider Specialization

Other WordPress developers can specialize in specific areas such as e-commerce, SEO, or custom plugin development. Thus, according to your needs for a project, you might hire a developer with experience in the specific features you need.

Check Reviews and References

Reading reviews and testimonials from previous clients can give insight into the work ethic and communication skills of a developer, as well as the quality of finished projects. Even references can be asked to speak directly to past clients.

Conclusion:

Leading solution providers in expert WordPress development services, AIS Technolabs offers proficient developers that specialize in crafting bespoke, scalable, and high-performing websites. Businesses hire from AIS website development experts, business tailored solution offerings, added security, and even continuative maintenance issues that ensure lasting success. Whether for an individual website development or improvement of an already existing one, the trusted and creative AI WordPress development reveals even a deeper contribution of online presence toward the achievement of business goals in the most efficient and effective manner possible. Contact us for more information.

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#hire developers #developer #hire #usa #india #wordpress #wordpress developers #canada

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binarychai1 · 4 days

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Choosing the Best Theme: A Guide to WordPress Website Development Services

When it comes to building a successful WordPress site, selecting the right theme is crucial. A well-chosen theme not only enhances your website’s aesthetics but also influences its functionality, user experience, and SEO performance.

Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you choose the best theme for your WordPress website development services.

1. Understand Your Website’s Purpose

Identify Goals: Determine what you want to achieve with your website. Is it an e-commerce store, a blog, or a portfolio?

Target Audience: Consider the preferences and needs of your target audience to ensure the theme aligns with their expectations.

2. Responsive Design

Mobile-Friendly: Ensure the theme is responsive and looks great on all devices, from desktops to smartphones. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites in search rankings.

3. Customization Options

Flexibility: Look for themes that offer easy customization options, such as color schemes, fonts, and layouts. This allows you to create a unique brand identity.

Page Builders: Consider themes compatible with popular page builders like Elementor or WPBakery for drag-and-drop functionality.

4. SEO Optimization

Built-In SEO Features: Choose a theme optimized for SEO, with clean code and fast loading times, to enhance your site’s visibility on search engines.

Schema Markup: Some themes come with built-in schema markup, which helps search engines understand your content better.

5. Performance and Speed

Fast Loading Times: A lightweight theme can significantly improve loading speed. Use tools like GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights to test performance.

Minimalist Design: Themes with a minimalist design often perform better, as they reduce clutter and enhance loading speeds.

6. Support and Updates

Regular Updates: Choose a theme that is frequently updated to ensure compatibility with the latest WordPress versions and security standards.

Customer Support: Opt for themes from developers that offer reliable customer support, including documentation, forums, or direct assistance.

7. User Reviews and Ratings

Research: Check user reviews and ratings on theme marketplaces like ThemeForest or the WordPress theme repository. This feedback can provide insights into the theme’s performance and reliability.

8. Budget Considerations

Free vs. Premium: While there are many free themes available, premium themes often offer more features, support, and customization options. Evaluate your budget and choose accordingly.

9. Demo and Trial Versions

Preview Before Purchase: Most premium themes offer demo versions. Take advantage of this feature to explore the theme’s capabilities and user interface before making a decision.

10. Integration with Plugins

Compatibility: Ensure that the theme integrates well with essential plugins you plan to use, such as WooCommerce for e-commerce sites or Yoast SEO for search optimization.

Conclusion

Choosing the best theme for your WordPress website development services is a critical step that can greatly influence your site’s success. By considering factors like responsiveness, customization options, SEO optimization, and support, you can find a theme that not only meets your aesthetic needs but also enhances functionality and user experience. Take the time to research and test different themes, ensuring that your final choice aligns with your brand’s goals and vision. Happy building!

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qalbitinfotech · 4 days

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Building Dynamic Websites with WordPress: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction:

Thanks to its flexibility, user-friendliness, and powerful features, WordPress has become one of the most popular platforms for building dynamic websites. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, WordPress offers everything you need to create a fully functional, professional-looking website. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the essential steps to building dynamic websites with WordPress, covering everything from installation to customization.

1. Understanding WordPress

Before getting into the technical aspects, let’s first understand WordPress and why it’s so widely used.

A. What is WordPress?

WordPress is a free, open-source Content Management System (CMS) that makes creating and managing websites simple. Originally designed as a platform for blogging, it has grown into a powerful tool that can be used to build all kinds of websites—from personal blogs to full-fledged e-commerce stores.

B. Why Choose WordPress?

WordPress is known for its ease of use and flexibility. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, you can build and customize your site with ease. It’s supported by a vast community of developers, meaning you can access thousands of themes and plugins. These tools allow you to add features and design your site exactly the way you want, without needing to write any code.

2. Getting Started with WordPress

Setting up a WordPress site is simple, even if you’re new to web development. Here’s how to get started:

A. Choosing a Hosting Provider

The first step is to choose a hosting provider. Your hosting provider is where your website will live, so it’s important to pick one that offers easy WordPress installation, reliable uptime, and strong customer support. Some popular options include:

Bluehost: Known for its beginner-friendly features and seamless WordPress integration.

SiteGround: Offers excellent performance and top-notch customer service.

WP Engine: A premium option with a focus on speed and security for WordPress sites.

B. Installing WordPress

Once you’ve chosen your hosting provider, the next step is to install WordPress. Most hosts make this very easy with a one-click installation process. Here’s how it typically works:

Find the WordPress Installation Option: Look for a section like “Website” or “Apps” where you’ll find the WordPress logo.

Follow the Prompts: Click on the WordPress icon, and the installation process will guide you through the setup. You may need to choose your website’s name, admin username, and password.

In just a few minutes, your WordPress site will be up and running, ready for you to start building and customizing.

3. Selecting and Customizing a WordPress Theme

Your website’s design is largely defined by the theme you choose. WordPress themes dictate how your site looks and feels, and with thousands of free and premium themes available, you can easily find one that suits your needs.

A. Choosing the Right Theme

When selecting a theme, think about the purpose of your website:

Business Websites: For a professional look, choose a theme with a clean, modern design. It should highlight important information like your services, contact details, and client testimonials.

Blogs: If you’re building a blog, opt for a theme that puts your content front and center. Look for layouts that emphasize readability and support multimedia content like images and videos.

B. Customizing Your Theme

After choosing your theme, you’ll want to tailor it to fit your brand. WordPress makes this easy with its built-in Customizer:

Change Colors and Fonts: Adjust the colors and fonts to align with your brand’s identity. For instance, use your brand’s color palette and select fonts that match the tone of your content.

Adjust Layouts: The layout controls how different elements are arranged on your site. You can modify the layout to make sure your content is displayed in a way that best serves your audience.

Advanced Customization: If you need more specific changes, many themes allow you to add custom CSS. This lets you fine-tune aspects of your site’s design beyond the basic options.

Example: Imagine you’ve chosen a theme for a travel blog. You can customize the colors to mirror the natural beauty of your destinations, perhaps using earthy tones or vibrant hues. Adjust the layout to prominently feature your latest blog posts, making them the first thing visitors see. Additionally, you can use widgets to display your social media links and a feed of your recent Instagram photos, helping to keep your readers engaged and connected across platforms.

4. Adding Content to Your WordPress Website

With your theme set up, the next step is to fill your website with content. WordPress makes it simple to create and organize your pages, blog posts, and menus.

A. Creating Pages and Posts

Pages and posts are the building blocks of your WordPress site, but they serve different purposes:

Pages are for static content that doesn’t change often, like your “About Us,” “Contact,” or “Services” pages.

Posts are for dynamic content that gets updated regularly, such as blog entries, news updates, or articles.

B. How to Create a Page or Post:

Go to Your Dashboard: Log in to your WordPress dashboard.

Add New Content: To create a new page, click on “Pages” > “Add New.” For a post, click on “Posts” > “Add New.”

Use the Editor: WordPress’s built-in editor lets you easily add text, images, and other media. You can also format your content with headings, lists, and links to make it more readable.

Example: Imagine you’re building a website for a restaurant. You could create individual pages for the menu, location, and reservation details. For posts, you might regularly update your blog with news about new dishes, upcoming events, or interviews with the chef.

C . Organizing Your Content

To help visitors find what they’re looking for, WordPress allows you to organize your posts using categories and tags:

Categories: These are broad groups that organize your posts by topic. For example, a food blog might have categories like “Recipes,” “Restaurant Reviews,” and “Cooking Tips.”

Tags: These are more specific labels that describe the content of your posts. For instance, a post in the “Recipes” category could have tags like “vegetarian,” “quick meals,” or “desserts.”

D. Tips for Effective Organization:

Plan Your Categories: Choose clear, broad categories that align with your content strategy. This makes it easier for visitors to navigate your site.

Use Tags Wisely: Tags should be specific and relevant to the post’s content. Avoid using too many tags; focus on a few key descriptors.

5. Extending Functionality with Plugins

One of the standout features of WordPress is its extensive library of plugins, which allow you to easily add a wide range of functionalities to your website. With thousands of plugins available, you can customize your site to meet your specific needs without writing any code.

A. Installing Plugins

Installing a plugin in WordPress is a simple process. Here’s how to do it:

Access the Plugins Section: Log in to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the “Plugins” section on the left sidebar.

Add a New Plugin: Click on “Add New” at the top of the page.

Search for a Plugin: Use the search bar to find the specific plugin you need.

B. Some popular plugins include:

Yoast SEO: Helps optimize your site for search engines.

WooCommerce: Turns your website into a fully functional online store.

Elementor: Provides drag-and-drop page building for easy design.

Example: If you’re setting up an online store, installing WooCommerce is a great choice. This powerful plugin allows you to manage products, handle payments, and set up shipping options—all with just a few clicks. Once activated, WooCommerce transforms your WordPress site into a complete e-commerce platform, making it easy to sell products online.

C. Managing Plugins

While plugins add valuable features, it’s important to manage them carefully:

Limit Your Plugins: Installing too many plugins can slow down your website’s performance. Only use plugins that you truly need for your site’s functionality.

Regular Updates: Keep your plugins updated to ensure they work smoothly with the latest version of WordPress. Regular updates also enhance your site’s security by patching any vulnerabilities.

6. Optimizing for SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential for attracting visitors to your website. With the right SEO practices, you can improve your website’s visibility on search engines like Google, driving more organic traffic. Fortunately, WordPress offers a variety of tools to help you optimize your site effectively.

A. Using SEO Plugins

One of the best ways to optimize your content is by using SEO plugins. Yoast SEO is among the most popular choices for WordPress users. This powerful plugin simplifies the optimization process by providing features such as:

Meta Descriptions: Yoast allows you to easily add meta descriptions to your posts and pages, helping search engines understand the content of your site.

Focus Keywords: You can set focus keywords for each piece of content, guiding the plugin to analyze how well you’re using those keywords throughout your text.

Readability Analysis: Yoast evaluates the readability of your content, offering suggestions to improve sentence structure, paragraph length, and overall flow.

Using Yoast SEO, you can ensure that your content is both user-friendly and optimized for search engines.

B. Creating SEO-Friendly Content

Crafting content that is optimized for search engines involves several key practices:

Use Clear and Concise Headings: Headings (H1, H2, H3) help structure your content and make it easier for readers to navigate. They also signal to search engines what your content is about.

Incorporate Keywords Naturally: Identify relevant keywords related to your topic and include them naturally in your text. Avoid keyword stuffing; instead, focus on writing content that flows well and engages your readers.

Descriptive Alt Text for Images: Every image you upload should have descriptive alt text. This helps search engines understand what the image is about and improves accessibility for users with visual impairments.

Short and Relevant URLs: Create clean, concise URLs that accurately reflect the content of your page. A well-structured URL helps search engines and users understand the topic quickly.

Example

Suppose you run a blog focused on fitness. Your content might revolve around keywords like “workout routines,” “healthy eating,” and “fitness tips.”

When using Yoast SEO, you can input these keywords as your focus terms. The plugin will then analyze your content, providing suggestions for optimizing your posts. For instance, it might recommend adding your focus keywords to your headings, ensuring they appear in the first paragraph, and including them in the alt text of images related to your blog post.

By following these practices, you can enhance your chances of ranking higher in search engine results, ultimately leading to increased traffic and engagement on your website.

7. Ensuring Website Security

Website security is a top priority for every website owner. With the increasing number of cyber threats, it’s essential to protect your WordPress site from potential attacks. Fortunately, WordPress provides various tools and strategies to enhance your site’s security.

A. Implementing Security Plugins

Using security plugins is one of the most effective ways to safeguard your WordPress site. Two of the most popular options are Wordfence and Sucuri. Here’s how they can help:

Wordfence: This plugin offers comprehensive security features, including malware scanning, real-time traffic monitoring, and a firewall to block malicious activity. It notifies you of any suspicious activity and helps you take action to protect your site.

Sucuri: Sucuri provides similar features, focusing on website integrity monitoring and malware removal. It also offers a web application firewall to block harmful traffic before it reaches your site.

By installing and configuring these plugins, you can significantly reduce the risk of attacks and keep your site secure.

B. Regular Backups

Regular backups are crucial for ensuring that your website can be restored quickly in case of a security breach or other issues. If something goes wrong, you want to be able to revert to a previous version of your site without losing valuable data.

Using Backup Plugins: Consider using plugins like UpdraftPlus to manage your backups. UpdraftPlus allows you to schedule automatic backups, ensuring that your site is backed up regularly without manual effort.

Safe Storage: Make sure to store your backups in a secure location, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, or another cloud storage service. This way, even if your website is compromised, you’ll have a safe copy of your data.

By implementing robust security measures and maintaining regular backups, you can protect your WordPress site from threats and ensure that it remains safe and operational.

8. Monitoring and Analyzing Website Performance

Once your website is live, it’s crucial to monitor its performance continuously and make necessary improvements. This ensures that your visitors have a smooth experience and that your site meets its goals.

A. Using Analytics Tools

Google Analytics is an essential tool for tracking various aspects of your website, including traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. By analyzing this data, you can gain insights into how visitors interact with your site.

Setting Up Google Analytics To start, install the Google Analytics plugin on your WordPress site. This will allow you to easily connect your site to Google Analytics and begin collecting valuable data.

Example of Insights Suppose you notice from your analytics data that many visitors leave your site after viewing just one page. This could indicate that your site’s navigation needs improvement or that your content isn’t engaging enough. By identifying these issues, you can take action to enhance user experience and encourage visitors to explore more of your site.

Improving Site Speed

A slow website can drive visitors away and negatively impact your search engine rankings. Therefore, optimizing your site’s speed is essential.

Analyzing Site Speed Use tools like GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights to test your website’s speed. These tools provide detailed reports and suggestions for improving performance.

Recommendations for Improvement Common suggestions may include:

Optimizing Images: Compress images to reduce their file size without sacrificing quality.

Enabling Caching: Implement caching to store static versions of your pages, allowing them to load faster for repeat visitors.

Minifying CSS and JavaScript: Remove unnecessary characters and spaces in your code to reduce file sizes and improve loading times.

Conclusion

Building a dynamic website with WordPress is an achievable goal for anyone, regardless of technical expertise. By following the steps outlined in this guide—from setting up your site and customizing it with themes and plugins to optimizing it for SEO and securing it against threats—you can create a professional, user-friendly website that meets your needs.

WordPress’s versatility and extensive community support make it an excellent choice for building websites of all types. Whether you’re creating a personal blog, a business site, or an online store, WordPress offers the tools and flexibility to bring your vision to life.

#web development #ui ux design #web design #e commerce #businessgrowth #digita marketing #laravel #phpdevelopment #seo services #software development #wordpress development #wordpress #website

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themesfores · 7 days

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PenNews Multi Purpose AMP WordPress Theme v6.6.8

https://themesfores.com/product/pennews-multi-purpose-amp-wordpress-theme/ Note: This Product is Activated Use any Key/Username PenNews is a powerful WordPress Theme from PenciDesign. This theme helps you create a new site in such a short time by drag & drop with great designs. We also bring to you great support and friendly help. You can use this theme for every purpose – create things like the way you love. PenNews is a Best WordPress News Theme PenNews Multi-Purpose AMP WordPress Theme PenNews WordPress Theme Key Features One click install any demo. Google AMP & Facebook Instant Article Supported & Validated Multiple premium plugins included for free Multiple Custom Widgets with great designs 600+ options from WordPress Customizer Drag & Drop page builder by WPBakery Page Builder ( Visual Composer ). White Lable Tool EU GDRP Policy Compatible Unlimited Fonts: Upload your custom fonts & google fonts Advanced Social Counters & Sharing Buttons 10+ Post Styles for Different Stories 10+ header styles with each different container 28+ featured sliders style – check demos slider 40+ Content Blocks – check demos 10+ Big Grids – check demos Supports 3 Types of review: Star, Percent and point. Multiple global Options for All VC elements, example: Multiple Sidebar Layouts: Multiple mega menu styles & menu items style: Mega Menu Columns & Category Mega Menu With 2 different styles Hide/show most elements on your site Sticky/Un-sticky Navigation Sticky Sidebar Ajax Live Search Unlimited Custom Sidebar – add any custom sidebar you want to your site without touching to the codes. Video Playlist for VC elements & Widgets Ajax Login & Register Form Multiple Portfolio Layouts: Woocommerce Compatible – easy to create a store/shop on your site. BBPress & BuddyPress Compatible – easy to create a forum & community on your site. The Event Calendar Compatible – easy create & manage the events. Multilingual Supported: WPML & Polylang Compatible – easy to create multiple languages site. Quick Text Translation – Translation your site to your language in seconds. Free Updates Life Time. WordPress Multi-Site Supported Auto-Updates – Don’t worries about update. This theme can be update itself automatically. Detailed Documentation Dedicated & Fast Customers Support from PenciDesign Please note that any digital products presented on this website do not contain malicious code, viruses or advertising. https://themesfores.com/product/pennews-multi-purpose-amp-wordpress-theme/ #NewspaperThemes #WordpressTheme

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entalaq-online · 17 days

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The best free and paid WordPress templates that support Arabic and English 2024

Sydney is a professional WordPress theme widely used for building corporate and business websites. This template is distinguished by its modern design and its support for the RTL language, which makes it an ideal choice for websites targeting Arab users. Sydney offers extensive customization options and compatibility with WooCommerce for building an online store.

Template function

Full support for RTL languages including Arabic. Extensive customization options to meet enterprise requirements. Compatible with WooCommerce so you can create an online store. Responsive design for all devices. Built-in SEO optimization to increase your site's visibility in search engines.

The best free and paid WordPress templates that support Arabic and English 2024 The right WordPress template is an important step in creating a successful website. If you are targeting a multilingual audience, especially Arabic and English. It is fully responsive and allows you to customize your site to suit your needs. In this article, we will take a look at the 10 best free WordPress themes that support both Arabic and English.

Jannah template is one of the most famous free templates that fully supports the Arabic language. It features a modern design and easy customization for blogs and e-magazines. Create a multilingual website. With full support for right-to-left languages, Jannah is the perfect choice for any Arabic language website.

1- Features of the Paradise template

Advanced SEO optimizations to attract more visitors.

Responsive design suitable for all devices.

Full support for right-to-left languages, making it ideal for Arabic websites.

Multiple design options suitable for blogs, magazines and news sites?

Compatible with most page building plugins like Elementor.

Astra is a lightweight, fast-loading theme that is very popular among WordPress users. It is characterized by compatibility with the most popular plug-ins and full support for Arabic and English languages.

Features of the Astra template

Light and fast design to load pages faster.

Supports languages written from right to left, including Arabic.

Compatible with Elementor and Beaver Builder for easy page customization.

It includes a large collection of ready-made designs that can be imported with one click.

Built-in SEO optimization to achieve higher search engine rankings.

OceanWP is a multi-purpose WordPress theme that fully supports right-to-left (RTL) languages, making it a great choice for Arabic websites.

Features of OceanWP theme

Full support for RTL and Arabic languages.

Improve site performance by making pages load faster.

Compatible with WooCommerce to create an online store.

A wide range of built-in plugins to increase site functionality.

Ready-made designs suitable for various types of websites.

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illyaking · 18 days

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I am curious to see how migrating everyone’s blogs from Tumblr to WordPress will go. I have accounts on both platforms. I’d hate to have duplicate accounts. I hope Automattic has a way to merge account otherwise this will be a slight task to tidy up my social accounts with WordPress. I’ve never been a Tumblr user. I appreciate their social environment. WordPress Reader has emulated Tumblr over the years with their reblogging function but it has never quite got that “je ne sais quoi” appeal that Tumblr has. So I am interested in the direction that Tumblr will go. Reblog via Jyolsna from WP Tavern Automattic announced last week its plan to migrate Tumblr to WordPress, a move described as “one of the largest technical migrations in internet history.” This move comes after Automattic acquired Tumblr in 2019, marking the company’s biggest acquisition at the time. During the acquisition, Matt Mullenweg had pointed out that “Tumblr and WordPress have always been very philosophically aligned.” An emerging Tumblr/WordPress plugin and theme ecosystem were on the cards, and Matt said that once Tumblr’s backend is on WordPress, the idea of plugins can be explored. After the acquisition, Tumblr faced tough times, with Matt revealing last year that it was spending about $30 million more than its annual earnings. The porn ban didn’t help matters, but the Twitter Exodus of early 2023 following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media site gave it a sudden boost. The migration announcement post said, “We’re not talking about changing Tumblr. We’re not turning Tumblr into WordPress. That would defeat the purpose. We acquired Tumblr to benefit from its differences and strengths, not to water it down. We love Tumblr’s streamlined posting experience and its current product direction. We’re not changing that. We’re talking about running Tumblr’s backend on WordPress. You won’t even notice a difference from the outside.” Automattic reiterated that “The changes will be exclusively at the backend.” The migration though not easy – with Tumblr hosting over half a billion blogs – will be a win-win situation for both WordPress and Tumblr. Automattic believes that “Tumblr will benefit from the collective effort that goes into the open source WordPress project. And WordPress will benefit from the tools and creativity we invest into Tumblr and contribute back to WordPress.” Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey Automattic is actively seeking experienced PHP programmers to undertake this migration project. Matt compared this to the famous British explorer Ernest Shackleton’s recruitment ad for his Antarctic expedition, which read, “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” The advertisement continues, “If you’re an experienced programmer… if you’re a SQL‑slinger… if you’ve worked on other big audacious projects like this… if Gordian knots tremble in your presence, we want to work with you!” “We’re already seeing interesting candidates apply and resume review is underway for full-time roles. All relevant experience is welcome, particularly those who have worked on other large migrations or are just excited about working on a challenge of this size.” – Bob Ralian, Tumblr Migration Lead Interested candidates can apply through the website giving a brief introduction about themselves. The post does not give any details about the remuneration or the application deadline. Community Response Matt tweeted “I’m excited about this one.”, while Eric Karkovack of Speckyboy quipped “Will there be a project status blog? If so, I’d recommend calling it “Tumblng Into WordPress”.” Platform Lead Engineer at Pew Research Center Seth Rubenstein tweeted, “This is so exciting. I hope this means it becomes easier to create Tumblr themes in the future; especially, dare I say, if they’re just block themes…” Courtney Robe...

#Tumblr #WordPress

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