#I forgot to add context here which I think enhances

[ladylingua]

there’s a reason Alanna told Gary her secret first, look at Gary the original Lioness stan, always ready to defend her

[oh-hush-its-perfect]

do you think there is any significance that alex's colour scheme is green and pink? or do you think rr went "u know what this character needs? to look like a watermelon"

((Prefacing this by saying that I'm giving RR way too much credit here, but you shouldn't take anything an author does for granted— even a serial author who often makes blunders and mistakes.))

A while ago I saw a (pretty unfair) assumption that RR made it green and pink because blue and pink would be too obvious, but that his intention was obviously to reinforce the gender binary by using two distinctly gendered colors for a character with two distinct genders. Of course, they did not phrase it so delicately. No offense to whoever made that post, but I disagree.

Although that may have had to do with it, there's other things to consider. One of them is color symbolism. And oh. OH. I ADORE symbolism— especially flower/plant symbolism (Language of the Flowers and all that jazz), seasonal symbolism (there's a reason that evermore is my second favorite Taylor Swift album), and color symbolism.

GREEN

Let's talk about green first. Green can symbolize a lot of different things, and there are a few that can be applied to Alex's character. The most obvious thing that green often represents is jealousy— hence the expression "green with envy." But envy is not really one of Alex's character traits. Feel free to argue with me if you think that Alex is significantly envious. Just because I couldn't think of substantial textual evidence for it does not mean that there isn't any.

One of the traits that Alex does have is wealth. Green is the color of American currency, and since both RR and Alex are American, it's safe to take an American lens while looking at this color. Alex's socioeconomic background effects her in a big way. I mentioned in a previous post that I think that Alex's fatal flaw is her sense of entitlement. That kind of entitlement is a quality not exclusive to but common among the upper class. However, her distance from her wealthy background enhances the sense of irony in the story, which is a VERY big thing that we NEVER talk about within the fandom.

This is kind of a little thing, but it's worth noting that when it comes to Valhalla and everything, Alex is "green"— as in new and inexperienced.

The color green also emphasizes Alex's connection with nature. This is one of the parts of Alex's character that the fandom consistently underplays, which is an absolute shame. I don't think I have to explain why the color green is associated with all things natural. Alex's association with nature provides a few key things to her character:

It makes her a more well-rounded character. Another criticism of Alex I believe is totally unfounded is that "being genderfluid is her only personality trait because it influences her philosophy on pottery, which is her only hobby." I'm probably going to make another post in, like, a few minutes about why I find that argument a little silly, but the primary problem is that pottery is not Alex's only hobby. She also loves camping, hiking, and ice wall climbing (I bet y'all forgot about that last one!)

It gives her a connection with Magnus. I mentioned in a previous post that Magnus and Alex are foils, but I neglected to bring up why that also makes for very good chemistry between them. Of course, yes, they have different goals and philosophy, which is what makes them foils in the first place. But foil relationships function best when the characters also share some traits. As it turns out, Alex and Magnus share several hobbies, and one of them is a mutual love for nature. This is a very unexplored thing in fics. Start doing it more plz.

Finally, and this one's kind of minor, but the Alex's green gives her a connection to Natalie. I know, whenever Alex and Natalie are compared, either in canon or in fandom, everybody kind goes "eww. Oedipus complex." Which is very fair and true. But they really do have a lot of similarites. The green of Alex's hair and clothes connects her to the green of Natalie's eyes. It's worth saying, too, that Alex has one amber eye— and amber is pretty close to dirty blonde, like Natalie's hair.

If I had more faith in RR, I might bring up the concept of intextuality and how Alex wearing green is an allusion to The Great Gatsby and how Alex is elusive to Magnus, just like Daisy is to Gatsby. But I don't.

PINK

To give credit to the person who wrote the post I mentioned at the beginning of this spiel, I do believe that part of the reason pink was used was to support femininity. Please keep in mind that Alex dresses in an androgynous way— not that there is an actually "gendered" way to dress, since gender as we perceive it is mostly made up. But Alex's existence as a transfemme person (which I will maintain until my dying day) means that pink has a certain significance to her. A lot of AMAB people embrace traditionally feminine things because if they don't, they will not be accepted as genuine women or genuine nonbinary folks, since masculine dress is unisex and kind of the default. So Alex wearing pink probably had something to do with her gender, yes. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, and it's certainly not an unrealistic thing.

Speaking of Alex's gender in relation to the color pink, let's talk about pink's use as a queer rights symbol. Alex was RR's first character to be introduced as a queer character from the start. This was not an insignificant thing, especially in the year of our Lord 2016 (which, despite popular belief, seriously had an entirely different landscape of queer rep. Though it's commonplace now to include genderqueer characters, it was exceptional at the time— especially by such an accomplished and mainstream children's author.).

Let's go back in time to Nazi Germany. Some of you might know this, but for those of you don't this transition must seem jarring. I swear there's a point. In addition to Jews, Romani individuals, people with disabilities, and Poles (among others), gay men were victimized by the Nazis. If you're wondering why lesbians weren't persecuted, it's because the Nazis didn't see them as a serious political threat, or as a threat to the perpetuation of the Aryan race since they assumed gay women could be forcefully impregnated if need be. Yeah, ew. Anyway, much like the Star of David being used to mark Jewish people, gay men were forced into concentration camps and forced to wear a pink triangle. Years later, after the gay population somewhat recovered, the pink triangle was reclaimed and used as a symbol for gay men. Some people who were not gay men used it, too, but that's somewhat controversial since it wasn't their symbol to reclaim. When the first pride flag was created, it had a pink stripe at the top to signify sex (this was later dropped so flags could be more easily produced). The pink triangle (inverted) was used during the AIDs epidemic with the caption "Silence=Death."

My point is that this is a very important color to queer folks. Having one of the first genderfluid characters in kid's lit wear pink...... I mean, it makes sense.

The last and final thing that pink represents, in this context and in general, is innocence. Granted, this kind of connects to feminitity since women (especially white women) are often infantalized and seen as innocent— which is another issue. In any case, the use of pink to represent innocence in Alex's dress is ironic. Alex has been robbed of her childhood innocence, first by her abusive parents, then by her life on the streets, and then by her eventual death at age sixteen. But then she actually regains her innocence. At the beginning of the—

Hold on. I just had a revelation. I'll make a post about it soon.

At the beginning of SotD, Alex is acting a little childish. The most obvious example is him jumping on Randolph's bed to "make noise." Alex's life is stable and relatively healthy for the first time in the years, and she experiences something that a lot of queer folks experience: a re-emergence of childhood at a late stage.

I imagine you didn't expect a post this long. I either make essay responses to asks or I add on one sentence and post it. Oops. Anyway, I believe the mcga fandom can be more creative than calling Alex a watermelon. Here are some other (kinda romantic) pink-and-green alternatives:

Roses

Dragonfruit

Grapefruit

Cherry blossom trees

[dogmeatthedead]

How Deathstroke and Wintergreen met

Best friends; they can be a good influence or someone that you raise hell with. The friendship between Slade Wilson and William Wintergreen most definitely falls squarely into the latter. From heroic deeds, to not so heroic ones, from emotional moments to silly pranks, they seem to be best of friends. So where did this deep bond come from and just how strong is it really? But before that I want to talk real quick about their relationship. Don't get me wrong, I love it, I really do but....... it's not exactly healthy. I'm not saying its bad, just that its maybe not the healthiest. 

^some fanart I commissioned years ago now

This is a quick introduction, and talks the most about loyalty, so you won't understand what I'm talking about here. I just wanted to keep this relativity short because trust me, I could keep going on and on, but this is just the introduction if you will before I go on about the more complicated stuff.

Which version can I trust?

As so many things are with comic continuity, there are multiple different origins, however rather than go for the total slap in the face that is the version from Deathstroke rebirth, I shall go with the far superior Pre New 52’s version.

The Beginning 

Ironically, it all began because Slade and Will switched roles.

Now I do have a purpose for saying this. Slade is the “villain” of the friendship, while Will is often seen as the moral compass; and while I do have issues with this form of classification, it works with what I’m trying to say. The direct cause of their friendship was that Slade acted morally while Will broke regs. The man whose orders Slade disobeyed is named Sampson, remember that, it’ll become important later.

The manner in which they met reflects their future relationship, which is to say that when Will stopped Slade from getting beat up it established that they would trade off helping each other.

The beginning may have showed how they met but let’s move onto how they became friends.

Establishing of the friendship

There early friendship seems to be heavily based on trading life debts/ getting people out of fights.

As mentioned above, They met because Will won a fight for Slade, but Will got another win after Samson, still upset over Slade disobeying him, sent a young Slade on a suicide mission. However the universe is a dick and the mission was a success however Slade was caught in an explosion.

This time Will broke ranks and saved Slade, something that Sampson never forgot and as Will says next he faced the wrath of General Sampson.

But rather than that, we need to take a detour first.

My classmate who is in the army, and from what I’ve witnessed for my self in the little time that I’ve served is that once you make a friend in the military, you’re friends for life. You don’t need to keep in contact, but once you see each other again, no matter how long you’ve been apart, its like you were never away.

Which is pretty clearly what happened here.

Will was then Slade’s best man, and so far as cannon tells, they were never separated again. From best man Will stayed at Slade’s side during the enhancements, and fought the government to see Slade when the tests went south.

Slade repays his life debt 

Remember when Wintergreen disobeyed Sampson aka king of sending people on death missions? Well Sampson did it again. 

He assigned Will on a job which failed, and resulted in Will being captured and tortured by the vietcong. Sampson knew that Will’s heart would have failed and he wouldn’t have survived his captivity.

Slade was not stationed with Will during this mission, rather he found out that Will had been captured a week after Joey was born. At this point, Slade was stationed as a desk jockey in the Army. After he got his enchantments Slade’s powers fluctuated between super strength and being paralyzed. The army declared his unfit to serve in action and this jaded Slade towards them so that when his powers stabilized, he hid it from them knowing that if he told them, and work he was wouldn’t have been offered in sincerity. For someone like Slade, that would have been hell. Anyway, that’s why he wasn’t stationed with Wintergreen. 

Slade showed up anyway and saved Will in the garish outfit. An amusing look at Deathstroke's proto suit.

Look not that this matters or is relevant but this whole scene is part of why I think that Rebirth’s story is just plainly bad. Obligatory in my opinion disclaimer.  When they meet in rebirth Slade and Will don’t know each other, there's no connection. Unlike DS classic where they start their relationship off with Wintergreen (who one could argue is the weaker in the relationship normally) is in the position of power. It establishes that Slade started his career out as the student and as a flawed human thus perversely mirroring his relationships with other character. Honestly I could make a whole post on just this but I wanted to add it. 

Plus Slade’s proto suit in rebirth is bland and uninspired. It totally lacks personality, yeah it “looks better” but I never thought that this suit was meant to look good, it looks like he made it to scare the living shit out of people like a jungle god or someshit. Okay mini rant over.

Remember Sampson? Yeah I’ve mentioned him a few times. Anyway, after Slade saved Will Sampson essentially forced Slade into retirement.

Forced out of a commission that he EARNED for being a damn amazing soldier, not viz blackmail. F*ck you very much Priest!

Moving forward

Slade needs both someone to love and someone to love him (one of the only things Priest and I agree on) After Addie shot Slade, Will took her place.

  There really isn’t all that much more to talk about without rehashing almost the entirety of the 90’s run.

Let’s review

Slade and Will became friends and stayed friends due to a “horse’s ass of a soldier” named Sampson, would continue being best of friends through tragedy and at least one divorce (Not counting Will’s vaguely mentioned ones which would bring the score up to a shared five)

So their best friends, but just how loyal are they?

Short, boring answer? Extremely.

Longer, more fun answer? Let’s look at a few of my favorite examples.

This is from the Sins of the Father arc from the first run (an arc that I can’t recommend enough by the way.) Wherein the sins committed by Will’s father comes back to haunt him. Slade and Will “commandeer” a plane, and in the process Will almost gets cut in half by the plane’s wing before Slade saves him.

All taken from issue 50 of the original run, (Part of the crime boss crossover arc I think.) Slade is going on what looked like a death mission, and he laments not having Wintergreen besides him. Que Will showing up, and for the first time in (I’m pretty sure at least) the whole arc, Slade smiles.

I could use these images as being proof enough alone, but I though I’d add the others as well.

“What are you talking about? Will’s just sitting there.”

Yeah, its plain and kinda boring, but the context is that Will is sitting there outside the operating room just waiting for Slade to get out after he was in an explosion. I don’t know why, but this just hits me in the feels for some reason. He doesn’t say anything to Steel, but its like he’s saying where else would I be? Slade was with Will when he was in hospital in Germany, and even set up a hospital at his house so that Will could recover from injuries at home. Where else would Will be when Slade is hurt. He said it best-  they’ve been with each other countless times at deaths door, they’ve been each others everything for  over 25 years.

[alicanta77]

Well I’ve just finished TND chp 3 (I binge read all the chps just now after breakfast) and holy shit…I feel like I want to say something more of substance but I don’t feel equipped to, other than “wow?!” I’ve read another story of yours centered around Hyuck a while ago and Idk how you keep crafting these whole worlds but it’s awesome. I thought I was being paranoid about the Ten thing or the eye symbol thing on the uniforms when they got out of their trucks / my first nightmare there, and I’ve felt sus about the pills (which I wonder if anyone else has gotten?? It wasn’t mentioned. OR OR OR.…what if we DID all get them but they’re simply pLACEBOS and these are things would could do all along we just needed to “believe” we could do it. HMMMM 🔍👀) so I was on the fence but as I read on I now know it’s not in my head lol, pun unintended. When I noticed the similarity in schedule I thought “maybe it’s just structure, like we have at school or daycare” but 😐 The end of chp 3 hurt me. I’d had that looming bad feeling & sometimes in literature when a character makes eye contact with someone for too long in certain contexts it just feels like it’s somehow an unplanned but resolute goodbye and now… 😣Idk what to think, like that they pulled a him, on he himself and realized the jig may be up sooner than planned. I’m also paranoid that it was PLANNED for me to have been able to find what I found like a “Don’t even think* about trying anything slick, or you know what’s next” kind of way? Since of course only I would be able (other than 🐹) to get into a room I wasn’t “supposed” to go into anyway🤔 i wonder if our rooms are mic’ed? Tbh the whole time 🐰 talks to me I’m surprised he doesn’t just tell me it in my head in case there’s an eavesdropper about somewhere. I wonder if that’ll be our doom (I wanted to say “don’t these kids know technology is EVERYwhere these days?!!” until I remembered that no, no they do not. That’s,,,, the point of the characters escaping living a lie🤡 lol my Some with Jeno is so cute btw!!! ALSO, it isn’t lost on me that we probably never got our bookbags with our emergency provisions back🤔 It may be because I’m super vigilant (tense paranoid and anxious tbf) irl but I want their bags back! Cus if we needed to escape suddenly we would need the contents. This is all a jumbled mess of my rushed typing and rambling thoughts but one thing is clear. It’s all a plan. #StayWokeMyFriends 👁

omggg thank you so much for reading TND and i'm so glad you're enjoying it so far!!! ahhhh you also read post mortem? thank you so much for loving the worlds i make, i absolutely love writing my series and creating these alternate universes so hearing how much you enjoy them to literally makes me so happy. literally some of the best things to hear as an author is the reader's ideas on what's going to happen next as well!! like hearing about their views on things so far and then what they think/hope will happen. also when people bring up things that they want to see, i sometimes get really inspired by the things they mention and add scenes that are similar to that.

some of your questions will be answered in the next chapter (along with a lot of unknowns and confusion will be cleared up) but i can tell you that yes all the other members got a radiation pill as well and they all decided to take it. ooooh placebo, that's a really interesting idea! however, i can confirm (it will be mentioned in the next chapter but it's not a spoiler so i'll say it here) that the pills are... *insert drum roll* really radiation pills! these are something that the facility were telling the truth about and they do enhance their abilities. since their abilities were born from radiation exposure, it gives them extra strength. i really wanted to play around with the eye symbol as well, something that creates a link to the lab that i could reiterate in later chapters. the only problem was, i came up with that idea during chapter two, hence the flashback scene lmao.

i had the ending of chapter 3 planned for so longgggg. literally that scene was one of the first one i wrote, and then i edited it when i got around to finishing the story so that it linked well to the previous scene. but things like the door, and the rooms possibly being mic'ed will be revealed in later chapters!!! i'm afraid i can't be saying that here so, you're going to have to wait and see why things panned out the way they did.

and omg the bags!!! i almost forgot about those, i'll add them into my list of details to remember (i keep a page of notes of things that i've mentioned or the characters have gone through, it also doubles as my plan for the next chapters, but it helps with continuity) and who knows.... maybe we'll see them again.

[nighttimepixels]

on deltarune

Okay, holy hell, I can’t start without saying that, quite frankly:

I loved it.

The music, the visuals, the new characters, the evolution of the battle style - it still retained so much of what I loved about Undertale, yet pushed further/evolved to suit this game.

I was nervous, admittedly, at the first battle - honestly, I’ve never liked team management RPGs too much because so often they get tedious. This, though? It was the perfect balance, and with the shifting team dynamic throughout the game, it really enhanced the story and added to it, rather than being a tedious distracting!

I also have to immediately say how much I loved the Dark World. The designs, the music, the uniqueness of the characters - seriously, Toby Fox did an incredible thing. This doesn’t feel like The Underground 2.0 - this feels like a different place, with beings that are different.... yet their attitudes and interactions still have that freaking charm and depth (even in minor NPCs) that I love about his style of storytelling.

Also, Ralsei is fluffiest best boi, I’m weeping.

Okay - I’m going to save the majority of my gushing over the team & team dynamic in the Dark World for another separate post, because given how much everyone is freaking out, i want to jump right into the meat of it:

Thoughts & Theories

First off... Do I think that this is Undertale 2: the Sequel?

No... but, also, kind of.

I do not think that Deltarune is in any way a direct sequel to Undertale. I especially strongly feel that it’s not an accurate take away to say this is ‘erasing the canon of Undertale’ or ‘destroying the characters/messing with what I love about them’.

I absolutely believe that this is, very literally, an alternate universe to the one we know and love in Undertale. The evidence is everywhere, especially once we return from the Dark World. The characters are nearly all there (and then some), and all the familiar ones carry the same personality and traits that make up the core of them, but the relationships, the context they’ve lived is different. This makes them different people in many ways- hell, with how widely accepted AUs became for the fandom, this should be nothing unfamiliar - but I think a lot of people are wildly thrown off by the fact that Toby Goddamn He Sure Did That Fox legitimately made AUs canon with this game.

Hell, the world of Deltarune seems to even give us the detail that The War (between humans and monsters) never happened here! There’s no hints of it - while the town seems to be almost entirely monsters but for Kris (presumably adopted), there’s no mention of some past sealed in the Underground (or the relationships/bond formed from such an experience), and frankly it doesn’t seem like there’s animosity between monsters and humans, either.

So if it’s not a Sequel™, what is it?

Deltarune is exploring a new theme, using familiar characters, a familiar setup, which in my mind makes it all the more powerful-

Namely, I believe Deltarune is taking two main characters/’entities’ from Undertale as it’s core focus-

‘Chara’ and Gaster.

Why do I think ‘Chara’? (and why the quotes?)

This, from the end of a No-Mercy Route:

and once you select ‘Erase’:

(see too, the fact that if you do a full Pacifist ending after a No-Mercy run, the post-credits include ‘you’ waking up in the middle of the night, and the ‘Chara’ face and familiar red glint occurring.)

Deltarune is a natural ‘evolution’, a follow-up to this specific moment, this concept.

Especially, especially, I note the phrasing ‘this pointless’ world’-

because a major theme of Deltarune (Chapter 1) is the idea that your choices have little impact on the world.

This is in direct juxtaposition to Undertale’s them of ‘choices matter’ - hell, in Deltarune, the ending is damn near the same in the Dark World even if you fight every monster - you can’t even kill any of them, because they run away, scared of you.

So, Deltarune’s theme - so far, your choices... don’t matter.

I’m not here to conjecture without proof - the fact is, this is Chapter 1, and we just don’t have all the details, not even close. We don’t know Kris’ origin (adopted, almost certainly, but how/why? from where, when there seems to be no other human in this town? are monsters largely separated from humans, or is this town just a case of a concentration in population?); we don’t know Gaster’s role (I’ll get to him shortly); we don’t know if the Dark World (and Lightners) are something even whispered about in legend in the world we came from.

(That said, I don’t stand by the interpretation of ‘all that being just a dream’ situation, but again, I’d rather have more info from the next Chapter before I try and conjecture there.)

We see in the beginning of the game something that the weight of doesn’t really hit hard until after it all- Kris, when facing the mirror and checking it, gets the flavor text ‘It’s just you.’

Naturally, at first playthrough, this largely just seems like a callback to the mirror text in Undertale, and a minor insight into Kris’ personal self-value - with the ‘just’ seeming a little sadly self-deprecating.

But after you’ve seen the post-credits-

Suddenly, that feels more like tired relief.

I don’t want to say for sure that Kris is ‘haunted’ or anything like that, but Kris is definitely not just Kris. The post-credits confirm that without a doubt. Suddenly, they lurch out of their bed - not moving normally, as if something else is... piloting them, for lack of a better term - they look like a freaking zombie, at best... and then they rip their soul out of their body and slam it into a cage. The next moment, we get the chilling red-glint and distinctive ‘Chara’ like expression.

I say this tentatively, but my guess is that Kris, being adopted (though certainly at a young age, given the text about Kris growing up with Asriel) came from a bad situation. Again, avoiding too much conjecture in this post, but there’s a lot of signs that point towards that - and I mean, the symbolism of ‘separating yourself from your heart/emotions’ after something traumatic...? The emptiness of Kris’ side of the room, the way that Kris doesn’t fight back in the beginning against Susie, the emotional distance... Seeming, based on interactions with others, like Kris has been largely reticent or at least distant from others more and more, with the exception of big bro Asriel? That’s a lot of red flags, in my mind-

But it’s more than just having issues from whatever happened in their past (and presumably to their birth parents...), it’s also that either because of or in relation to that, ‘Chara’ has become a part of them, and, apparently, takes over at times. That red wagon, that cage... that’s not new. It’s rusty, there are stains nearby seemingly from it/what it held-

This is why I keep putting ‘Chara’ in quotes. It’s moreover a name for the entity of hate/no mercy that you face at the end of the game, not so much the actual Fallen Child from Undertale.

We don’t know what’s been happening with that, we don’t know how much or how often ‘Chara’ has control - but they’re there, and Kris knows it.

This is what so strongly ties together that theme of choices don’t matter - because that seems to be what Kris feels.

Additionally, on the note of Gaster:

No, we haven’t ‘seen’ him yet, or received.... direct confirmation. But Toby Fox, despite being the greatest troll with the best payoff to have ever lived, doesn’t do things lightly. Hell, despite the overwhelming popularity of Undertale, he’s only ever done a handful of proper interviews, and rarely gives concrete details about anything - if he doesn’t want to imply or say something, he won’t.

But we know for certain that he never does things lightly, and the tweets leading up to Deltarune’s release were all in the style of the ‘Missing Entry’, the DARKER YET DARKER entry - ie, the Gaster entry. Coming from a background of writing analysis and style analysis, this matches to a T (though seriously, you don’t need any kind of background to notice that...) - and furthermore, matches the ‘character creation’ start of Deltarune.

Gaster, wherever, whatever he is, is likely ‘viewing’ all this from his position smeared across space-time... everywhere and nowhere at once. He’s positioned as the narrator in an overarching since - his seems to be the ‘voice’ speaking to you when you game-over, his is what you see in the beginning... I’d bet we’re going to be seeing a lot more, though almost certainly in unexpected ways, in future chapters.

Wrapping up-

There’s so much up in the air, but I feel certain about that much based on all the evidence so far. The fact that a game of this length came out of the blue when only some of us even dared to hope for a small demo from the Gaster Tweets on Oct. 30th... holy shit.

Some people seem to have mixed feelings, but seriously - Toby Fox released a 3-4 hour game (depending on how you played it, that’s about the fastest I’ve seen on average for first plays without rushing), with no Kickstarter, no whisper of it coming out - and it’s only the first chapter of the story. However you feel about that, seriously - this man is an incredible creator, and I couldn’t be more in awe.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to reblog this/add on! I might come back and do some light edits/add-ons as I’m sure I’ll think of something I forgot to say in hardly ten minutes, but anything major I’ll likely add in a personal reblog.

With that, I’ll leave off with one final note that I think no one’s brought up yet in what little I’ve seen on full thoughts of the game:

Anyone remember the Stretch Goals from the Undertale Kickstarter?

Well, under the last, largest one, Toby Fox wrote this:

The “other” game... I can’t tell you anything about it. Its very nature is shrouded in darkness.

Toby Fox, everyone.

Toby Goddamn Fox.

[gabriellapatterson-blog]

Side fic: STRESS 

A/N: Thanks for the RP @benjaminschreave

I laid in bed agonizing. What was wrong with me lately? At breakfast small talk with Wyatt was making me more nervous. I had a feeling hazel thought something was up so I made a period joke to try and brush it off. Wyatt had overhead and made a face like in the dad disappointed vine.  That won’t work for too long but at least it gives me a week to figure things out.

After running into Wyatt this morning I was starting to feel calmer. I had total control of the situation. I was the only one who knew what had gone down so if I could just focus on Ben and forget about it I could smoothly move past this weird dream thing.

I sighed and stood up from my bed, deciding I should go see Ben to see if that helps. I made my way up to his room and stood in front of the door. I took a deep breath in before realizing I had no reason to come and see him. What am I supposed to say if he asks why I’m here? Would saying just to see him sound suspicious?

I looked down at my feet as I thought. Got it, I’m here to show off my walking. I knocked on the door before speaking up, “Hey Benny boy! it's gabby!” I announced.

“Shouldn’t you be resting?” I heard him reply back from inside the room as he walked over to the door.

“Nope. I have /renewed skills/.”

Soon he opened the door with a raised eyebrow which caused my own to twitch as I thought about Wyatt, “Are you a superhero now or something?” Common Gabby just focus. Ben. Ben. Ben.

I grinned as I looked up at him, “I thought we long since covered that I already am a superhero because of my amazing guns.” I joked and leaned against the doorframe.

“But nope. I'm here because I have remastered walking.” I added to clarify the real reason.

“Annnnd you’ve come to show off your walking?” He asked as the corner of his mouth lifted a bit.

“Yup. I'm very proud. I was able to stay in bed the whole time, more or less. No rule breaking. But my ankle is now fully functioning- well fully functioning for walking still can't do sports- but still. Pretty averagely working and has made it so I can't wear heels.”

He looked down at me seeming amused at the recent height development, “Hm, I think I like the no heels look.” He said and took my hand closing the door behind him as we start walking somewhere.

“It's for sure more casual for me. Granted I do miss the feeling of superiority that having heels made me feel. Do you mind if we stop by my room I forgot to bring your birthday gift which I still haven't given you.” I hadn’t gotten around to the gift giving with all the attack and bed rest stuff.

“Not at all. Residual gifts are always a must.” He replied with a chuckle, “I don’t think those heels offered you much superiority though.” He added.

“Still they made me feel more superior to myself at my non enhanced height. You don't know the agonies of being a little bit below average.”

“When I was ten yes. That was the year Wyatt had a growth spurt and was taller than me for a while. Not a happy camper.”

I chuckled a bit and grinned at the idea of the unhappy camper Ben. “Is that why you like to loom over him now? Get revenge for your childhood trauma?” I joked.

“That and it boosts my horrible self esteem.” He replied with a smirk.

“What is wrong with you Schreave boys and your self esteem? I talk to Wyatt and hes like "I'm a horrible rude human" talk to you and its like "I bully my brother to make up for my lack of self esteem."

He burst out laughing at my question and talked through it, “I’m /kidding/.”

“Oh.” I chuckled a bit at myself for having taken it seriously, “Well, that's good at least. So I assume then that your self esteem is perfect. Though not as perfect as mine because no one else is.” I added.

He laughed a bit more, “Incomparable.” He then paused, “I honestly can’t speak for Wyatt though. He’s very contrasting.”

“I wouldn't expect you to. If I were asked about my sisters self esteem the only one I would know is Elli because she's 8 and an open book. Riley I'd just have to make a wild guess at.” I then gave a dramatic gasp, “Am I an open book?” I asked. Yeah right. You have to be at least somewhat closed or else everyone would know about the dream.

Should I tell Ben? Was I cheating by dreaming about kissing wyatt? I mean it’s not like I want to kiss him, ew. But still it was there? Is it unethical if I don’t tell him?

“I’d say so. Very very open.” He replied with a slight chuckle.

“Oh no. There's no mystery. I'm not a suspenseful character. Or maybe that's just a front? I could have some super secret wild side business that no one would suspect me of because they assume im an open book.” I joked rambling a bit with my side business comment to try and cover up any awkwardness from thinking about the dream.

“You’re starting to accumulate many side businesses.” He said and gave me a side glance.

“Oh right there's already the side business of managing your cheering up, plus i have my alter ego of a superhero, now I have a shady undercover business. No idea how I'll manage it all.”

He squeezed my hand, “I think you’ll be able to come up with something.” I felt bad but the hand squeeze just made me want to pull away. Was this what it was like to fall out of something? Mostly normally but just a small thing here and there that you want to run from.

“Need an agenda or something. Lists are always very helpful. They were probably the only way I made Bs in high school. Lists of what to study.” I replied actually pretty proud of my Bs.

“My methods probably wouldn’t help. Random sticky notes stuck everywhere instead of an actual organized list.”

We kept talking until we made it to my room. I walked over to my desk and opened a drawer on the bottom and pulled my gift for him and help it close behind my back. “So first for context, this is supposed to be a reference not a threat.” I warned.

He tried to look over my shoulder, “Okay sure.”

“Don't use your height to cheat.” I said and stepped back closer to my desk, “Close your eyes.” I added. Now he had to wait even longer to see it because of that cheating.

He grinned while closing his eyes and crossing his arms, “It’s not cheating. I’m using my skills to my advantage.”

”Uh huh, whatever you say. Cheater.” I said before stepping forward and uncrossing his arms to put a chamomile scented candle in his hands. Referencing him telling me he was allergic to chamomile but not the scent so I was free to get him all the candles I wanted. I had said that would be threatening but decided to anyways.  I then took a few steps back, “You can open now.”

He looked down at the candle and laughed, “I really do think this is threatening.”

I chuckled, “Well, you're the one who suggested it so I feel no remorse on the threatening. But you see now when I could not have given it to you at the ball though it also could have been useful during the attack since a candle is pretty hard.”

“I prefer it to relax than a weapon.” He said and leaned down to kiss me. That didn’t feel weird. What’s up brain. Squeezing hand it weird, cheek kiss isn’t? Do you want Ben to become my gay best friend or something? “Thank you.” He added.

“You're welcome. It should be useful for relaxing. Speaking of which how has your sleep been lately?” I asked.

He lifted a shoulder, “As good as it can be. I’m pretty busy.”

“Just try to get as much in as you can. More than 6 hours a night at the very minimum. Aim for 8.” I sighed. I sounded like my mom, ew.

“I’ll try.” He said with a small smile, “You’re right, your walking is much improved.”

We talked for a bit longer before I decided I should test the waters again. Flirt just a bit and see how that feels. I waited until an opportunity presented itself. We somehow ended up on the topic of if I had studied him which shockingly I had, though it wasn’t like I paid attention it was in like first grade.

“Maybe I should study you. I mean I've already got your weaknesses down. Strengths are looks, obviously.” I added after having just again called him out on his lack of self care.

“/Obviously./ But what about my charm? Intellect? Uncanny ability to lose my glasses every five seconds?” I laughed at him losing his glasses so frequently but suddenly got an idea for flirting.

“Charm? You have /that?/ I had no idea.” I replied stepping a bit closer to him and rising to my tiptoes so our faces were closer. I jokingly examined his face, “You do have a pretty cute nose. That's probably underrated.” See this doesn’t feel weird. It feels fine.

He wrinkled his nose, “It adds to my charm right?”

I chuckled, “Such a Prince Charming.” I replied before leaning in and going for a kiss.

On the impact of our lips it felt different. I liked it for a second, then it felt weird, almost forced, I was clearly too in my head. As we were about to pull away I panicked for a moment as the horrific thought came to my head that I almost wished I would pull away to see Wyatt.

I chuckled a bit to myself trying to act normal, “Prince charming.” I repeated the nickname trying to push back the thoughts in my head.

We talked for a bit longer but my head wasn’t in it at all. My chest was pounding and I just kept thinking about Wyatt. I don’t have a crush on Wyatt. He’s rude and does that stupid eyebrow thing and he’s a dork. I /do not/ date or even have crushes on dorks. I’m a super cool fly cheerleader, or I was one. I should be focusing on Ben. He’s much more my taste. He’s funny and nice and sweet. He’s a good boy and I should focus on him not be having dream affairs with his brother.

Once he left I flopped down onto my bed and took a nap. I hated all of this. The thinking and stress. The fading of my relationship with Ben which I was trying desperately to hold onto. I was here for Ben. I liked Ben. I don’t care what my stupid brain says. That’s just hormones. I need to think and follow my logic.

[deathghost8]

Battle shout definitions Preface

Here it is. massive post combining thought that happened as the battle shout fully emerged as my brand of all disciplines. Fragment - battle shout chapter - Combined story telling segments (Curated from the different WIP posts) EDIT NOTES - these are fragments from my social pages where I am in the battle shout and adventure basics thought. It’s incomplete as it only goes back to a gengar picture in my feed. There is more I still need to add. — Newer to older (will create a 2nd one that is in a final decided order for a reader, may jump between different moments in the time line, kept to a minimum for helping comprehension ——— Whoever offers human growth / wellness at either no cost or a much lower cost than previously widely available is winning in capitalism. I hope to invent the No Cost solution, following the footsteps of tech brands and passionate innovators of our time. Games and medicines altering my state of mind provided me a space within which to BECOME me. They offered me the lesson of re sociating, once I started practice a desire to learn it. Here are some of the problems I inhabited and the solutions I learned after using medicines - ---calorie /nutrition deprivation : solution - making eating easier with hacks like prep, (paper dishes/cutlery), getting timing right, the decision to Breakfast and eat it slowly - replacements like the Soylent drink - medicines that fix appetite IE cbd ----hypervigilance - maybe haven’t fully escaped this one yet. It’s an ongoing conflict - using Medicines that reduce my physical anxiety cortisol which comes through as wheezing escalation attacks and very bad sleep - sleeping correctly makes me feel calmer, breathe/think clearly Medicine examples - coffee, reishi mushroom, cannabinoids, magnesium, L theanine, Lemon balm, Sleep specific - L tryptophan, Zinc, valerian root, doxylamine (unisom) -----Escapism - learning how to use mindfulness and writing to transform my self avoiding into Self Actualization ------Counterdependence - Realizing that sharing/affection and giving affirmation would make me feel good, letting me treat ppl like I deserved their attention (as a provider) not gonna stand by saying nothing while they try to trash gaming and say we are giving kids screen / media addictions, when the only things I even really know I learned from gaming, mostly online blizzard and/or adventure gaming. I’m gonna teach what I learned. It’s battle shout. how we are failing worst as a so called civilized population: Educating the youngest. We are not doing it. We are not prioritizing growth and wellness for the children here. We are breaking their families, parents and guardians instead of supporting. Dehumanism is institution. *witnessing your smiling face is the deepest privilege I will experience in living* We are not gonna save anyone until we recognize that growth is about including everyone, recognizing their individual passions and curiosity, recognizing that they themselves will be the only ones to decide how to be that self, Monetary Value will only every Destroy us all. EVERY one is struggling and i care about EVERYONE, humanity needs a bigger solution than a Lifeline reaction to the symptoms rather than the cause. {If you or someone you care about is struggling, please know you are not alone. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available at 1-800-273-8255 in the U.S. or find support worldwide at ‪https://www.befrienders.org/ }‬ —schools where all gamers, creatives, learners are accepted so that human wellness growth can be placed above the falseness of Monetary Value -- available at nowhere because no innovator yet has cared with their entire life's mission to save those we currently discard. The school I'm trying to invent has a simple Main Value - School is Lunch. The target priority is non monetary. *Monetary Value will not measure our success* Human growth measures it. Human currency. what I would do with the elusive Lottery / Genie situation is create the Ultra Library whose only mission was to include as many human beings in growth wellness as possible, to offer them the place, resources, nutrition, and community safety to build the life they want to create IN essence I am trying to invent a school. I have a seething hatred for the failure of Public sector school, dealing with both neurodiversity concerns and non child centered curriculum design. Self educating is superior. Curation can only help existing curiosity and passion. my huge dream is to innovate the third place concept in fusion with educationalism, gaming cafe, the concept of Feeding every learner because it's more educational- the ultimate capitalism winner is the one whose Patrons flock simply because it is Better. =high contrast videos with songs of numbers, counting, vehicles/ramps, and piles of balls=The young children find these things very amusing. - the wise old teachers find the fact very important to distribute, although they themselves do not find it amusing they find the fact that the tiniest students are amused very important for distribution.== []2[] Operating vehicles or consuming alcohol are the most dangerous and pointlessly risky activities done by anyone (who doesn’t do employment that is specifically danger facing). Most are not qualified for these activities. It’s not safe, please leave it to the professionals few. Giving, the act of providing because I want to see human growth and learning. That’s my freedom to practice. Dehumanism makes it into a crime, after valuing it zero. Dehumanism Institution perpetuates the idea that giving, feeding, teaching, expressing can be penalized as crimes. These are the pillars of MY free speech. Giving, the act of providing because I want to see human growth and learning. That’s my freedom to practice. (Scott Warren who faces up to 20 years in prison for giving food & water to 2 men who needed help in the Arizona desert.) What I’m talkin about is this anti educationalism. Shocked ? That we aren’t already Veterans for standing rock +500K decent human beings SWARMING the sites where this has happened to tell them we won’t stand by as bystanders to Deadly Dehumanism. We are complicit in these deaths. I am not gonna be quiet about this, my brand is built upon radical educating, lifeguarding, human growth. That also means opposing bully bigotry. []3[] There is a bullying situation regarding the spectrum. Happening to one of my closest humans. It is making her suicidal (no one can handle endless mistreatment, then mental health slides) - I learned how to fight off the suicide ideas because I was in a kind of rock bottom near that for 10 years - ultimately, I defeated the boss, and I learned the strategy. learn to Tank at the front of it for the people I’m trying to educate, and keep them here on our Alive team. This is the real deal why I am the tank. The battle shout is to Shine the truth and save your life, you the most brutally dehumanized by the institutions of this economic-dystopia She has to be given the feeling she does have the power and the choice whether to stay here with us, alive. Educationalism is the desire to be surrounded by growth allies, and free from anyone who thinks a decision that reduces or infringes your growth and learning is either ok or even debatable with you Can we get Birth insurance ? I want it to function like life insurance, in the event you are born, the insurance policy covers some assurances. Wait, no, that’s not an insurance plan, that’s what School is meant to be I’ll be over hear spamming battle shout and taunt if you come at me debating seriously over contexts whose choices are outcomes that don’t abuse and compromise a child’s school environment, or hurting the child’s emotional and basic wellbeing. My Aggro will not be exceeded! Let us consult YouTube, young one. Where’s the one about the baby Shark? I will find it for u most easily. If u ever get mad at someone u got road rage or someone is gank camping. Just tell them Yo dude please go hug urself! The time has come To Learn Bout Eating breakfast! If u don’t eat it, ur brain won’t think right, ya Dingus!! Wake up and eat this health, that’s your grade. Welcome to school. Favorite offline activities - social prompt - Activities that take place on beds, furniture or desk. Followed by wandering whether by land, air, or foot. Followed by culinary making. I identify toward the feeling that being burly means being kind - a defender, a watcher, a lifeguard. So it’s cool to see brands grounding themselves in this type of thought. burly man coffee promoted by a podcast i watch Brands that literally hold up kindness and human growth as a piece of their identity are the brands with sanity to shine light in the darkness of economic institutional dehumanization No game except maybe the sims had a soap item, demonstrated a buff benefit for soap. Soap knowledge is something that legitimately is part of human excellence - mind efficiency - educationalism ^^highlight$$ What I am concepting is the fact that valuable education is about human cognitive expansion, making this brain run the way its optimized to run, repetition, medicines/enhancers, the basic sensory reboots. Thinking better, clearer, bigger, quicker, learning ABOUT thinking. {schools get blamed for inability to solve the inequality economics} Entirety of the problem: the loss of investment into human growth and wellbeing. Capitalism forgot human currency value, then got surprised when everything turns shit? School IS lunch. We don’t need schools/tests/graduation. Kids will unschool just fine for the rest, if they are fed, safe, and able to have rest and resources and tech so they can iterate Failure during Curiosity. We need to care about human wellbeing, within our economics. Parents can and will educate. Most of the educating that needs to happen can only really be done by them. Gaming zen works for human growth bolstering because it follows the pattern our brains already know - repetition, the core block of neuroplasticity. This the overarching purpose of my Adventure Basics educational learning plan. As a creative first it’s my quest to harness games, adaptogens, and shamanism/lucidity/psychadelics to find transcendence. We can pair ego repletion with deeper Re-ssociation as an ultimate healing / neurogenesis. This will allow us to grasp mental wellness and human creative excellence. ** [intent statement as disciplines] From the multi disciplinarian standpoint- •Nintendo console 8 - 64 bit thought •Logic puzzles / riddles •classic adventure / role playing •classic FPS •classic dungeon crawl •Modern Adventure (games less about puzzle solving and more about finding all paths in a very large and breathtaking expanse) •Attention + Sensory rich interactive experiences •Primal Rage - the use of violence and intensity in musical and gameplay aesthetics •Cave human Dominance and roles thought deriving from gameplay, aspects of being Front edge protector of the tiniest most important Clan members •Economics Core freedom ideal - the belief that all interaction must be voluntary and the belief in a Best unity of gathered Wills ||||||Final crusade - educating to be correctly seen as: self evident truth about human growth, spanning nutrition, medicines, tools/games/challenges and driven by self voluntary []4[] School is Breakfast Lunch and Dinner plus freedom to explore one’s own sparks to ideas This is what I am teaching with my Wow Classic Adventure Basics educational Learning plans! ~~ One of my most important lessons about video game wellness is a thought from Mike ‪@MikeLICSW‬ Langois, that taking command of a powerful or attractive identity gives us strong boosts of mental ability and cognitive balance ultimately, for small attention cost. Ego repletion. It’s proven fact generosity makes u happier person. Why is this - the act of giving sparks gratitude to come forth. Gratitude literally saves, while angry kills u. This is the difference between troll griefing and community support

[iyarpage]

The Alternative Dictionary of Web Design Terms

It’s a universal truth that there’s more than one meaning to just about every word. This is doubly true for industry lingo. If you’re just getting started in web design, you need to know what everything really means, if you want to get ahead.

So here it is: here’s what the Secret Web Design Illuminati doesn’t want you to know. Read this article, and you’ll be able to dab on the haters with your hip new slang. Isn’t that swell?

.htaccess

A file that sits on your web server which, if ever touched, is perhaps the quickest and easiest way to break your whole site.

AJAX

The practice of making all your content dependent on JavaScript to load in the first place; this never goes wrong.

API

A system whereby enterprising young developers make money from your users’ data. Remember that you can always destroy them by “tweaking” the API for “performance” because you “hate chronological timelines”.

Accessibility

The practice of building websites that a human might, with a little time to study, actually be able to use.

Agile

A development methodology that advocates self-organizing teams and flexibility, allowing startups to more efficiently realize they’re building something that no one wants.

Back End

The part of a website where you deal with a lot of crap.

Backlink

Before experimenting with dogs, Pavlov trained online marketers to salivate whenever he said “backlink”. It still works.

Bandwidth

A measurement of the speed with which Google can access your personal data.

Bounce Rate

A measurement of the speed with which users realize you don’t have what they want.

Breadcrumbs

The contextual navigation pattern preferred by nine out of ten ducks.

CMS

The system that is supposed to solve all your problems and get you to the top of Google. This is accomplished by leaving it alone until an update breaks a plugin, or something.

CSS

That thing they want to implement with JavaScript, now.

Cache

Space on other people’s computers where you can temporarily store some of that crap from the Back End.

Call to Action

Begging the user for money and/or attention.

Code

The stuff they show on computer screens in the less-offensive Hollywood representations of hacking.

Comments (in Code)

In-jokes and clever insights that only total nerds will ever see. One day, someone will achieve true enlightenment, and the secret will written down as a code comment, and lost to an obscure GitHub repository.

DHTML

See: Deprecated

Deprecated

Anything we forgot how to use while we were learning Flexbox.

Design Research

Browsing Pinterest for a few hours to steal color palettes.

Design Thinking

Thinking, but like, when designers do it? If you’ve ever touched MS Paint, you can put this on your resume and ask for a raise.

Doctype

A needlessly complex way to tell the browser what kind of HTML you’re using. Seriously, <html version=”5″> would have worked just fine.

DOM, The

A useful reference word for programmers, and anyone who wants to sound a bit smarter.

Example: Can’t you just throw some more “div” thingies into my DOM, or something?

E-commerce

A fancier way to say that you’re selling stuff you don’t want on Ebay.

Fold, The

The part of the website everyone already knows to scroll past if they want to get to the good stuff.

Framework

The thing you’re supposed to learn instead of development languages, now…I guess.

Front End

The part of a website where you tell users what you think they want to hear, based on research, surveys, and indiscriminate guessing.

Graceful Degradation

The practice of building your website so it doesn’t completely fall apart at the first sign of a bug. Clearly superior to Progressive Enhancement. (See: Progressive Enhancement)

HTML

The easiest way to tell other people that you’re a coder, now.

iframe

You’d think these were Deprecated, but they’re not.

Image Map

One more thing that will never work on a responsive website without a jQuery plugin.

Inbound Marketing

See: Backlinks

Inheritance

The part of CSS that keeps confusing people.

JavaScript

The be-all and end-all. The ultimate development language. Will replace HTML and CSS because some people can’t be bothered to learn the simplest “languages” ever invented.

Landing Page

The page that designers let marketers have their way with so they won’t touch the actual home page. Landing pages typically outperform the painstakingly-crafted home pages, infuriating designers.

Meta Data

What we have to use while we wait for AI to get smarter.

Navigation

The quickest and easiest way for a customer to get lost.

Online Marketing

The business of lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Open Source

A socially acceptable way to just use other people’s code. Also the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

Pixels

Work as a designer long enough, and you’ll start to notice when even one of these things is out of place. It will haunt you.

Progressive Enhancement

The practice of building your website so that it works anywhere, but looks better on newer devices and browsers. Clearly superior to Graceful Degradation. (See: Graceful Degradation)

Prototype

The terrible temporary code you write that will inevitably be used in the final project, and you’ll always be just a little bit ashamed.

RSS

See: Deprecated

[I’m just going to cry in the corner, for a bit.]

Responsive Design

The reason web designers have to do maybe three times as much work for each project as we used to.

Semantic Markup

The practice of writing HTML a human might, with study, actually be able to read.

Server-side

Anything that is officially the developer’s problem.

Sitemap

A thing that used to be used by people that is largely used by search engines, now.

Theme

A socially acceptable way to use other people’s graphical assets and code.

URL

U R Lost.

[Hehehe, ahhhh… the classics still get me.]

UX Design

Everyone is an expert in this, now. Apparently.

Usability

It’s like Accessibility, but for people who get embarrassed when they see wheelchair ramps.

Validation

What we all desperately want from our fellow designers.

See: Web Standards

Web Standards

A good idea that so many of us are outright ignoring.

XML

Oh right, that’s still a thing.

  Featured image via DepositPhotos.

Add Realistic Chalk and Sketch Lettering Effects with Sketch’it – only $5!

Source p img {display:inline-block; margin-right:10px;} .alignleft {float:left;} p.showcase {clear:both;} body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;} The Alternative Dictionary of Web Design Terms published first on https://medium.com/@koresol

[unixcommerce]

The Alternative Dictionary of Web Design Terms

It’s a universal truth that there’s more than one meaning to just about every word. This is doubly true for industry lingo. If you’re just getting started in web design, you need to know what everything really means, if you want to get ahead.

So here it is: here’s what the Secret Web Design Illuminati doesn’t want you to know. Read this article, and you’ll be able to dab on the haters with your hip new slang. Isn’t that swell?

.htaccess

A file that sits on your web server which, if ever touched, is perhaps the quickest and easiest way to break your whole site.

AJAX

The practice of making all your content dependent on JavaScript to load in the first place; this never goes wrong.

API

A system whereby enterprising young developers make money from your users’ data. Remember that you can always destroy them by “tweaking” the API for “performance” because you “hate chronological timelines”.

Accessibility

The practice of building websites that a human might, with a little time to study, actually be able to use.

Agile

A development methodology that advocates self-organizing teams and flexibility, allowing startups to more efficiently realize they’re building something that no one wants.

Back End

The part of a website where you deal with a lot of crap.

Backlink

Before experimenting with dogs, Pavlov trained online marketers to salivate whenever he said “backlink”. It still works.

Bandwidth

A measurement of the speed with which Google can access your personal data.

Bounce Rate

A measurement of the speed with which users realize you don’t have what they want.

Breadcrumbs

The contextual navigation pattern preferred by nine out of ten ducks.

CMS

The system that is supposed to solve all your problems and get you to the top of Google. This is accomplished by leaving it alone until an update breaks a plugin, or something.

CSS

That thing they want to implement with JavaScript, now.

Cache

Space on other people’s computers where you can temporarily store some of that crap from the Back End.

Call to Action

Begging the user for money and/or attention.

Code

The stuff they show on computer screens in the less-offensive Hollywood representations of hacking.

Comments (in Code)

In-jokes and clever insights that only total nerds will ever see. One day, someone will achieve true enlightenment, and the secret will written down as a code comment, and lost to an obscure GitHub repository.

DHTML

See: Deprecated

Deprecated

Anything we forgot how to use while we were learning Flexbox.

Design Research

Browsing Pinterest for a few hours to steal color palettes.

Design Thinking

Thinking, but like, when designers do it? If you’ve ever touched MS Paint, you can put this on your resume and ask for a raise.

Doctype

A needlessly complex way to tell the browser what kind of HTML you’re using. Seriously, would have worked just fine.

DOM, The

A useful reference word for programmers, and anyone who wants to sound a bit smarter.

Example: Can’t you just throw some more “div” thingies into my DOM, or something?

E-commerce

A fancier way to say that you’re selling stuff you don’t want on Ebay.

Fold, The

The part of the website everyone already knows to scroll past if they want to get to the good stuff.

Framework

The thing you’re supposed to learn instead of development languages, now…I guess.

Front End

The part of a website where you tell users what you think they want to hear, based on research, surveys, and indiscriminate guessing.

Graceful Degradation

The practice of building your website so it doesn’t completely fall apart at the first sign of a bug. Clearly superior to Progressive Enhancement. (See: Progressive Enhancement)

HTML

The easiest way to tell other people that you’re a coder, now.

iframe

You’d think these were Deprecated, but they’re not.

Image Map

One more thing that will never work on a responsive website without a jQuery plugin.

Inbound Marketing

See: Backlinks

Inheritance

The part of CSS that keeps confusing people.

JavaScript

The be-all and end-all. The ultimate development language. Will replace HTML and CSS because some people can’t be bothered to learn the simplest “languages” ever invented.

Landing Page

The page that designers let marketers have their way with so they won’t touch the actual home page. Landing pages typically outperform the painstakingly-crafted home pages, infuriating designers.

Meta Data

What we have to use while we wait for AI to get smarter.

Navigation

The quickest and easiest way for a customer to get lost.

Online Marketing

The business of lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Open Source

A socially acceptable way to just use other people’s code. Also the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

Pixels

Work as a designer long enough, and you’ll start to notice when even one of these things is out of place. It will haunt you.

Progressive Enhancement

The practice of building your website so that it works anywhere, but looks better on newer devices and browsers. Clearly superior to Graceful Degradation. (See: Graceful Degradation)

Prototype

The terrible temporary code you write that will inevitably be used in the final project, and you’ll always be just a little bit ashamed.

RSS

See: Deprecated

[I’m just going to cry in the corner, for a bit.]

Responsive Design

The reason web designers have to do maybe three times as much work for each project as we used to.

Semantic Markup

The practice of writing HTML a human might, with study, actually be able to read.

Server-side

Anything that is officially the developer’s problem.

Sitemap

A thing that used to be used by people that is largely used by search engines, now.

Theme

A socially acceptable way to use other people’s graphical assets and code.

URL

U R Lost.

[Hehehe, ahhhh… the classics still get me.]

UX Design

Everyone is an expert in this, now. Apparently.

Usability

It’s like Accessibility, but for people who get embarrassed when they see wheelchair ramps.

Validation

What we all desperately want from our fellow designers.

See: Web Standards

Web Standards

A good idea that so many of us are outright ignoring.

XML

Oh right, that’s still a thing.

  Featured image via DepositPhotos.

Add Realistic Chalk and Sketch Lettering Effects with Sketch’it – only $5!

Source p img {display:inline-block; margin-right:10px;} .alignleft {float:left;} p.showcase {clear:both;} body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;}

https://www.webdesignerdepot.com

The post The Alternative Dictionary of Web Design Terms appeared first on Unix Commerce.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2zTdird via IFTTT

[unixcommerce]

The Alternative Dictionary of Web Design Terms

It’s a universal truth that there’s more than one meaning to just about every word. This is doubly true for industry lingo. If you’re just getting started in web design, you need to know what everything really means, if you want to get ahead.

So here it is: here’s what the Secret Web Design Illuminati doesn’t want you to know. Read this article, and you’ll be able to dab on the haters with your hip new slang. Isn’t that swell?

.htaccess

A file that sits on your web server which, if ever touched, is perhaps the quickest and easiest way to break your whole site.

AJAX

The practice of making all your content dependent on JavaScript to load in the first place; this never goes wrong.

API

A system whereby enterprising young developers make money from your users’ data. Remember that you can always destroy them by “tweaking” the API for “performance” because you “hate chronological timelines”.

Accessibility

The practice of building websites that a human might, with a little time to study, actually be able to use.

Agile

A development methodology that advocates self-organizing teams and flexibility, allowing startups to more efficiently realize they’re building something that no one wants.

Back End

The part of a website where you deal with a lot of crap.

Backlink

Before experimenting with dogs, Pavlov trained online marketers to salivate whenever he said “backlink”. It still works.

Bandwidth

A measurement of the speed with which Google can access your personal data.

Bounce Rate

A measurement of the speed with which users realize you don’t have what they want.

Breadcrumbs

The contextual navigation pattern preferred by nine out of ten ducks.

CMS

The system that is supposed to solve all your problems and get you to the top of Google. This is accomplished by leaving it alone until an update breaks a plugin, or something.

CSS

That thing they want to implement with JavaScript, now.

Cache

Space on other people’s computers where you can temporarily store some of that crap from the Back End.

Call to Action

Begging the user for money and/or attention.

Code

The stuff they show on computer screens in the less-offensive Hollywood representations of hacking.

Comments (in Code)

In-jokes and clever insights that only total nerds will ever see. One day, someone will achieve true enlightenment, and the secret will written down as a code comment, and lost to an obscure GitHub repository.

DHTML

See: Deprecated

Deprecated

Anything we forgot how to use while we were learning Flexbox.

Design Research

Browsing Pinterest for a few hours to steal color palettes.

Design Thinking

Thinking, but like, when designers do it? If you’ve ever touched MS Paint, you can put this on your resume and ask for a raise.

Doctype

A needlessly complex way to tell the browser what kind of HTML you’re using. Seriously, would have worked just fine.

DOM, The

A useful reference word for programmers, and anyone who wants to sound a bit smarter.

Example: Can’t you just throw some more “div” thingies into my DOM, or something?

E-commerce

A fancier way to say that you’re selling stuff you don’t want on Ebay.

Fold, The

The part of the website everyone already knows to scroll past if they want to get to the good stuff.

Framework

The thing you’re supposed to learn instead of development languages, now…I guess.

Front End

The part of a website where you tell users what you think they want to hear, based on research, surveys, and indiscriminate guessing.

Graceful Degradation

The practice of building your website so it doesn’t completely fall apart at the first sign of a bug. Clearly superior to Progressive Enhancement. (See: Progressive Enhancement)

HTML

The easiest way to tell other people that you’re a coder, now.

iframe

You’d think these were Deprecated, but they’re not.

Image Map

One more thing that will never work on a responsive website without a jQuery plugin.

Inbound Marketing

See: Backlinks

Inheritance

The part of CSS that keeps confusing people.

JavaScript

The be-all and end-all. The ultimate development language. Will replace HTML and CSS because some people can’t be bothered to learn the simplest “languages” ever invented.

Landing Page

The page that designers let marketers have their way with so they won’t touch the actual home page. Landing pages typically outperform the painstakingly-crafted home pages, infuriating designers.

Meta Data

What we have to use while we wait for AI to get smarter.

Navigation

The quickest and easiest way for a customer to get lost.

Online Marketing

The business of lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Open Source

A socially acceptable way to just use other people’s code. Also the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

Pixels

Work as a designer long enough, and you’ll start to notice when even one of these things is out of place. It will haunt you.

Progressive Enhancement

The practice of building your website so that it works anywhere, but looks better on newer devices and browsers. Clearly superior to Graceful Degradation. (See: Graceful Degradation)

Prototype

The terrible temporary code you write that will inevitably be used in the final project, and you’ll always be just a little bit ashamed.

RSS

See: Deprecated

[I’m just going to cry in the corner, for a bit.]

Responsive Design

The reason web designers have to do maybe three times as much work for each project as we used to.

Semantic Markup

The practice of writing HTML a human might, with study, actually be able to read.

Server-side

Anything that is officially the developer’s problem.

Sitemap

A thing that used to be used by people that is largely used by search engines, now.

Theme

A socially acceptable way to use other people’s graphical assets and code.

URL

U R Lost.

[Hehehe, ahhhh… the classics still get me.]

UX Design

Everyone is an expert in this, now. Apparently.

Usability

It’s like Accessibility, but for people who get embarrassed when they see wheelchair ramps.

Validation

What we all desperately want from our fellow designers.

See: Web Standards

Web Standards

A good idea that so many of us are outright ignoring.

XML

Oh right, that’s still a thing.

  Featured image via DepositPhotos.

Add Realistic Chalk and Sketch Lettering Effects with Sketch’it – only $5!

Source p img {display:inline-block; margin-right:10px;} .alignleft {float:left;} p.showcase {clear:both;} body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;}

https://www.webdesignerdepot.com

The post The Alternative Dictionary of Web Design Terms appeared first on Unix Commerce.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2zTdird via IFTTT