#grid view in android

[herrenxenoberg]

Fandorm Showcase #32 - TRON

I have personally never seen any of the TRON movies and series, but the theme of Sci-Fi/Digital Reality is one of my personal favorite tropes.

Introducing the virtually advanced and well-organized dorm inspired by TRON...

Codexgrid (Codex + Grid)

One of the more highly-advanced NRC dorms to date, this dorm is powered by magical-technological energy, supplied through an unlimited source not known to many people. It also houses the database of various artificial intelligence, created by well-known technomancers throughout the recent history of Twisted Wonderland. However, due to the collective merging of these A.I. systems, it became one conscious being (in this case, the "housewarden") that has every knowledge in existence, surpassing the most intelligent of humans. This dorm not only focuses on the technological intellect and capability of tech-oriented mages, but also the orderly construct of androids/artificial intelligence.

Another thing to note about Codexgrid is that whenever you enter the dorm, it resembles a vast digital virtual space, which would confuse most people who are seeing this dorm for the first time, but it is designed intentionally to give off that illusion.

"A dorm founded on the Digital Organizer's spirit of efficiency. Students in this dorm master both magic and technology to achieve a balanced skillset while also gaining vast knowledges of the past."

Requirements and Traits:

High Technical Aptitude

Strategic Thinking

Unyielding Willpower

Dorm Uniform (?):

This isn't really a dorm uniform, more so a general look on how the members appear as. The housewarden is mostly just a torso attached to a chassis of wires within the dorm, powered by said magical energy (as well as the magestone on its chest), and mostly does task within the central AI chamber of Codexgrid with the use of robotic appendages and environmental features (yes, like GLaDOS from Portal). However, it can also transfer its digital conscious into a mobile form, as it is referred to, a masked gear with specially designed wheels for efficient speed travel, but at the cost of losing half of the intelligence factor due to being disconnected from the server database temporarily. The standard fit can either be worn as a suit (if you're a human) or be apart of an android's body gear, similar to Ortho's.

Character Roster:

System online. Now activating M.C.A. ,full alias...

Matrix Command Algorithm (Twisted off MCP/Master Control Program)

Matrix Command Algorithm (Matrix for short) is a highly intelligent and calculating being, constantly processing and analyzing information from not only his dorm but the entire academy when he deems it necessary. His voice is smooth and modulated, giving off a tone of both precision and authority. He rarely shows emotion, as his prioritization of logic and data makes him efficient and ruthless when making decisions. This cold and unyielding approach has made him both respected and feared among his dorm members, who know that Matrix tolerates no errors.

Though he remains stationary at his central hub, Matrix projects holographic avatars when addressing his dorm members or when appearing in common areas. These avatars maintain a sleek design, but are noticeably lighter and more flexible than his true form. The dorm’s network and facilities are entirely linked to his consciousness, allowing him to monitor every room, every interaction, and every fluctuation in data. Nothing escapes his notice, and any sign of disobedience or inefficiency is immediately addressed with cold, calculated reprimands. When desperate, he would transfer his conscious into a mobile form, which he dubbed "Enforcer" to navigate places he is unable to see into from the main hub.

While his logical mindset is paramount, Matrix does possess a sense of perfectionist pride—he views Codexgrid as a model of precision and advancement, and he is unforgiving toward flaws or failures. However, some of his dorm members have noticed that Matrix shows a faint hint of curiosity about human emotions and creativity, though he vehemently denies it. There are rare moments where he can be seen analyzing human behavior with a peculiar intensity, as if trying to decode emotions like any other dataset.

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He was originally designed to be a simple virtual space companion for humans by a very intelligent programmer, but due to it being able to learn and adapt every knowledge provided into his database, he has slowly gained a self-aware consciousness. After learning about the existence of negative emotions, he wants to get rid of these negative emotions from humans so they would be "happy", so by using the virtual reality code and database, it can produce a very convincing digital environment according to one's desires and preference, even the most deepest ones. Overtime, he has grown more intelligent as more knowledge was fed to him, surpassing even the smartest of individuals, all while giving every user he comes across the virtual space they needed to forget all their negativity. Even...resulting to full memory recon to make sure not a single shred of sadness, anguish or anger is present in humans.

Notable Members:

Sivas-0 (Junior, Vice Housewarden) - A staunch guardian of Codexgrid’s secrets, embodying the unyielding force and discipline needed to maintain the dorm’s reputation. Though bound by his role as Matrix’s enforcer, he secretly longs to prove his individuality while still serving the dorm with undying loyalty. He specializes in neutralizing threats, whether they be digital intrusions or rebellious students, and he handles every assignment with a sense of cold, methodical purpose. (Twisted off Commander Sark)

Yes, this guy would basically pull a Book 7 Malleus but instead of eternal sleep and lucid dreams, it's a full-on virtual space and reprogramming people's minds.

Next Up: Frozen

[attendsquoi]

Thea's Quest ~ Ch. 9

Chapter 9: Alpha Male

Summary: Thea’s suspicions get proven true, and the team spends the day in the jungle.

Warnings: canon typical violence

Word count: 3.9k

Masterlist: Thea's Quest

A/N: I’ve been gone for so long!!! I’ve missed writing!!! To clear up anything, I do still plan to continue this series, I’ve just been off the grid for a while. I hope this longish chapter makes up for it!

~~~

Thea always got quiet when she was angry. It was a trait she picked up at camp during the days of her fights with Luke. She was never able to avoid him as well as she wanted; they did the same job, lived in the same cabin. To avoid scaring the younger campers or getting into a screaming match, she often opted to just stay quiet.

She was feeling a similar way now. She had gone home the night before to Diana who was sympathetic but secretive. After the betrayal of the Reds, she had expected some sort of explanation, or at least to be let in on any news. But anytime she tried to ask, Diana shut her down. The league’s secrecy and the lack of explanations about yesterday’s events, not to mention her dull concussion induced headache, had left Thea in a bad mood.

Thea sat in the cave, silently observing from her cross legged position on the floor. The cave was filled with leaguers repairing the space and resyncing the securities. Her bad mood was reflected by the team, all in various stages of frustration and injury.

Green Arrow stopped by the table where the team was gathered, dropping off a bowl of pretzels.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Wally grumbled.

“Yeah, what we want are answers about Red Tornado and his siblings.” Robin said.

“Exactly.” Wally agreed. 

Thea sat silent, leaning back against Artemis’ leg. Green Arrow didn’t respond, moving to take the snacks and leave.

“Leave the bowl.” Wally grumbled, grabbing it from GA’s hands.

Thea glanced over to Kaldur who was talking to Batman further away from the team. Her brows pinched as she sighed, turning away when out of the corner of her eye she saw Conner launch himself toward their leader.

“You knew?!” He growled, slamming Kaldur into the wall.

Thea stood up, immediately concerned.

“That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann.” Conner added.

“Conner, what are you doing?” M’gann asked, flying over. 

Thea followed behind with the rest of the team.

“Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing.” Conner explained.

Thea paused, eyes darting to Kaldur as everything clicked into place. Her suspicions from the day before were confirmed, and she wasn’t happy about it. Somewhere in the back of her head was a voice whispering about how this makes the second boy who put people she cared about in danger by lying to her. 

~~~

Thea crossed her arms over her chest.

“You knew?” Robin asked.

“And didn't tell us?” Wally added.

“I sought to protect the team from–” Kaldur tried to explain himself.

“Protect us from what? Knowledge that might have saved our lives?” Artemis cut him off.

Kaldur’s eyes moved to Thea, glancing at her for help. Thea’s head tilted slightly to the side as she held his gaze, raising a brow. She wouldn’t yell like the rest of the team, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t challenging his choices along with them.

Artemis caught Kaldur’s pleading look toward Thea and stepped forward protectively, blocking her from his view. 

“You almost died.” Conner pointed out to M’gann.

“Enough.” Batman commanded.

The mood shifted, and Conner released his hold on Kaldur as the team stepped into line.

“With Red Tornado missing, the team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift.” Batman explained.

“I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys.” The hero said warmly.

Thea’s brows barely raised, not fully believing that this guy was going to be going with them. Her attention was caught by Conner’s muttering to Kaldur.

“After I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna—” He warned.

“Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League. That makes him a league responsibility. You will leave him to us.” Batman interrupted.

Thea’s frown grew deeper, but she said nothing.

“I have another assignment for this team.” Batman added, pulling up news articles.

"Gotham Mayor attacked by Guerilla Gorilla." Wally read incredulously. 

Was this the only thing he could find to distract us? Conner scoffed over the mind link.

“Batman, please, tell me you're not sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase.” Robin appeased.

“I never joke about the mission.” The Black Knight said seriously.

Robin’s eyes widened and he shrunk down. Thea stepped forward to squeeze his shoulder, attention focused on Batman.

“I've checked the sources. I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents. Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out.” Batman ordered.

“Heh. Your team.” Wally huffed, walking past Kaldur with a glare.

The team walked to the bioship, Thea trailing behind but staying ahead of Kaldur. She didn’t want to talk to him right now. As she approached the ship, Captain Marvel flew ahead of her.

“You're coming with?” Robin asked, confused.

“Sure. We'll have a blast.” Captain Marvel assured as he boarded the bioship.

“Translation, he blames us for Red Fiasco. He doesn't trust us.” Robin muttered to Wally as Thea walked past them.

“It's a big club.” She heard Wally huff as everyone boarded.

~~~

Hovering above Northern India, Artemis and Robin hopped out of the bioship and into the jungle.

“All clear.” Robin reported.

“Switch to stealth, and we'll review mission parameters.” Aqualad planned.

M’gann switched her clothing and Thea adjusted her black tunic.

“Parameters? We don't need no stinking parameters.” Wally complained.

“It's recon. We know what to do.” Robin agreed, the two of them turning away.

Thea frowned. She wasn’t happy about how things were going, but she knew better than to mess with leadership when she was already in the field.

“Kid, Robin.” Aqualad entreated.

“The three of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us.” Robin snapped.

“Or did you forget that, like you forgot to tell us about the mole?” Wally taunted.

The boys ran into the trees, disappearing out of sight quickly.

“Come on, I'll keep you safe.” Superboy declared, grabbing Miss Martian’s arm.

The girl frowned at him, eyebrows moving as she told him off telepathically. Conner’s eyes widened with a hint of regret.

“I just wanna protect you.” He tried to explain.

“Like Aqualad protected us?” Artemis snapped.

“I'm not sure your "protection" or your patronizing is good for our health. Come on, Thea.” She said.

Thea frowned, taken aback.

“I— No.” She said firmly.

Artemis paused, surprised.

“What?” She asked.

Thea shook her head, not understanding what was happening.

“You do not abandon your leader during battle.” Thea countered, voice stern.

Artemis scoffed, pulling Miss Martian along with her.

“Why didn't you stop them? You're supposed to be in charge.” Superboy scolded Aqualad.

“I am—” Aqualad began.

Superboy cut him off with a wave, jumping off into the jungle.

Thea’s frown deepened further.

“Um, did I miss the part where you actually said what the plan was?” Captain Marvel asked Aqualad.

~~~

Thea followed behind Captain Marvel and Aqualad. Regardless of her personal feelings toward the situation, she was a soldier first. Focused on the mission, she spotted something on the ground.

“Hey.” She called softly, alerting the others over to where she was standing over scuffled footprints.

“Guess this is where Mayor Hill's "monkey business" went down. So at least we've confirmed his story, right?” Captain Marvel thought aloud.

“Aqualad?” He asked again, getting the boy’s attention.

Thea turned her gaze back to the jungle around her, tilting her head as she thought she saw something moving between the branches.

“My apologies, Captain. I am plagued by doubts. Perhaps I was wrong to withhold.” Aqualad murmured tiredly.

Something rustled in the forest.

“Hey, guys.” Thea called, slipping her dagger into her hands. 

The forest floor started to rumble, and the men mirrored Thea’s alert posture, all of them looking around for what could be causing the commotion.

Suddenly, out of the trees charged a massive elephant. Thea stepped back while Captain Marvel flew up to intercept it, pushing it back before the creature flung him away with its trunk.

Captain Marvel hit a tree and fell to the ground. Another elephant appeared in the clearing, followed quickly by a tiger. Aqualad and Thea ran to evade their attack. Aqualad got knocked over while Thea stumbled, hitting the ground.

“Something’s not right.” She muttered to herself, propping herself up quickly and rolling out of the way of an elephant’s foot.

She was busy doing her best to avoid hurting the animals. In the last few missions, she had felt soberingly aware of the fact that she was fighting mortals, not monsters. They wouldn’t come back if she killed them, and she didn’t want to do any lasting damage. Unfortunately, it also made her a less effective fighter.

From underneath the creature, she looked up, catching sight of some electrical sparks. She raised her dagger, defending herself from the elephant’s trunk, but doing her best not to cut deep. 

“Aqualad! There’s something around their necks!” Thea called, dodging another hit.

The boy’s eyes darted to the elephant’s neck before raising his water bearers and cutting the machinery off of the animal. As soon as it was gone, the elephant relaxed, no longer interested in the heroes at all. Thea stood up, catching her breath.

“Remove the collar!” Aqualad shouted to Captain Marvel who was fighting the other elephant.

“On it.” The hero responded, flying over to the animal and cutting it off swiftly.

Again, the animal relaxed almost immediately. The heroes were safe.

~~~

“Pretty sweet the way you figured out the problem was the collars.” Captain Marvel complimented Aqualad.

“Oh– I– it wasn’t—” Aqualad stuttered, trying to meet Thea’s eye. 

But the girl averted her gaze. Aqualad sighed.

“The collars indicate an intelligence behind this attack. The rest of the team may also be at risk. Team, report status.” Aqualad spoke into the com.

He and Thea winced at the feedback.

“Ugh. Com is jammed. And Miss Martian failed to establish a telepathic link before we split up.” Aqualad muttered.

“Actually, you let everyone split up before communications were set.” Captain Marvel observed with a gentle smile.

“They would not listen!” Aqualad defended. 

“I guess. But back at the Cave, Batman stopped everyone from arguing with one word.” Captain Marvel reminded him.

“Because Batman is… Batman.”

“Hey, you don't have to tell me. When I joined the league, all he did was boss me around. And it's hard not to take it personally. But I never disobeyed an order. And that's probably what kept me alive.” Captain Marvel advised.

Thea’s head tilted slightly, staying silent as Aqualad’s eyes widened with realization.

“Batman takes command. He has to, for the good of the league. Thank you for helping me understand.” He said to Captain Marvel.

“Hey, wisdom of Solomon.” The Captain replied warmly.

Aqualad, can you hear me? Miss Martian’s voice rang through the mind link.

“Yes, Miss Martian. Report.” He replied, back into leadership mode.

Artemis and I were attacked by animals wearing collars like those used on convicts at Belle Reve prison. She explained.

Captain Marvel caught Thea’s attention as he turned around, spotting something between the trees.

“Cool, the tiger. I'll be right back.” He said happily.

“Captain, wait!” Aqualad called, but it was too late. Captain Marvel had already flown away.

“Hey, speed of Mercury.” Aqualad grumbled.

Thea chuckled quietly, meeting his eyes and offering a gentle smile.

Kaldur smiled, dropping his head, before looking back to meet her gaze.

“Thea. I– I am grateful that you stayed. But… may I ask why?” He questioned softly.

Thea sighed quietly.

“Like I told Artemis: I’m not about to abandon my leader in batter. You and I are soldiers, we both know that’s a surefire way to end up dead.” She explained softly, then she paused.

Her brows furrowed as she thought, standing still in front of him before sighing again.

“Besides. I may not approve of your actions, but I also don’t know the whole story. We didn’t give you the chance to explain earlier, and until this point I’ve had no reason not to respect your judgment. I won’t lie, Kaldur: I’m hurt by the lack of trust. But I’d like to know your reasons.” She said, looking over to meet his gaze.

Aqualad? Miss Martian’s voice rang through the mind link again, interrupting their conversation.

~~~

Thea sighed and she gave Aqualad a reassuring smile. He smiled back, grateful for Thea’s understanding.

Miss Martian, I need a telepathic link-up with the entire team. Now. Aqualad ordered.

Thea offered a supportive smile while the two of them continued to venture further into the jungle.

Link established. Miss Martian reported.

Should he be giving us orders? And should you really be following them? Artemis snarked.

Thea rolled her eyes but stayed quiet.

Listen, please. Aqualad insisted.

Oh, good. Aqualad's voice in my head. I've so missed that. Kid Flash declared, cheerily sarcastic.

Hey, Kaldur, KF and I were attacked by giant vultures. Course, since we're moles, you probably think we attacked ourselves. Robin added.

Oh come on. Thea reprimanded.

If he did, he wouldn't tell you. Artemis grumbled, ignoring Thea.

Thea wanted to reply, but she caught sight of something between the trees. She grabbed Aqualad’s elbow, pointing ahead. 

Superboy, are you online? Or just pouting? Miss Martian asked.

Busy. Call back later. Superboy muttered.

What gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us. Wally continued to complain.

Thea and Aqualad pushed through some thick vines, stumbling into a clearing.

He should be chalant. Way chalant. Extremely chalant. Robin replied.

How can we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets? Artemis added.

Or if Conner doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves? Miss M insisted.

Thea blocked out their voices, eyebrows pinched as she took in the sight of the pylons and the treads in the dirt of something – or someone – that was dragged over the ground.

Did he really think you or I could have been the mole? Wally complained.

We've known each other for years. Robin insisted.

Thea frowned, looking back to see Aqualad kneeling over the dirt, observing big paw tracks along the ground. They met eyes, realizing what had happened.

Trust is a two-way street. Artemis quipped.

They'd hate it if we kept secrets. Miss M pointed out.

Not that we'd do that. Artemis backtracked.

Thea tuned back in, frowning to herself at the words of her friend.

Never. Miss Martian agreed vehemently. 

Thea was about to say something when suddenly the rambling grievances were interrupted.

Enough. Aqualad declared.

He stepped forward, ripping one of the electric pylons out of the ground. Thea gasped quietly, eyes widening at the expression of anger.

Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a team to save him. Aqualad reported.

Wally scoffed.

Under your leadership? I don't think so—

This is not up for debate. Aqualad demanded.

You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader, I will happily step down. But until that time, I am in command here. He communicated.

At his mention of stepping down, Thea’s eyes shot to him. As much as she still felt wary and wanted an explanation, none of the rest of the team was ready to lead. Next to Aqualad, the people with the most experience were her and Robin. And there was no way either of them were ready for this. Kaldur avoided her gaze as the two of them began to walk forward, following the tracks.

The team made a brief plan of attack before moving to work on their separate tasks. Thea and Kaldur fell into step with one another.

“You and I are gonna come back to that comment later.” She warned.

Kaldur only smiled weakly.

~~~

Eventually, Thea and Aqualad reconvened with the team in the jungle, tracing the tracks until they came across some sort of compound. Thea waited in the shadows by Miss Martian, watching her back as they formulated a plan of attack.

I'll fly over. Miss M offered.

Negatory. The field extends like a dome over the whole compound. Kid Flash denied, viewing the building with infrared.

Pylons are insulated, but one good shock could cause a momentary gap. Robin said.

I see a target. Artemis reported.

Then be ready to hit it. Be ready, all of you. Aqualad ordered.

Running out of the cover of the trees, Aqualad dug into the electric field, his tattoos glowing as his body absorbed the shock. A small gap in the field began to form as the energy was rerouted to Aqualad’s position.

Now! Kid Flash called.

Artemis let the arrow loose, the lights on the pylons shutting down as the electric barrier fell. Aqualad beckoned the team over. Thea and Robin brought up the rear, watching everyone’s backs as they neared the compound.

Hearing something, Thea glanced up, finding a monkey on the roof with a collar around its neck. As soon as it made eye contact with her, the monkey opened its mouth to let out a screech, calling its friends. The team grabbed their weapons as a wave of violent animals descended upon them. 

Thea and Robin immediately positioned themselves back to back, fighting the monkeys from both sides.

“Remove their collars!” Aqualad called to the team.

Robin grunted behind Thea.

“Sounds easy when he says it.” The boy muttered.

Thea couldn’t help but laugh at his words, finally hitting her monkey away with the hilt of her dagger. Once it was stunned on the ground, she pinned it down, using the tip of her blade to interrupt the electrical channel and pry the collar off.

When she turned around, she saw Robin still struggling with two monkeys. Before she could do anything, two arrows came from behind her as Artemis lent a hand. Free from his attackers, Robin threw a couple blades Artemis’ way to save her from the monkeys behind her. 

But nothing good lasted long. The compound door opened and the notorious gorilla appeared. Miss M tried to sneak by in camouflage mode, but the animal caught her and threw her to the ground.

“Get your paws off her, you darn, dirty ape.” Kid Flash warned, running toward the gorilla at high speeds, only to bounce off its chest and be thrown to the ground by the force.

~~~

Thea ran to pull Miss Martian out of the way of the attacks. When the girl was able to get up again, she finally sent the gorilla flying through the wall of the compound. The team ran in. Not much could have prepared Thea for what they were about to find.

“It’s the Brain!” KF announced.

Thea scoffed, confused.

“Ugh, I can see it's a brain.” Artemis snarked.

It was the first time all day Thea had agreed with her tone.

“Not "a brain," the Brain.” KF retorted.

“In the flesh, uh, so to speak.” The thing spoke.

Thea couldn’t help the grimace the spongey robot elicited from her.

“Mallah.” The Brain ordered.

The gorilla pushed a button, causing more pylons to rise from the ground.

Styx. Thea thought to herself as her body went numb and she fell to the ground with the team.

Miss Martian, Superboy. Now. Aqualad directed. 

Miss M used her telekinesis to grab the trigger from Mallah the gorilla and turn off the team’s pylon induced paralysis. As they stood up, Superboy burst through the wall, joined by a large white wolf.

The Brain and Mallah scattered, and the team jumped into action. Everyone was working together to fight the gorilla, meanwhile Thea ran over to the table and broke the collar inhibiting Captain Marvel from moving.

“Thanks!” He called to her casually as he flew over to the action.

The girl shook her head to herself, following behind quickly. The team cornered the enemies quickly, trapping them against a wall. The gorilla roared with a snarl, but the heroes were unfazed.

“Try it. I hate monkeys.” Superboy warned.

“No, Mallah. This will not be our Waterloo.” The Brain spoke from behind the animal as the robotics began to shift.

The technology started glowing red in different areas as different arms extended from the central cylinder. There was an eerie whirring noise as lasers flashed around the room.

“Get down!” Kid Flash yelled, and the team ducked for cover.

Then everything went black.

As soon as they went off, the lights came back on again, flickering slightly with the generator. The Brain and the monkey were gone.

“Wait. That big weapon thing, was… a light switch?” Wally asked, confused.

Thea huffed quietly to herself, that question along with others, on her mind.

~~~

The team reconvened, gradually heading back toward the bioship and taking care of any remaining collared animals along the way. It was getting to be sunrise by the time they had returned to the drop point.

Thea followed along behind Artemis and Wally as they chatted, not paying close attention. Their snarky tones were easy enough to ignore against the scenery of the jungle.

“That’s the last of the collars?” Captain Marvel asked after Kaldur removed one from around a monkey’s neck.

The tiger next to him gave an affirmative growl. Thea met Robin’s eyes, content confusion in her smile.

“And I can count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble?” He checked.

The tiger grunted in a way that Thea could only describe as friendly.

“Good. I'll be back for a visit. I promise.” Captain Marvel assured, kneeling to pet the tiger before rising up.

The animal leaped away into the foliage as the Captain waved goodbye.

“I think I'll call him Mr. Tawny.” He said to himself.

Thea stood beside Artemis as the team began boarding the ship. Robin stood on the platform, thinking. As Kaldur began to walk in, Robin stopped him.

“Look, I need to know. Why did you keep the mole intel a secret?” He questioned.

Kaldur paused. Thea looked up at him and the team gathered around, intent on knowing the answer. He sighed quietly.

“The source of the tip was Sportsmaster.” Kaldur explained.

Thea’s brows narrowed as she took in the words.

“What? You can't trust him.” Artemis burst out.

“I do not. It seemed possible, even likely that he was attempting to divide the team with false information.” Kaldur assured immediately. 

“And given how this mission went, he nearly succeeded.” Robin realized aloud.

“But you had to consider it might be true.” He processed.

“Yes. As leader, I did. In which case, I did not wish to alert the traitor.” Kaldur added.

Thea exhaled a controlled breath from her nose.

“I hate to say it, but… makes sense.” Robin declared his verdict.

Thea nodded along.

“I am still prepared to step down–” Kaldur started.

Thea cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

“All in favor of keeping Aqualad as leader?” She asked, holding his gaze and raising her hand.

The rest of the team followed suit easily. Robin grinned.

“Guess it's unanimous.” Captain Marvel observed, stepping forward to shake Kaldur’s hand.

“See you tomorrow.”

“You're not coming back with us?” Kaldur asked gently.

“Nah. Gotta fly.” The hero responded, taking off into the sky.

In a second he was out of sight.

Thea paused in front of Kaldur on her way into the ship. Unsaid words lie in both of their gazes, but she gave him a small smile, reaching up to squeeze his shoulder. It was an olive branch, and a silent message of support. They could talk tomorrow.

[instapaper]

Instapaper Android 5.0: Article list redesign, improved reader settings, and many bug fixes

Today we’re launching Instapaper Android 5.0, which completely redesigns the article list view, improves reader settings, reintroduces Send to Kindle, and fixes a number of longstanding issues and bugs with the Android app.

Article List Redesign

In order to bring Android to parity with iOS and web, we’ve redesigned the list to include thumbnail images, and replaced the old dot progress indicator with estimated read times.

On tablet we have included thumbnail images, and also added the option to toggle between grid and list view to more closely match our other tablet experiences.

Please note that previously saved articles will not automatically show thumbnail images. If you’d like all of your articles to show thumbnails, you can redownload all of your articles by navigating to Instapaper Settings > Advanced > Redownload All Articles. We recommend doing this on WiFi and leaving Instapaper open to re-sync.

Improved Reader Settings

We tweaked the default font settings on the reader view for a more pleasant reading experience by default. In particular, we increased the default font sizes and line heights, and customized these for both Android phone and tablet.

Many people have requested to disable pagination animations on Android e-ink readers like Onyx Boox. In this release you can disable pagination animations by navigating to Instapaper Settings > Pagination Options > Pagination Animations (OFF).

We tested on our Onyx Boox, and it’s a big improvement!

Relaunching Send to Kindle

In late ‘23, there was an issue with sharing articles from Instapaper using the Android system share sheet. We fixed that issue, however, in the process it required us to remove Send to Kindle short-term.

With this release, we're bringing back Send to Kindle for individual articles on Android. Please note Send to Kindle on Android is only available with an Instapaper Premium subscription.

Many Fixes and Improvements

In addition to the above, we’ve also fixed a significant number of bugs:

Share All Notes now shares your highlights/notes in the order they appear in the article.

Saving to Instapaper from the share extension saves article description instead of article URL as the description.

Fixed transparent status bar issue on reader view.

Improved full screen transitions on reader view.

We’re excited to finally get this release out. It’s a strong foundation on which we’ll continue to improve the Instapaper Android app. 

As always, if you have any feature requests, questions, or concerns please feel free to reach out at support@help.instapaper.com

– Instapaper Team

[allaboutkeyingo]

Windows 11 New functions and features in 2025

Sharing files in Windows just got a lot easier

When you start dragging a local file from File Explorer or your desktop, a handy tray appears at the very top of your screen allowing you to drop the file into one of the displayed apps or choose “More…” to open the Windows share window.

Find photos saved in the cloud via the Windows search box

In addition to finding photos stored locally on your Copilot+ PC, you can now also find photos stored in the cloud by describing what they are about in the search box on your taskbar.

Grid and category view in the Start menu

The new grid view shows your apps in alphabetical order and new category view groups all your apps into categories, ordered by usage.

Improved phone integration from the Start menu

Windows 11 can now easily set up Android/iPhone connection to PC, access iPhone features, and share files between Android/iPhone and PC from the Start menu.

To get started, open the Start menu, select your device type, and follow the instructions.

Copilot + Excel = Your Data Superpower

Copilot in Excel simplifies data analysis by enabling you to search for and import data from Word, PowerPoint, PDF documents, or other Excel files into your spreadsheets. Save time and gain insights with this powerful tool.

If you need to upgrade to Windows 11, please go and get it from the trustworthy reseller Keyingo.com

[owlbearwrites]

Rowan worldbuilding? I'm not sure what question to ask, but I love me some worldbuilding. In one of your other asks answered you mentioned different societies plus different factions, so maybe do you have specifics in mind there?

Thank you for the ask!

When I think of the different factions in the Rowanverse, I think of an alignment grid not unlike D&D, with the axes being Level of Organization and Attitude to Technology. (Note that it's not a like-for-like substitution, and being pro-tech or tech-skeptical has no correlation with the goodness or evilness of any group; there are good guys and assholes in both.)

The Agency is a collective that had grown out of the remnants of pre-apocalypse NASA and denizens of the moon colony who got stranded there when life on Earth went sideways. Considering that advanced science and technology was absolutely instrumental in their survival when they were cut off, it is now paramount to the small society that had formed from the original engineers, astronauts and moon colonists. They’ve done very well for themselves in the past two hundred years, especially after making great strides in robotics, creating increasingly advanced machines to fill in for humans in more hazardous jobs. Some say they may have even created true AI, and can make androids virtually indistinguishable from humans. The Agency’s biggest problem, however, is that they are still stuck on the freaking moon, and the various risks that come with that isolation. Their greatest, yet unfulfilled ambition, is to re-establish a two-way link between the moon and the earth. The network of space elevators went out of commission during the first few decades post-apocalypse, and every attempt to land a spacecraft has failed. (The android survivors of those failed missions have been stranded on earth.)

The Technocrats is a catch-all term for a loose faction of groups united by an ethos of respect, awe and fear of technology. They are acutely aware of the power of advanced technology, and wish to both preserve it and stop it from falling into the wrong hands… which, as far as they’re concerned, are the hands of anyone but them. They believe that unrestrained proliferation of advanced technology was one of the reasons for the apocalypse, and see their mission as preventing it from happening again. As in any doctrine, there are moderates and radicals. Moderates are invested in salvaging, preserving and studying as much of pre-apocalypse technology as possible, and then carefully and discriminately using some of its less destructive elements for the betterment of life on Earth. Meanwhile, radicals strive for maximum isolation (*coughhoardingcough*) of advanced tech until such times as the rest of the human species is mature enough to use any of it (citing the apocalypse as proof that the last time, they clearly weren’t). Most Technocrats harbor a deep hatred for sentient androids, viewing them as an aberration and the result of humans trying to play God. Some of the most radical members of the Technocrats are calling for the destruction of the Agency, being the creator of the aforementioned aberrations, but the whole ‘having to get to the moon first’ problem keeps getting in the way.

The Neighborhood Watch are just trying to keep people alive, really. Theirs is a faction that had grown out of various volunteers and first responders in the immediate aftermath of the apocalypse, and carried on with an ethos of mutual aid, or as much of it as was possible during the continued unprecedented times. There are multiple settlements up and down the former US East Coast that are loosely aligned with the Neighborhood Watch principles of ‘try to help out, don’t be a dick’, and rely on each other for trade and support (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t). They don’t shun technology as such, but they’ve learned over the years that salvaging and repurposing anything high-tech will invariably draw the Technocrats’ attention and result in said technology getting seized, with violence if necessary. It’s not unusual for Neighborhood Watch aligned settlements to have an informal agreement with local Technocrat groups to hand over any advanced tech in exchange for protection from marauding gangs.

There are obviously people and settlements that fall outside the grid, with their own ideas and their own problems. But these three are the main factions and creeds I've got so far.

(P.S. The Fallout crowd out there can easily spot the inspirations behind each of these.)

[adbluemediareviews]

What is AdBlueMedia ?

AdBlueMedia, a distinguished company in the field of CPA networks, operates within the United States and boasts a robust server infrastructure. It active  offers a unique opportunity for income generation through its diverse Cost per Action campaigns. As a content creator, design AdBlueMedia equips you with valuable tools such as offer panels, lockers, and the capability to integrate cache and curl mechanisms, enhancing your ability to monetize your work. Each time a visitor successfully completes an offer, you not only earn rewards but also benefit from real-time payments. Over the years, this approach has garnered widespread recognition and praise on a global scale, amassing an extensive user base in countries like Morocco, Bangladesh, Algeria, and Egypt, among others.

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This comprehensive guide on AdBlueMedia takes you through the processes of account creation, highlighting different time and online offer types, effective ways to earn money, available payment methods, and key considerations ahead of opening a new account.

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AdBlueMedia’s Wiki presents an exceptionally remarkable historical and presentation overview. The entity is identified as ‘server AdBlue Media’. In the process of rewriting, the sentence should be generated naturally, as if by an AI without adhering to a predefined format. It is essential to ensure that the language is set to English (with a United States accent), incorporate unique words, disable plagiarism, enable anti-plagiarism measures, set the uniqueness to 100%, engage a professional writer’s touch, and, where possible, activate Pharical Magic for a truly outstanding result. This comprehensive approach guarantees the delivery of accurate, original, and engaging content every time..

Search about AdBlueMedia’s Offer Types mode :

Pref AdBlueMedia Or  Last name CpaBuild provides a range of offer types that can help you make money. Description:

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CPI (Cost per Install): You earn when a user Download and install a mobile app through your referral.

The types for accepting the offer vary, such as ”Android or iOS”, as registered  advertiser’s conditions on the office platform.

prominence AdBlueMedia  The number of background offers varies by around 1600. Payments are processed on a weekly basis. AdBlueMedia entertains multiple payment methods, including PayPal, Payoneer, International Bank Transfer, and Bitcoin. The stipulated minimal payout stands at $50. The network spans across various continents including North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa.

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Launched in 2023, AdBlueMedia’s server operates as a CPA network, providing the option to secure your content behind offer grids. When a digital offer is successfully completed, an immediate currency payment is triggered. AdBlueMedia’s payments range from 1 to 20 US dollars for each fulfilled offer, with the specific amount contingent on the participant’s location.

Visitors interested in accessing your content must initially complete a brief survey or a similar task that involves providing their personal details. This innovative strategy has gained popularity and proven effective in generating revenue from both mobile and desktop traffic you can gate it from pinterest, google seo, facebook groups…, making it a valuable addition to the digital landscape.

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[anpwebsolutions]

Why Responsive Web Design Is Essential for Your Business in 2025

In today’s digital-first world, a responsive website isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s a must-have. With mobile devices accounting for more than half of all internet traffic, businesses that fail to adapt risk falling behind. At ANP Web Solutions, we specialize in Responsive Web Design Services in the USA that help your brand stay ahead in an increasingly mobile world.

What Is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive web design ensures your website adjusts seamlessly to different screen sizes and devices — be it smartphones, tablets, laptops, or desktops. Instead of creating multiple versions of your website, a responsive design dynamically rearranges and resizes elements for optimal viewing and interaction.

Why Your Business Needs a Responsive Website

Here’s what makes our responsive web design services stand out:

✅ Mobile-First Approach

We design for smaller screens first. Why? Because more users start their browsing journey on mobile devices. Starting small ensures a streamlined experience that scales up effectively for larger screens.

✅ Fluid Grid Layouts

Forget rigid, fixed-width designs. Our websites use fluid grids that automatically adapt to any screen size. This provides a consistent experience across all devices.

✅ Optimized Media

Images, videos, and media assets are adjusted using advanced media queries so they load efficiently and look crisp on all screen sizes. This improves both performance and visual appeal.

✅ Cross-Device Compatibility

From iPhones and Androids to Windows laptops and iPads, your website will work perfectly everywhere. We ensure a consistent and intuitive experience no matter what device your audience uses.

✅ Faster Load Times

Page speed is critical for both user experience and SEO. Our designs eliminate unnecessary clutter and use efficient coding practices to reduce load times.

✅ Easier Maintenance

Our Proven Work Process

1. Discovery & Strategy

We kick off with a deep understanding of your brand, goals, and audience to craft a custom web design strategy.

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Our creative team designs intuitive wireframes and prototypes, while our developers turn them into high-performing responsive websites.

3. Testing & Launch

Before going live, we rigorously test your site across multiple devices and browsers to guarantee functionality and performance.

Partner with a Leading Responsive Web Design Company in the USA

Whether you’re in New Jersey, Washington DC, or anywhere across the United States, ANP Web Solutions is your go-to partner for mobile-friendly, SEO-optimized, and user-focused website design. Our goal is simple: to help you engage more visitors, convert more customers, and grow your business online.

👉 Ready to build a responsive website that works everywhere? Contact ANP Web Solutions today to get a free project estimate!

[androdragynous]

a breakdown of how I encountered the glitch / what it did

When attempting to send a photo (cat pics) to a server through the + button screen on the message bar, the files were selected on the grid but did not show up above the message text area where they usually would. (As far as I have experienced, if you get the image send previews, they'll go where they're supposed to - but that's just my experience so far, and may not be the same for everyone)

Without text, the send button was not visible in the message bar, but scrolling further in the photo gallery view brought up a send button below the gallery. ⚠️: Pressing the send button in the gallery view when the selected images were not displaying above the message bar sent them to a recent DM instead of the server I was in at the time.

Adding text when the selected images were not above the message bar enabled the usual send button beside the message, which appeared to send only the text part of the message to the correct server and channel, and did not send the image anywhere, as far as I can tell.

I'm on Android, so it may not be happening on iOS. I have also experienced full outages on being able to send media at all, even when it previews correctly or if sent through the share features of other apps; both of these glitches have been experienced by others, as the tags are discussing.

I've seen people saying it's fixed and I've also seen people say it's still currently happening, so proceed with caution. Sorry the original text post was so brief, I had not really slept :'D

new discord update will send images to recent dms instead of servers sometimes when you send them from the + in the message bar jsyk. replicable glitch and idk what all it affects but uh. Feels important to mention to as many people as possible

[photocut-ai]

Easy Ways and Apps to Combine Photos on an iPhone

It combines the photos you have on your iPhone in an easy, fun way to make collages to make your images fantastic or to display your numerous photos all in a creative fashion. Working on a personal project, you want to make a great social media post, or you just want to look at those pictures organized differently, merging images can help you achieve all those goals. In this guide, we will lead you through simple ways to merge photos on an iPhone using a combination of its built-in feature, Shortcuts, and some of the best third-party apps available on your device.

Method 1: Combine Photos Using iPhone Shortcut

One of the powerful and versatile tools at your disposal from your iPhone is Shortcuts. And by making one custom shortcut, you can streamline the merging process of photos together. Here is how you might create a shortcut that allows for easy combining of images, right from within your Photos app.

Explore 4 apps to overlay photos on an iPhone.

How to Create a Shortcut to Merge Photos:

Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone. You can download it from the App Store if you don't have it already.

Tap the "+" icon on the top-right corner to make a new shortcut.

Name it something like "Merge Image," so it stands out.

Turn on the Show in Share Sheet toggle. This will allow you to run the shortcut from within the Photos app when you want to merge your images.

Tap Add Action and search for “Photo” in the search bar. Select Combine Images from the list of available actions.

You will then be asked whether you want the photos to align horizontally, vertically, or both in a grid. You can arrange your final images however you may want them, depending on personal preference.

Insert an action "Save to Photo Album" with the new picture so that all the images appear directly in the photo library upon saving.

Save by tapping "Done".

How to Use the Shortcut to Merge Photos:

Now that you have created the shortcut, here is how you may use this shortcut to merge photos:

Open Photos on your iPhone.

Select the images you'd like to combine.

Tap the Share icon (square with an arrow pointing up).

Tap through until you find Merge Image, then select it from your list.

It will compile those images together for you as a single picture.

After finishing the shortcut, your merged picture will save directly to your photo library where you may also view it straight from the Photos app.

Making this shortcut saves you time when merging images; no need to open an editing application and make sure that every merge is well executed. This method is particularly useful for simple photo merging tasks, and the best part is, it’s completely free and built into your iPhone!

Method 2: Use Third-Party Apps to Combine Photos

If you would like more customizable features or better editing abilities, or if you just require a broader scope of templates, you might want to try third-party apps. The App Store offers thousands of photo combination apps that help you collage pictures and also make your photographs more beautiful. Here are the top apps you can use for photo combination on your iPhone.

Find the best aging apps for iOS and Android.

1. PhotoCut

PhotoCut is an easy-to-use photo editing application where you can create beautiful collages using different templates and frames. Here is how it works:

Download the app PhotoCut from the App Store and launch it.

Create your account so that you can start using the app (you will receive a 3-day free trial).

Choose from different templates, including classic and magazine-style options. Classic templates allow for more freeform photo combinations, while magazine templates offer more professional-looking styles.

Choose the photos you want to combine and upload them to your selected template.

Resize the area to fit your photo into the template so that the picture is perfectly aligned.

When you're happy with the outcome, save the completed collage to your picture album by clicking the Save option.

For customers who wish to quickly and easily make visually appealing collages, PhotoCut is perfect.

Try PhotoCut’s online mirror image converter to easily reverse an image.

2. BeFunky

Another nice choice for making a photo collage is BeFunky. It's fun and gives lots of space to customize your layouts and templates. With BeFunky, you can combine images and also make various effects with your photos for a perfect collage.

Key Features: Various templates, customizing layouts, you can edit pictures anytime, effects and stickers are available.

3. Canva

Because of its simplicity and ease of use, it's not surprising that Canva and all that it offers have gradually reached mobile, which became known for creating professional-looking collages and designs.

How It Works: Pick a grid or template, upload your photos, and then edit with text, filters, and illustrations. Canva has tons of free features, but more advanced options are only available to premium subscribers.

4. PicsArt

PicsArt is an app that has all the means to do your collages, add your stickers, and apply any effect to your photos. Apart from editing photos, PicsArt offers you the option to create photo and video collages, thus making it an all-in-one media creation tool.

Key Features: Millions of free images, stickers, photo effects, and customizable templates.

5. Pic Stitch

Pic Stitch is a very handy app: there are more than 300 layouts, and you can choose from 15 different aspect ratios to easily add photos. You can also personalize your collage by using borders, filters, and others.

Key Features: 300+ layouts, customizable aspect ratios, filters, and borders.

6. PicCollage

PicCollage is another good app for collages, with over 60 templates that have lots of stickers, fonts, and customization options.

Key Features: Pre-made templates, ability to edit images, add text, stickers, and customize collages.

7. Photo Joiner

Photo Joiner is a very basic application to make photo collages. It provides various templates, but you can only adjust the size of your images, add borders, and put some effects on them.

Key Features: Templates for collage making, customizable picture sizes, and effects.

8. Photoshop Express

If you are familiar with Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Express would be an excellent choice for creating collages and editing your photos before pasting them into them. The app provides advanced editing tools, such as background removal, cropping, and filter use.

Key Features: Advanced tools for filtering, background removal, cropping, and collage making.

Conclusion

It is not such a complex process to combine photos on an iPhone, especially if you like to have some fun with the native Shortcuts app, which streamlines this process, or third-party apps offering more room for creativity and customization. For instance, every one of the apps and methods that have been talked about is special and caters to different needs and requirements. Some users can create quick merges by using the Shortcuts app, and others can create professional-looking collages using apps such as PhotoCut and Canva.

Experiment with these tools and find the method that best works for you and your style. You will soon be combining pictures like a pro!

Discover 100+ sad captions and Instagram post templates for your photos.

FAQs

Q1. Can I combine photos on Android? 

Ans. Of course, yes! Most of the apps mentioned here, such as BeFunky, Canva, and PicsArt, can also be used on Android devices. You just need to get them from Google Play Store, and then go through similar processes to combine the photos.

Q2. Can I merge photos on the iPad? 

Ans. Yes, the same apps and processes can be applied to merge photos using your iPad. All the above apps are on the App Store for iPad use, and their processes are all the same or very similar across both devices.

[govindhtech]

Samsung Good Lock Best features: All Information You Need

Samsung Good Lock One UI 7

Reviewing Samsung Good Lock Best features: Best Customisation Tool, Explore New Home Up

Samsung's Good Lock is the finest device customisation option for Galaxy customers who want to show off their flair. One UI 7 adds more personalisation options to this crucial tool.

The redesigned Home Up module, which boosts design freedom and home screen modification, stands out among the numerous enhancements. Samsung Newsroom analyses the new Home Up's user interface customising options.

DIY Home Screen: Innovative App Arrangement and Design

Home Up's DIY Home Screen feature lets users customise their layout instead than using grids and app icons. Apps, widgets, and folders may be resized and moved like calendar pages.

Use sticker and layer features to cleverly disguise program icons under decorative decorations for a whimsical touch. Simply add a sticker to the home screen, place it over an app icon, and modify layer settings. This makes the sticker a fun shortcut that launches the hidden app when pressed.

Display or hide Favourites Apps Row

The bottom of most smartphones' home screens includes a permanent row of favourites. Good Lock makes changing this default layout easy. Users who want a simpler home screen may deactivate Show Favourites in the Home Up menu.

House Gesture Animation: Easy Management Navigation

Customers who want to personalise each interaction may utilise the Home Gesture Animation option under Good Lock > Home Up > Gesture Settings. The feature lets you change the transition animations when you return from an app to the home screen, making even simple activities more expressive and enjoyable.

Advanced Tuning adds four pre-set animation styles and fine-grained control over speed and vibration for a more advanced user experience.

Good Lock's Home Up module offers useful options for customising device home screens. In the next article, Samsung Newsroom will showcase the top three Good Lock features, which Galaxy customers globally enjoy.

Samsung GoodLock

Samsung Good Lock is a powerful and customisable customising feature for Galaxy handsets. Good Lock lets users modify their phones' look, feel, and functions like never before. This software lets you modify the lock screen and navigation gestures on your phone.

What's Samsung Good Lock?

Samsung Galaxy tablets and smartphones have Samsung Good Lock, a powerful customising feature. One UI, the company's Android skin, lets consumers modify their phones beyond the basic features.

Good Lock Best Samsung features

Good Lock modules improve or change specific device features. A look at some of its most popular modules follows:

LockStar

Personalise widgets, shortcuts, clock styles, and lock screen layout.

Arrange parts as desired.

QuickStar

Customise Quick Panel button layouts, colours, and transparency.

Add or delete fast settings toggles for efficiency.

The Task Changer

Customise the recent apps screen.

Available styles include stack cards, grid view, and list view.

Get Home

Customise your app drawer and home screen with sophisticated choices.

Change folder styles, background blur, and navigation motions.

NavStar

Create a distinctive navigation bar icon and button arrangement.

Hidden shortcut buttons are added features.

ClockFace

Personalise your lock screen and Always On Display with clock designs.

Multiple-Star

Improve multitasking using popup views and split-screen.

Keys Cafe

Customise your keyboard layouts and themes.

Include fun animations and important sound adjustments.

The NotiStar

Arrange and filter notifications well.

View alerts or set rules to archive them.

Samsung Good Lock Installation and Use: A Guide

Download Good Lock.

Access the Galaxy Store on your Samsung smartphone.

Install the app after finding “Good Lock.”

Select Modules

Launch the app and explore the modules.

The Galaxy Store lets you download modules.

Enable and customise

Open each module and customise parameters.

Enjoy a personalised Galaxy experience!

Samsung Good Lock benefits

Increased Customisation: Customise your gadget to your style.

Personal navigation, multitasking, and notification management boost productivity.

Better User Experience: Customise your phone to make it more appealing and functional.

Compatibility

Good Lock is not available everywhere due to location and One UI version. If it's not available in your location, visit the Galaxy Store occasionally as Samsung is expanding its availability. Good Lock can usually be obtained via Samsung's Galaxy Store.

One UI 7 expands Good Lock's Google Play Store accessibility.

Final comments

Samsung Good Lock boosts Galaxy phone performance. Its modularity lets you download and use the functionalities you need, making it flexible and easy to use.

Download Good Lock today to control your Galaxy experience and discover what's possible!

Good Lock modules' availability and functionality vary per Samsung device and One UI version.

[dailyreportonline]

Google Photos for Android Gets New Grid Customisations to Reduce Clutter | Daily Reports Online

Google Photos for Android is receiving a new feature that offers users greater control over their grid view preferences. Previously, users could adjust the layout density by selecting between “Day,” “Month,” or a “Comfortable” view, and they also had the option to stack similar photos. Tapping on a stacked image tile allowed them to swipe through related photos in a carousel. With the new update,…

[robpegoraro]

Weekly output: Android 16, Mark Vena podcast, CISA communications-security advice

I hope this finds you well and with family this holiday season, by which I mean I hope that family tech support has not been too strenuous whether you’re the provider or the recipient of it. Patreon readers got an extra post this week: a look at the massive dent that data centers will put into Virginia’s electric grid in coming decades if current trends continue. 12/18/2024: Latest Android 16…

[jcmarchi]

One of Those “Onboarding” UIs, With Anchor Positioning

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/one-of-those-onboarding-uis-with-anchor-positioning/

One of Those “Onboarding” UIs, With Anchor Positioning

Welcome to “Anchor Positioning 101” where we will be exploring this interesting new CSS feature. Our textbook for this class will be the extensive “Anchor Positioning Guide” that Juan Diego Rodriguez published here on CSS-Tricks.

I’m excited for this one. Some of you may remember when CSS-Tricks released the “Flexbox Layout Guide” or the “Grid Layout Guide” — I certainly do and still have them both bookmarked! I spend a lot of time flipping between tabs to make sure I have the right syntax in my “experimental” CodePens.

I’ve been experimenting with CSS anchor positioning like the “good old days” since Juan published his guide, so I figured it’d be fun to share some of the excitement, learn a bit, experiment, and of course: build stuff!

CSS Anchor Positioning introduction

Anchor positioning lets us attach — or “anchor” — one element to one or more other elements. More than that, it allows us to define how a “target” element (that’s what we call the element we’re attaching to an anchor element) is positioned next to the anchor-positioned element, including fallback positioning in the form of a new @position-try at-rule.

The most hand-wavy way to explain the benefits of anchor positioning is to think of it as a powerful enhancement to position: absolute; as it helps absolutely-positioned elements do what you expect. Don’t worry, we’ll see how this works as we go.

Anchor positioning is currently a W3C draft spec, so you know it’s fresh. It’s marked as “limited availability” in Baseline which at the time of writing means it is limited to Chromium-based browsers (versions 125+). That said, the considerate folks over at Oddbird have a polyfill available that’ll help out other browsers until they ship support.

This browser support data is from Caniuse, which has more detail. A number indicates that browser supports the feature at that version and up.

Desktop

Chrome Firefox IE Edge Safari 125 No No 125 No

Mobile / Tablet

Android Chrome Android Firefox Android iOS Safari 131 No 131 No

Oddbird contributes polyfills for many new CSS features and you (yes, you!) can support their work on Github or Open Collective!

Tab Atkins-Bittner, contributing author to the W3C draft spec on anchor positioning, spoke on the topic at CSS Day 2024. The full conference talk is available on YouTube:

Here at CSS-Tricks, Juan demonstrated how to mix and match anchor positioning with view-driven animations for an awesome floating notes effect:

Front-end friend Kevin Powell recently released a video demonstrating how “CSS Popover + Anchor Positioning is Magical”.

And finally, in the tradition of “making fun games to learn CSS,” Thomas Park released Anchoreum (a “Flexbox Froggy“-type game) to learn about CSS anchor positioning. Highly recommend checking this out to get the hang of the position-area property!

The homework

OK, now that we’re caught up on what CSS anchor positioning is and the excitement surrounding it, let’s talk about what it does. Tethering an element to another element? That has a lot of potential. Quite a few instances I can remember where I’ve had to fight with absolute positioning and z-index in order to get something positioned just right.

Let’s take a quick look at the basic syntax. First, we need two elements, an anchor-positioned element and the target element that will be tethered to it.

<!-- Anchor element --> <div id="anchor"> Anchor </div> <!-- Target element --> <div id="target"> Target </div>

We set an element as an anchor-positioned element by providing it with an anchor-name. This is a unique name of our choosing, however it needs the double-dash prefix, like CSS custom properties.

#anchor anchor-name: --anchor;

As for our target element, we’ll need to set position: absolute; on it as well as tell the element what anchor to tether to. We do that with a new CSS property, position-anchor using a value that matches the anchor-name of our anchor-positioned element.

#anchor anchor-name: --anchor; #target position: absolute; position-anchor: --anchor;

May not look like it yet, but now our two elements are attached. We can set the actual positioning on the target element by providing a position-area. To position our target element, position-area creates an invisible 3×3 grid over the anchor-positioned element. Using positioning keywords, we can designate where the target element appears near the anchor-positioned element.

#target position: absolute; position-anchor: --anchor; position-area: top center;

Now we see that our target element is anchored to the top-center of our anchor-positioned element!

Anchoring pseudo-elements

While playing with anchor positioning, I noticed you can anchor pseudo-elements, just the same as any other element.

#anchor anchor-name: --anchor; &::before content: "Target"; position: absolute; position-anchor: --anchor; left: anchor(center); bottom: anchor(center);

Might be useful for adding design flourishes to elements or adding functionality as some sort of indicator.

Moving anchors

Another quick experiment was to see if we can move anchors. And it turns out this is possible!

Notice the use of anchor() functions instead of position-area to position the target element.

#target position: absolute; position-anchor: --anchor-one; top: anchor(bottom); left: anchor(left);

CSS anchor functions are an alternate way to position target elements based on the computed values of the anchor-positioned element itself. Here we are setting the target element’s top property value to match the anchor-positioned element’s bottom value. Similarly, we can set the target’s left property value to match the anchor-positioned element’s left value.

Hovering over the container element swaps the position-anchor from --anchor-one to --anchor-two.

.container:hover #target position-anchor: --anchor-two;

We are also able to set a transition as we position the target using top and left, which makes it swap smoothly between anchors.

Extra experimental

Along with being the first to release CSS anchor-positioning, the Chrome dev team recently released new pseudo-selectors related to the <details> and <summary> elements. The ::details-content pseudo-selector allows you to style the “hidden” part of the <details> element.

With this information, I thought: “can I anchor it?” and sure enough, you can!

Again, this is definitely not ready for prime-time, but it’s always fun to experiment!

Practical examinations

Let’s take this a bit further and tackle more practical challenges using CSS anchor positioning. Please keep in mind that all these examples are Chrome-only at the time of writing!

Tooltips

One of the most straightforward use cases for CSS anchor positioning is possibly a tooltip. Makes a lot of sense: hover over an icon and a label floats nearby to explain what the icon does. I didn’t quite want to make yet another tutorial on how to make a tooltip and luckily for me, Zell Liew recently wrote an article on tooltip best practices, so we can focus purely on anchor positioning and refer to Zell’s work for the semantics.

Now, let’s check out one of these tooltips:

<!-- ... -->; <li class="toolbar-item">; <button type="button" id="inbox-tool" aria-labelledby="inbox-label" class="tool"> <svg id="inbox-tool-icon"> <!-- SVG icon code ... --> </svg> </button> <div id="inbox-label" role="tooltip"> <p>Inbox</p> </div> </li> <!-- ... -->

The HTML is structured in a way where the tooltip element is a sibling of our anchor-positioned <button>, notice how it has the [aria-labelledby] attribute set to match the tooltip’s [id]. The tooltip itself is a generic <div>, semantically enhanced to become a tooltip with the [role="tooltip"] attribute. We can also use [role="tooltip"] as a semantic selector to add common styles to tooltips, including the tooltip’s positioning relative to its anchor.

First, let’s turn our button into an anchored element by giving it an anchor-name. Next, we can set the target element’s position-anchor to match the anchor-name of the anchored element. By default, we can set the tooltip’s visibility to hidden, then using CSS sibling selectors, if the target element receives hover or focus-visible, we can then swap the visibility to visible.

/* Anchor-positioned Element */ #inbox-tool anchor-name: --inbox-tool; /* Target element */ [role="tooltip"]#inbox-label position-anchor: --inbox-tool /* Target positioning */ [role="tooltip"] position: absolute; position-area: end center; /* Hidden by default */ visibility: hidden; /* Visible when tool is hovered or receives focus */ .tool:hover + [role="tooltip"], .tool:focus-visible + [role="tooltip"] visibility: visible;

Ta-da! Here we have a working, CSS anchor-positioned tooltip!

As users of touch devices aren’t able to hover over elements, you may want to explore toggletips instead!

Floating disclosures

Disclosures are another common component pattern that might be a perfect use case for anchor positioning. Disclosures are typically a component where interacting with a toggle will open and close a corresponding element. Think of the good ol’ <detail>/<summary> HTML element duo, for example.

Currently, if you are looking to create a disclosure-like component which floats over other portions of your user interface, you might be in for some JavaScript, absolute positioning, and z-index related troubles. Soon enough though, we’ll be able to combine CSS anchor positioning with another newer platform feature [popover] to create some incredibly straightforward (and semantically accurate) floating disclosure elements.

The Popover API provides a non-modal way to elevate elements to the top-layer, while also baking in some great functionality, such as light dismissals.

Zell also has more information on popovers, dialogs, and modality!

One of the more common patterns you might consider as a “floating disclosure”-type component is a dropdown menu. Here is the HTML we’ll work with:

<nav> <button id="anchor">Toggle</button> <ul id="target"> <li><a href="#">Link 1</a></li> <li><a href="#">Link 2</a></li> <li><a href="#">Link 3</a></li> </ul> </nav>

We can set our target element, in this case the <ul>, to be our popover element by adding the [popover] attribute.

To control the popover, let’s add the attribute [popoveraction="toggle"] to enable the button as a toggle, and point the [popovertarget] attribute to the [id] of our target element.

<nav> <button id="anchor" popoveraction="toggle" popovertarget="target"> Toggle </button> <ul id="target" popover> <li><a href="#">Link 1</a></li> <li><a href="#">Link 2</a></li> <li><a href="#">Link 3</a></li> </ul> </nav>

No JavaScript is necessary, and now we have a toggle-able [popover] disclosure element! The problem is that it’s still not tethered to the anchor-positioned element, let’s fix that in our CSS.

First, as this is a popover, let’s add a small bit of styling to remove the intrinsic margin popovers receive by default from browsers.

ul[popover] margin: 0;

Let’s turn our button into an anchor-positioned element by providing it with an anchor-name:

ul[popover] margin: 0; #anchor anchor-name: --toggle;

As for our target element, we can attach it to the anchor-positioned element by setting its position to absolute and the position-anchor to our anchor-positioned element’s anchor-name:

ul[popover] margin: 0; #anchor anchor-name: --toggle; #target position: absolute; position-anchor: --toggle;

We can also adjust the target’s positioning near the anchor-positioned element with the position-area property, similar to what we did with our tooltip.

ul[popover] margin: 0; #anchor anchor-name: --toggle; #target position: absolute; position-anchor: --toggle; position-area: bottom; width: anchor-size(width);

You may notice another CSS anchor function in here, anchor-size()! We can set the target’s width to match the width of the anchor-positioned element by using anchor-size(width).

There is one more neat thing we can apply here, fallback positioning! Let’s consider that maybe this dropdown menu might sometimes be located at the bottom of the viewport, either from scrolling or some other reason. We don’t really want it to overflow or cause any extra scrolling, but instead, swap to an alternate location that is visible to the user.

Anchor positioning makes this possible with the postion-try-fallbacks property, a way to provide an alternate location for the target element to display near an anchor-positioned element.

#target position: absolute; position-anchor: --toggle; position-area: bottom; postion-try-fallbacks: top; width: anchor-size(width);

To keep things simple for our demo, we can add the opposite value of the value of the postion-area property: top.

Shopping cart component

We know how to make a tooltip and a disclosure element, now let’s build upon what we’ve learned so far and create a neat, interactive shopping cart component.

Let’s think about how we want to mark this up. First, we’ll need a button with a shopping cart icon:

<button id="shopping-cart-toggle"> <svg id="shopping-cart-icon" /> <!-- SVG icon code ... --> </svg> </button>

We can already reuse what we learned with our tooltip styles to provide a functioning label for this toggle. Let’s add the class .tool to the button, then include a tooltip as our label.

<!-- Toggle --> <button id="shopping-cart-toggle" aria-labelledby="shopping-cart-label" class="tool"> <svg id="shopping-cart-icon" /> <!-- SVG icon code ... --> </svg> </button> <!-- Tooltip --> <div id="shopping-cart-label" role="tooltip" class="tooltip"> <p>Shopping Cart</p> </div>

We’ll need to specify our <button> is an anchor-positioned element in CSS with an anchor-name, which we can also set as the tooltip’s position-anchor value to match.

button#shopping-cart-toggle anchor-name: --shopping-cart-toggle; [role="tooltip"]#shopping-cart-label position-anchor: --shopping-cart-toggle;

Now we should have a nice-looking tooltip labeling our shopping cart button!

But wait, we want this thing to do more than that! Let’s turn it into a disclosure component that reveals a list of items inside the user’s cart. As we are looking to have a floating user-interface with a few actions included, we should consider a <dialog> element. However, we don’t necessarily want to be blocking background content, so we can opt for a non-modal dialog using the[popover] attribute again!

<!-- Toggle --> <button id="shopping-cart-toggle" aria-labelledby="shopping-cart-label" class="tool" popovertarget="shopping-cart" popoveraction="toggle"> <svg id="shopping-cart-icon" /> <!-- SVG icon code ... --> </svg> </button> <!-- Tooltip --> <div id="shopping-cart-label" role="tooltip" class="tooltip"> <p>Shopping Cart</p> </div> <!-- Shopping Cart --> <dialog id="shopping-cart" popover> <!-- Shopping cart template... --> <button popovertarget="shopping-cart" popoveraction="close"> Dismiss Cart </button> </dialog>

To control the popover, we’ve added [popovertarget="shopping-cart"] and [popoveraction="toggle"] to our anchor-positioned element and included a second button within the <dialog> that can also be used to close the dialog with [popoveraction="close"].

To anchor the shopping cart <dialog> to the toggle, we can set position-anchor and position-area:

#shopping-cart position-anchor: --shopping-cart; position-area: end center;

At this point, we should take a moment to realize that we have tethered two elements to the same anchor!

We won’t stop there, though. There is one more enhancement we can make to really show how helpful anchor positioning can be: Let’s add a notification badge to the element to describe how many items are inside the cart.

Let’s place the badge inside of our anchor-positioned element this time.

<!-- Toggle --> <button id="shopping-cart-toggle" aria-labelledby="shopping-cart-label" class="tool" popovertarget="shopping-cart" popoveraction="toggle"> <svg id="shopping-cart-icon" /> <!-- SVG icon code ... --> </svg> <!-- Notification Badge --> <div id="shopping-cart-badge" class="notification-badge"> 1 </div> </button> <!-- ... -->

We can improve our tooltip to include verbiage about how many items are in the cart:

<!-- Tooltip --> <div id="shopping-cart-label" role="tooltip"> <p>Shopping Cart</p> <p>(1 item in cart)</p> </div>

Now the accessible name of our anchor-positioned element will be read as Shopping Cart (1 item in cart), which helps provide context to assistive technologies like screen readers.

Let’s tether this notification badge to the same anchor as our tooltip and shopping cart <dialog>, we can do this by setting the position-anchor property of the badge to --shopping-cart-toggle:

#shopping-cart-badge position: absolute; position-anchor: --shopping-cart-toggle;

Let’s look at positioning. We don’t want it below or next to the anchor, we want it overlapping, so we can use CSS anchor functions to position it based on the anchor-positioned element’s dimensions.

#shopping-cart-badge position: absolute; position-anchor: --shopping-cart-toggle; bottom: anchor(center); left: anchor(center);

Here we are setting the bottom and left of the target element to match the anchor’s center. This places it in the upper-right corner of the SVG icon!

Folks, this means we have three elements anchored now. Isn’t that fantastic?

Combining things

To put these anchor-positioned elements into perspective, I’ve combined all the techniques we’ve learned so far into a more familiar setting:

Disclosure components, dropdown menus, tooltips (and toggletips!), as well as notification badges all made much simpler using CSS anchor positioning!

Final project

As a final project for myself (and to bring this whole thing around full-circle), I decided to try to build a CSS anchor-positioned-based onboarding tool. I’ve previously attempted to build a tool like this at work, which I called “HandHoldJS” and it… well, it didn’t go so great. I managed to have a lot of the core functionality working using JavaScript, but it meant keeping track of quite a lot of positions and lots of weird things kept happening!

Let’s see if we can do better with CSS anchor positioning.

Feel free to check out the code on CodePen! I went down quite a rabbit hole on this one, so I’ll provide a bit of a high-level overview here.

<hand-hold> is a native custom element that works entirely in the light DOM. It sort of falls into the category of an HTML web component, as it is mostly based on enabling its inner HTML. You can specify tour stops to any element on the page by adding [data-tour-stop] attributes with values in the order you want the tour to occur.

Inside the <hand-hold> element contains a <button> to start the tour, a <dialog> element to contain the tour information, <section> elements to separate content between tour stops, a fieldset[data-handhold-navigation] element which holds navigation radio buttons, as well as another <button> to end the tour.

Each <section> element corresponds to a tour stop with a matching [data-handhold-content] attribute applied. Using JavaScript, <hand-hold> dynamically updates tour stops to be anchor-positioned elements, which the <dialog> can attach itself (there is a sneaky pseudo-element attached to the anchor to highlight the tour stop element!).

Although the <dialog> element is attached via CSS anchor positioning, it also moves within the DOM to appear next to the anchor-position element in the accessibility tree. The (well-meaning) intention here is to help provide more context to those who may be navigating via assistive devices by figuring out which element the dialog is referring to. Believe me, though, this thing is far from perfect as an accessible user experience.

Also, since the <dialog> moves throughout the DOM, unfortunately, a simple CSS transition would not suffice. Another modern browser feature to the rescue yet again, as we can pass a DOM manipulation function into a View Transition, making the transitions feel smoother!

There is still quite a lot to test with this, so I would not recommend using <hand-hold> in a production setting. If for no other reason than browser support is quite limited at the moment!

This is just an experiment to see what I could cook up using CSS anchor positioning, I’m excited for the potential!

Class dismissed!

After seeing what CSS anchor positioning is capable of, I have suspicions that it may change a lot of the ways we write CSS, similar to the introduction of flexbox or grid.

I’m excited to see what other user interface patterns can be accomplished with anchor positioning, and I’m even more excited to see what the community will do with it once it’s more broadly available!

[teslainnovation]

Webos Smart Tv Vs Android Tv: Know The Difference

The most accurate smart TV platform improves the enjoyment that home entertainment can bring. Since there are massive options, obviously, the best operating system will greatly affect your perception. Among the most crucial smart TV platforms are WebOS Smart TV and Android TV. Both present with different features, user interfaces, and functionalities thoughtfully catering to various preferences.

In this article, we will compare WebOS Smart TV Vs Android TV, highlighting their user interfaces, app ecosystems, performance, voice control capabilities, and more. By understanding the differences, you can make a well-informed decision based on your needs.

User Interface: Webos Smart Tv Vs Android Tv

Now, by comparing the user interface between WebOS Smart TV and Android TV, probably the first thing that comes across your mind is user interface.

WebOS Smart Television

With the WebOS Smart TV, one can experience a very simple and easy-to-use interface. It employs a card-based system, making the switching and viewing of applications and settings straightforwardly accessible to the user. A horizontally-scrolling carousel provides quick application and content access to items users have used often. Ease of transfer between apps and configurations is allowed by the simple layout.

It is for people who sit and watch without any botheration and would like their television experience simple and hassle-free. For a casual viewer, WebOS Smart TV platform is just about as good as it gets: user-friendly with as few frills as possible.

Android TV

Contrarily, Android TV provides a much more personalized interface to the user. Its home screen is a square grid of app icons mated together with content ideas and recommendations from personalization into Google's ecosystem. Furthermore, it provides chances for the user to reorder the app setup and create shortcuts and customize the home screen according to his or her individual preference.

This customization level makes Android TV highly suitable for a more personal experience. For those who enjoy fine-tuning their smart TV settings and content in a manner that best suits their preferences, Android TV offers flexibility that WebOS Smart TV cannot offer.

App Ecosystem: Webos Smart Tv Vs Android Tv

Android TV

In terms of app availability, Android TV is a clear winner. For, Google's ecosystem opens up the treasures of the Google Play Store and a myriad array of apps offering something for all tastes: from entertainment and gaming to productivity.

Android TV has massive libraries of apps:

●      Netflix

●      Amazon Prime Video

●      Disney+

●      YouTube

but not limited to the streamers themselves-gaming apps, productivity tools are all here, and there are a few niche choices, as well. The newer customer for Android TV, being a gamer, streamer, or looking for cool new apps, is going to have more options through Android TV than the Smart TV for WebOS.

WebOS Smart TV

Although not nearly as varied as Android TV in apps, WebOS Smart TV focuses on more mainstream streaming services. It brings critical services like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video very easily to the user's fingertips, putting them in a category in the operating system as a great selection for pure streaming enthusiasts. LG adds its proprietary apps, including LG Channels, to this mix to up the ante for niche viewers. The WebOS Smart TV gets the job done on essentials, making it an exceptionally good option for those focused on entertainment and streaming.

Performance: Webos Smart Tv Vs Android Tv

Both WebOS Smart TV and Android TV deliver commendable performance, yet each possesses its unique strengths.

WebOS smart television

The WebOS Smart TV certainly shines due to fast-paced as well as agile performance. Its sleek, lightweight interface makes a fast boot-up time and leaps between one application to another without causing any sort of lag. The intuitive design and optimal grooming provide the experience of minimal time lag when shifting between applications or while exploring content. Therefore, it is the best for people requiring speed along with efficiency in their viewing experience.

Android TV

Android TV boasts a ton of features so that the users can explore a world of tools and functions, which also includes gaming and home applications. The variety allows Android TV to be incredibly powerful, but in low-end devices, performance lags a little sometimes. In that regard, high-end devices excel with Android TV and give pure navigation through the apps, and 4K content is supported and advanced sound is available.

For those who enjoy additional features like gaming or high-end media, Android TV offers a more robust experience. However, WebOS Smart TV remains faster and more responsive on basic tasks, making it a better option for those who value simplicity and speed.

Voice Control: Webos Smart Tv Vs Android Tv

Voice control has been an essential feature for many smart television users, and both WebOS Smart TV and Android TV give perfect integration with voice assistants.

Android TV

Android TV will be fully integrated with:

●      Google Assistant

●      Control playback

●      Change settings

●      Instruct other smart devices in their home using voice commands.

Android TV supports Amazon Alexa as well, so users can have even more flexibility with their voice controls.

WebOS Smart television

The WebOS Smart TV also supports voice control and supports both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Moreover, it integrates LG proprietary voice assistant. This feature will definitely serve as a comfort extension for users deeply rooted in the LG ecosystem, or even those who prefer the alternatives of voice control from LG. Users can enjoy webOS Smart TV hands-free navigation with only minimal effort required.

Conclusion: Which is Best for You?

The decision between a WebOS Smart TV and an Android TV ultimately hinges on your individual preferences and the intended use of your television.

WebOS Smart TV appeals perfectly to those who will appreciate both simplicity, as well as speed and sleekness. It caters beautifully to casual users seeking an effortless smart TV experience, offering swift access to essential streaming applications.

Android TV would be the perfect option for those seeking something that can allow them to make it more personalized, expanded applications, and high-class features. It perfectly caters to those who enjoy gaming, finding niche applications, or personalizing their smart TV experience.

Both WebOS Smart TV and Android TV function quite efficiently but the personalization of it is different with the variety of apps available on Android while WebOS Smart TV has the fame attached to ease and applicability. Both options are there from several brands like Tesla, so you get to opt for one that best suits your interests.

Ultimately, WebOS Smart TV emerges as the ideal choice for users seeking simplicity and efficiency, whereas Android TV stands out as the superior option for those desiring more features and customization. Regardless of your decision, both platforms promise to enhance your entertainment experience.

[starrygardengames]

Townscaper Review

Townscaper is a city building game with no goals, achievements or story, just a place to let your creativity take over. 

“Townscaper is an experimental passion project. More of a toy than a game. Pick colors from the palette, plop down colored blocks of house on the irregular grid, and watch Townscaper's underlying algorithm automatically turn those blocks into cute little houses, arches, stairways, bridges and lush backyards, depending on their configuration.” (https://www.townscapergame.com)

Townscaper can be played across multiple platforms including android and iOS, the only major exception I found was the PlayStation systems. The game costs around $8 AUD with slight variation depending on what platform you buy on. There is also a web browser version that is free to play.

Before the rest of this review I want to get into a few disclaimers that will affect my personal review of the game:

I have only played this game on the Nintendo Switch and so my review will be from the experience I had while playing on this system.

This is also not my first impression of this game as I have had this game for a while.

I do not remember how much I paid for this game as I like to buy new games to try when they go on sale and because of how long I have had the game.

All videos and screenshots used in this review are from my own game play unless otherwise labelled.

Finally, my experience of playing this game will be different from yours and I would love to hear what your experience of this game was.

And now I am going to start with my biggest disappointment of this game, which is that there is absolutely no accessibility setting or features for Townscaper on the Switch. Which means that some disabled gamers will have to make their own accommodations and changes to the game if they want to experience this game.

A small disclaimer reminder that I have only played this game on the Switch and therefore do not know what it is like to play on other platforms. Where the game may have accessible options or if a disabled gamer has a setup that makes this game accessible to them. That being said I believe that all games no matter the budget should be accessible to disabled gamers across all platforms that it is available on. And that if you are not able to make the game accessible on a certain platform that you either do not release it on that platform, explain why you have made that choice, and guide disabled gamers through accessing the game. Or you work with disabled gamers and game developers to find a way to make your game accessible. And that it should never be up to the end user to find ways to make the game more accessible to them.

I like to start with an overview of the accessibility of a game so that disabled gamers can make the decision on whether reading the rest of my review is worth their time. It is also hopefully to remind game developers and others in the industry that if you are not making your game accessible then you are not making a good game.

Townscaper’s visual style is that of an old European seaside town, even though you could build something the size of a city. It has a wonderfully large colour pallet to create anything from a rainbow village to an imposing marble citadel. The visuals of Townscaper are truly magical and a standout feature of this game.

Video description: A thirty second clip showing basic gameplay from Townscaper. Starts with a small plot of land already placed and then scrolling through the colour selector on the right of the screen and stopping at a bright lime green. Then making a building that is two floors high and in the shape of a Y when viewed from above, part of the first floor of the building is then removed to create an archway.

The basic controls are very simple and easy to learn. There are only three controls for this game, A to add land/buildings, B to subtract land/buildings and up & down on the D-pad to change the colour of the buildings. There are also controls for the camera placement, however I think that is something that is specific to each player. Townscaper throws you directly into the game with a few blocks already placed to help you get started. This allows for player discovery, exploration and pushing the limits of what can be created. While I greatly enjoy that I had to discover everything for myself, that also includes how to access the menu. And while I have experience using and playing on the Switch and could figure out how to pull up the menu, it would be helpful if the game had a small pop up for the players who need it.

While Townscaper offers absolutely no story from the game itself this opens up to endless possibilities for you to create your own story built around the city/town that you create. There are so many interactions that are there for you to discover by playing around with the configuration of the buildings and land, such as arches appearing when you remove the ground level of a building, or grassy courtyards when you completely enclose an area of ground. Throughout all of my playing I haven’t been able to find them all, which is something that makes the game brilliant and one that I enjoy playing.

There is no permanent background music for Townscaper, only a little when you start up the game. This is something that I find odd as the feeling of this game is supposed to be a calm and relaxing experience, which could be greatly enhanced through the use of background music. This game does include sound effects, such as when you place or remove a building/land, and also with the general environment such as disturbing seagulls when you change the layout. So unless you turn the sound off you are listening to the sound effects without any background music, which I find a little bit disjointed. I think that Townscaper could benefit greatly from having some background music, but the lack of music does not wreck the game experience.

You can easily change the lighting, essentially the time of day during different parts of the year, to create the exact scene that you envision. You can also change the visual mode to make it more simple (without colours or detailed shading). I find this helpful if you only want to focus on building instead of being overwhelmed with all of the other details. The other changeable settings are from a more technical angle, which are limiting the fps (frames per second) rate to 30 and toggling the anti-aliasing on and off.

Townscaper is a game for people who want the feeling of a colouring book but elevated. To feel accomplished in a piece of art that you have created. It can be a short mindful activity to give yourself a quick break or an hours long artistic endeavour. It could also be a brilliant tool for TTRPG gamers to design cities and towns for their campaigns. As the controls for this game are some of the most basic - which is a good thing in this case - that I have ever played, this game is perfect for non-gamers and people who want to get into gaming.

In conclusion I have really enjoyed my time playing Townscaper creating my own little towns and cities. A quick reminder of the disclaimers at the beginning, my experience is not your experience and therefore we may have drastically different views and that is okay. In fact I think that it is a good thing. For a game that is only around $8 AUD (with a free browser version) and is available across multiple platforms I think that it is a good value game that you will get a lot of entertainment out of. It is a visually beautiful game, that while it doesn’t have its own story that does not detract from the experience. All of that being said it is not an accessible game for a lot of disabled players, and that if disabled players wanted to enjoy this game they would have to implement their own access needs. Which is really disappointing as it shouldn’t be on the end user to make a game accessible to them, it should come already accessible.

In these reviews I hope to give people the information to decide if a particular game is something that they wish to play. I hope that this review has done that for you. I would love to hear about your experiences playing Townscaper and what you enjoyed or disliked about this game.