#how to learn html and css fast

[izicodes]

Hiya! My name is Izzy-Loa, and a Jr Web Developer and today, I thought it would be a great idea to just share my own personal coding journey! I have answered a lot of asks in the past about how I recommend other people to start their coding studies, what websites to learn from and roadmaps etc. But one question I kept having to repeat myself answering is the "Okay how did you get started?" - it is completely my fault not writing this down properly~! (I did actually)

Anyhoo, I'll just speed through my journey, sharing what I learnt at what times and what I'm currently doing now! ✨

☆ Starting from Scratch

I started coding back in 2017 during the summer break when I was just 15 years old. At that time, I didn't even know what coding was! It was my dad who suggested that I learn HTML. I hesitated at first, thinking HTML was some "complex high-level programming language". Little did I know, it was just a markup language...

I started with HTML and then moved on to CSS during that summer. However, once school started in September, I set coding aside and forgot about it. The following year, 2018, I decided to give it another shot and relearned HTML and CSS. But again dropped it because of school work and upcoming exams!

☆ The Turning Point

Fast forward to 2020, a year that marked a turning point!. I started creating websites using HTML and CSS. I briefly played with JavaScript but decided to focus on mastering HTML and CSS.

In January 2021, I made a significant decision. I dropped out of school due to personal reasons and decided to fully commit to programming, plus getting my first remote job (non-Tech). From there, I gradually delved into JavaScript a lot more and even dabbled in Python along the way. My learning process was on and off, but I was making progress! Around this time I learnt Git and GitHub!

☆ The Apprenticeship

Around September/October time, I applied for an apprenticeship. My skill set included HTML, CSS, Python, and basic JavaScript. I got accepted and continued to learn Python, delving into C# and Java as well. It was a challenging but rewarding experience! Happily dropped Java towards the end!

At work, I also learned SQL, working with Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL. I even explored .NET Framework and ASP.NET. It was a lot to take in, but I embraced the learning process! The older developers at the workplace were super helpful and very experienced - felt as though they were happy to give me all their knowledge as best they could~!

☆ Expanding My Knowledge

During my apprenticeship, around October 2022, I decided to further expand my skills. I enrolled in a front-end bootcamp, where I revisited HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I also learned jQuery, Node.js, npm, and even ventured into React. Though, due to not practising it enough, I forgotten React and Node.js~!

☆ My Ongoing Journey

Currently, I'm continuing to explore Python and experimenting with Lua. I'm also revisiting JavaScript, jQuery, and recently, I've started working with SCSS (Sass) to streamline my CSS development - I highly recommend people in Web Development to learn SCSS!! I love it so much!

Looking ahead, my learning wishlist includes TypeScript, React, Vue.js, Angular, and C++. However, I'm not rushing into learning everything at once. I'm taking my time to absorb each language and framework thoroughly.

In summary, it has been a continuous evolution, from HTML and CSS to SQL, .NET Framework, and various other languages and tools. I've faced challenges and taken LOTS of breaks, but each step has brought me closer to becoming a proficient developer. I want to be better! But slowly and in good time!

Hope this was somewhat helpful to other people and yeah, have a nice day/night!

⤷ ○ ♡ my shop ○ my twt ○ my youtube ○ pinned post ○ blog's navigation ♡ ○

[qua-qua-qua]

whats your favorite programming language?

ooh that’s hard mind if i go for a bit of a rant? (also i might use some terms you don’t know you can usually find them by googling “<langauge> <concept>” or smth similar or you can ask me)

tl;dr rust is my favorite

so my first language was javascript(/html/css). and it’s a *horrible* language for tons of reasons (that’s a separate rant). but it’s gotten a bunch of nice features recently and i’ve found myself almost liking it somehow. i’m like half convinced it’s stockholm syndrome but who knows. it’s not really a contender for my favorite per se, but i might be most comfortable in it? it’s certainly my favorite scripting language.

the language with the best syntax imo is swift. i love it bc it feels very well designed and the syntax feels very intuitive and clean coming from javascript (as in it fixes some warts i don’t like about js/many c-family languages). one thing i particularly like (and miss in literally every other language) is the ability to infer the object that a property is being applied to. that’s kinda confusing without an example so basically:

let color: Color // some other stuff color = .green // instead of Color.green

it’s super minor but i love it so much and it’s a shame fewer languages have done something similar. i don’t really have many other thoughts on swift though since i haven’t used it in a while. it gets a bad rep as an “apple language” bc they made it, even though it’s open source, has its own organization, and can run anywhere. but bc of that it doesn’t have an amazing ecosystem for running outside of apple devices, so no one does it. it’s a chicken and egg problem. anyways. i want to use it more to try it but haven’t gotten around to it.

okay haskell i’m not very good at it i learned it recently but i absolutely love the functional style. i miss it in all other languages. especially currying. i love functional programming but i have a hard time when everything is perfectly pure. also monads are super cool and i love finding them in other languages. oh i also miss function composition. a lot. it’s so ridiculously useful. i think i’ll enjoy haskell much much more once i get used to it.

finally, what i would say is generally my favorite: rust. it’s very well designed, and i love the zero-cost abstractions. basically (the rust website explains it much better) they mean that rust is about as fast as c, and much faster than any c i could write (and probably as fast as any c an expert could write). i love having everything be so fast but also not having to worry about a ton of low level details eg memory management. (i can’t write a c program for the life of me without leaking memory, causing undefined behavior, or both 💀). perhaps my favorite part of rust is the ecosystem and tooling. cargo (the package manager and build system) is absolutely wonderful and just works™. like literally always. i have zero problems with dependencies and compiling and running and even cross compiling*. and the ecosystem is equally amazing. there’s a crate for pretty much anything under the sun and they’re all open source!! i love how i can just go and look at the code behind the libraries i use just by clicking on “go to definition” in my IDE. and it’s not uncommon for me to be able to understand it too!! and there we go end of rant rust is fun.

\* with one exception: when the rust code links to c code. which is mostly pretty rare but does happen.

actually i lied about ending the rant. i should probably mention python. not because i like it, but bc you prob know it, or at least of it. i’m neutral on it. i don’t know it very well. i wouldn’t say it’s bad, but it’s also not very good. the biggest thing it has going for it is that almost everyone knows it. and it’s a fine scripting language. i’m just not a huge fan personally. (one of my friends would murder me for saying this lmao they love python).

okay sorry for saying so much but um if you have any questions about any of it feel free to ask!!

[electropneumatic]

I'm very good at "professionalism" I was trained from a young age. If I get an interview, I'm getting the job. I sit upright in my chair and wear a collared shirt and my employer thinks, "wow! She has a lot of passion for this role!" Buddy, you don't know the start of it. You don't even know my gender.

I'm OSHA certified. I got my 24-hour GD&T training. They can see this. What they don't see is me waxing poetical about surface finish or some shit on this website. When I was in 6th grade, I was exposed to Autodesk Inventor and it changed me fundamentally as a person. Whenever I look at any consumer good (of which there are a lot) I have to consider how it was made. And where the materials came from and how it got here and really the whole ass process. It's fascinating to me in a way that can be described as "intense". I love looking at large machines and thinking about them and taking pictures of them. There are so many steps and machines and people involved to create anything around you. I think if any person truly understood everything that happened in a single factory they would go insane with the knowledge. But by god am I trying. My uncle works specifically on the printers that print dates onto food. There are hundreds or even thousands of hyperspecific jobs like that everywhere. My employer looks away and I'm creating an unholy abomination of R and HTML, and I'm downloading more libraries so I can change the default CSS colors. I don't know anything about programming but with the power of stack overflow and sheer determination I'm making it happen. Is it very useful? No. But I'm learning a lot and more importantly I don't give a fuck. I'm learning about PLCs. I'm learing about CNC machines. I'm fucking with my laptop. I'm deleting SQL databases. I'm finding electromechanical pinball machines on facebook marketplace. I'm writing G-code by hand. I'm a freight train with no brakes. I'm moving and I'm moving fast. And buddy, you better hope I'm moving in the right direction. I must be, because all of my former employers give me stellar reviews when used as a reference. I'm winning at "career" and also in life.

[moose-mousse]

So I made an app for PROTO. Written in Kotlin and runs on Android.

Next, I want to upgrade it with a controller mode. It should work so so I simply plug a wired xbox controller into my phone with a USB OTG adaptor… and bam, the phone does all the complex wireless communication and is a battery. Meaning that besides the controller, you only need the app and… any phone. Which anyone is rather likely to have Done.

Now THAT is convenient!

( Warning, the rest of the post turned into... a few rants. ) Why Android? Well I dislike Android less than IOS

So it is it better to be crawling in front of the alter of "We are making the apocalypse happen" Google than "5 Chinese child workers died while you read this" Apple?

Not much…

I really should which over to a better open source Linux distribution… But I do not have the willpower to research which one... So on Android I stay.

Kotlin is meant to be "Java, but better/more modern/More functional programming style" (Everyone realized a few years back that the 100% Object oriented programming paradigme is stupid as hell. And we already knew that about the functional programming paradigme. The best is a mix of everything, each used when it is the best option.) And for the most part, it succeeds. Java/Kotlin compiles its code down to "bytecode", which is essentially assembler but for the Java virtual machine. The virtual machine then runs the program. Like how javascript have the browser run it instead of compiling it to the specific machine your want it to run on… It makes them easy to port…

Except in the case of Kotlin on Android... there is not a snowflakes chance in hell that you can take your entire codebase and just run it on another linux distribution, Windows or IOS…

So... you do it for the performance right? The upside of compiling directly to the machine is that it does not waste power on middle management layers… This is why C and C++ are so fast!

Except… Android is… Clunky… It relies on design ideas that require EVERY SINGLE PROGRAM AND APP ON YOUR PHONE to behave nicely (Lots of "This system only works if every single app uses it sparingly and do not screw each-other over" paradigms .). And many distributions from Motorola like mine for example comes with software YOUR ARE NOT ALLOWED TO UNINSTALL... meaning that software on your phone is ALWAYS behaving badly. Because not a single person actually owns an Android phone. You own a brick of electronics that is worthless without its OS, and google does not sell that to you or even gift it to you. You are renting it for free, forever. Same with Motorola which added a few extra modifications onto Googles Android and then gave it to me.

That way, google does not have to give any rights to its costumers. So I cannot completely control what my phone does. Because it is not my phone. It is Googles phone.

That I am allowed to use. By the good graces of our corporate god emperors

"Moose stares blankly into space trying to stop being permanently angry at hoe everyone is choosing to run the world"

… Ok that turned dark… Anywho. TLDR There is a better option for 95% of apps (Which is "A GUI that interfaces with a database") "Just write a single HTML document with internal CSS and Javascript" Usually simpler, MUCH easier and smaller… And now your app works on any computer with a browser. Meaning all of them…

I made a GUI for my parents recently that works exactly like that. Soo this post:

It was frankly a mistake of me to learn Kotlin… Even more so since It is a… awful language… Clearly good ideas then ruined by marketing department people yelling "SUPPORT EVERYTHING! AND USE ALL THE BUZZWORD TECHNOLOGY! Like… If your language FORCES you to use exceptions for normal runtime behavior "Stares at CancellationException"... dear god that is horrible...

Made EVEN WORSE by being a really complicated way to re-invent the GOTO expression… You know... The thing every programmer is taught will eat your feet if you ever think about using it because it is SO dangerous, and SO bad form to use it? Yeah. It is that, hidden is a COMPLEATLY WRONG WAY to use exceptions…

goodie… I swear to Christ, every page or two of my Kotlin notes have me ranting how I learned how something works, and that it is terrible... Blaaa. But anyway now that I know it, I try to keep it fresh in my mind and use it from time to time. Might as well. It IS possible to run certain things more effective than a web page, and you can work much more directly with the file system. It is... hard-ish to get a webpage to "load" a file automatically... But believe me, it is good that this is the case.

Anywho. How does the app work and what is the next version going to do?

PROTO is meant to be a platform I test OTHER systems on, so he is optimized for simplicity. So how you control him is sending a HTTP 1.1 message of type Text/Plain… (This is a VERY fancy sounding way of saying "A string" in network speak). The string is 6 comma separated numbers. Linear movement XYZ and angular movement XYZ.

The app is simply 5 buttons that each sends a HTTP PUT request with fixed values. Specifically 0.5/-0.5 meter/second linear (Drive back or forward) 0.2/-0.2 radians/second angular (Turn right or turn left) Or all 0 for stop

(Yes, I just formatted normal text as code to make it more readable... I think I might be more infected by programming so much than I thought...)

Aaaaaanywho. That must be enough ranting. Time to make the app

[code-cozy]

Get to know me ~

Hi everyone!! 🫶

I'm 2nd year computer science student from Finland. I started learning coding when I got into uni a year ago. At uni I have become familiar with c and java. I have really struggled with java, it is sooo hard in my opinion ಠ⁠﹏⁠ಠ

I'm most interested in web development so I have been learning html, css and javascript on my free-time! ┌⁠(⁠・⁠。⁠・⁠)⁠┘⁠♪

So I'm just a beginner with coding and not really good at it yet, but I'm working hard to get better! If you have some tips how to learn efficiently and fast, pls let me know! I would really appriciate it! (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

I started this blog to motivate myself with my studies and to connect with other developers. Feel free to come chat with me! :)

[fifty-ten]

anyhow since I'm posting anyways, me & html/css are still getting along. right now it's basically the only thing i want to do because it's so much fun to figure out…

i was aimlessly practicing whatever sounded interesting for a while but that started to get overwhelming so i made a mock-up of what I want this site to look like in MSpaint and started learning what I needed to do to make it look like the mock up, and it's kind of crazy how fast it's coming together. it actually looks like a site on the internet!

it still has a way to go (i ran into an issue earlier I'm still trying to fix ) + even once i finish the design i need to add actual "content" to the pages + I'll probably find new things i need to design as i add page content, but I'm really happy with how it's coming along and it's my favorite project to work on right now.

[ne0nwithazero]

With the recent news in regards to Tumblr, it's just really disappointing but I guess also expected that things would turn out like this

I predict that nothing much will be changing, website layout-wise, but the bot problem will get consistently worse, moderation will find ways to get worse, and the website either becomes inhospitable or by some miracle, gets some sudden surge in popularity that will cause the staff to try and invest in it again

Regardless of the outcome, I don't really have much hope either way

Tumblr and Twitter are my only active social media as both have the only format I'm able to tolerate using (With such intense curating on Twitter that I'm aggressively making sure my timeline only shows things I Want to see and any post out of line gets send to the void LOL)

Instagram is one of the most miserable platforms for me to use, I feel like I use mine out of obligation to remind people that I exist

Tiktok is an Absolutely Not, I am not subjecting my mind to that, and I do have a Bluesky, but I can't really bring myself to use it since it's basically Twitter but without my follower base and harder to curate

My Neocities has felt the most rewarding because it's allowed me to enjoy my work regardless of how many people see it (And somehow people have still come across it so that's fun!)

But it can get lonely because I do understand the learning curve to learning HTML/CSS can be difficult for people (But so worth it, I swear!!)

Social media just feels so hostile nowadays to anyone who just isn't interested in the fast-paced TikTok format that everything wants to adopt nowadays...

Tumblr is the only place where people actively engage with and respond to what I post, so it's disheartening to hear all that's happening. Other social media just isn't rewarding and it overall just brings so much unneeded stress that my RSD absolutely does not need

This may age poorly, but right now, my Discord server is the best way for keeping up with my work as I post stuff there way earlier than anywhere else (Or sometimes only post to the server and nowhere else)

Here's hoping for a better internet...

[xpc-web-dev]

Daily Journey : Day 2

Hi guys, how are you?

Yesterday we learned about HTML, one of my professors did a mini project during class and then they divided us into groups to do another mini project in 15 minutes.

Lesson considerations: -

Both teachers are funny, so the classes are cool. -

As I've spent a month studying MDN's documentation and projects there, html is not a problem for me. Now Css...... that's another HUEHUEE story. (Including today's class)

Sometimes I feel bad that my brain doesn't process as quickly as others, but that's who I am and it's not something I can change. I always absorb better more calmly.

I was nervous about doing a group project, besides not being good at it (and yes, I know I have to improve) we are 10 women for 20 men, so it's complicated.

Despite my group having 7 men, they didn't lack respect for me and the other woman giving ideas and I hope that continues. And if it doesn't continue, it's imposing my quarrelsome strength HUEHUEEU.

The good thing is that today I'm already prepared for a possible group project again.

Negative points:

The people in the group, after the end of the class, were not committed to finishing the project like me and the other student. (It was not mandatory, but the teacher recommended it)

So for me this was already a possible redflag, because if something basic and fast was like that, imagine a bigger one? But it was random, we didn't choose each other, so I hope that when it comes to group work for the grade I can land with a better group

Yes, you will have gossip here UEHUEHHEHUE.

Now rewatching the class: -

Just watching it again I understood things that yesterday I wasn't getting.

And again, I'm like that, I think I'll even talk to the teacher so that at the end of the class I'll have 10m of questions about the class the day before.

I finished the project from yesterday's class, and I found out that I had one more because the teacher changed the file. But this one didn't have time for him to ask us to do it, I'll probably try later in the day.

That's it people. May today be better than yesterday and I wish you are having a good day and take care of yourselves.

[kafus]

Do you have any advice for people that want to get into programming?

oops, we've been archiving old art today and got to this late, apologies!

so i'm going to assume that you mean as a hobbyist and not as a professional because i am only a hobbyist who likes coding simple websites. i think depending on how serious you want to take programming there's a lot of different potential answers to this question and everyone's different, so take me with a grain of salt, but i can answer from my own experience!

i earnestly think the best way to start with programming is to start making a project that aligns with interests you already have, and keep it small. i don't mean jump into that massive dream video game immediately, that'll lead to burnout fast! for me it was blue moon falls, taking it one page at a time. i slowly graduated from struggling on basic html/css stuff to making decently complex javascript calculators. my love for pokemon really carried me through a lot of the parts where i felt stuck or frustrated, so if you have an interest like that and can make something for it, even if it's silly, i highly recommend it! not only does it help with motivation but it leads you to naturally picking up new skills as you go. for instance, i learned how to intimately work with multi-dimensional arrays while working on my gen 1 pokemon shiny tool!

also, please do remember that it's okay to struggle on parts that other people seem to have an easy time with, that doesn't make you a bad programmer. and it's okay to ask for help! google and stack overflow are your friends - even professional programmers (including the likes of my IRL father) will tell you that programming, even professionally, is partially just "professional googling." it is normal to be confused and it is normal to have to cobble together code by copy/pasting off of stack overflow and w3schools and whatever, you are doing it "right" ww (there is no true right or wrong, everyone learns differently)

if you have any more specific questions i'm always open to talking about neocities and stuff!

[manonamora-if]

Post-comp-mortem

I was debating on whether to publish this post before or after the voting ended. I was wondering if it would influence the player's opinion of the game too much/at all. Even after seeing a few popping up on the Forum, I still felt a bit weird about releasing mine. I was also hoping to get a few more reviews/comments as well :P

If you haven't checked the IF Comp entries this year, I really recommend it!

This post will be hella long too. I am not kidding here, don't click Keep Reading/scroll further if you don't have a drink and are seated, it is almost a novella below. Also, it is a mix of very dry summary/emotional reaction. Like my entry, it might look like a mess. There is a TLDR on the Forum.

Table of Content:

1- Some Points about creation and process 2- So, did I manage to do what I wanted? 3- And what was the verdict? _ _ a. The Reviews _ _ b. Result and Further comments 4- What's the future for TTTT? 5- Some fun tit bits... 6- In Conclusion,

For people who don't follow me here (or only started following me recently), I've only been in the IF Community for about a year and a half by now, with my first game (Meeting the Parents) published in early June 2021. I have only created things with Twine (and mainly on SugarCube) and had not had any coding knowledge before starting my own project.

I- Some points about creation and process.

The Thick Table Tavern was actually conceptualised back in 2021, when I wanted to dip my toes into a bigger competition after completing Exquisite Cadaver. Since I had created MtP and EC (and the first part of CRWL) pretty quickly, I thought the two months ahead of me would be plenty enough to create a whole new game and submit it.

I've always loved Fantasy settings and RPGs, but often wondered why there were very little games centred around less heroic occupations or what would be the life of an NPC, like a bartender in a tavern (probably because it might be pretty boring). I also have very fond memories of those Flash games where you would build meals/drinks (RIP Flash).

I knew from the get-go that two components where going to be central to the game: the drink mixing aspect and your interactions with the NPCs. Instead of having random customers dropping in, I thought of 5 fleshed-out NPCs which would come, talk a bit with you about their story and order drinks. You might have been able to influence them a bit. But that would be it. Above all, I wanted a chill and light vibe, with Trope-y characters (ex: a coward but flirty bard, a pirate always in trouble, etc). I wanted people to relax and have some light fun, and enjoy themselves.

I worked on the project for about 2 weeks, having submitted my intent, started testing some code for the bartending side and written the introduction of the game and 2 characters (give or take 3k words).

Then I kind of... burned out.

Fast forward this summer, and I am back working on the project. Granted, I was not fully into the game at that point, since I was working on the re-writes of EC at the same time too. But I had sketched out the UI and was thinking about the code during writing EC. And I was talking my friends ears off about it too. What I knew for sure, is that the Bartending experience would be the core gameplay/interactivity of the game, with the story wrapped around it (giving you a reason to mix drinks).

Here are some pictures of my very pretty handwriting about the UI and how the story/bartending should be formatted/coded.

Throughout July, I would take breaks from writing EC to set up the UI for this game (or create a SugarCube template because I have not self-control), learn more about grids, flex boxes and class hierarchy. [No joke, I learned A LOT about CSS/HTML with this game!]

August came around and my other projects were put on hold so I could focus on TTTT (I still did other stuffs, because again, no self-control). I probably didn't start writing until the last third of August, as I researched drinks recipe (I still have a form for future drinks addition, you can add your favourite), made lil' bottles and set the bar. Even then, the amount written was pretty marginal compared to September.

September was wild. I wrote about 45k words total during that month, averaging 2.5k/days by the latter half of the month. Not all that I wrote ended up being included in the entry, as I had to cut some NPCs since I didn't feel they were ready (which included a travelling salesman monk). Being oh so lucky, I caught Covid just as the last week of the comp started. And since I hate following my/sound advice, I kept writing and coding through that and insomnia until the last hours of the deadline. This was obviously reeeeaaaaallly dumb, it made me super exhausted after the whole thing, but I still pushed myself and even with the whole hazy brain I managed to submit the game with... a bunch of bugs (and a lot more typos). In retrospect, that should have been my sign to pause the project and submit next year.

All and all, I don't think I spent more than 3 months on the game, during which half of that time was being shared with other projects (old and new ones). Still, my goal was to submit a working game... and to rank in the top-half of the ranking overall.

II- So, did I manage to do what I wanted?

Short answer: definitely not. But I gave it my best shot...

Long answer: I managed to do more than I thought I would, especially as the deadline crept closer. My plan from the beginning (of this year's try, not the original beginning) was to build the game in 3 stages:

The basic create/serve drinks with no interaction with customers.

The NPCs you only meet once and appear randomly, with choices that have little repercussion on that NPC and story overall.

The Big NPCs who come back multiple times (4/5 times, depending on their story) with choices that impact both the player and the NPC. And you build a bit of relationship with those.

The first stage took a while mainly because I had to create a whole bar from scratch. I could have chosen to stick with a simple design/asset for the bottles (like the one you could see in my first attempts of the bar), but damn, this is the IF Comp, not some basic Jam... Go big or go home! While I didn't struggle too much with the mixing part, it was the serving/check the ingredients and optimisation of the code that gave me a few headaches. {And still does...}

The second step was thwarted almost as soon as I started, when I realised TTTT needed a lot more fluff parts to link each game block (morning, between drinks, end of day) to make the experience smoother. Like the randomness of the drinks I didn't want players becoming bored with starting/ending each days. So there's a lot there that took priority for a while. __Still, I managed to include some NPCs. Out of the 11-ish NPC ideas I had, one was fully included (the oldie couple), one was a re-hash of the last year's version of the Adventurer (Dylan), and one was added last minute out of frustration (the 4th Wall break). The Fortune Teller doesn't really count in my book, as she was always part of the Introduction (and written almost completely last year).

And the last one... *throw hands in the air*

I knew it was going to be very hard to include this one, especially since it required a bit more planning for the day (and work around the randomisation) and having to take into account the different variations. Not being able to include this one ended up not bothering me as much as I thought it would be. I get to keep it for an after-comp update... :D

What I manage to include which was not planned was, like I mentioned, the random linking bits and the long-form Endings. None of them were really interactive (nor had much choice aside from knocking the sign or setting the tip jar), and may have thrown the player off when everything gets randomised by Day 2. There is only the Setting Up/Cleaning the Tavern where you can get the same/similar enough text.

Ezabell and Brom were also not planned at all. In last's year's version, out of the tavern's employees, you'd only interact with your Boss (and Filessandro as one of the recurrent NPCs). I was really happy with Ez especially, and how much colour she brought to the tavern (and writing banter with her was so fun!). She was probably one of my favourite character to write (along with the Oldies).

There were also a lot more things I had to cut for time, whether it was writing or coding. This is a non-exhaustive list: the Tip Jar getting stolen event, The Watcher coming half-way through the game to check on your progress, having more options/choices when talking to people (patrons and employees), having an Ending Recap for the NPCs, having a choice at the End on whether to buy/pursue your original background choice...

So at the end, the agency stayed quite low (where most consequences happen when you create drinks). After the first day, there is very little new choices.

There were many things with the final version that made me frustrated, among others:

Misusing my time, forcing me to cut back on what I wanted to include, just because something new and shiny took over my brain (it's not new, I can have the attention of a toddler sometimes).

Definitely not realising early how much I was trying to include from the get go, in terms of words and code, and how much time I would need to manage it all (lol at me thinking the summer would be enough for this chunky of a game).

The Watcher and Fortune Teller's spiel heavily relied on the player having choices with consequences talking to the recurrent patrons (Step 3) and proposing activities/giving advice to the one-time NPCs (Step 2). Since 3 was scraped, and 2 was not finished... I ended up setting some mystery for pretty much nothing...

Not having a more rigorous proofreading period. A lot of what was written was done so very late into the process, and while I did use some proofreading programs, I should have taken more time to re-read my text, edit it more and correct it all. It is obvious where I put more effort/love... (yes, it's the Oldies)

Have beta testers a bit earlier to catch all the bugs I corrected on Day 1/2 of the voting period (that's related to the time management points above).

Not being able to have more NPC's during the day (adding 3-4 one-timers to the game more would have been great!)

Not having time to include music :(

Getting Covid... (not that I could do much about that :P)

I could have chosen to fix a lot of those issues/add more content half-way through the Comp, but it felt a bit like cheating... And honestly, I was too tired after that.

Still, there are many things I am very proud of achieving:

Actually submit an entry to the Comp (even with the bugs/typos still there...) !

I created a completely new UI all by myself from scratch, which has completely different designs depending on which passage the player is in (Title page, Main Story, Bar, The Notebook/Frenzy List).

Have I talked everyone's ears off about the Bar yet? Definitely not. Because it is hella cool. I spend a lot (maybe too much time) on it, editing each bottle/box so they would feel distinct enough from each other. My first attempt last year was... a whole mess with list points... ew...

I started dabbling more with CSS animations (the menu button in the Main Story, the text shaking, the starting page, etc...), all of which required A LOT of tweaking to get right (and including an accessible option too).

Creating more complicated widgets and learning how to optimise my code (I managed to remove over 500 lines of TwineScript code at once...) which was a fun puzzle to be honest.

Adding very last-minute addition with the Arcade Mode and the Restocking (which taught me about messing with CSS classes at random), which I think was a pretty good addition.

Adding as much accessibility tools as I could (key binding, toggles for animation, text formatting, etc...).

Look at this Passage Map! There's a lot of text/code in those...

Finally... Not submitting the game with only the Bar mixing as the whole game. The mixing mechanic without any text would probably not have gone over well.

Overall, a lot of frustration but also a lot of pride (I definitely felt that last one mixed with anxiety when I pressed the Upload button the first time). I was really impressed with myself for being able to do this much in such short amount of time (considering everything).

Would the game have benefitted from a bit more time, attention and love? Definitely (especially, the writing). Do I regret submitting it like this? Not even one bit! There were a lot of new things I hadn't done before or even came across with my other projects until now. I've gone even deeper into Sugarcube, CSS and even some JavaScript (my nemesis)!

III- And what was the verdict?

Before going into the reviews/comments I got publicly/privately or the ranking/votes (apart from 3B, I wrote this post before the results), I won in the eyes of some important people (to me). Of course the ranking/votes matter to a certain extent, but I feel like I already had a little victory even before the reveal of the ranking. My biggest offline supporters, some of whom never played any IF before (nor knew it existed), absolutely adored the game, especially the bartending bits. My folks were so amazed about what I done (especially as their view of the gaming world was pretty... narrow/negative to say the least). And I was so happy they tried something they never done before too! I'm glad I got to introduce IF to new peeps :P

There was even a small contest with my family on who could get the most drinks done in the Timed Arcade Mode (the 38 cocktail highscore has yet to be broken)! Also, bless my sister for spamming her friends to play the games... They even sent her messages back about what they played and how cool IF is :)

A- The Reviews

[Again, this was written before the results] According to the Review Spreadsheet, I have gotten 13 reviews on the Forum/IFDB: 7 on the Forum (?), 5 on IFDB (9 ratings). This is about the average amount of reviews games got this year. I received a few more messages through Tumblr and Discord about my entry as well. (Note: one review disappeared from IFDB during the voting period)

First of all, I want to thank again every one of you who not only tried the game, left a vote, and for some of you even a review. Everyone who took their time to share what they thought of my little bartender simulation and to answer some question when they stumbled upon some bugs too.

Here are some cute titles of reviews I got: Innovative Bartending Simulator, A lengthy and somewhat heartwarming game about running a tavern, Bar game of my dreams, Lots to like with this one, Beautiful Gameplay, Fun Mixing Minigames...

A few reviewers "played the game" and included drink puns in their reviews, which I absolutely adored. One was really nice and pushed through their first impression of the game to give it a fair shot (I put a nauseating gif in the starting screen, which couldn't be turned off until the next passage...), when they didn't have to.

I should probably mention the elephant in the room before getting into the comments: out of the reviewers on the Forum, only one or two did not run into what we called the Groundhog Day bug (the Brom event repeating itself for no reason), while on Tumblr, only one person ran into it (and even then it was with only one of their playthrough) AS FAR AS I KNOW since I didn't get more reports. Sooo... that really sucked so see :/ Fun fact: Covid was kicking my ass while I was writing that event. Maybe it was a sign...

That bug was something I could not recreate for the life of me, nor did it appear on any savefile I was able to get my hands on (thank you again!). Unluckily for me too, this looked like it was a cache bug: yay for the code not being the culprit (Thanks Twine Discord), booo because this was something that could not really be fixed because it was not browser/extension specific (emptying the cache helped). This obviously/probably affected more people's rating of the game to no fault of my own nor theirs. Just bad luck. The only common denominator here seem to be the IFComp website. Maybe it was the source of the issue? But at the same time I didn't get anymore reports after that... I can't say for sure until I upload the game on itch and more people raise the same issue. Also it worked meh on tablets, my mom showed me... Impossible to click on the garnishes...

SO! I rounded all the comments I got from everywhere (save for the offline one, because they are more than bias and just said I was the best; they swore they were fair in the ratings tho) on a spreadsheet and made two columns: what worked and what didn't. I wanted to address the comments in a Post-Mortem rather than answering them on the Forum too much, partly to avoid writing in an emotional state. I will be paraphrasing below, since quite a few aspects were shared by multiple people. Overall, the reviews were quite positive, ranging from very neutral to overly positive.

The Bartending Mini-Game

Let's start with the Bartending Mixing-bit. From the reviews, it was a bit of a coin flipper. Some REALLY enjoyed the mixing aspect, and how relaxing and fun it felt; others found it too grind-y and monotonous. This is not surprising, game mechanics are very much a personal preference. Though having a randomiser during Frenzy giving you up to 9 drinks meant that someone could end up with making 20 drinks during one day... which is a lot considering the size of story.

The difficulty settings were not as challenging as it appeared, nor did it give any sense of progression in skills. While the latter was partly explained in the story (you've been a bartender for a while, you should know your stuff), it was mainly because I did not think about that at all (or how to implement it). Similarly with the Difficulty Settings, I thought the differences would be large/annoying enough between each of them, but it wasn't really [I did get some interesting ideas from the reviews tho!].

When it came to combining ingredients and serving drinks, some thought it was great fun, other felt some responses were missing. The random colours appearing can be confusing (it's just because it's fantasy ~magic~). And outside of serving drinks to named NPCs, you do not know whether you've done well when serving the drink until the end of the day (that'll be easily fixed with some notifications).

There was a little hitch with the UI, with the longer recipes requiring a bit of scrolling to find the last ingredients (I knew about that, and thought it would still be ok to be left as is, turns out not really :/ ) and some notifications not appearing (known issue with the macro used when clicking too much in a short span). Still the overall visual was really well received, and people really liked the names of drinks and how diverse they were (there were 29 when I submitted). I also forgot cherries were not berries... I should rename the pot Red Fruits instead later...

Shoutout to the Arcade Mode being a bit of an MVP here, making people compete for highscores! (And people sending me good points to make it more fun)

The Writing

This was where I lost a lot of peeps (and for fair reasons). The biggest gripe people had was related to the writing needed a lot more proofreading/edits, as it made reading distracting at best, confusing and boring at worst. This is not new to me, I've had comments about typos on other projects too (there's even a special section to report typos in my usual bug forms...), but it was worse here because of the time constraint (inflicted on myself, having written most of the game in September). Blaming it on English being my second language is not even fair, I could have asked other people to take a look at the text {Some users in the Forum do that!}. Honestly, compared to when I started or where I was even at the start of this year... I've progressed a lot (ahem... current version of MtP still online being a whole mess and a half). I still have a lot to learn and grow in my style, but I'm getting there!

Quite a few reviews advised to cut 25% of text in each passage, as the prose was either awkward, too long, threw the pacing off, or was unnecessary. Again, not really news to me. I am a very descriptive writer, I like to go on and on about small details. [Look at this review...] Still, while I will definitely edit the text (since it is necessary), I don't think the amount of text will be cut this drastically (I like my descriptions, thank you very much :P).

On the plus side, people enjoyed the snarky and humorous tone of the story, making for a fun experience overall. Yay for keeping a consistent funny tone :D

I've had lovely compliments about the dialogue, which is amazing, because it's a thing I struggle with the most (aside from proofreading, lol). It's so hard to be sure to have distinct voices between characters (and keep that up), have a good pace/back and forth between them, etc... I think working on the EC re-writes just before (which is 95% dialogue) helped me a lot there.

The Story

I've also had positive return on the story itself, as it was playful and chill. Some even found the story immersive with cute and fun storylets. Honestly, I tried to have fun while writing. Each tit bit was framed to bring a laugh or a smile in mind. This was the tone I wanted throughout the whole game anyway, and I am glad people vibed with it. Some also found the worldbuilding intriguing (I got quite a handful of asks about it after the release).

On the other hand, some found the story having nothing to say, with a lot of missed opportunity in the theme and concepts introduced leading to nothing or being brushed off quickly. A large part of it has to do with me cutting a lot of the story to make the deadline, removing a lot of choices (because variations would require more writing and time). The rest of it being just... life. The game's story is essentially a slice-of-life. Life doesn't always make sense and is often just random. There's not point to it.

Still the replayability of the game was noted, with the amount of randomisation of the fluff text. I made sure there was enough variation for players who needed the full 14 days to complete the game (sooo much writing 😭).

Another issue related to the pacing, was with the introductions. Because I did not just do one, I made two of them. It made sense in my head, since I was probably thinking wayyyy to ahead (with all the planned aspects of the game included) and thought it would be the best way to introduce, well, everything. But it made the first day needing more than 30min to complete (which is already 1/4 of the allocated voting play per game). The first intro felt very long and required a lot of clicking (or space-bar pressing with the keybinds). Both were very disjointed with the other. And fair... after the first day, it's pretty much thought of being a bad dream (even when you meet the 4th wall character).

With how the story was written, it left very little choice for the players to have (if you disregard choosing to serve a good drink or not), with most having little consequences on the story as a whole. The only thing driving your end result was either running into a bug (fixed) or getting the required amount of gold. This was not always noted positively. Again, understandable, I had to cut a lot more than planed to make the deadline, turning the MC's agency into a very minimal state. Still, some reviewers did not mind or realised how little choice you actually have (thank you Mixing section and Characters for the distraction!).

The Characters

My pride and joy. And also more positive comments there. Almost everyone had something nice to say about the characters, whether it was finding them overall quite fun or well-constructed. There were so many lovely adjectives used about the NPCs, I was so so so so happy people liked them as much as I did.

From the storylets, the Oldie Adventurers seemed to be everyone's favourite (they were mine as well) and the 4th Wall Character got a good laugh (yay for self-deprecating humour). Getting this kind of response was SO validating.

Aside from it, the tavern's employees/boss were also well received, even if they were quite the stereotypical kinds. Hey... If it works, it works!

Some found the camaraderie between the tavern peeps touching (which works even more if you get a "good" ending). A few notes were given on the confusing appearance of Brom, which is fair because depending on the randomisation of the text you'd get introduced to him as the cook or you'd just think he'd be a weirdo doing strange things in the tavern. Similarly, the characterisation of the boss felt confusing for some, going from incompetent hardass to loving "uncle" for no reason.

At least one point in this section should be taken for the character of the Watcher. A character you only see at the start and end of the story, does not have any impact on the game aside from introducing you and asking you how you liked your run. Understandably, it was a let down. I used the character a bit as an introduction of the character (I had more MC characterisation choices in mind), with the plan of commenting more on your choices in the ending... which doesn't really happen because there are very few choices to talk about. Still, I stand by my choice of keeping the Watcher. It gives it a bit of a mystical air you'd have in a fantasy setting :P My first idea with the Watcher was to make it a Dungeon Master and the player is a TTRPG character... but after writing it it felt way too weird, so I scrapped it.

The Interface

I don't think I've had anything but compliments about the UI and visuals of the games. From the Bar and its bottles, to the different pages, it was praised for the polish and care I gave the game. Considering I spent a lot of time on it, it was nice to hear about this. People found the interface welcoming and colourful. The UI was consistent throughout the game, and little was left to be desired. Someone even said it was the prettiest Twine game they had ever seen, while another found it having the most accomplished visual designed by pushing the rules of CSS this much.

😊

I've had good return about the accessibility points: especially the keybinding (you technically don't need a mouse to play the game), which is not often present in Choice-Based games, and the font options for ease of reading.

Aside from an obvious accessibility mistake I need to fix (the already mentioned nauseating intro gif), there was not much to add about it. It was crisp and high-production and definitely took too much time making it look the way it did.

OH: the Tarot Cards. Even if it amounted to nothing (because why would it... :P ), people liked the Tarot Cards :D

Miscellaneous Comments

Here is the part where I discuss comments I didn't know where to file.

The randomised encounters added to the bartending experience for some (since this is what would happen in real life...), but it also meant that some players did not get to see some characters. While the randomisation helped the replayability aspect, if the player did not enjoy the introduction it would have been unlikely they would press the restart button (I didn't put a fast play link for that...).

Similarly, some enjoyed the structure of each day, while others found the repetitiveness of the tasks boring. Like with the Mixing part, this might be more of a personal preference, it did not really seem to skew one way or another.

Having the Restoking event or the Tip Jar amounting to nothing was also disappointing (latter cut for time, the former only realised after I submitted the game -would need to re-edit the whole bar code to make it work as intended).

There were a few other frustrating bugs (the raised ones were taken care of as soon as I got them, but it included the gold not tracking properly, which always gave the player a bad ending), but with a game this large and complex (in the coding part), I am sure there are still some here and there. I am still dedicated to polish this game (see the final section) but some things will take a while to implement/write. The gold tracker was set one line too high on the code page.... sigh

A last point I wanted to address here was about TTTT not knowing what kind of game it wants to be. To me it is obviously clear, since I made it, but I think I now understand why players might feel that way (I didn't when the review dropped, it even made me a bit angry, even if the comment held some truth). The game starts with a mysterious character never seen until the end, and the mystery amounts to nothing as the player is left in the dark (pun). Then, we move to a more slice-of-life-y fantasy setting with a bartending sim. Then you serve a Fortune Teller that pushes the idea of agency, which goes nowhere because there are virtually no real choices in the game. Aside from getting little to no tips, the Bartending section does not change nor indicate how you are doing. Then you flip between light-hearted storylets and others with more dark undertone. Repeat until you reach an ending. When experienced that way, yeah... what's that game about? What does it want to do? What's the point of it? __Frankly, there's no point to the game, aside from chilling at a bar, making drinks and talk to people. Winning or losing does not mean life/death, you don't hurt anyone really (unless you make terrible drinks, but even then). It's about the vibe more than anything else. Relax and enjoy and mix some ingredients.

So, what, then?

While a very reductive and deprecating conclusion would be that my entry was all show and no substance, it would be misrepresenting a lot of positive aspects of the game. It is definitely very Show but the Substance is lacking in some part (duh, since I cut a lot) or need some extra care for it to reach what it should have been.

I kinda shot myself in the foot by focusing so much time/effort on making sure the bartending experience and UI was not only working fine but that it was visually pleasing, since it meant rushing through writing a whole game in such short amount of time. It might have given quite a few player too high of an expectation on what the game would be (though I tried to warn it in my blurb that it was more of a chill type of game). I was too ambitious with what I wanted to do with this game, especially more in the time frame. It happened in other Jams (for EC and SPS IH). Unfortunately, it didn't pay off here.

A huge saving grace, it seemed, was found in the characters (outside of the Watcher and maybe the Fortune Teller). Had they not be charming or interesting, TTTT would have done much worse than it did.

Overall, it worked for some people and not for others. Even if it didn't work for some, they were kind enough to leave me extensive reviews about what didn't work for them and what they would have done to enhance the gameplay (thk u 💚). And even when it worked, I got some lovely suggestions to make the game even better.

But how did I handle it all?

I did not, because I never do :P

With this edition of the IFComp being my first, it was honestly nerve-wracking. The IFComp is considered the SuperBowl/Olympics of IF and amazing pieces of IF have been released during the previous editions. Before I submitted mine, I knew a few other participants who had submitted before were planning on having an entry (and I really like their works). It was also going to be my first time getting reviews outside of essentially the "chill" Tumblr/Itch crowd. I had seen those long reviews on IFDB around Comp season and honestly it scared me a bit (even if everyone were so very lovely).

As the reviews were dropping in, I was wondering if maybe I should have forgone submitting (or even withdrawing), spent more time on the game (I really should have) and submitted at the SpringThing instead. My entry had nothing to say, it was just there, sipping on a cocktail and enjoying the vibes. This feeling got increasingly worse when I played other entries and compared my work to theirs (so many amazing ones).

My goal was to reach the top-half of the ranking (this year, the lowest ranking for half would have been 35?). Half-way through October, I was dead-sure that I wouldn't even reach that rank. Now that we are hours away from the Voting Deadline, I think it will be just fine. It won't be so good that I will reach top 10, but that reasonable starting goal will be doable. Though I might be a tad disappointed if I don't...

B- Results and Further Comments

It is now Sunday 20th. The results dropped yesterday... 37th out of 70. Honestly, I can't hide I was disappointed a tad. I was this close to reach my goal (by 2 spots). I think I am more disappointed I was so close to this goal and didn't reach it more than I didn't rank high.

For anyone interested (though I already posted it yesterday, this is a screenshot of how the voting went:

I was kinda surprised to see 1s and 2s in there. Though, sure if judges played during the first days, when I was still ironing out some bugs, it's understandable. There was even someone in the anonymous comments who encountered that Ground-hog Day bug (I wonder if they left a review, because I didn't receive anything about this one outside of the reviews/one ask on Tumblr). Someone else had ran into a strange bug with the Fortune teller has well (again never heard about this one either...). Of course, everyone has their metrics... but 1 is pretty much unplayable/doesn't belong in the Comp... and I don't know. It's not sitting right with me because TTTT doesn't feel like either? _ _ At the end, everyone has an opinion. If they really hated the experience, so be it. You can't please everyone... *shrug* Looking at the curve, I was a tinsy disappointed there were not 10s, it would have made the curve so much more satisfying to watch... I think my family's votes looked too much like spam as well (or they didn't fill in their form correctly), cause they ranted their score was not there after I sent them the result. Bless them, they tried.

Regarding the anonymous comments, there wasn't much that stood out that hadn't been spelt out for me in the reviews/direct feedback: UI great, story meh, atmosphere is nice, needs more proofreading/pruning of the text, bartending is fun/tedious (this is really a coin toss damn). My favourite comment: as-is it's borderline unreadable.

The most interesting comment I got out of it was whether my entry should be considered a point-and-click rather than interactive fiction. I think I understand where that reviewer is coming from: you lack interactivity/choice during the story bits, and that is compensated by the bar mini-game being, well, point to the bottle and click to serve. Still, I would love to discuss more about this with that reviewer (or anyone really). Is point-and-click IF?

So how did I handle that?

Meh. Again, disappointed. Can't lie about feelings. I thought I had done a better of a job than I did (according to the judging scores). Even looking at the reviews/feedback I had gotten on IFDB/Forum, I thought I had done better. My gut feeling half-way through the voting period was correct, after all (damn it! it always is...).

But having written 95% of this post just before the results dropped was surprisingly cathartic and brought a lot of perspective on the whole experience. It was obvious where my entry lacked and where it shined. At the end, you get a overall mediocre entry (as in of only moderate quality). It made sense for it to end up where it did. Like I said previously, I was over-ambitious, and that really didn't work in my favour, because I didn't have the stuff to back it up.

Sure it was disappointing to see my entry scoring so low/not be a favourite, but weirdly... it didn't last long? I checked the voting pattern, the anonymous feedback, talked with a few peeps, had some some food, a nice hot drink, and went back to business as usual.

Maybe it will hit me later...

Anyway, I'll just finish this part with saying that my family was more mad about the ranking than I was. Not because I didn't do better than I did, but because they couldn't believe other people didn't have the same opinion about the game than they did. Quote from my mom: This is the first time I've liked a game. That's one of my wins right there (that and the stickers we are getting :P).

IV- What's the future for TTTT?

Like I mentioned above, the reviews and interaction I had on Tumblr gave be a bunch of ideas/suggestions for the next step of this game. I don't know the timeline for the intended update or how I will update the game (in one go or in chunks - probably the latter) or how the code may need to change (it definitely will need some sort of overhaul). There is A LOT of work ahead of me.

So now, I have multiple To-Do lists: one created while I was working on TTTT before I submitted it and one after the Comp deadline. The first included ideas I would have while writing or coding and items that I could not include in the game because of time. The second were ideas I would get while getting returns/impressions, suggestions sent/in reviews, and stemming from discussions I've had with players. {Not every comment I've received in the reviews will make me change that particular aspect, but even those gave me ideas.}

Here's a non exhaustive list** of the first one:

Obviously adding the missing NPCs (both the one-timers and recurring ones).

Adding more choices while talking to those NPCs (eg: stopping them from doing something, giving unsolicited advice, etc...) and giving each of them an Ending.

More drinks! {would require a few new bottles and merging the Soda ones together}

Reloop the Restart to the Story Screen as a NewGame+ Function.

Adding Music for the ~ vibes ~

Creating an Achievement list and have more stats trackers.

Creating a Highscore page for the Arcade Mode.

More MC Customisation (as an option to do, it won't have any consequence/effect on the story, just for the lolz of it all).

Redesign the Menu to look more like a Bar Menu (and includes the name/link to the real drink).

Adding a Codex Page for NPC's encountered (maybe an achievement too).

More fluff text!

Adding the missing Events (Stolen Tip Jar/Knock on the sign combo among others)

Maybe try to scale it for mobile (v unlikely with the size of the bar)

And here's the non exhaustive list** of the second one:

Have a more detailed tutorial explaining the combined bottles and where to find/what to find in the Guarnish box.

The Restocking Mini-Game to include penalties (bottle not available until restock/next day), except on Easy Difficulty.

Re-work on the Difficulty Setting: make the Hard Time harder, Recipe not available on Hard (only in the Menu list), Hard Mode could have measurements instead of one click-bottle.

Adding a Setting for a fixed amount of drinks during Frenzy/Rush time.

The bottles in the Bar appear randomly (time/space).

Look into substitution of ingredients {the code would need to change drastically, depending on the recipes might not even be possible...}

Make the Umbrella do something (extra tips?)

Arcade Mode-TIMED: perfect drinks add time to the timer, really bad ones removes time.

Proofread and edit the text (obviously, but no cuts!).

Give a choice to play all 14 days (which will be fixed to 14 days when I introduce the Recurring NPCs)

After finding the Tip Jar, only give one choice: display or hide it, rather than leave the option to change your mind (that confused people)

Have something to do with the coins if you get too much (this started from a bug where the gold wasn't tracked properly)

**It's mainly non-exhaustive because I have a bunch of post-its with ideas and it's not organised yet. If you are reading this and thought of an interesting thing I could add to the game, do shoot me a message! I welcome it all!

V- Some fun tit bits...

Here are some random thing about the game/process that didn't make the cut in the novel above.

95% of the drinks are actual drinks, and as close to the recipe I could get them. I spent hours looking at recipes, and I even made a few while making the game.

Renaud's Nightmare is named after a disgusting concoction mentioned in Exquisite Cadaver (referencing my own work :P).

For a few weeks, I went back and forth between keeping the bar as is (one click on a bottle) or making it more like VA-11-HALL-4 (5 ingredients, different measurements). It was worse when I was fighting my code.

MelS (my writer for TTATEH) helped me name half of the drinks and of the characters (including NPCs not in the game currently). He also had to suffer through my various attempts at making the page look good (his go-to responses: I don't know what looks good or not, it's fine and both versions look good, why do I have to choose? You know this stuff better than me.).

I've been on a Terry Pratchett binge since May-ish, and it inspired the humour of TTTT to be a bit more over the top than I would have probably done otherwise. The Last Continent was one of the reasons I gave the MC an Australian accent.

All bottle ingredients had at least 2 versions: plain colours and the current 3D-looking version with shading and a cap/cork.

There are over 120 assets/images in this game, 3/4 of them being the glasses.

VI- In Conclusion

You've reached the end of this post. Thank you for playing reading! I hope you enjoyed the ride and I hope to see you again when progress on the new version finally starts. Like during the making of TTTT's Comp version, it will be well documented on this blog. In the meantime, you can find the game on itch now!

Thank you to everyone who played my entry, voted for it, left a review or a comment, and interacted with me on this long/short journey!

I don't think I'll participate next year tho... I am exhausted. Well... unless I get a good idea until then... I should try to make a smaller game this time...

[xacheri]

About Me - Commit #2 - Goals and Education

This commit, I built the goals and education pages on the NameBoy. It was easier than the last commit because I spent most of last commit building the responsiveness and spent much of this one just taking advantage of it.

Mobile (Goals):

Mobile (Education):

Desktop (Goals):

Desktop (Education):

I love how it's coming together!

The HTML:

All I had to do here was add two new carousel items with some stylized text.

The goals screen has a centered heading with three separately identified (and styled) subheadings. We have our nav hints absolutely positioned on the corners.

The education screen is mostly the same thing. The heading is centered but non of the text is colored. There are 2 unordered lists, with list items that contain the "edItem" class. We have another navhint and a navhintReverse.

The CSS

On the goals screen, our h2 is pink, our h3 is 16px and underlined with a margin all around.

Learn is blue, Build is red, Play is orange.

On the education screen, I made the heading green and the h3 tags 16px in font-size. The edItems have a small margin to help space them.

I moved the #homeScreen > p statement to a general p {} statement. I also added navhintReverse to do nav hints on the left side of the screen.

Conclusion:

HTML/CSS is not very quick in making artistic webpages but it is pretty fast at styling plain-text like this. It was a breeze.

The makers of the languages had great ideas, and did a good job, but they never could have predicted that the web would evolve the way it did.

Check it out on github: https://github.com/Xacheri/aboutme

[mmainulhasan]

Prompt Examples for Learning Web Development

Coding is both an art and a science. It’s about creatively solving problems, bringing ideas to life, and constantly learning and adapting.

Because technology advances at such a rapid pace, it is essential to be fluent in a variety of languages, tools, and domains.

Sometimes it’s difficult to pick up the right resources from the ocean of tutorials, demos, and resources.

And on top of that, sometimes we have to learn and apply so fast due to tight deadlines of the projects. In this case, we need a friend who can help us learn and work faster and better. And thanks to AI by this, our learning becomes faster and more fun.

Today, we’ll look at how learning prompts that AI drives can change the way you learn web development.

How you can craft prompt engineering for web development, the difference between a generic prompt and a bit tweaked prompt can eventually change your desired results and make your learning journey more smooth and more enjoyable.

You can also use this knowledge to learn other fields more quickly and interactively.

Table of Contents

Learning Prompts

HTML Prompt Examples

CSS Prompt Examples

Debugging Prompts

Testing Prompts

Crafting Better Prompts

Further Reading and Resources

🎯Learning Prompts

Prompts are at the heart of AI-powered learning. Prompts are questions or commands that guide AI models like GPT-3 or GPT-4 to generate the desired responses. They act as a springboard for the AI to dive into the knowledge it’s been trained on and come up with relevant outputs.

You can use AI’s capabilities in a variety of scenarios in web development, including debugging, code generation, and even learning new web development concepts.

Now, we’ll go through some basic prompts and their outputs, as well as a little tweaking of the prompt commands to see how the output is becoming more result oriented, giving you a sense of how you may build your prompt commands for better results.

Prompt Commands for Learning HTML Basics

Learning the basics of web development involves understanding the structure and syntax of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Here are some prompt examples you can use:

Create a simple HTML structure with a header, main content section, and footer.

This prompt returns a simple HTML skeleton. But if you want a more detailed structure, you could modify the prompt to include specific HTML elements. For example:

Create a simple HTML structure with a header containing a navigation bar, a main content section with a paragraph and an image, and a footer with copyright information.

Curious to know more? Visit our blog for the complete post and dive deeper into Learning Web Development with AI Prompts.

[wpthemegy]

Mastering WordPress: A Comprehensive Guide to Building Dynamic Websites"

"Mastering WordPress: A Comprehensive Guide to Building Dynamic Websites" is a comprehensive resource for anyone looking to harness the power of WordPress and create professional and dynamic websites. Authored by industry experts, this book covers everything from the basics to advanced techniques, making it suitable for beginners as well as experienced developers.

The book starts with an introduction to WordPress, explaining its history, features, and why it has become the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world. It then dives into the installation process, guiding readers through the steps required to set up a WordPress website.

With the foundation in place, the book moves on to cover the essentials of WordPress themes and plugins. Readers learn how to choose and customize themes to suit their specific needs, and how to extend the functionality of their websites by leveraging the vast array of available plugins.

The book places a strong emphasis on design, providing insights into creating visually appealing and user-friendly interfaces. It delves into the intricacies of CSS and HTML, teaching readers how to customize the appearance of their websites and make them stand out from the crowd.

Content creation and management are covered extensively, with detailed instructions on creating and organizing pages, posts, and media. Readers learn how to optimize their content for search engines, ensuring maximum visibility and reach. Additionally, the book delves into the intricacies of managing user roles and permissions, allowing readers to control access to their websites effectively.

One of the highlights of "Mastering WordPress" is its coverage of e-commerce. The book provides step-by-step instructions on setting up an online store using popular WordPress plugins, enabling readers to create a fully functional and secure e-commerce platform.

To cater to more advanced users, the book explores custom theme development and plugin creation. It provides in-depth knowledge of PHP and JavaScript, empowering readers to extend WordPress functionality to meet their unique requirements.

Security and performance optimization are given due attention, with dedicated chapters on hardening WordPress installations and optimizing website speed. Readers gain valuable insights into best practices for securing their websites and delivering a fast and seamless user experience.

Throughout the book, practical examples and real-world scenarios are used to reinforce concepts and illustrate their practical application. Troubleshooting tips and techniques are also provided to help readers overcome common challenges and ensure smooth website operation.

"Mastering WordPress" goes beyond technical instruction; it also covers essential aspects of website management and maintenance. Readers learn about backups, updates, and ongoing site management, ensuring their websites remain secure and up-to-date.

With its comprehensive coverage, "Mastering WordPress: A Comprehensive Guide to Building Dynamic Websites" serves as a go-to reference for web developers, designers, and entrepreneurs seeking to leverage the power of WordPress. Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to enhance your existing WordPress skills, this book equips you with the knowledge and tools necessary to build stunning, functional, and successful websites.

[technology-moment]

Web Development Unleashed: Transform Your Ideas into Amazing Websites!

Web development is an exciting field that enables you to bring your ideas to life through stunning and functional websites. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to enhance your skills, understanding the key elements of web development can help you create amazing online experiences. Here’s how to get started and transform your vision into reality!

1. Understand the Basics

Before diving into web development, familiarize yourself with the fundamental concepts:

HTML (HyperText Markup Language): The backbone of any website, HTML structures your content.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): CSS is responsible for the design and layout of your website, allowing you to style your HTML elements.

JavaScript: This programming language adds interactivity and enhances user experience.

2. Choose the Right Tools

Selecting the right tools can streamline your development process:

Code Editors: Tools like Visual Studio Code or Sublime Text make coding easier.

Version Control: Git helps you manage changes and collaborate with others.

Frameworks: Explore frameworks like React, Angular, or Vue.js for building dynamic user interfaces.

3. Responsive Design

With the rise of mobile browsing, ensure your website looks great on all devices. Use CSS media queries to adapt your layout and improve user experience across various screen sizes.

4. Optimize for Performance

Fast loading times are crucial for user retention and SEO. Optimize images, minify CSS and JavaScript files, and consider using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to speed up your website.

5. SEO Best Practices

To ensure your website is discoverable:

Keyword Research: Identify relevant keywords and incorporate them naturally into your content.

Meta Tags: Use title tags and meta descriptions effectively to improve click-through rates.

Quality Content: Create valuable and engaging content that addresses your audience's needs.

6. Testing and Deployment

Before launching, rigorously test your website for usability, responsiveness, and bugs. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can help assess performance. Once satisfied, deploy your site using platforms like GitHub Pages, Netlify, or traditional hosting services.

7. Continuous Learning

Web development is ever-evolving. Stay updated with the latest trends and technologies by following online courses, blogs, and forums.

Conclusion

Transforming your ideas into amazing websites is an achievable goal with the right knowledge and tools. By mastering the basics, optimizing for performance, and staying current, you’ll be well on your way to creating stunning web experiences.

#WebDevelopment #WebDesign #HTML #CSS #JavaScript #ResponsiveDesign #SEO #WebPerformance #Coding #TechTrends

[syntaxlevelup1]

Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with Placement Support

In today’s fast-evolving tech landscape, becoming a Full Stack Developer is a highly sought-after career path. A Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with Placement Support can significantly boost your chances of securing a well-paying job in the tech industry. If you’re looking for comprehensive training that covers both front-end and back-end development, SyntaxLevelUp offers one of the best courses in Pune.

Why Choose Full Stack Development?

Full Stack Developers are versatile professionals skilled in both front-end (user interface) and back-end (server, database, and logic) technologies. They have the ability to manage the entire development process, making them extremely valuable to employers. By enrolling in a Full Stack Developer Course, you'll gain knowledge in technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, Node.js, MongoDB, and more, allowing you to build complete web applications from scratch.

Pune: A Hub for IT and Innovation

Pune is known for its thriving IT industry, making it an ideal location to pursue a career in tech. With numerous companies setting up their base in the city, demand for skilled developers is high. A Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with placement support is the perfect way to capitalize on this demand. Training in Pune not only offers access to leading industry experts but also connects you with a vast network of employers looking for qualified candidates.

SyntaxLevelUp: A Premier Choice

SyntaxLevelUp is a top-tier training provider in Pune, offering a robust Full Stack Developer Course designed to equip students with real-world skills. Here's why SyntaxLevelUp stands out:

Comprehensive Curriculum: The course covers all key aspects of Full Stack Development, including front-end, back-end, databases, version control, and deployment. Whether you're a beginner or looking to upskill, the curriculum is designed to meet all levels of expertise.

Hands-on Projects: Learning by doing is essential for mastering development skills. SyntaxLevelUp ensures you work on multiple hands-on projects that mimic real-world scenarios, giving you a portfolio to showcase to potential employers.

Expert Trainers: The course is led by industry professionals with years of experience in Full Stack Development. Their expertise not only helps you understand the concepts but also guides you through the latest trends and tools in the field.

Placement Support: One of the biggest advantages of enrolling with SyntaxLevelUp is their placement support. They have tie-ups with leading IT companies and provide interview training, resume building, and job placement assistance to help you land a job as soon as you complete the course.

What You’ll Learn

Here’s a sneak peek into what the Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with SyntaxLevelUp covers:

HTML/CSS: The building blocks of web development for creating responsive and visually appealing user interfaces.

JavaScript: Master both client-side and server-side JavaScript with frameworks like React and Node.js.

Databases: Learn how to manage and manipulate data using databases like MongoDB, MySQL, and more.

API Integration: Understand how to integrate third-party APIs and build efficient, scalable applications.

DevOps & Deployment: Get hands-on experience with tools like Git, Docker, and CI/CD pipelines to manage version control and deployment processes.

Why Placement Support Matters

In today’s competitive job market, having placement assistance can be the difference between struggling to find a job and securing one quickly. With SyntaxLevelUp’s Full Stack Developer Course in Pune, you don’t just get technical training; you get access to a comprehensive placement support system that ensures you're ready for the job market. From mock interviews to resume reviews, the course gives you all the tools you need to succeed.

Conclusion

If you're looking to kickstart your career as a Full Stack Developer, enrolling in a Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with Placement Support at SyntaxLevelUp could be your best move. The combination of a strong curriculum, hands-on projects, expert trainers, and placement assistance provides the perfect foundation for a successful career in tech.

Ready to take the next step? Visit SyntaxLevelUp today to learn more about their course offerings and secure your spot!

Looking for comprehensive fullstack training in Pune? SyntaxLevelUp offers the best Full Stack Developer Course in Pune, covering front-end and back-end technologies. Our Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with placement ensures job assistance upon completion. Specializing in Full Stack Java Developer Course in Pune, we provide top-tier full stack developer classes in Pune. Join our full stack web development course in Pune to kickstart your career with confidence!

[businessa]

Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with Placement Support

In today’s fast-evolving tech landscape, becoming a Full Stack Developer is a highly sought-after career path. A Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with Placement Support can significantly boost your chances of securing a well-paying job in the tech industry. If you’re looking for comprehensive training that covers both front-end and back-end development, SyntaxLevelUp offers one of the best courses in Pune.

Why Choose Full Stack Development?

Full Stack Developers are versatile professionals skilled in both front-end (user interface) and back-end (server, database, and logic) technologies. They have the ability to manage the entire development process, making them extremely valuable to employers. By enrolling in a Full Stack Developer Course, you'll gain knowledge in technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, Node.js, MongoDB, and more, allowing you to build complete web applications from scratch.

Pune: A Hub for IT and Innovation

Pune is known for its thriving IT industry, making it an ideal location to pursue a career in tech. With numerous companies setting up their base in the city, demand for skilled developers is high. A Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with placement support is the perfect way to capitalize on this demand. Training in Pune not only offers access to leading industry experts but also connects you with a vast network of employers looking for qualified candidates.

SyntaxLevelUp: A Premier Choice

SyntaxLevelUp is a top-tier training provider in Pune, offering a robust Full Stack Developer Course designed to equip students with real-world skills. Here's why SyntaxLevelUp stands out:

Comprehensive Curriculum: The course covers all key aspects of Full Stack Development, including front-end, back-end, databases, version control, and deployment. Whether you're a beginner or looking to upskill, the curriculum is designed to meet all levels of expertise.

Hands-on Projects: Learning by doing is essential for mastering development skills. SyntaxLevelUp ensures you work on multiple hands-on projects that mimic real-world scenarios, giving you a portfolio to showcase to potential employers.

Expert Trainers: The course is led by industry professionals with years of experience in Full Stack Development. Their expertise not only helps you understand the concepts but also guides you through the latest trends and tools in the field.

Placement Support: One of the biggest advantages of enrolling with SyntaxLevelUp is their placement support. They have tie-ups with leading IT companies and provide interview training, resume building, and job placement assistance to help you land a job as soon as you complete the course.

What You’ll Learn

Here’s a sneak peek into what the Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with SyntaxLevelUp covers:

HTML/CSS: The building blocks of web development for creating responsive and visually appealing user interfaces.

JavaScript: Master both client-side and server-side JavaScript with frameworks like React and Node.js.

Databases: Learn how to manage and manipulate data using databases like MongoDB, MySQL, and more.

API Integration: Understand how to integrate third-party APIs and build efficient, scalable applications.

DevOps & Deployment: Get hands-on experience with tools like Git, Docker, and CI/CD pipelines to manage version control and deployment processes.

Why Placement Support Matters

In today’s competitive job market, having placement assistance can be the difference between struggling to find a job and securing one quickly. With SyntaxLevelUp’s Full Stack Developer Course in Pune, you don’t just get technical training; you get access to a comprehensive placement support system that ensures you're ready for the job market. From mock interviews to resume reviews, the course gives you all the tools you need to succeed.

Conclusion

If you're looking to kickstart your career as a Full Stack Developer, enrolling in a Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with Placement Support at SyntaxLevelUp could be your best move. The combination of a strong curriculum, hands-on projects, expert trainers, and placement assistance provides the perfect foundation for a successful career in tech.

Ready to take the next step? Visit SyntaxLevelUp today to learn more about their course offerings and secure your spot!Looking for comprehensive fullstack training in Pune? SyntaxLevelUp offers the best Full Stack Developer Course in Pune, covering front-end and back-end technologies. Our Full Stack Developer Course in Pune with placement ensures job assistance upon completion. Specializing in Full Stack Java Developer Course in Pune, we provide top-tier full stack developer classes in Pune. Join our full stack web development course in Pune to kickstart your career with confidence!