#wordpress website in 2025

[brandzcreation]

How to Create WordPress Website in 2025: A Step-by-Step Guide

WordPress is a very well-optimized content management system, offering a basic setup extensive customization, theme customization, and a strong foundation with plugins.

Beginners people can get started pretty quickly website with WordPress. That said, you can do a few things with WordPress SEO to increase your ranking on the search engine result pages, refine your workflow, and make sure your website is perfectly optimized.

In this blog, we will walk you through 10 steps to creating a WordPress website optimized for search engines.

[afrantechnology]

7 Must-Have WordPress Plugins for 2025

7 Essential WordPress Plugins I Always Install (2025 Edition)

Looking to enhance your WordPress site? Here are the 7 must-have plugins I recommend for 2025:

Rank Math SEO – Effortless SEO optimization.

WP Rocket – Boost your site speed with caching.

Elementor Pro – Easily design stunning pages.

WPForms – Create interactive forms to engage visitors.

Akismet Anti-Spam – Keep spam at bay.

UpdraftPlus – Secure and back up your data.

WooCommerce – Build and manage online stores seamlessly.

These plugins will supercharge your site’s performance, security, and functionality!

Read more: 7 Essential WordPress Plugins

[universallyzineturtlerebel]

Freelancer vs. Web Design Company in Kolkata – Which One Should You Choose?

In today’s fast-moving digital world, having a professionally built website isn’t just a trend—it’s a business necessity. Whether you're a startup founder or a growing brand, the common dilemma remains: Should I hire a freelancer or a web design company in Kolkata?

At Webart Technology, a leading web design company in Kolkata, we often help clients navigate this choice. This blog breaks down the advantages and drawbacks of both options and explains why collaborating with an experienced team can be a game-changer for your business.

Freelancers vs. Companies: What's the Difference?

✅ Freelancers: Solo but Limited

Freelancers usually work independently and may offer quick and budget-friendly services. However, they often lack the full spectrum of capabilities that a professional web design company in Kolkata can offer.

Pros:

Lower pricing

Flexible schedules

Direct communication

Cons:

Limited in advanced services like SEO, content, and UI/UX

No long-term support or website maintenance

Risk of delays or quality inconsistency

✅ Web Design Companies: Comprehensive and Reliable

Choosing a full-service web design company in Kolkata like Webart Technology means getting access to a team of professionals—developers, designers, content creators, SEO experts—all working to deliver your project with precision and care.

Pros:

One-stop solution: design, development, content, and SEO

Professional accountability and project management

Continuous support and maintenance

Higher quality assurance

Cons:

Slightly higher initial cost than freelancers

Why Choose Webart Technology?

Located in Salt Lake Sector 5, Webart Technology is a trusted web design company in Kolkata offering a complete range of services under one roof. Our approach combines creativity, technical excellence, and affordability.

Here’s what sets us apart:

🌐 Custom Web Design

We create unique, responsive, and brand-specific websites that reflect your business values and vision. No templates—only custom work.

🛠️ Content Management Systems

Our CMS solutions (WordPress, Joomla, or custom-built) let you take control of your website’s content with ease.

🛒 Ecommerce Solutions

Looking to sell online? Our secure and scalable ecommerce development ensures your customers enjoy a seamless buying experience.

✍️ SEO-Ready Website Content

A website isn’t complete without engaging and optimized content. We provide high-quality website content that ranks and resonates.

🔄 Website Maintenance

From plugin updates to performance optimization, we offer long-term website maintenance to keep your online presence strong and secure.

Why Work With Website Designers Near Kolkata?

Hiring website designers near Kolkata offers benefits beyond affordability. You get localized expertise, timely communication, and the option for in-person collaboration—advantages that are hard to get from remote freelancers.

As a reputed web design company in Kolkata, Webart Technology ensures that our team is always accessible to our clients in and around Salt Lake Sector 5, making project execution smooth and hassle-free.

Freelancer vs. Webart Technology – A Quick Comparison

Services Offered

Freelancer: Limited

Webart Technology: Full-service team (design, SEO, content, UI/UX)

Support & Maintenance

Freelancer: Rare or extra

Webart Technology: Included with packages

Accountability

Freelancer: Varies

Webart Technology: Professional project tracking and delivery

SEO & Content

Freelancer: Often missing

Webart Technology: Included in most projects

Long-Term Relationship

Freelancer: Unpredictable

Webart Technology: Continuous support available

Location

Freelancer: Remote

Webart Technology: Based in Salt Lake Sector 5, Kolkata

Why Webart Technology Is the Smart Choice?

As a trusted web design company in Kolkata, Webart Technology blends creativity, technology, and affordability. We work closely with clients to understand their needs, ensuring the final output is not just a website—but a tool for growth.

Whether you're building a corporate site, launching an ecommerce store, or just need expert website designers near Kolkata, we offer the most affordable web design service with professional results.

Unlike many freelancers who may deliver just the front-end, we take care of everything—from backend integrations to content strategy and SEO. That’s the kind of value only a top web design company in Kolkata can offer.

Final Thoughts:

Freelancers are a viable option for simple, low-budget projects. But if you're serious about business growth, performance, and long-term digital presence, partnering with a professional web design company in Kolkata like Webart Technology is a much more strategic investment.

With years of experience, a team of specialists, and a client-first approach, we’ve earned our reputation as a go-to web design company in Kolkata, serving businesses across industries from our base in Salt Lake Sector 5.

🚀 Ready to Elevate Your Online Presence?

Contact Webart Technology – the leading web design company in Kolkata offering reliable, end-to-end web solutions.

[wjmdigitaldesign]

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: What’s the Difference and Which One Should You Choose?

If you’re thinking about launching a website or starting a blog, chances are you’ve come across WordPress. But there’s a common point of confusion: WordPress.com vs WordPress.org. At first glance, they sound like the same thing — but they’re actually quite different platforms with distinct features, pros, and cons.

In this blog post, we’ll break down the differences between the two, help you understand which one suits your needs, and guide you toward the best choice for your website goals.

What is WordPress.org?

WordPress.org is the self-hosted version of WordPress. It’s the open-source software that anyone can download for free and install on their own web hosting server. With WordPress.org, you have full control over your website.

Key Features:

Complete Customization: Install any theme or plugin, modify the code, and design your site exactly the way you want.

Ownership: You fully own your website and all its content.

Monetization Freedom: Use any ad network, sell products, offer memberships, or add affiliate links with no restrictions.

Advanced Functionality: Great for eCommerce (using plugins like WooCommerce), custom development, SEO tools, and more.

Pros:

Total control and flexibility

Thousands of free and premium plugins/themes

Full access to your site's backend and data

Ideal for business, large blogs, and complex websites

Cons:

Requires web hosting (usually $5–$15/month)

You handle security, backups, and updates (though plugins can automate much of this)

Slightly steeper learning curve for beginners

What is WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is a hosted platform created by Automattic (the company behind WordPress). It offers a simplified, all-in-one solution for building a website without worrying about hosting, maintenance, or technical tasks.

Key Features:

No Hosting Needed: Hosting is included. No need to buy a separate plan or domain (though custom domains are available on paid plans).

Easy to Start: Perfect for beginners who want a fast and simple setup.

Maintenance-Free: WordPress.com handles updates, security, and backups.

Pros:

Free basic plan available

No setup or maintenance required

User-friendly dashboard

Great for hobby blogs, personal websites, or simple portfolios

Cons:

Limited customization (especially on the free plan)

Cannot upload custom themes or plugins unless on Business or higher plan

Limited monetization options on lower-tier plans

WordPress.com branding unless you upgrade

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Quick Comparison Table

Feature

WordPress.com

WordPress.org

Hosting

Included

You provide (self-hosted)

Cost

Free with paid upgrades

Free software, hosting cost

Custom Themes & Plugins

Limited (paid plans only)

Unlimited

Monetization Freedom

Limited

Full control

eCommerce

Only on paid plans

Full eCommerce support

Maintenance

Handled for you

You manage it

Suitable For

Beginners, personal blogs

Businesses, pros, devs

Which One Should You Choose?

Choose WordPress.com if:

You want a hassle-free experience and don’t want to manage hosting or security.

You’re a beginner with no technical background.

You just need a simple blog or portfolio site.

You’re okay with limited flexibility or willing to pay for premium features.

Choose WordPress.org if:

You want full control and the ability to customize everything.

You’re building a business website, store, or scalable project.

You need to monetize your content freely.

You're comfortable (or willing to learn) about managing your own hosting.

Final Thoughts

Both WordPress.com and WordPress.org offer powerful tools for creating websites, but the right choice depends on your goals. If you’re starting out or want something easy and low-maintenance, WordPress.com is a solid option. If you're aiming for maximum control, customization, and scalability, WordPress.org is the way to go.

Still unsure? Start with WordPress.com to get your feet wet — and when you’re ready for more freedom, you can always migrate to WordPress.org.

Need help deciding or building your site? Contact WJM Digital Design for professional guidance, custom WordPress development, and support tailored to your goals. info@wjmdigitaldesign.com

[patsmarketing]

Top 5 Website Builders to Try in 2025

Looking to launch a stunning website in 2025? This infographic compares five of the best website builders—WordPress, Wix, Weebly, Webnode, and Shopify—highlighting their key features and strengths. Perfect for beginners, businesses, or e-commerce startups. Visit https://www.patsmarketing.ca/ for more details.

[infoanalysishub]

CMS Market Share Trends May 2025

Explore the latest CMS market share data as of May 2025. Learn why WordPress is declining, who’s gaining ground, and what it means for digital marketers and SEO professionals. CMS Market Share Trends (May 2025): WordPress Dominates, But SaaS Rivals Are Rising CMS Market Share Trends May 2025 Introduction: A Shifting CMS Landscape Since its inception in 2003, WordPress has stood tall as the…

[newsmediapublisher]

Best WordPress Hosting for Easy Website Creation in 2025 We compared prices, features, performance and support of the top WordPress hosting services to help you make the right decision for your website.

[theblogs2024]

Custom Made WordPress Style and design: Developing Tailor-made Methods for Your small business

WordPress powers around forty% of the internet, making it The most functional and well known written content administration programs (CMS) available today. Although pre-built themes and plugins could possibly get The task completed, custom WordPress layout can take your site to another stage by supplying distinctive, customized remedies that meet up with your certain organization desires. This information explores the benefits, functions, and process of personalized WordPress design and style that will help you get noticed from the electronic landscape.

Why Choose Personalized WordPress Style?

Personalized WordPress style means that you can produce a website that aligns correctly along with your manufacturer identification and company goals. In this article’s why it’s really worth considering:

Unique Branding: A custom style and design displays your brand’s character, location you besides opponents employing generic templates.

Enhanced Functionality: Personalized features and plugins make certain your site works particularly how you need it to.

Scalability: A tailor made web-site can improve with your small business, accommodating new capabilities and greater visitors.

Search engine marketing Optimization: Custom coding ensures your website is optimized for search engines like google, improving upon visibility and rankings.

Critical Attributes of a Personalized WordPress Style

1. Customized Themes

Unique layouts and patterns crafted to match your model’s style.

Flexible frameworks that let for long term updates and alterations.

two. Personalized Plugins and Integrations

Enhancement of plugins particular to your online business wants.

Seamless integration with 3rd-get together instruments including CRM techniques, payment gateways, or marketing platforms.

three. Responsive Style and design

Cellular-very first strategy guarantees your website performs flawlessly on all gadgets.

Adaptive layouts for desktops, tablets, and smartphones.

4. Highly developed Security Features

Custom protection measures to safeguard your website from vulnerabilities.

Normal updates and routine maintenance to maintain your website protected.

5. Optimized Functionality

Clean up, productive coding for more quickly load times.

Utilization of Articles Delivery Networks (CDNs) and caching for improved velocity.

The Process of Creating a Custom made WordPress Structure

Discovery and Setting up

Have an understanding of your business targets and audience.

Establish a web site map and wireframes to outline the composition.

Structure and Improvement

Develop mockups depending on your manufacturer’s type tutorial.

Establish a custom WordPress concept and build performance utilizing PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Content material Integration

Include and format content such as text, pictures, and video clips.

Optimize for Search engine marketing utilizing metadata, alt tags, and structured information.

Testing and Start

Test across a number of units and browsers for compatibility.

Start the site and observe general performance to be sure every thing runs efficiently.

Great things about Customized WordPress Style and design

Flexibility: Produce an internet site customized on your specific specs.

Enhanced Consumer Encounter: A personalized website assures intuitive navigation and operation.

Long-Phrase Price: Compared with generic templates, a custom structure grows with your online business.

Expert Attractiveness: Stand out with a web site that looks and capabilities a lot better than the Levels of competition.

Conclusion Personalized WordPress layout is really an financial investment in your organization’s on the net good results. By making a internet site tailored towards your special needs, you can enhance your model’s id, improve person working experience, and attain prolonged-term progress. Whether or not you’re starting from scratch or upgrading an current site, a customized WordPress Option ensures your site stands out inside of a crowded electronic world.

Ready to rework your on line presence? Call a WordPress layout professional nowadays to begin creating your aspiration Site!

Get more info. here: Web Design Companies In Naples Florida

[dashcon-two]

DashCon 2 Venue Announcement, Vendor's Hall, and More!

The DashCon 2 team is thrilled to announce the concrete answers to all your biggest questions. Where it is, when it is, how to buy tickets, and more. You ready?

TL;DR

Where: DashCon 2 will be held at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in North York, Toronto

When: July 5th, 2025

What: Tickets will go live on February 22nd. Vendor Applications will be open on February 1st, and Panelist Applications on February 10th.

Our Venue!!

[6 Sakura Way, North York, ON M3C 1Z5]

Image belongs to Bartman905 on Wordpress

The JCCC has previously hosted plenty of other fan conventions, notably the Anime North Halloween Event and Pretty Heroes. Given their experience with convention hosting and gorgeous venue space, we think they’re the perfect fit.

So, why did this take so long?

Well… the JCCC wasn’t our first pick. Our first pick, who we won’t name, dropped us unexpectedly after months of negotiations. Why? Original DashCon’s reputation. We literally got DashCon’d before the convention had even started!!

While we were expecting this and had backup plans, we were blindsided by a rejection this late into the negotiation process. After reaching out to our other contacts, we settled on the JCCC, but we had to restart the entire process. So much of our planning had to be restarted or paused, which set us way behind schedule. Naturally, we didn’t want to say anything about losing our venue spot until we’d adequately replaced it.

We’re happy to say that the Classic DashCon Venue Struggle is over and done with - and our rental with the JCCC is paid in advance. No $17k hostage situation necessary.

However, all this provokes another obvious question: why did you go public with the project when you hadn’t signed with the venue yet? In short: Strange Aeons’ DashCon: An Extensive Oral History video. We were already knee-deep in the project behind the scenes before finding out she was making a YouTube video about DashCon, pushing the story into the public eye again. The team was concerned that declaring we were organizing DashCon 2 soon after Strange Aeons’ video would imply it was a rush-job inspired by her video. We were far enough along in the initial venue negotiations that we decided to go public with the video rather than after it.

Date & Time

DashCon 2 will be held for one day: Saturday, 5th July 2025. We alluded to using the same weekend as the original DashCon when we first went public, but unfortunately this date wasn’t available at our venue. This does mean it’s pretty close to the American 4th of July - in our defense, we didn’t really think of that, we’re Canadian.

The convention will open to the public at 9:30 AM and close at 9:30 PM. All this information and more will be available on our website.

(These hours may be subject to minor changes, please always check our website for our most recent info!)

Admission

Ticket sales to in-person DashCon 2 will open on Feb 22nd! Mark your calendars…

We’ll be processing ticket sales through Simpli Events, an all-Canadian competitor to Eventbrite. You can click here to find the events page.

We’re working on the feasibility of expanding DashCon 2 into a hybrid event, with live-streams of the most anticipated panels/events and some other informal online panels hosted on a private Discord. More information on those will come at a later date.

Vendor and Panel Applications

DashCon 2’s Artist Alley/Vendor's Hall is a space for independent artisans who create print media, handmade crafts, or other merchandise. If you want the opportunity to sell your merchandise at DashCon 2, then you’ll be excited to learn that vendor applications will open on February 1st!

Please see www.dashcontwo.com/dealers-hall/ for more details about tables, prices, and merchandise. The link to the application form will be posted there.

We’re also happy to say that we’re opening panel applications on February 10th! We have a few guest panellists already lined up (including a few we can’t talk about yet), but we’re excited to open applications to everyone with a good idea! All DashCon 2 panels will be moderated by our volunteer team, and we’ll put out more info soon about volunteer sign-ups!

[teaberryblue]

I have some big news!

Today was my last day at King Features.

I was offered a choice between a very reduced role and a severance package, and I took it as a sign that the universe is telling me to try new things! I have been there for 16 years!

I’ll be available for new opportunities for 2025.

Just some highlights of the past 16 years:

Working as a comic editor with beloved humor, action-adventure, and soap opera comics

Writing and editing brand and character bibles for properties with over 100 years of history

Managing a roster of close to 100 comic writers and artists

Revamping classic characters for a contemporary audience

Overseeing all stages of content approvals for an international licensed book program

Developing entertainment pitch resources for beloved comic characters

Managing social media accounts for character brands

Building custom websites either from scratch or on Wordpress

Managing an active submissions and acquisitions program

Writing about comic art & history

Writing marketing copy for characters and comics

Some things I’ve only done a little of but would love to do more of, and things I haven’t done but would love to try:

Fiction writing

Comic writing

Game writing

Developing new stories and characters from the ground up

You can find my resume and writing samples at http://www.teaberryblue.com

If you know of someone who needs someone like me, tell them to get in touch!

[laosinsin]

"S-Classes That I Raised": A Repository of Translations

What's It About: In a changed world with dungeons, and monsters and Hunters, lowly F-Rank Hunter Han Yoojin gets the chance to turn back time after his estranged younger brother - an elite S-Rank Hunter - Han Yoohyun, dies saving his life.

This time around, starting from before their relationship really worsened, he's determined to make sure he gets the best possible outcomes for himself and his brother, and just live quietly beyond that, but looks that won't be so easy when the world is coming to an end, and now all the S-rank hunters around can't stay away from Yoojin.

(It's not a harem novel (mostly). It's Yoojin and his so so many kids and some friends and some situationships. This cover has quite a few people missing from the cast, tbh, even if it does have all the more key ones. The blond man in the top center - NOT the villain - regardless of this cover lmao)

Where to Read It

There are a lot of chapters and quite a few translations floating around in different stages of doneness, so putting this together for reference, with some latest-as-of-2025 info.

The Original (aka the novel in Korean)

The main story in Korean seems wrapped up and finished as of May 2025. Clocking a whopping 1165 (sweet sweet) Chapters across the Main Story and the 2 Sequels (Side Story and After Story)

Main Story: 856 Chapters + 14 Chapters of an Epilogue

(This is usually available and often considered one complete work of 870 Chapters. Epilogue Chapter 1 is sometimes just Main Story Chapter 857 also)

This is available to read on a whole bunch of sites such as Naver, Kakaopage, Ridibooks, Munpia, both in ebook and chapter form, as well as on more 🏴‍☠️ platforms where knovel raws thrive.

Side Story: 167 Chapters (Completed)

Afterwords: 128 Chapters (Completed)

These are, as of now, Naver exclusive and only available on the most hellish of the websites to buy from if you're not in SK, IMO (i.e. Naver). Hopefully this will change. These are also a bit tough to find raws of on 🏴‍☠️ platforms, ime.

Where to read the Translations!

Main Story Chapters 1 -400: The primary source of translation currently is SFS Translations' version! One needs to contact them for access to their locked/gdocs version (access can take a few days, but generally not more than 3-5 days) This is currently the best and most-up-to-date translation, as far as I know.

Beyond this, we venture into MTL land.

- Main Story Chapters 350 - 870 (aka till the end): Naive_twilight has put together a MTL epub and pdf available for Chapters 350-870 on reddit. While it is MTL, it is pretty decently understandable, IMO. But you would still want to re-read the chapters once they are released in actual translation, because this is a novel with layers and layers of stuff going on in the narration and dialogue. - Side Story Chapters 1-167 (aka complete): Naive_twilight to the rescue again, with an epub MTL file on reddit, updated just a few weeks ago. And that's where we are for now. After Story translation isn't available yet, will update this post, as/when there is something to link.

- Other than the Story itself, the author has also done extensive Q&As, which detail out a ton of worldbuilding and characterization notes, and a great collection/translation of some of them by dbgdbw can be found here on tumblr (uhhh, tumblr post linking to gdocs file?)

Other Misc Translations Under the Cut

As I said, this is a story with a lot of translations out there, and also this is a story with laters of stuff going on in the narration and dialogue, so sometimes it is very fun indeed to read different versions/takes on the same chapter. (And sometimes you just can't wait until you get access to SFS Translation's version, so you start elsewhere while you wait ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

- Chapter 1-330 (330- 350 is Patreon-locked) - MattReading Translations is on Wordpress, and the main/current translation linked on NovelUpdates. This is ongoing, and updates pretty frequently. Pretty decent - I think the flow of translation feels more natural in some earlier bits and gets a bit sloppier in later chapters - but the site is just ad-city central if you're on mobile. - FreeWebnovel - Chapters 1-261, but this seems to be abandoned and last updated 6+ months ago. This is also, I think the version, one will find in epub/PDF files of early chapters if one goes looking, and I think it uses text from older unedited raws, as opposed to the latest ones. And hence misses some pretty key new scenes/moments. So unfortunately, decent epub/pdfs for the early chapters are not currently easily findable. - dbgdbw - Very explanatory and informative translations on tumblr with extensive culture and translation notes for some selected chapters in the 183-350 chapter range, and then a lot of selected chapters all the way to the end. Definitely worth a look, especially if you are into the han-brothers relationship.

I think that's more or less the main versions that are out there, that I am aware of. Will update as and when new things pop up, and also please do let me know if I have missed something which is out there!

(Also thank you and shoutout to sctir who put together a similar post 3 years back, which is what got me started on this journey and helped me find the good stuff beyond the novelupdates entry)

[darkccfinds]

Due to the recent ban and censorship issues on Darkccfinds, a determination has been made as of today January 22, 2025

1. From this day on, all posts created from Darkccfinds that refer to an external link to Tumblr will receive a mirror for download and the web address credited without hyperlink to the content referred to

We have always genuinely prioritized the working links provided by the original creators of the content offered as is laudable by nature, but we cannot continue to take risks. This also involves extra effort and work on the part of Darkccfinds and this decision has been arduously debated and very thoughtful. Whereby:

If any of the external authors requests the removal of any of the content provided, their will will prevail. As well as that of the authors and creators themselves who in the past published on Tumblr and deleted or abandoned their blog and working links; which we have resurrected here to host them in a secure hosting and they are safe from oblivion and remain accessible to all those who value them and continue to need them today in the The Sims 3 community

You can resort to all this via DM or in this section #Appeal, all in Darkccfinds

The websites that remain exempt from this measure due to the proven approval passed by the Tumblr platform itself are those that are hosted under these hostings or other platforms:

Blogger GardenofShadows LiveJournal ModTheSims Patreon ( *Always Free links ) TheSimsResource Weebly WordPress

The list may increase or decrease depending on the answer of tumblr team to the last query we have made to solve this problem

2. We will not wait for the Tumblr filter regarding censorship and Darkccfinds will self-censor content considered NSFW by Tumblr

This must be made clear that it will be very much against our will and against some of our values ​​and philosophy, but we will try to maintain our pure essence knowing that it is increasingly difficult to do so on this platform

Thanks again for all the support, understanding and feedback received. Since the return and from the beginning, from the times we have been censored and released

Sincerely, the small team that forms Darkccfinds as a whole.

White-Enamel & Mikeintheshadows.

[paradoxcase]

How to use search engines effectively in the year of our lord 2025

So, we all know Google sucks now. There are some other alternative search engines, but honestly, switching search engines isn't going to fix a lot of the fundamental issues we're seeing with search engines nowadays. But yesterday, while responding to someone on reddit who was making the argument of "Google sucks now, so really, how much worse is it to just ask ChatGPT" I realized that there is actually a formula for using search engines that I have that continues to work perfectly for most things despite the fact that Google sucks now, so I thought I would share.

First of all, to remove all of the AI bullshit from Google, you can use udm14.com instead, or install the udm=14 browser extension. The method I outline here may or may not work with search engines other than Google, I haven't looked into them deeply enough. udm14.com should be essentially just Google, but without AI.

Then, we have to go back to the beginning and understand what a search engine actually is, and what it isn't. I spent three years of my career working in the guts of a search engine (not Google, or any other web-based search engine), so I should hope I would know what they are:

A search engine is a tool to locate documents.

Google in particular has done a lot to obscure what a search engine actually is by adding a lot of "cool" "features" to their search engine which are not actually within the scope of search engine capabilities. When you search for a question and Google displays a bolded answer that it found on a web page? Not search engine provenance. When it displays its "AI Summary"? Not search engine provenance. When it advertises things to you? Not search engine provenance. When it comes up with questions that "other people asked"? Not search engine provenance. The core competency of a search engine is to find documents (in this case, web pages) from a large collection of documents (the internet) based on their relevance to a query you have typed. Just like people are misusing ChatGPT to do stuff it was not designed for and that it is not good at, using a search engine as if it is a question answering service that can deliver the answer to a question you asked is using the search engine to do something it was not designed for and is not good at.

The search engine is not an all-in-one tool any more than ChatGPT is an all-in-one tool. Research is a multi-step process that involves a search engine, but the search engine cannot do everything for you. Here is the process:

Learn how to identify reliable sources of information. Learn what sites tend to have reliable information about the topic you're looking up. Wikipedia is a good fallback that may give you links to other reliable sources. You can also ask people who know more about your topic for recommendations of good sites. There are also sites that rank the reliability and bias of other popular sites. The search engine's ability to find relevant documents is not super useful when the internet is full of untrustworthy bullshit and is becoming more so as time goes on due to AI-generated content. Just because a search engine returns a link does not mean it is reliable.

Use a search engine to specifically search just the websites you know are reliable for your topic. Google has some documentation about how to do this on their search engine here. There should be a way to do this on any other half-decent search engine, as well, but I don't have the details of how to do it. Now you have limited your scope from "anything and everything produced by everyone who has ever created a Wordpress account plus whoever paid Google to have their site appear in every single search" to a collection of documents that you can trust.

Read the sources that you get back from the search engine. No, seriously. Read them. Don't read Google's "AI Summary". Read the actual sources. Don't read the bolded answer Google put at the top of the results list. Read the sources. Don't ask another AI to summarize the sources for you. Read the sources. Don't just read the headline or title and assume you now know everything that is in the body of the article. READ THE SOURCES. There is no shortcut for this, you have to read.

There was a time when you could get away with being lax about this and just do general searches, but that was because there was an actual limit on the amount of wrong information that mere humans could generate per unit time, and also because Google did legitimately use to be more concerned with promoting reliable sources than with promoting whoever paid them the most money to do so. But that time is over.

Basically, if you wouldn't just type your question into ChatGPT and hope for the best, don't just type your question into Google and hope for the best, either.

[talenlee]

Dev Pile 2025-06 — Starter Kit

Making dev piles is a new experience for the blog in that they are explicitly deliberately timely. Where most of the work on this blog is thrown weeks, sometimes months in advance if it doesn’t fit neatly in a single spot, I am trying to make sure I write any given Dev Pile article covering the ‘week before’ the article goes up. This is a new kind of work for me, and it’s necessitated working ahead.

The week this article is being ‘written in’ is the week after Cancon. I had a plan for this week: I was going to spend the week writing an article developing the game dev I did, at cancon, in the dull periods at the table between the sales. Thing is, this year, that did not happen – Cancon was pretty much completely constant, so much so that the first day I didn’t even notice I never pulled out my notebook and what notes did get taken during the whole event were surface, or sketching out some minor ideas.

Therefore instead of a single intense focus here, this is going to be something of a hello and hey, here’s how to get started article about game making, tools, and prototyping.

Who Can Make Games?

You can make games. I can make games. Anyone who wants to can make games. The access you have to industrial scale production equipment to make the game you’re designing into something that looks like conventional product is a little more attainable than you may think, thanks to modern tools.

The core of you making games is this: Can you explain a set of rules to another player that let them understand how to play the game?

Great, then you’ve made a game. The next step is working out how to make that game the kind of game you want it to be. And to paraphrase what Adam Savage once said, the difference between doing game development and screwing around is just writing things down.

Tools

First things first, if you have a tool you like for any of the stated purposes, then you should use the tool you like. The tools I describe here should all be free, but that can make them less convenient in ways you may not like.

To write rulebooks, I use LibreOffice. This is a text editor in the same vein as Pages and Word, and much like Google Docs. We’ve pretty much solved ‘writing in a document for a computer user to read’ as a format, and that format has been kinda the same for thirty years. Notably, a formal editor like this lets you do tables and give texts formatting entries like heading styles, which means you don’t have to work to translate that stuff to a website like a wordpress content management system. Under the hood, these two things know how to talk to one another.

Notepad is a valuable tool as well for when you need ‘scrap’ text – no formatting, just some numbers or the like, but literally anything will do here.

Almost inevitably any given game design I have will need a spreadsheet. Sometimes a spreadsheet lets me present a skeleton of a game, with say, a sheet of 52 entries that just indicate the information on a card’s face. That means I use LibreCalc, but I only started using that seven months ago, when I learned about the IFS function. The version of Excel I was using from 2007 didn’t have this ‘new’ functionality, and I found that very useful. You may ask: How often do you need ‘IFS’ in game development and the answer is never. There are definitely thihngs I can use spreadsheets for, but these functions are not super necessary.

To do visual editing I use GIMP, pronounced ‘noo-imp,’ because gimp is a silly word to use in everyday conversation and it has worn its welcome out in my tongue. GIMP is a program that takes some getting used to, but the heart of what it is is a powerful photoshop-level program that puts almost everything it has directly under your control, including warp tools, healing tools, stamp tools and other simple filters. I will usually use GIMP to generate a template file or example for how a card should look, and then, when I want to put those cards into a file to make a pdf for printing, I turn to…

Scribus! Scribus is my layout and DTP program that I avoid using in every situation I can. I dislike Scribus interface a lot, and as a result, I route around it – I try to make sure that if I’m doing something in a design that Scribus ‘could’ do, I will ensure that Scribus is the only thing that can do it, and if something else can do it, I’ll do it that way. This is a combination of familiarity and convenience: Scribus is by no means a bad program, I’m sure, but I don’t like using it and it feels very easy to break things, which means when I do use it, I’m probably using it ‘wrong,’ and a Scribus expert would want to correct my technique.

For making simple slideshow videos, where I just show a thing, talk about it, and move on, I use the program OBS, which you can use for rules tutorials or explainers. OBS has its own ability to do slides – which you can make in a slideshow program like Google Slides or powerpoint or Prezi if you like – and then you talk over it, advancing the slides in OBS. It’s a very powerful, very flexible tool, but I can understand if it’s a bit overwhelming to start with.

If you want to record audio for your game, which is a cool thing to do, I use Audacity. It’s a simple audio program if you’re just using it for its basic functions, but it can be great if (for example) you want to record audio diaries of your creation process.

Also, mixed in with this is, cardboard, paper, scissors and glue. Playing cards need a standardised form so you can make a ‘blank’ deck of cards by taking an ordinary deck of cards and putting large, white, laundry stickers on each face, ‘wiping’ it so you can write what you want on the face.

Art Though?

I use free art where I can. There’s a lot of art assets, paid and free over on itch.io, which you can definitely use to make your game work look more interesting than base. And of course…

Bandaid tearing off time,

There are free image generators that you can use if you are comfortable with that. My advice is that you should only ever use generators for ‘zero value’ forms of media; that is, nothing you intend to sell and nothing you intend to use as identifying for yourself; don’t use a generator for a logo for your identity or brand, for example, because that’s uncopyrightable and then someone can just copy it. Even if they don’t, the fact they can undermines the copyright value of designing your own logo and title.

But yeah, image generators are available online. When I need an image for an example, the one I recommend using is dezgo, because it doesn’t require a login, doesn’t require you to pay money, and all it asks of you is time to let it finish working. You’re not going to get timely bulk media out of it, but that means, in my mind, that any artwork it generates is going to be worth scrutinising and editing to make it more appropriate to your needs. This is part of a greater conversation, but for now, the important thing is that if you’re going to use generative tools you need to make sure you recognise what they’re bad at and what they’re bad for.

Getting Started?

Alright, you have some tools to make what you have in mind more possible. What I recommend you do, and I will delve more into this later in the week, is make a prototype, and then, once you have the prototype, look at it seriously.

You’re going to have to get your head around the question what do I like without asking the followup question why at first. What is it about your prototype that satisfies you? What would you change if you could? Why isn’t it satisfying to you, what about it makes you concerned. Are there things you haven’t thought about because of biases you have? Is it a game you can’t play with one hand?

The point is the prototype marks the point you start finding out. You don’t need a perfect game to prototype – indeed, I have a lot of very ugly games as prototypes and I think those ugly prototypes work really well as a place to start working out what to do next.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[retellingthehobbit]

Sorry I've been a little quiet here lately! Here's my Public Update on the progress for the next chapter, in honor of Hobbit Day: 1. I am a few pages away from having a "first pass" on a fully colored version of the next chapter, which will be titled "Over the Hill and Across the Water." It will be about 30 pages long. I wanted to have it done by now, But There are Dreams That Cannot Be and There Are Storms We Cannot Weather, so I wouldn't expect it for a while. In the meantime, I post weekly updates of my progress on Patreon-- usually shooting for one page a week, unless some other project comes up.

2. In the middle of all this, I've FINALLY created an official website for this webcomic-- Retellingthehobbit.com! This is an archive of the entire comic, where you can flip through page by page, as well as containing all the About information and social links in one place. It took a very long time to put together, and I had to do a lot of learning on wordpress, hosting, plugins, etc. I'm expecting to run into occasional issues and server problems as I'm making it live for the first time. However, now that it's in place, I'm hoping it will be easier to update in the future.

3. The other big project that's taken up tons of my energy is @lesmisletters, a Dracula-Daily style readalong of Les Miserables. If you want to chat with me in fandom spaces (and you enjoy Les Mis) feel free to check that book club out! We have a discord server book club where we've been analyzing the novel chapter-by-chapter. The next Les Mis Letters readalong begins on January 1st of 2025.

[kradeelav]

status update ~

thought i'd write a summary of what I've been up to, and what's next art-wise! honestly, I'm finding that I work well mentally consolidating projects to quarters of the year; it gives me hard deadlines while allowing nuttiness to blow up two weeks (or more) of my life at a time and still not be stressed.

year recap first!

(Q1) collaborated with @/lululeighsworld to give gunter the fabulous possessed gacha entrance he deserves!! leigh's writing here to this day feels uncannily and perfectly in-character, no small feat with the mind games this devious possessed old man likes to play ~

(Q1) also finished the 140k your ruin, my ruin gunter/corrin revelation fic! the reception from y'all has been absolutely exceptional and while I don't think I'll ever write another fanfic of that length (lol) being able to point to it re: my fire emblem fates: revelation feelings is so ... satisfying. the ossan smut holds up pretty damn well too.

(Q1) NaZine (I) anthology printed and completely sold out, but the digital version is eternally available on the shop if you're still interested. I'll admit that anthologies are not normally my thing for being too prim and milquetoast, but this is anything but. if you've been dying for more sleazy uniform fetish, we got it there!

(Q2) Comics-wise, both Dead is Calling and YRMR:[Epilouge] were finished and ready to be collected in my planned gunter/corrin doujinshi called ashes and ghost; there's one more (eye-blistering smut) strip planned there with a few internal pages.

(Q3) Website-wise, IRON CROWN moved to rarebit from wordpress, and the main landing page was revamped entirely to better pave a road for preparations to self-host the website.

that's not even counting the smaller flash artwork like the fe: alphabet challenge, and hellsing exchange work also done in between everything else.

what's next?

(Q4) you might have seen me show wip's from a FE:Heroes (gacha) comic; while it's tonally softer than my usual work, It's 14-ish pages of some very, very guilty pleasure topics. raw feelings but in a different way? idk, you'll see.

(Q4) I have a personal deadline to get the website updates done by November, namely moving my art/update logs off of wordpress, and also likewise either moving to a different host or self-hosting the entire site (on a rasbpi lol) and removing the middle-man entirely.

(Q4/2025) finishing ashes and ghost (the gunter/corrin doujinshi)! I've been taking a needed break from it (something learned back in the webcomics days) but I can't wait to get back in some hentai level smut that's frankly, going to push me in so many ways. :D;;

(2025) NaZine II will likely be printed in the upcoming year with the same team heading it up. There's delicious stories already planned including multiple shotas and Daddies, oh my - needless to say, it's the kind of sleaze and sauce i dig.

that's all for now!