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#i'm really tempted to just go on amazon and order a new one.......
nokingsonlyfooles · 2 months
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The menus don't work, the menus don't work, the menus DON'T WORK...
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OK, my few readers. I took a break, I went back to fix the navigation, it's unfixable as-written.
I need some complex stuff in places, I was willing to forgive WP for putting out a new site editing interface that barely works - as long as it has the basic features someone would use on a storefront. I'm an outlier. I know this.
BUT IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO CREATE A MENU WITH A WORKING SUB-MENU IN IT. IF YOU TRY, THE SUB-MENU LINKS ARE UNCLICKABLE.
I am using their site editor and their 2024 theme, I should say.
I crossed my fingers and looked for the (now liable to vanish from anything more complicated than a paragraph) "edit as html" option. Nope! It's gone! I can't fix it. I would have to hack the interface somehow to fix this for WordPress, within WordPress.
I had to go looking for plugins. I HAD TO GO LOOKING FOR 3RD PARTY SOFTWARE TO GET A FUNCTIONAL MENU. And, of course, they paywall features I need. I found a "floating" menu that actually does work well enough (it's a little cramped on mobile unless you put the screen in landscape mode, but at this point you should really do that anyway, I can only format so much) but the sub-menu function is paywalled. And I'm actually fucking tempted to buy (haha, I mean "rent") it. Because the damn thing works in dark mode and across devices. And it sticks to the side in a fairly unobtrusive way, which WP's menu will not. It won't stick anywhere. And it sure as hell won't do that thing where you scroll up and it plops down for your convenience.
But if I use that floating menu without sub-menus, it's gonna get longer, and longer, and longer, until it doesn't fit on your mobile screen anymore, or potentially your tablet or desktop, and then I dunno what happens. Also, in order to keep it small, everything is a cryptic icon that displays a title when you tap it (on mobile) or hover over it (on desktop). That's kinda counterintuitive, I don't know if I want my one working menu to be like that.
I might keep looking and find another plugin that also works that well but... it's not likely. Or, if I do, I may run into another paywall. They gotta get their rent somehow!
This is a stupid problem and so far I am unable to come with with a non-stupid solution. I can:
Put all the links in the header menu, and you'll have to scroll through EVERYTHING to find the actual content every time.
Put all the links in the content area, in different places and different combinations depending on the page. (And this would mean doing some reformatting on every instalment AGAIN.)
Start fucking around with the sidebar - I don't know if it works and I'd have to rip up every template I've already made to add it.
Put all the links in the footer menu, and nobody will notice them.
Put all the links in the floating menu (see above for the issues with that).
Make sub-pages for Misc/Notes and similar that are just lists of links and serve the function of a sub-menu.
Actually put the content on the sub-page and have it navigable via anchors (this seems like it would be a bitch to load, but most of my content is just text).
Make a list of links that isn't actually tagged as a menu, thus losing the collapsible function for small screens.
Kill God.
That last one is probably the most doable but I feel like someone would get mad at me. Like, Hazbin Hotel finally got its first season on Amazon, and if God dies they might have to rewrite some shit.
If I don't lay out the money for the cryptic icon menu, we're probably going to end up with three or four accordions that are not technically menus at the top of every page. And I'll hafta check back every once in a while to see if WP fixed their shit yet.
If they don't stick with that site editor and make it useable, all this work is going to vanish like chalk marks in the rain.
I WANTED to put up another six-pack in February. I have it ready to go! But the site doesn't work. If I can't fix it this week, I won't even be able to put things up without illustrations. And forget having time to fill in the missing artwork. I got enough to do trying to kill God!
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dzpenumbra · 10 months
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5/31/23
Yep, it's late again. XD
What happened this time? I don't know... I kinda panic-rushed to start working on those prototype beads at... 2 fucking 30 in the morning. You know... as one does... And here I am, starting my journal at 4:44 AM, the birds filling the air with their cheerful song, the midnight blue of dawn slowly warming the sky.
The good news? I got a really cool design done on one of the beads. The bad news? My goal was to do 4 of them, and to Mod Podge at least one of them. And I clearly didn't. So... yeah.
The day just got away from me again. Like... ugh. It's just frustrating me. I seriously don't even sit down to have my coffee until like 5 PM, and I'm rarely done drinking coffee before 7. Where do the fucking hours go?!
Like... I barely spent any time in bed! I got up, I did yoga - the lower back and hip one I like - then I did a bit of a workout after, because I hadn't been doing them. I have this ritual of opening the window and then doing the coffee before yoga, so it steeps while I'm doing that. And then, after the workout, I go and make cereal and I sit down and... it's like 4:30. At least.
I mean... I did play Risk of Rain a bit... but just one run to go for an achievement, I don't think it took longer than an hour... Hmm... maybe that did take longer than I remember. Maybe that's the X factor. Hmm...
Welp... after all that, I went and showered. I put a clothes iron and a glass bowl to make another plant terrarium thing with in a cart on Amazon and never ordered it. I made dinner. I played music for a long time. I got really sucked into it too. I even opened Cubase and got ready to record and everything. But... I never pulled the trigger on it. Not until too late.
What's getting in the way? Twitch. I guarantee it. I'm just getting distracted. It's too fucking easy for me, it's so damn tempting. It's improv, it's comedy, it's drama, it's character-driven stories. How can I say no? I don't know, maybe I'm being a bit hard on myself.
I did an intense workout today, I snuck in some work hours late at night and I'm still kicking my own ass about not "being productive". <eyeroll> I need to chill with that shit.
The flowers really didn't have the same level of aroma tonight as they did yesterday... I wonder why that is?
Anywho, since it's so late, I'm just going to move along to tarot. And I'm counting this as work, because I honestly think I could give some good readings for people, and I plan to try in the near future on stream. I would offer in-person, but... I don't even have a table in my apartment. We'll see.
Past - Ace of Wands, inverted (Inspiration, creativity, fresh ideas.  The seed of confidence you need to embark on a new creative journey.) Present - Six of Cups, inverted (Nostalgia, memories, past relationships.  Learning from and reconciling with the past, to create a better future.) Future - IV: The Emperor (A powerful, dominant, strategic and protective figure of great influence and reach.  Symbolically, important changes, a shift in power, new responsibilities or authority. Adjacently symbolizes stability.)
I swear I shuffle and cut these every time. I even looked through the top of the deck to see if there were any other familiar cards from last night there. I guess these symbols are important!
So... last night we explored my connection between the Emperor in Past... and an inverted Ace of Wands in Present. Now we're looking at that inverted Ace of Wands as the catalyst. My inability to access my creativity: having creative block, me restricting or censoring myself, whatever the reason... That leads to a dysfunction in my ability to reflect on the past. Something gets fucked up there. Or... my nostalgia turns dark... That was the first thing I felt when I learned what the card meant. Like... how I struggle with nostalgia because... it's rarely good memories. It's like a minefield of trauma and painful emotions. So... I'm guessing my lack of confidence in my creative self can be a direct route to that. And... if that's out of whack? The Emperor comes out. I mean, why wouldn't he. He's the father figure, the protective guardian, the lord. And, in essence, that's not necessarily a bad thing... but... if we put that in the context of the reading last night about the Emperor having a strong tendency to cause inverted Ace of Wands to happen... That's a feedback loop right there.
When I struggle to connect with my creative spark, or lack the confidence to engage with it, I end up looking back to the Past in ways that are... not helping. Hopeless longing, or dreading, even spite. "I didn't used to be like this." "I never used to struggle like this." "I used to have friends to help with this." Shit like that, which just sends me spiraling into all the shit that comes with those memories, all the attached nightmares, all the ghosts haunting those houses. And the reaction to this? The Emperor comes out to keep order. The "alright, what's going on here, we're supposed to be working, right? How productive have we been today? What's on the whiteboard? You can think about that stuff later if it's important" voice. And he's good at keeping emotions at bay... for the moment... But what last night said was... when he comes out... it tends to actually either reinforce or even cause a blockage between me and my creative spark. Or, at very least, my confidence to take creative risks. And this can result in a great outpouring of emotion. Ironic, eh? XD
Welp... that's a bit of a cluster fuck, isn't it? Hmm... so... if there's anything I've learned this week. I gotta work on my inner parent. I need to let myself wander a bit more, and be okay with a few days of meandering. I need my inner parent to focus more on... constructing larger scale plans. Like... some form of day structure... like developing strategies to get to bed earlier, constructing hypothetical scenarios where I'm working and enjoying myself, finding ways to get me outside more. Shit like that. And less... self-policing. If I had a good foundation, a healthier framework, I wouldn't need to self-police at all. So... that's my solution. Instead of going "oh no, don't ever listen to the Emperor" or whatever... to give little tweaks customized to how I know my personality works. Something that seems doable.
But for now, I'm off to bed.
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expelliarmus · 6 years
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frogsandfries · 5 years
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So,
I'm learning that running an image straight through a pattern maker isn't going to be completely fool-proof.
Now I'm trying to figure out an alternative. I think, for me, running the image through my preferred pattern maker, and then lining it up in my drawing app, is going to be the best way for me personally to quickly see what colors might be excessive/arbitrary. I'm going to have to do some real puzzling to figure out how to make a multi-page pattern work out. Luckily, I have a few patterns that are multiple pages.
I'm really trying to figure out what works for me as far as patterns. I don't really have the patience to dig around and find out if exactly what I want exists. I want to try stitching pokemon as keychains, for example. I also want to create original pieces using cross stitch. Original illustrations alone demand that I figure out some way to make my own patterns. For existing content that I want to adapt, I think I've figured out a method that works for me.
It really helps me make judgement calls when I can see the colors I'm working with. I guess in the morning, I'm going to try to wrap up the pattern I started working on this evening. I really wish we had black ink in the printer; I really would prefer to have my patterns on paper. I guess I could just run to the store tomorrow. I could get binder rings and self-laminating page protectors, maybe also some sharpies to mark my progress.
I think I would be too tempted to make another stop to start building up the color palette for my next project.
So a few days ago, I ordered these twenty-hole thread organizers, they arrived, and of course, I started transferring my thread from my improvised thread organizers. I'm still really excited to work on this poster, so I've only been doing a few colors at a time. I used masking tape to mark down the numbers of my colors, and then I started to wonder if any of those Paon threads match any of the DMC colors. I don't think I'm remotely close to having all of the DMC colors (although give me a few more of these posters), but I honestly think most of these colors out of a cheap kit off Amazon will match DMC colors, very closely if not perfectly. So now I'm elbows deep trying to get my color palette moved onto these cards while also trying to figure out which Paon colors match DMC colors that I have so I can keep using what I have on hand before buying new stuff and ending up with more mustard yellow than one person could ever use. Also, if I can order four hundred skeins of two hundred colors for thirty bucks, rather than spending an hour at the store that it took me almost two hours to get to, that also appeals to me.
As far as these thread organizers go, I don't know how I feel about them. I think a double sided organizer is a bit much for me. I'm also still not crazy about having my thread so loose and flopping all over the place, picking up grime off the table or carpet or my bed or my hands, exposed to the light. It's hard to figure out how best to set the whole thing down, because if you try to roll the thread around the organizer, you can't see the information and the colors get entirely jumbled together. If you spread the threads out, the just take up a lot of space and tweak my paranoia about them getting dirty, but also spreading everything out makes it difficult to have more than one card out at a time.
However, they have these loops on the short sides that one could attach to a binder, carabiner, or binder ring. A binder could hold a lot of these cards between three rings, and a carabiner would make it easy to grab a hundred colors or more quickly. If you were interested if constantly rearranging your colors by project, for an especially colorful or detailed piece, these cards would make keeping together all those colors easy.
Personally, this will probably be the solution I settle on for my threads. Currently, I've been using a craft/storage box my "friend"s parents gave me for Christmas to store my threads. Bobbin cards, skeins, and clothespins either wrapped in thread or holding plaits of thread, and skeins of metallic that have just come undone and tangled, have all been jumbled together in this box, so it hasn't been organized yet anyway. These cards will fit will one way other, and maybe they'll finally be what brings some much needed order to my thread hoard.
I just hate having to choose between trying to make this be the final time I organize my threads, and actually getting some stitching done.
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