Soft ✻ Ware

〰〰 notes on making and learning ✦

✻ to be aware of softness

☀︎

i think what it comes down to is being in bed.

Making → in Bed.

(⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝)

the cooler things I see, the more I wonder -- wow, am i learning this too late?

the sting of meeting a lover later in life lmao.

But then, the satisfaction!! of 'Imagine making something as cool as this!!'

〰〰〰 Making to → Learning to → Teaching to → Make ꩜

〰〰〰 Sharing as Practice ✸ has always been the way

Today's was 50 buttons

Every button effects the page. Music, alignment, colors, etc.

And!! 50 buttons means 1000 variations of page possiblities (i think. math is not my strong suit, fyi)

I was having a lot of fun with it. There's probably some stuff I can learn. I found the original project on glitch, and it says they used html, css and jquery.

Making web sites r so easy n chill. It's become my main thing to when i have free time, esp if i am low on energy. which is often.

Hmm... how did I get here anyway? Making sites all the time?

I actually tried to learn for a long time, but it never worked until I started designing via art and taking free coding classes. And also!! Seeing examples of beautiful things that were inspiring (vs grossly commercial).

Many people learn things to make money. While I adore funds, I usually need reasons like 'wow that is cool!!!'

I did the now defunct Roundtable Residency in 2020 and was in the cohort with Kayla D and they showed me some really cool stuff. Their cursor performances blew my mind actually. 〰〰 I think that's when I realized that web art? internet art? ...making stuff with code existed.

Plus, the residency was offline for pandemic reasons that year, so all our installations were webworks. Although, usually coded by someone else. 〰〰 I was working with eggs and goldleaf. About abundance, manifestation, economies, resource extraction, womb, creation, food and bodies, etc. 〰〰 I've made more web work since then, usually with other people developing/coding. The experience has been subpar. No shade, just being real.

°⋆.ೃ࿔*･･･ Looking back, noticing all the cool things that have led me to here.〰〰 Running a BIPOC media arts residency, studying UX, working as a Digital Literacy Educator at a public library, and now - with Saturn Return - A Person Changing. 〰〰 Very in line with like, being community based maker. 〰〰 Which, is starting to evolve into something stranger with code. 〰〰 Lots of lost feelings sometimes ♡⋆˙

I find a lot of developers are quick to say yes/no, and depending on who you talk to, your possibilities change. Like, Developer A might say 'no, we can't do that', but Developer B might say 'Yea, totally'. Which, if you're designing an experience, can be very frustrating. No matter how many examples or codepens I send.

I mainly do html/css, a wee bit of js. Which has led me to finding out that those languages are no longer how most web sites/systems are made. So, there's more to learn. A lot more, if i want to develop the things im dreaming of. Sometimes, a jealous 'oof' of skill distance/i wanted to get there first. Often, a 'wow' of possibilities.

I found Trail Mosaic today, which gave me both oof and wow feels*. Draggable nature elements to draw with!!

A good time to remember that making is a form of love, and when you find projects that are made with the kind of love you like to give, it's a blessing to know there is someone else out there dreaming of similar things!! 〰〰〰〰 for ex: Vidya, the maker, even has a project about links as love languages!! Which I think about a lot too!!

✻
Is it moss that enjoys growing in acidic soil? Or lichen?

URLS mentioned are

50 Buttons → lesliu.glitch.me/
trail mosaic → vidyagiri.com/mosaic/
Kayla D. → https://kayla.world/

✦
this printable zine is hosted at softwarezine.glitch.me/.
With love and choas,
tee / ray