freckleskies beta

some years ago i dropped and broke an external hard drive i used to hoard collect media and other files on. only later i've later come to realise that it also had backups for some/all of the websites i made, which kind of bummed me out. really there was only one that i cared about, the expressively titled mvrf.cf, briefly documented in my log about past iterations of this website (the orange one with the dog). it always meant a lot to me for reasons i don't have the filesize to explain right now. i kept looking for backups of it in other corners of my computer, old drives i had, an old pc. nothing,,, until tonight! it was nested inside the files for a different website (one which i also presumed lost, nested inside some old version of my "code" folder (which i moved on from using in and have presumed it to be deleted since about 2021 or so? (which was in an old archive folder nestles some long filepaths in (it's a complicated system))))

this log is not about mvrf.cf. instead with it i found another neat surprise, a very early/first draft of this very site! i honestly forgot about this version entirely so it was a really nice surprise, like unearthing an old obscure development disc nobody even knew existed. i sure didn't

i'm positive this version never made it online. i honestly don't even know when or why i separated from working in this folder and onto another, the one i'm presently working in. such an interesting find

this already screams "under construction". the window wasn't centered, yet the cloud was animated? the original epithet (? it's more of an aperçu? anyway), "the air is choking outside", takes me back. i don't remember how i came up with it, nor do i remember how i came up with the current one other than wanting something a bit more, i guess on theme or direct. though looking at it now i kind of prefer it. hmm...

the dog! he's back! a return to form! a welcome back to and for myself! how good it is to be back home :)

i've mentioned something similar in this diary post, the current homepage was never supposed to be the final one, just a working good-enough draft that i later polished more and more into what it is today. a good looking draft. i'll get to it! the same way i got to the diary format and (albeit almost unnoticeable to the end user) the log post format

this beta homepage idea was so clearly a direct adaptation of the butteredtoast format (documented in the websites log linked above) with the return of the free and personal spirit of mvrf.cf, it's so interesting to see

we also get to see the navigation. about, files, logs... contact? why was this separate from about? well, i know why, not telling though :)

empty, yet the same background! in fact, all of the main pages keep the same background (the /links page inheriting that of the now discarded /contact page)

the borderless transparent window design is definitely a remnant of the "pandering" style i was going for before, but i think the box shadow is a clear struggle to break free of it. i just haven't properly experimented with the design. in fact, the ridge border currently going on

helio, art and photos make sense and have been more or less present in previous iterations too, but the appearance of the cookbook page is neat! also, hmm, a directory? now what happens if i-

oh it opens! cool!

the links, unfortunately, all lead nowhere. they are < a > elements, just with empty hrefs

barren again. this felt a little like exploring an abandoned mmo private server

the elusive contact page. the dashed border is such an interesting touch. i think i was specifically going for the business card look, hence the shape and border. the "sue me" line is directly taken from butteredtoast, and more or less so is the < / link > format as opposed to today's square brackets

ok that's pretty much it. this was a really cool find, i love looking at early versions of things, see the design process, ideas that made it and didn't, clear inspirations not yet iterated upon, etc. getting to do it with something i made and forgot about was that much more interesting