getting started with hotglue.me

hi its evergreen. before you start with hotglue.me, take a look at some of your fav sites and think about whats achievable, whats not, what you like, what you dont.

click this text to see examples of other hotglue.me websites! these are sorted from newest to oldest site, so you might have the best luck finding completed sites in pages further back!

getting started with hotglue.me
(with evergreen) 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

some things to think about:

- page layout (headers, sidebars, menus, dropdowns, footers, borders, shadows… is content in little “boxes” or does it sit transparently on the background?)
- color palette
- use of images/graphics
- infinite scroll vs multiple pages
- long pages vs short pages
- font and font size
- easy to understand/hard to navigate (not necessarily a bad thing)
- minimalist vs maximalist

also jot down some pages you might want to make. here were some of the ones in my list:

- splash page (click to enter)
- homepage
- writing/art/gallery/etc
- about this site/manifesto
- links (friends and fun)
- about me
- contact
- guestbook/chat/shoutbox
- blog (with an rss feed!)
- to-do list
- dream journal
- media (recently watched movies, shows, books, games, music…)
- shrines/interests

1. ideas phase

now that you have an idea in mind, you can click this text to try out a site called figma. it’s a free and simple tool where you can plan out your website by dragging and dropping. i used it for the original concept for my evergreen site, but it can be used to create waaay more complex/robust plans too. it is collaborative, so a team can share and collaborate like google docs.

2. start phase

congrats! you're ready to work on your hotglue.me site. click this box to view the official hotglue.me tutorials. they're really easy to follow along with!

hotglue is a very visual website builder that requires no coding. it can be used to make many different kinds of sites, though this tutorial will focus on building a personal webpage. using hotglue is comparable to making a physical collage - just drag and drop!

tip: hotglue allows you to use custom code if you wish. if there's something you can't accomplish with the interface that you want to implement, consider learning how to do it in html/javascript! (it's easier than you think, especially with google. i promise!!)

tip: you have limited space on your hotglue.me hosting. if you plan to be having lots and lots of images on your site (or a few very large ones), don’t upload them all to hotglue or you will run out of room. upload them to a third party site and then link them from there. this also goes for any other large files. also, don’t link your images hosted on hotglue.me anywhere else ESPECIALLY gifs like on discord.

if you are still having trouble after viewing the tutorials or manual, click this text to go to the hotglue.me forums where you can ask your question!

if you learn better by reading, you can click this text to go to the written hotglue manuals.

3. social phase

this phase is entirely optional of course, but it's been very enjoyable for me! this is the part where you get feedback on your site, chat with others, and discover cool new sites like yours! webrings have been a great source of inspiration for me. a webring is a group of related websites linking to each other to form a ring.

click the following webrings to open:

lainchan webring (new thread is created often, click this text for a link to the board where you'll probably find it)

i hope you enjoyed! feel free to check out my main site itsevergreen.rip. now go tell your friends to make websites too!!!!
🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲