TuesDog

Quick Mind Dump...

So there are a number of things that I have been thinking about recently and I need to get them down on paper/webpage quickly so I can remember them and ruminate further. This is probably going to be a sporadic list that darts all over the place, but that’s how I think a lot of the time so enjoy the madness!

Warcraft II

What a game! I haven’t played it in ages and then the other day I was checking out the different cursors on my Linux setup and remembered the mad looking ones from Warcraft II. There is a set of cursors, but they are for the Warcraft III Undead army. I prefer the Warcraft II Human and Orc cursors, like the severed Orc hand and the chunky knight gauntlet! So the plan is:

  • Play some Warcraft II and scratch that RTS itch!
  • Look into what it takes to create a set of cursors for Linux and see if I can create my own custom cursors using the Warcraft II sprites.

The Art Fridge

So I began creating the Art Fridge site last night. So far I have the Freezer door created, which will be used to show the Header for the site, a little bit about the site, and any navigation that I add in future. The ideas I have had for this are:

  • “How-To” - A guide for other people on how I created the site so they can create one like it for themselves if they wish.
  • Filters - A way to filter by person, so the Grandparents can filter out all my artwork and just see the kids stuff.
  • Sort - Being able to sort the artwork by upload date. So they can choose most recent first, or oldest first.

Both the filters and the sort navigation should be achievable without using a Database and a ton of JavaScript. I will probably need to use a little JavaScript (something that I have tried to avoid entirely for this website), but hopefully not too much. I want to keep everything as vanilla as possible for HTML, CSS, and JS. This is meant to be fun and creative with most of the time spent on making the content for this site and the fridge site, rather than reading documentation on JS frameworks and learning Database APIs, etc…

All of the artwork is going to be on an infinitely scrolling Fridge door. I think an HTML table might be the easiest implementation to begin with, but might put a halt to the filters and sorting ideas straight away… My plan is to create a system similar to Jekyll. The file directory builds the site. There is a main directory fridge/ and inside is a separate directory for each person.

fridge/
    |- Dad
    |- Mum
        |- Painting #1
        |- Painting #1.txt
    |- Aiden
        |- Artwork #1
        |- Artwork #2
        |- Etc...

The artwork will go into each persons directory. Then a separate .txt file can be created that holds the name of the piece, the date it was done, and a description about it.

I will then write a Python script that loops over the directory structure, grabs all the images and text files, then builds an HTML table with this data. If the image file has a corresponding text file then the image and text will appear side-by-side on the fridge. If no text file exists then only the image and the author (the directory person name) will appear in the table. Left and Right sides will be alternated as it probably looks a lot nicer. Here’s an example of the output in Markdown:

Artist: Dad

Date: 08-05-2024

This image was created on a rainy day using watercolors.
Artist: Dad

Date: 08-05-2024

This image was created on a rainy day using watercolors.

Organizing the House

My parents have been visiting and helping us get organized for the coming baby. I definitely would NOT have been able to get everything organized without their help! My Dad helped me out big-time with the chain link fence project, and my Mum has been helping us to organize the different rooms in the house so we can get more out of them, organize clothing (there’s TONS from our son) and separate what can be used for a baby girl, what isn’t worth saving, and what can be donated to another family for their children. She has also helped clean the house! Something that is always slipping away from me before I can even get close to catching up…

Their help has been invaluable to us and I wanted to get that out into the universe. I am exceptionally grateful for them and I won’t forget how much they help me without ever needing to be asked. They are just there and ready to muck in. I hope I am able to learn from their example and provide the same support for my own family throughout their lives.

Where was I?…

I know there was more that I had going through my mind, but that’s all I can recall for now. If I remember it I will update the site… BUT until then, cya l8r 🤙

Back to Homepage 🏡
⮬