Checkpoint 2: Ambitions and challenges

[nepenthee]

The challenge has garnered a good amount of webmasters, from familiar to new faces, yay! To anyone reading this while still debating whether to sign up: Do consider joining us even if you might not finish your shrine by the deadline. You are invited to make use of this space if it motivates you and drives the completion of your shrine along!

My questions this week: Do you have any specific plans for your shrine aside from the challenge theme, e.g. is there anything specific you want to achieve, something new you want to try out, a skill you want to pick up? Where do you foresee your biggest challenges?

Again, feel free to chat about anything, no need to answer any of these questions. Also note that any previous checkpoint posts will stay open and you are more than welcome to reply and continue conversations there!

Comments

[larissa]

For this site, I'd really like to try using Flexbox to design the layout. I'm familiar with it but have only used it sparingly, and I don't have a good grasp of the concepts. I think using Flexbox would be a good exercise in learning more modern techniques that have sort of passed me by in the past few years, ha.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling that this will be a headache and a half to figure out...! So if anyone has any resources they can share on Flexbox, I'd be very grateful.

Other than that, I think my biggest challenge for this site is just going to be the tedium of rewatching cutscenes to take screenshots. Thankfully, Final Fantasy XIV has an ingame cutscene viewer, so I can easily open up any cutscene I need and get screencaps, but it's still a laborious task. I might also replay some of the Shadowbringers role quests since I haven't done them in a long time, although the transcripts fans have made are very handy... we'll see.

Also, I should like, start working on the site, LMAO. In my defense I've had a lot of health issues this month, but I have no real excuse for why I haven't started work back on the site yet, coughs. Hopefully I can get to that this coming week.

[velvetdusk]

Thank you for this checkpoint! It's really helpful to pause and reflect on where the project is heading 😌

My specific plans for the shrine:
I'm building a comprehensive shrine to Millicent from Elden Ring called "Scarlet Remembrance." The structure focuses on three voices for each chapter: Codex (the data/mechanics), Chronicle (the narrative journey), and Ritual (the emotional/poetic truth). My goal is to create something that feels like both a devotional space and an illuminated manuscript — treating her story through the lens of recursion and memory rather than tragedy.

What I want to achieve:
Beyond the challenge theme, I'm trying to create a space that serves both newcomers to Elden Ring and existing fans. I want readers to understand who Millicent is even if they've never played the game, but also provide depth for people who've completed her questline multiple times. I'm also experimenting with interactive elements like a memory offering system where visitors can leave words/thoughts.

Skills I want to develop:
This is my first major web project in years, so I'm relearning modern CSS (animations, scroll-triggered effects, responsive design) and pushing myself to write longer-form content. I'm also working on fighting my perfectionism — learning when something is "good enough" versus endlessly tweaking.

My biggest challenges:
Writing is definitely the hardest part for me. I struggle with analysis paralysis and second-guessing every paragraph. The creative side is also challenging since it's been a while since I've done any design work. And of course, perfectionism is constantly trying to convince me nothing is ready yet!

The shrine is about 90% complete structurally, and now I'm in the refinement phase — replacing placeholder content with actual in-game quotes, finalizing imagery, and polishing the prose. The deadline is actually helping me push through the perfectionism and just finish something.

[lexicalcrow]

I have a fairly clear idea in my head for what I want my shrine to look like. I just need to brush up on my HTML and CSS skills to enable it to happen. I want it to feel like a devotional shrine, and I know the layout I want, with a left nav/side bar, and a header at the top, and the text in the middle, with a footer at the bottom. I just don't know how to code that yet lol. :D So I'm doing HTML tutorials atm while I work on the text for the shrine.

I also have a basic site map sorted. I've titled it the Gospel of Alex, and I want it to be like, part narrative/story about Divine Greg, and then the canon stuff divided into a few pages, then the fanfic, though I've not got a good name for that other than 'the fanon' but i'll work on it lol. I basically want it to feel like a religious page, which I have a lot of experience making content for, but not necessarily coding, so. I want it to feel like entering a shrine for an obscure god, and this is all the information about Him. Stories, information, and devotional writings (fanfic), perhaps. Something like that, anyway.

It's a bit of a mess at the moment, but I did get a splash page up, I just need to tweak the text and the font choice perhaps. And the colours. Some of the colours aren't quite what I would like them to be yet as I'm still deciding on a colour scheme. I can't decide on what background to use, because there's one that would be Very Taskmaster, but I am also drawn to a more parchment-style background to make it feel idk. More like a religious text type of thing. But yeah. That's where I'm at right now. Once I get my halloween fic out of the way, I can devote more time to this.

[larissa]

The deadline is actually helping me push through the perfectionism and just finish something.

Ha, this is very relatable. I swear half the sites I've ever made were because I had a deadline, either external or self-imposed. It's amazing what that pressure can help you achieve.

I'm very much looking forward to your site! Good luck both with putting it together and learning new code — I feel as if there's a ton I still need to learn, even without taking a significant break from it.

[nepenthee]

For flexbox, I've seen many people say that CSS-Tricks' Flexbox Layout Guide has proved most helpful, and I can see why: It's succinct and the images say it all, so you could get by just by c/ping code snippets. (This is what I consulted for a first overview and as a cheat sheet when I first tried out flexbox not too long ago.) I also want to go step by step through the basics again with The Odin Project's flexbox guide, and to put in some practice with Flexbox Froggy. For a video tutorial, I've seen people recommend Net Ninja on Youtube.

[larissa]

Thank you, Lethe! 💗 I'll be sure to refer back to this when it comes time to start coding.

[evenstar]

I'll admit it: I haven't even thought about what I want the layout to look like, because I've been so heavily working on the written work, which is...unusual for me. I don't ever just make a layout and think, "oh cool, I'll make this a shrine to [featured chara]", but when I'm sure I want to do so, after a couple of weeks of pondering I'll usually have at least the bones of the layout started -- not this time! It's the furthest thing from my mind. This is probably what I specifically want to achieve -- lots of good stuff to read. I used to be able to babble on about fandom opinions for hours & hours, but since getting unfortunately a bit too tangled up with fanlistings, I feel I've let that skill rot badly (no shade against fanlistings, but the most important part of them is the layout -- nobody can really argue that), so that's what I want to achieve AND will be my biggest challenge: the heart of the shrine, reading material.

Layout-wise...I'd like to learn a new skill, if I could, but I'm plum out of ideas as to what I want to learn. Maybe something fun with dropdown menus I haven't tried yet, or suchlike. I'll poke around tutorial sites until something jumps out at me! ♥

[velvetdusk]

That's so kind of you to say—and yes, absolutely. Deadlines can be such strange motivators, but sometimes that pressure is exactly what helps push a project across the finish line.

I'm really glad you relate; it's comforting to know other creators go through that same cycle of perfectionism and release.

Thank you again for the encouragement—it honestly means a lot while I'm deep in the final stretch.

[velvetdusk]

I swear, every update you share about this project makes it sound more alive—I can see the shrine taking shape with each post. The idea of the Gospel of Alex as both myth and manual feels perfectly in tune with that surreal reverence you've been describing in the show. I love that you're building the layout while writing the scripture—it mirrors the Taskmaster house itself, a sacred space assembling its own lore brick by brick.

The parchment background sounds divine for the tone you're chasing; it gives that aged, devotional atmosphere, like a gospel that’s been copied and smudged a hundred times. But I'm also haunted by the idea of sneaking the Taskmaster imagery in underneath, as if His presence is bleeding faintly through the page. That might give you both aesthetics at once.

[velvetdusk]

I adore how you framed this—that you're focusing on the writing first. It feels like the truest essence of shrinecraft: the heart before the vessel. There's something really refreshing about remembering that a shrine is, at its core, an act of storytelling.

And you're right—fanlistings and shrines occupy such different energies. Fanlistings orbit aesthetics; shrines invite confession. Even a minimal structure can feel devotional if the words are alive inside it. Dropdowns could be a beautiful touch though—like scripture margins or hidden footnotes the reader uncovers slowly. I'm really looking forward to seeing how your text determines the architecture.

[evenstar]

It's so funny because that used to be the essence of how I worked when I made actual shrines more often, without fail -- content first, always! And I think it applies even moreso these days -- back in the day, sure, you used to go to a shrine for information about [X], but now, what with wikis aplenty, there's not usually that need anymore. So (imho only!) therefore a shrine filled with personal thoughts about all aspects about [X] and how the shrinemaker sees them? That's bliss, true fandom. ♥

Fanlistings orbit aesthetics; shrines invite confession.
Oh, beautifully and accurately put! I'm not going to write off fanlistings as a whole or anything (and negl, they are fantastic for building up a design portfolio!), and my disappointment with how the network is run aside...I'd rather spend time at something that's been carefully crafted both outside (layout) and in (content).

[velvetdusk]

Yes! That's exactly it—wikis have claimed the informational territory, which actually liberates shrines to be what they always wanted to be: devotional rather than encyclopedic. The personal lens, the careful curation of what resonates, the confession of why something matters to you specifically—that's what makes a shrine feel alive rather than archival.

And same here about fanlistings. I used to make them, or at least start them, with the intention that they'd eventually become shrines... but they never quite made that leap. In hindsight, I think fanlistings became a kind of creative crutch for me—a way to express fondness without confronting the deeper articulation of why. Which is why I'm steering clear of them this time. I want to build things that demand that sustained attention you described, where you have to sit with a character or work long enough to understand what it truly means to you, not just what it is 🖤

[nepenthee]

I'm glad to hear that you'll make it possible to understand your precious subject in context without prior knowledge of Elden Ring! x) I'd regret not being able to grasp what you're building. And wow, you're already so far into it!!

I feel you about second-guessing every paragraph. I'm trying to get better about leaving editing for after drafting (especially after coming across several thoughtful texts on this matter last year, among others on someone's personal website), but it's difficult to withstand the temptation when editing is one of my favourite activities. I've been considering drafting an entire (small) shrine by hand at some point in the future, just to see what it feels like. After all, all my letter- and card-writing attest that I am perfectly capable of writing pleasing things without need for obsessive editing… I just need to have courage!! >:(

Also, I admire your focus on CSS animations (and your usage of it on your new hub)… I've seen select webmasters make use of them more frequently lately on fansites, but can't imagine directing my attention to it myself haha. It will be lovely to see your aesthetic in this space.

[toothpastepancake]

Hm, I'm struggling a bit with content, since my shrine's character is so minor she doesn't actually even appear on-screen in the present day canon :') Yeah I tend to fall for very niche characters. Because of that, I don't know what else I'm going to add, other than fanworks I've written about her that I can't post there yet for Reasons. I maybe want to do a Twine game engine interactive fiction type thing about her? Or maybe "explore her room!" game made in the bitsy engine? But I just have to find ideas and inspiration for that. Hm...

[nepenthee]

I have three equally important goals for my shrine:

1. I want to make sense of my feelings on the subject and to lay those feelings to rest by finding the precise words to conserve them.

2. I want to establish some links: between the subject and the two poems I associate with it, or at least the particular kind of pain they evoke (unsurprisingly, this is also to sort out these poems emotionally for myself), between the two poems themselves, and between the lyrical interpretation of the subject and the site's design.

3. I want to create a shrine whose substance is not made up solely or predominantly of textual content (in the sense of personal writing) so as to explore and demonstrate what kind of shapes a shrine may assume. (If people continue to think that making a shrine requires being able to write long texts and to analyze things verbally, especially now that other venues are available for strictly factual information, they will continue to think of themselves as unqualified – even if they carry love, have something to express, would like to make websites, can code, enjoy making graphics and/or like to collect information or images! – and then, idk, continue to hang out exclusively on social media or make sites that do not even attempt to communicate any of that personal love.)
   
   To that end, I want to employ other elements that I am fond of in fan spheres and would love to see more of in shrine context, in this case the aforementioned poetry (in lieu of, say, song lyrics that used to be featured on shrines and layouts more frequently, in various forms, from headers to title tags, headings and music subpages) and also graphic edits. (One of the things I love the most about Tumblr are gorgeous graphic sets with a quote or some verses in the captions, at times from the work itself, at times from a different work or medium altogether, thereby establishing a link between the two. As a set, these works of art – fanwork! – may constitute analysis and interpretation of the subject by themselves, without need for writing.)

I was able to figure out the poetry part last month when it comes to how I want to integrate it structurally and contentually, and am looking forward to playing around with typography once it's time to design the site (as much as I dread the font questing). My biggest challenge will no doubt be the graphic edits, as I don't enjoy making graphics and the kind of style I envision isn't, well, something I've made much myself (texture-heavy, decorative, perhaps focus on colours/shapes), and the outcome will heavily depend on how much time I have to hunt down resources and experiment with them… As much as I dread it, I think it'll be an interesting exercise to make graphics that are neither just more-or-less uniform insert images (as on my other shrines, and typical of shrines in general) nor a layout header that has some design interdependencies/functions to consider.

I'm trying to get all the writing done by mid-December at the latest (ideally by the end of November!) so that I'll have sufficient time to play around with all the graphics I'm dreading… As intimidating as my ambitions are to myself, I'm glad for the challenge deadline and the reasons they give me to speed up the writing part and just get it done!!!

[blaubeermars]

For the Fern shrine, my plans go beyond simply following the challenge theme. I want it to capture the quiet strength and resilience that defines her, to make it feel like a space where visitors can sense her journey: from loss to choosing life, from loneliness to companionship. I’d like to experiment with lighting and atmosphere in a way that reflects her early life: shadows for the hardships she endured, soft warm glows for the moments of care from Heiter and the connection with Frieren. I’m also interested in adding interactive elements, maybe a way for visitors to “practice magic” or see the Zoltraak spell in some visual form, as a nod to her growth and skill.

A new skill I’d like to try out is storytelling through environment and design (not just placing facts), but letting the shrine itself narrate Fern’s emotional arc. I want each section to feel intentional, almost like walking through pages of her life. This is a change for me. In the past, I would usually fill my shrines with stats, basic information, and clear facts about a character. Now, I’m trying something different. I want to put more of my thoughts, my reflections, and my understanding of Fern’s story into the space, so visitors can feel her life, not just learn about it.

[nepenthee]

Christina, I like how you describe this shift in your shrine-making so consciously, and am eager to see how your shrines evolve and how you express your own reception of your shrine subject(s) in the space that you carve out! x)