Gigi Lamb - Blog

1. Please introduce yourself.: I am Gigi of Gigi Lamb. I am a comp sci student with too much time on my hands.
2. How long have you been making websites?: Since the eighth grade, and I’m still kind of shit. Hehehe
3. And what got you into the hobby?: Jankenpop’s MySpace clone which has since closed apparently. It was a faithful recreation of Myspace circa 2007. I had sm fun playing with CSS on my page.
4. What kind of website are you most interested in?: Anything archival, social, or art pieces.
5. What's your workflow? Do you plan your websites out thoroughly or do you come up with the design as you go along?: I usually have a strong vision of the design of the website, not so much the content. That’s the kind of stuff I come up with along the way.
6. Please link to your biggest inspirations.: windows93.net
7. What's your favourite part about making websites?: The sense of accomplishment I feel after “finishing” a website :)
8. And the thing you struggle with the most?: Clean and readable code. I always say I will refactor but I rarely do.. lol
9. Do you keep the same layout on all of your pages? Or do you use different ones?: Certainly not
10. How confident are you with CSS?: I really only learned the fundamentals and ran with them. CSS can be very limiting sometimes but I find workarounds always. I really enjoy the rudimentary look to my CSS, but it’s not for everyone. I will never touch Bootstrap.
11. Do you know how to correctly use <dl>?: Yes! But I never do
12. What is your favourite HTML element?: MARQUEE FOREVER MARQUEE FOREVER MARQUEE FOREVER MARQUEE FOREVER MARQUEE FOREVER
13. If you're making a new web page from scratch, what is the first thing you do?: Design, always. I make my wireframes in Draw.io.
14. Do you know JavaScript?: Yes :p
15. How about PHP?: Vaguely!
16. Does your website have a theme that you stick to?: Eh. I don’t think so. It’s more likely that the designs I come up with contain similar elements, but it’s not intentional.
17. Are you more focused on content or design?: Guess lmfaooo
18. Do you own a domain name? If not, would you ever want to?: I don’t but I would love to! Was thinking about lamb.gg for a while but .gg is expensive for some odd reason..
19. What do you think of nostalgia-focused or "retro" websites?: Love love love <3 Lots of different looks can fit under this umbrella but my favorites gotta be the gif-heavy, repeating low res img background of geocities pages from like 2000.
20. Is your HTML valid? Do you even check?: Idk what this means. It works. That’s all I care abt
21. What are your opinion on buttons and banners?: I think they're a lovely way to decorate a link to a cool page but lots of people use them as decoration, which I'm less a fan of.
22. What do you think of button walls in particular?: Ermmm I think they’re a bit of an eyesore and not in a good way. I understand them for personal reasons but as a visitor of a site, a blob of blinking buttons makes it overwhelming to actually find cool websites to visit. I hope that makes sense.
23. If you started over again, would you make something similar or completely different?: Hard to say.. Maybe something with more things to do
24. Are you envious of other people's websites?: Never envious because that’s a sin. Just impressed! Lots of cool sites on here.
25. What text editor do you use?: VSCode
26. Why do you use that one?: It’s easy. Cute. I use it for my data structures class too.
27. Do you host your image files on your web server, or on another host?: I host them with Gigi Lamb :3
28. This might not be relevant to you, but what's your opinion on the Neocities vs. Nekoweb debate?: No idea I’ve never been to oovoo javer
29. How much server space would you estimate your main website takes up?: Hahaha at least 1
30. Do you keep local backups of your files?: Always!!!
31. Do you prefer simple or highly visual websites?: Both! Depends on what the vibe is. As long as it's done nicely.
32. Do you stick to certain colours? Do you do that on purpose, or is it your subconscious?: I think my color palette is pretty varied! I do have a tendency to use pink but it’s just cuz its my favorite :)
33. Have you ever thought about quitting? Why?: Yes because I thought that to be a professional I would need to sacrifice my creative vision for the boring uniform look of websites now. I know now that’s not true, and I can do whatever I want!!
34. Do you have many webmaster friends, or is it a solitary hobby?: No webmaster friends :C I would love more though!!
35. Do people in your real life know about your website?: Yes haha yes I'm too vein to not share this with any of my irls. If ur an irl reading this right now :D Hiiii
36. Do you update your website very often? How often is "very often"?: Usually everyday.. I'm a little obsessive
37. And the overall design, do you change that much? Why or why not?: No :) Cuz it’d be too hard to change the design haha. And Also I like it how it is
38. Is your website more you-focused, hobby-focused, or outside world-focused?: I’ve tried to make it hobby focused but I’d like it to be a split between all three.
39. Do you do web design professionally?: Naurr.
40. If not, would you like to? And if you're comfortable answering, what do you do for work?: I would like to! I would prefer commission and collaborative based work. I am an unemployed, but full-time student at the moment :)
41. Do you communicate with people by email very much?: I do not
42. Some people reject social media and use websites as a replacement. Do you keep social media outside of your website?: Nope! I have some more focused social media links in my abt me page. But I have kept my instagram off of here haha I feel like I would be judged.
43. How about instant messengers? Do you use a mainstream one like Discord or Telegram? Or something like Matrix? Do you avoid them?: I don’t message people very often. I use Discord!
44. Do you listen to music while you work on websites? If so, what kinds of artists?: I love listening to Touhou music while programming anything, not just websites. It gives me life!!!/dd>
45. Do you keep everything you make on one website, or do you have more than one?: So far yes, everything is on this site.
46. On a similar note, do you keep to one topic on your site, or many?: Many.
47. Do you present your real self, or at least try? Or do you construct a persona on purpose?: I don’t think it’s possible to present a “real self” What I do and don’t want to show about myself will always paint a certain picture of me, which isn’t the full one. BUT I do think this site is the realest embodiment of my soul that is out there.
48. Have you ever made a good friend thanks to your website?: Not yet ;) Email me
49. Are you happy with the way HTML and CSS currently work?: I have no strong convictions abt them. Ik other people think they’re kind of shit but I really don’t care.
50. What are practices that you think people should avoid?: Leaving the water running while you brush your teeth
51. What about under-utilised practices, or things you think people should do more?: Donate to charity. (My Venmo is gigi_lamb)!
52. Do you use a lot of semantic HTML? Or are you guilty of generic structure?: FUCK no. Nothing against it but I think I would go crazy if I tried to use semantic HTML. Though the site is open source, I really dgaf about if the code is messy and unreadable. I’m the only one that needs to read it. I don’t have this philosophy with any collaborative projects however. I will always try my best to write clean code.
That being said, from how I’ve seen semantic HTML used, it seems quite limiting in its formatting options. I think it encourages the similar looking design so many websites have today. And for that reason, I dislike it.
53. Do you consider different browsers?: I do! I'd be a shame for someone to think my site sucks just cuz they're using chrome.
54. Speaking of, what's your preferred browser? Convince your readers why they should use it.: USE FIREFOX!!! I started using it after UBlock origin was taken off Google Chrome web store but it truly is amazing. No ads, ever. No AI bullshit features. A picture in picture feature on video that makes gooning nights crazzyyy. /j Highly customizable. PDF Editing. Has a cute fox on the icon.
55. And what OS are you on?: MacOS
56. Do you have a strong opinion on that, or do you just happen to use it?: I used to main Windows cuz I believed that Apple products were for babies but I now realize Apple is kind of the goat. (I have an M2 and it is more than enough for my needs) Their products are generally just way more reliable and powerful, the unix based os makes it very developer friendly, and Windows 11 is just garbage. And also fuck Bill gates.
57. Are your websites mobile-friendly?: No, but maybe I’ll make a mobile-friendly version soon :)
58. What are your thoughts on autoplay?: Annoying to work around as a music-loving webmistress, and my rick rolls don’t really hit as hard, but I think it’s for the greater good. I wouldn’t want some intrusive sound to rape my ears if some evil person wished to do that with their website.
59. What are your thoughts on webrings? Are you in any?: Idek what those are. Are you guys chatting? Going to brunch? Talking about webring stuff? Idk I wanna be in one :c
60. Do you have any web shrines? What do you like to see in that sort of page?: Not yet - maybe one coming soon, but only to myself.
61. Are your websites "cliche", in your opinion?: What is a cliche website?
62. What is your ideal website? Are you striving for that, or for something else?: girlsgogames.com is ideal website
63. Are you an artist? Do you draw or design your own assets?: Everyone is an artist!!! Webdev is art!! But yes, I have created some of the assets here and on my other sites.
64. What are your favourite resource sites?: I don’t really use those haha. Maybe w3schools?
65. Is there a habit you just can't get away from no matter how hard you try?: Eating entire pizzas on Friday nights (I’m doing that right now)
66. What's your biggest advice for a new webmaster?: Have fun and be yourself
67. Do you keep all your styling in CSS? Or do you hard-code some?: I use inline styling all the time and I don’t think I couldn’t without having an insane amount of Ids and Classes and such.
68. What do you think of frameset layouts?: No thought
69. How about table-based layouts?: No thought
70. Do you subscribe to the ideas of "one-column", "two-column" and "three-column" layouts? Do you use any of these?: No thought
71. Do you spend longer on the HTML or the CSS?: CSS. I’m crazy particular abt it
72. Have you ever made a page with no CSS? It's useful for your thoughts.: Yes a very long time ago as a baby dev
73. Do you ever find yourself making layouts with nothing to put on them? Or do you only make layouts when the need arises?: Hahaha definitely the former.
74. Would you consider yourself a beginner? Or advanced? Somewhere in the middle?: Definitely in the middle. I hope to become more advanced the longer I work on this site
75. Do you have a habit of looking at the source code of websites you visit?: Yea I get insecure abt my own shitty code I have to make sure everyone else’s code is also shitty.
76. How did YOU learn how to make websites?: Mostly through self-teaching on w3schools, but also through a fellowship called Code Nation that deosn't exist anymore.
77. Do you ever force elements to do things they're not supposed to?: No I’m a good girl :)
78. Thoughts on floating elements?: Cool!
79. When you're sizing stuff, what do you use first? Do you use px, em, %, or something else?: I don’t bother with relative sizing anymore it never works for what I need it tooo I go straight for px.
80. Do you have a favourite font?: Gigi of course
81. Would you run a website with another person? How would that work?: No I’m too controlling. Also haven’t met someone with compatible coding/work/design styles. Maybe if they controlled the content and I controlled the design. I would do that.
82. Do you surf the Web to find new personal websites very often?: All the time! Everyday.
83. Do you bookmark other people's websites? How would you feel knowing someone else bookmarked yours?: I do but very rarely. I would feel shy if someone bookmarked mine hahah…
84. What do you want people to be most impressed with when they see your website?: The cool fireflies on the home page
85. Are you interested in technology outside of websites? Do you collect?: Absolutely! Big on retro consoles, software development, cybersecurity, all of the above
86. How often and for how long are you online?: All day, everyday.
87. When it comes to your website, who is your target audience?: Creatives, nerds, curious people.
88. Have you ever been interested in XHTML?: No
89. Do you program in general? Have you ever written a program for use with or on your website, not counting simple JavaScript?: Not on this site but yes! I’ve made programs for other sites. Not very big ones though.
90. Speaking of programs that help you make websites, what do you think of static site generators (SSGs)? Have you ever used one?: Idgaf
91. Do you keep a hitcounter? Why or why not?: Not yet :P
92. Do you frequent forums? Which ones?: Mac Rumors and Fogu that’s abt it
93. Do you write your page content directly into the editor, or do you prepare it elsewhere, like a text document or a Word document?: Vscose haha
94. Do you think you appear cool to others? A more accurate answer now: do other people ever say you're cool?: Yea :) I think so.
95. Are you embarrassed of your old work? Have you ever deleted everything out of shame?: Yes hahaha all the time. I could never delete my old work though. It’s too precious.
96. Would you close down your website if you couldn't update it, or would you leave an archive?: Probably archive
97. Do you reveal a lot about yourself on your website? Or are you more secretive?: I think I’ve not revealed a lot just cuz I haven’t had my site for so long
98. Are you willing to reveal who your best online friend is, and/or if they have a website?: I have no online best friends
99. And do you optimise the images on your website?: Hahhaa no but I should!
100. We're out of time! How do you feel after answering 100 questions? ....other than exhausted.: That pizza was goooood.