I hate this username

[323]

Okay, news flash for you all: I signed up for this forum when I was 12. Yes, I'm 15 now.

That's the reason I sucked at programming, FLPs, FMPs, and talked like a fucking 16 year-old emoticon-obsessed girl until I actually matured.

I had been playing Gaia since I was 8, and that's where I got my horrible emoticon-16-year-old-girl-speek from, and I had never learned how to talk better online until I was like thirteen.

This username makes me want to kill myself, I never realized how much of a homosexual it makes me sound like. (Flare boy. Seriously? It sounds really really gay)

That's the reason I've been signing things "323" now, instead of "flare" like before. I'm almost tempted to ask for a username change to 323, but I'm not sure I want to forget all of the good memories that have been had on this forum with this username.

I got the flareboy name because I originally wanted my name to be flameboy on Gaia, because I have red hair. When flameboy was taken, I tried flareboy because (Being a dumb 8 year-old) I thought they meant the exact same thing. I got the 323 because I had to add random numbers after it, because the normal flareboy was taken. Since then, I feel the numbers "323" have really become a part of me and really mean something to me, haha. Whenever I hear the numbers 323, all I can think about is my online identity, all of the people I've met, and all of the people that I've talked to in the past, had good times with, and for all I know, may never talk to again.

But anyway, that's the story of my username. What's the story of yours? How did you come up with your username? Why do you like it? Why don't you like it? How many times have you changed usernames?

[Elliot]

I would change it for you but somehow Im not admin anymore. But I can talk to Charles, or you can.

Side note, I can't believe it's been 3 years since you've been here. Time goes by fast.

[GAMEchief]

Okay, news flash for you all: I signed up for this forum when I was 12. Yes, I'm 15 now.

That's the reason I sucked at programming, FLPs, FMPs, and talked like a fucking 16 year-old emoticon-obsessed girl until I actually matured.

How are 16-year-old girls less mature than you, a 15 year old.
The hilarious thing is when you are 18 you'll be saying the exact same thing about being 15.
And again when you're 21 about being 18.

This username makes me want to kill myself,

Dramatic.

I never realized how much of a homosexual it makes me sound like. (Flare boy. Seriously? It sounds really really gay)

There is nothing wrong with being gay.
Maybe I'm gay. Something wrong with that? HUH?

That's the reason I've been signing things "323" now, instead of "flare" like before. I'm almost tempted to ask for a username change to 323, but I'm not sure I want to forget all of the good memories that have been had on this forum with this username.

Let me know, and I'll change you [or not] to whatever. I put a lot of consideration into changing my username. If I didn't at least have my avatar being symbolic of olden LG days, it probably wouldn't have been as good of an idea.

What's the story of yours? How did you come up with your username? Why do you like it? Why don't you like it? How many times have you changed usernames?

GAMEchief is an acronym for GAming MEdley chief, so it means I'm the owner of Gaming Medley, which I am.
Changed it once. To my name.

[323]

@Thomas: It's fine, and you're right, I wonder why you got demoted? That's weird. And yeah, I'm glad that I've matured over my stay here though. This forum has helped me learn a lot, everything from getting into programming to computer security.

@Charles: I agree that there's nothing wrong with being gay, I just don't want to be falsely labled as something that I'm not haha, when this used to be my name on other websites I would get PMs from guys asking if I was gay. It was awkward. And my friends in real life thought I was gay when we would play an online game together and they would be like "What's your username, I'll add you" and I would say Flareboy323.

I agree with the statement that I'll be saying that I was a complete idiot and immature at age fifteen, because we're always maturing and changing. It's like the thing they say about programmers: If you don't look back on your old code and cringe, you're obviously not improving.

I don't think I'm ready to change my username yet, I'm not sure I'll ever be. This username was a part of me since I first went on the internet, it was one of the first usernames I ever came up with. I think I'll keep it for now, at least.

And oh hey, I remember Gaming Medley. Wasn't that the flash game website you made? Dang, I just checked, it's still up haha. How do you make money off of that? I don't see ads anywhere (Wait, I'm dumb, I'm using Adblock. Are there ads?). I made a website like that a fairly long time ago, it was a pretty big hit, my friend and I made like forty bucks off of it on AdSense in like a month I think, which was good money for two kids at the time. Unfortunately, AdSense terminated our accounts after figuring out we were under 18.

This is kind of off topic, but how much money do you make as a web designer? How do you find work? I had the idea of going around to local businesses in my town and offering website design, but wasn't sure it was a good idea. Of course, being a kid I would do it for extremely cheap (Like a hundred bucks) but they probably just wouldn't trust me. Also, where did you learn your web design techniques? I've been coding raw HTML for a while and making meh-quality websites, and I can never seem to make anything good with a WYSIWYG editor like DreamWeaver. I've heard that photoshop to make a design and then making it into a website is the way to go for that, but I would have no idea where to even start doing that. Any guides/tips/good books to read on this? I don't need a "Starting HTML and XHTML" book, I need a "Creating Beautiful, Professional-Quality Websites Utilizing Photoshop and Other Editors" or something.

[GAMEchief]

I agree with the statement that I'll be saying that I was a complete idiot and immature at age fifteen, because we're always maturing and changing. It's like the thing they say about programmers: If you don't look back on your old code and cringe, you're obviously not improving.

I was more commenting on how you think 16-year-old girls are as mature as 12-year-old boys. Kinda sexist.

I think I'll keep it for now, at least.

k. If you change your mind, the option is there.

Wasn't that the flash game website you made? Dang, I just checked, it's still up haha. How do you make money off of that? I don't see ads anywhere (Wait, I'm dumb, I'm using Adblock. Are there ads?).

It wasn't a flash games website at the time. It was, I think, a game archive of files like wallpapers and screenshots and such. I switched it to flash games because it's automated. It automatically adds games to itself and updates all its pages. It was more of an experiment in automated services than anything else. It doesn't make money, though it does have AdSense. It costs me nothing to run, so I've never pushed for profits. Most my web income comes from a sub-service of the website, which was a shoutbox script that had paid upgrade features.

This is kind of off topic, but how much money do you make as a web designer?

I'm a web developer, not a designer. I do coding, not graphics.

How do you find work?

One word: connections.

I had the idea of going around to local businesses in my town and offering website design, but wasn't sure it was a good idea. Of course, being a kid I would do it for extremely cheap (Like a hundred bucks) but they probably just wouldn't trust me.

Do it. They would probably trust you if you are willing to do the work pre-payment so that you can show them you actually are capable of doing it before you give them the files/put it up for them. And if they decide they don't like it, you can just change their name to Generic Company Title and put it in your portfolio.

Also, where did you learn your web design techniques?

Self-taught. I started when I was 12, so I've just had a decade of practice. Time-wise, I've been doing it since you were 5.
Fuck I feel old.

I've been coding raw HTML for a while and making meh-quality websites, and I can never seem to make anything good with a WYSIWYG editor like DreamWeaver.

Don't ever use WYSIWYG. Ever. Ever.
Just don't.

Hand code your HTML. Every time. There are at least a billion discussions online already about why that's the case, so I won't elaborate.

I've heard that photoshop to make a design and then making it into a website is the way to go for that, but I would have no idea where to even start doing that.

Yeah, pretty much. A designer usually draws a website in PhotoShop and sends a developer the PSD. Then the developer turns that into a functional website by cutting out the graphics he needs and styling and setting up the DOM accordingly. A prerequisite to knowing how to cut up a PSD is knowing how to hand code a DOM. So drop the WYSIWYG and pick up EditPlus or NotePad++ and only ever use them from now on. Or even just Notepad if you're ballsy.

Any guides/tips/good books to read on this? I don't need a "Starting HTML and XHTML" book, I need a "Creating Beautiful, Professional-Quality Websites Utilizing Photoshop and Other Editors" or something.

You could go to college for the field. I never used a book. I just Googled every question I had and tried to do everything perfectly. My questioning why one practice is better than another is what made me good at it. A lot of people program only so far as the program works. Aim for optimal. I would see two ways of doing a task, and I'd search for what the differences were and why. I mean, it worked for me. I don't know why everyone doesn't do it, but I do always hear such things as "books on the [programming language]." I've just never been interested in reading a book on any programming matter. That shit is always all over Google.

Good tutorials and read all of them. They are usually short anyway for HTML. Especially after you've read a few and can just skim the rest.

I wish I could be more professional about it, but I just never really did anything professional to become a professional. Might have been luck, but Googling is really the only thing I did.

[323]

First of all, I wasn't saying sixteen year old girls are less mature, I was saying their way of typing is haha. Compared to "Just went to the mall with a few friends, pretty cool." as a guy, and then "Just went to the mall with my girlsssss <3333 so much fun! Sandy, Jessica, and Erica, my bfflsss" At least, that's how all the girls in my school type haha.

I've been doing web design since around the same age you started, so I guess that's good for me. I've always used Notepad++ ever since I got into it, and it's helpful for other programming languages too (Like PHP and such).

So, if you're a developer and not a designer, how do you get themes and such? Do you make them hire a developer AND a designer, or are they already knowledgeable enough that they did? I'm looking into all of the stuff you mentioned now, like DOM and slicing up PSDs and all of that. If I can get into design AND development, that should help me a lot, because I don't really have any friends who are into web design or development that would be willing to help me haha.

And thanks for the tips about local businesses, I think I might do that now. Just find local stores and small family-owned businesses with bad looking websites or now website at all, and send them a little sample page or my portfolio and see how they like it. Don't charge them a lot, maybe $100-200, and teach them how to manage and update it themselves. For this, I would probably need to give them a really simple content management system like Joomla or Wordpress or something, or just make them a website that doesn't really need to be updated.

Thanks for the off topic tips haha, these are actually really helpful and have inspired me to go back into web development and design, after abandoning it before because I didn't know any real professional methods or tips.

[GAMEchief]

So, if you're a developer and not a designer, how do you get themes and such? Do you make them hire a developer AND a designer, or are they already knowledgeable enough that they did?

Almost every company or person I have worked for has hired a developer and designer separately. That's just how it's done. For personal projects, I just post on graphics websites -- "Who can make a flash games theme?" or what have you -- and amateurs like to do it for practice. So my personal projects are usually very unprofessional looking, but better than anything I can do.

I'm looking into all of the stuff you mentioned now, like DOM and slicing up PSDs and all of that. If I can get into design AND development, that should help me a lot, because I don't really have any friends who are into web design or development that would be willing to help me haha.

Learn DOM before you learn how to crop PSDs. It's not about knowing the cutting tools of PSD. It's knowing what shapes you need to cut and where to match a valid DOM. If you don't know what shape and positions your HTML objects are going to be in, you can't know where to cut.
I personally never even needed the PSD. I could work with a JPEG/PNG. But the standard is PSD for higher quality when you transfer between the designer to the developer.

And thanks for the tips about local businesses, I think I might do that now. Just find local stores and small family-owned businesses with bad looking websites or now website at all, and send them a little sample page or my portfolio and see how they like it. Don't charge them a lot, maybe $100-200, and teach them how to manage and update it themselves. For this, I would probably need to give them a really simple content management system like Joomla or Wordpress or something, or just make them a website that doesn't really need to be updated.

Yeah, pretty much. If you are selling them Wordpress, you might want to at least make them a custom theme. But Wordpress themes are a bitch.

[To Give You This Gun]

Well I had 4 user names sense I started the LG.
To Give You This Gun ( It's a lyric to my favorite song buy Escape the Fate , really old like not even album song called "The Structure Falls" )
Vivi ( Favorite Final Fantasy character )
Brandon Beat Down ( Relationship username I changed all my usernames over some girl, (don't do it when you break up its like what the hell)
Anima Libera ( Dj Raaban song , its amazing its Italian )

[Beyoncé]

Jesus Christ did you really need a damn ESSAY to write how you want a new username?

[bowserme]

Why did you start programing when 12 when you could have started at 5?

[The Unintelligible]

Why did you start programing when 12 when you could have started at 5?

Meanwhile, bowserme AKA cclown AKA Luxury Penguin, can't program at the age of nth. Be quiet, you can't program now at your age of 11, and you won't be able to program ever.

[To Give You This Gun]

Meanwhile, bowserme AKA cclown AKA Luxury Penguin, can't program at the age of nth. Be quiet, you can't program now at your age of 11, and you won't be able to program ever.

Isn't there an age limit on this website ?

[The Unintelligible]

Isn't there an age limit on this website ?

Doubt it

[GAMEchief]

Isn't there an age limit on this website ?

no1 over 13 plz

[To Give You This Gun]

no1 over 13 plz

over? your over 13 lol.

[GAMEchief]

over? your over 13 lol.

[The Unintelligible]

I get the abstraction! The joke went over his head! In literal terms, he was too dumb to interpret the joke! Haha!