So, Jake's Juke is up and running, but not really complete. I have an idea or two to add a bit more razzle-dazzle, but it’s just icing so I can add it later. Mostly though, I have a lot of music to add and some commentary where applicable.

I’m probably going to try and add a bunch of music right away, because I kind of like using my site as my personalized streaming service while I’m working. It’s one of the reasons I created Jake’s Juke. But once I get enough added to keep me entertained, then I’ll slow down and work on other things too.

Making some actual progress on Jake's Juke. I had 3 ideas I was going to test out: a basic iframe setup, using JavaScript to load Google spreadsheet data, and using JavaScript to insert HTML from files on my site. However, after thinking about it, and working on the JS inserting HTML process I think I’m just going to use that.

Because iframes are treated like windows into a foreign land, dealing with the contents of the iframe can be a pain. Just getting the dark mode stuff to work with my site logs iframe was irritating, so that one was on the bottom of my list.

The g-sheet idea was enticing because entering the data into a spreadsheet would be way easier than having to write the HTML every time. But it has a number of downsides in my opinion. First, loading the data is slower. The second is that I have to keep my Neocities supporter status to have the necessary access to use it. Third, I don’t like the idea of needing Google’s services to have my site functioning, and the work I’d have to go through to change it if Google changes the service. And the fourth issue is that adding new songs would not show an update to my site on the RSS feed. Because of the way Neocities is set up and its community of users, I have noticed that when I work on my site and make changes regularly, I get more way more traffic than if it sits unchanged for days.

However, I did have the idea that maybe I could enter my song data into a g-sheet and then create a script that outputs the HTML I need for my site. Then I can have the best of both worlds.

Was going to get started on the Jake's Juke stuff to figure out how I wanted to do it all, and got sidetracked by my tangents stuff because I had to click twice before it would start working and every time you reloaded the page it would need the two clicks (not a double-click, but 2 clicks any amount of time apart) again. Looked at my to-do list toggling and discovered that it had the same issue, but I hadn't noticed it because there is only one button for everything, and I don't actually use it that much. Turns out that I didn't understand what was really going on. I set the initial display for "done" items to "none" in my external CSS but was toggling the value at the in-line CSS. So, the first click was seeing the inline CSS display was not "none" so set it to "none", which was redundant to the external CSS creating what appeared to be an uneventful click. After that first click got the inline display value set it obviously toggled as expected until you reset things by reloading the page. So I did some research and corrected the way I toggle the visibility

Now on to messing with Jake's Juke ideas!

I looked into using JavaScript to automate the log menus so that I don't have to worry about updating it every month. And I can't do it the easy way. I wanted to read the list of files in a specific path and use them to build the menu, but JavaScript can't read a folder's contents without special libraries apparently. I have some ideas on how I might make it happen, but none of them are as simple and fast as just reading the fucking file list. So I think maybe I'll just leave it on manual for now.

I need to get working on Jake's Juke and the Rock Garden, but I'm still debating how I want to do it. May have to play around with the 2 main methods I'm thinking of using and see how I feel about them.

Figured out most of the guestbook coding, which was a good learning exercise. Now I need to get working on some actual website stuff. Even though I don't plan to use it right now, I had to work through the guestbook stuff to get it out of my head. Think I'll look into using JavaScript to automate the log menus so that I don't have to worry about updating it every month. Then I need to get on Jake's Juke and the Rock Garden. And I need to work on some tribute. I know what I want to do for Pacifica and Poe, just need to do them. Brad I still need to figure out.

I will need to balance working on the site and getting stuff done around the house. I have so much stuff to get done, but I just don't have the motivation to do it. Although I do have a project that I'm hoping to do today. Guess we'll see how it goes. Just wish I could move to something that took less work to maintain, but that's not an option right now.

Just had the notion that my guest book work could be used to make "site log" and/or "to do list" maintenance forms. Which would be cool but also seems a bit humorous that I’m thinking about adding dynamic properties to a static site. Then again, such things should make some of the more mundane parts easier to maintain, giving me more time to spend on the interesting stuff.

Although, of the two, I think the “to do list” is the more practical application as it is changing all the time, whereas the site logs are just adding more text. The biggest pain for the logs is having to change things up each month with the addition of a new first page. Maybe I should look at using some JavaScript to automate it so that the menus and first page get set dynamically. Then I only need to create the new months page and everyhting will just work (theoretically).

Work has been so busy lately that I just haven't had much time to even think about the site. Then I happened on an idea that I think will make the Rock Garden and Jake's Juke better, but I'm having to figure out JavaScript stuff just to see if it will. And figuring out the JavaScript has been a pain, thb. It takes bigger blocks of time for me to work on, I need to be able to focus, learn, and test stuff. I also do not have the patience to sit down and learn it proper, so I'm trying to figure out just enough from examples to get my task done. And a lot of real JS code looks like some of the most nonsensical shit ever. Because I'm focused on intangible shit there is no visible indication of change, and it feels like I'm not making progress.