#fujowebdev

I joined the #Fujoguide project out of love for the idea of bringing Queer content creators together for a chance to make something fun and educational for people to better curate their own online spaces and experiences. Ms Boba’s drive for coming up with unique and interesting ideas is an exceptional talent, and I looked forward to working on a project that can help folks that struggle with textbook-style guides to have a better grasp on coding so that we don’t have to settle for the platforms created by social media bigwigs with pockets deeper than the Mariana trench.

This was a brand new experience for me, as this was the first time I ever had a chance to participate in a project quite this big with so many other wonderful creators who share the same goal. I’m a very visual learner, as are many people, and I feel like this project is such a good way to get folks like me engaged and focused on learning to code and create our own little personal corners of the web where we don’t have to follow anybody else’s rules. Not only that, but I was absolutely tickled to participate in something involving a lot of queer representation with a team of fellow queer folks from many walks of life.

The care and love that went into this project—and that will continue to be poured into this project—is so special, and I’m so happy to be a part of it. We have so many things still in the works, and we can’t wait to share more of our passion project with you.

i would like them to kiss, your honor

(here's some of the art i did for the kickstarter, as seen here, and you can find a little more about what ive been doing for the project in this post.)

but you may be wondering why i am working on this project in the first place. well, good question! its basically a long series of random events that starts several years ago, so i wont bore you with that much detail, but the long and short of it is that i ended up joining a discord server called fandom coders for fandom folks who like coding and/or want to learn coding. (you can find them here, at their website, which i have also made some small contributions to!)

the fancoders are basically the coolest group of people ever; they've all been super nice, encouraging, and helpful! tbh, ive been feeling disillusioned by social media as a way of sharing my art for some time now, especially with the increase in sites that disallow/ban nsfw art in recent years, and the fandom coders discord (and especially ms boba, head of the kickstarter project and bobaboard) was more than happy to help me expand my skills so i could work on improving my own website. and the skill they helped me with that has been most vital... turned out to be learning how to use git and github!

so that brings us to the kickstarter. the main reason i've put off learning more about web development for many years was honestly just intimidation. i find a lot of resources that are supposedly aimed at people wanting to create websites are... really not all that friendly to amateurs or newbies! and for a long time, i had no one (and nowhere) to ask for help about this without being shamed for my lack of skill.

this is why i think a resource like the guide we are kickstarting is such a big deal, and why i was pretty much instantly down to volunteer my time towards making it a reality. i know there are TONS of other fandom folks out there who would love to make their own websites to showcase their love for their fandom, but not nearly enough resources that teach website-making skills in a way that is approachable and FUN.

(and fun is exactly what we are trying to make this! hence the hot anime boys.)