Melon's Blog

History of Melon's Blog

Old Layouts

3rd Layout: It's the best out of the three that has the red and orange theme despite the fact that it became eye hurting sometime last year (2023), even though it's been around since Nov 16, 2021 o.o so it became an old layout. This is the last layout that was used when I didn't mind having really big pages though the only ones that where like that are Home and Random Stuff. Home since I never bothered to archive some of the blogs to another page so it started at the first blog that was made on Aug 27, 2020 which is as early as I can get to an actual date on when Melon's Blog was created than saying "Summer of 2020" to the recent blog (as of March 2024); "EDIT: Another Update for MB" that was made on Nov 8, 2022 but it was edited to include an update on April 24, 2023. With Random Stuff adding all of those Pokemon parties from many games from the start of them with Pokemon Blue (with me) to the most recent game that I chose; Pokemon Scarlet (as of March 2024) so that section of the page made it really big. These are the changes that I added that aren't on the 2nd layout; the content width is bigger, the content text is also bigger, added a code that can take one to the top of the page by clicking 'Top' that is on the right hand side of the site (which has been added to all pages for quick access to the top). On Nov 8, 2022 I also added a link my Neocities profile in a new area that's above the navi than having it in the navigation and on Jan 27, 2023 I changed the background with a large gradient image since I didn't like how the gradient coding would show a yellow-orange color, that appeared before the orange part but this was added due to my desktop screen being very wide.

Note: Despite the "Neocities Profile" part being in the center, for the majority of it's life it was above the navigation but upon having to go back to my laptop with my desktop having a big problem it's like that. At least from what my laptop shows and I just can't position it above the navi anymore and it's like that with the current layout as well. I most likely changed it's position in order for it to look good on my desktop at the time but now I can't get it back to the way it was.

2nd Layout: ..this one :D I was so happy with this one and unlike the 1st one I actually have the start of when this layout appeared; Nov 6, 2020 since it's in an old entry. This layout used to be a Webs only thing until I found out about Web's big change that made me look for another host. The move from there to here happened on Jan 27, 2021 (since it's also on an old entry). It lasted longer than the first but what made the change to what the layout looks like now is the fact that I wanted more content room, the links in the navi somehow came out blurry looking which I didn't notice until later, wanted the font to be bigger which got bigger in almost every part of the layout. I also added a few additions. This change happened on Nov 16, 2021 so it lasted over a year.

1st Layout: Made at the start of the site's life (summer of 2020). It was my first time trying to make what I was able to make later on when the 2nd layout came. So, it's old and crappy looking and the navigation is stuck in the middle and the content is at the top. The 'Melon's Blog' part is kind of eye hurting with the colors that I chose. This layout was active before I found out about Neocities (and Web's it's gonna happen but it never happened change that brought me to Neocities) so it was on the old host; Webs. When I was able to create a better layout I changed it to..

History Summary

MB started out somewhere in the summer of 2020. Due to Webs becoming a paid site host, it was moved to Neocities in January 4, 2021. Though the whole paying thing with Webs isn't happening, despite getting a notice of this back during the end of 2020. It was going to first happen on March 31st and then it changed to June 30th. Before Melon's Blog got created, it used to be a site called Melon's Personal Site. It started on January 27, 2009 (according to it's first layout). It had these pages; about me, my artwork, a journal, my pets (that where parakeets) and pictures of them. Photos of my room, a few birthday cakes, and outdoor related ones. My forms which where mostly fan-made characters from my favorite shows, tutorials that included a basic html guide, a special html guide, one on how to blend pcitures, and one on how to make glowing text in Gimp. These stories where on there too; Wolf Hamster, Penny: The Winged Hamster, and Icy's Nightmare. About this layout which had info about each active layout along with an update avatar for every layout except for the first one, an avatar archive, an old updates archive, and a past layouts archive. Before I added Icy's Nightmare, there was only my first two stories; Wolf Hamster and Penny: The Winged Hamster that was added to the site through links to their mini sites, adding a new section to the navigation; Stories. The Wolf Hamster one went from July 7, 2012 - Aug 24, 2013, the first nine chapters where added on July 8, 2012. When the characters page was opened on July 14th of the same year only Mike and Lilly's profiles where added so I guess I didn't add anyone else until Melon's Stories was created :/ The characters and chapters where divided into two pages back then. On the Home page there was three sections; one was an Intro which had a very little one, another one was Updates where a small list of them where a small amount was typed in for each one, and About The Site, which has the same summary that's on Wolf Hamster on MB, which is where it's from. The image that's at the top of Wolf Hamster on MB is actually a small version of the mini site's banner. The mini site for Penny: The Winged Hamster went from Sept 23, 2013 - Dec 16, 2013, which has three more pages other than the Home page; About which probably had a summary about the story, Characters that became opened on Sept 29, 2013 and Chapters that became opened on Sept 25th of the same year. Home only has two sections unlike Wolf Hamster; Welcome which explains that it's a mini site that has the character information, story information, and chapters of Penny: Winged Hamster. And Updates which like with Wolf Hamster has a small list of them where a small amount was typed in for each one. The image that's at the top of Penny: Winged Hamster on MB is actually a small version of the mini site's banner. Later on I discarded the idea of having mini sites so those where removed and replaced with a new mini site that is bigger than the others; Melon's Stories that also connected to Melon's Personal Site just like with the mini sites. I made two layouts for MS in it's short life span that started on September 8, 2014 to when Melon's Personal Site ended, it's last update was October 12, 2015, which was when I added Icy's Nightmare and Chapter 10 of Wolf Hamster. As an interesting fact, all of my stories on Melon's Blog, except for Wolf Hamster: The Remake was taken and updated from MS. MPS went through 13 layouts during it's time, the last active layout was based on the Supernatural tv series and was called Version 13: Carry On Wayward Son which featured a replica of the same font that the show uses which was awesome to find and use :D It was called Supernatural Knight. That layout and the others had to do with my interests.

If MPS continued I'd probably make a layout based on another tv show; Lucifer since I had it in my future update notes when thinking of an idea for Version 14 (though at first it was gonna be based on The Devil is a Part-Timer!). It's last update was October 24, 2017. My interest in updating a site like that got old and worn out to me, there was also the fact that I lost a lot of images thanks to the fact that I used Majhost, an image host, like it was never going to completely shut down. It would take an offline break that lasted days or more before it went online again, which seemed like it was going to stay put. So, images that decorated the layouts, photos, my artwork, and other images disappeared from my life. I was able to make redos of what I lost but there was only so much that I could do. Despite this happening to my other sites (mostly SHH), MPS became dead and without updating it for three years I decided to explain what's going on with it. Years later, I replaced the home page with paragraphs that talks about if MPS will return or have a downfall sometime in early 2020 or late 2019. Which went kinda like this; I did get some inspiration to bringing it back with a new layout called Version 14: Melon and Penny as a starting from scratch idea because of being independent with Majhost and planned on having less pages. Having less pages was going to happen due to Webs not supporting Server Side Includes anymore, which would give me more work to do. I didn't get around to showing it to the public due to it not being ready yet. Then I decided on making this site return with a new title, I thought up of some but what felt (at least kind of) right is; Penny's Sky. Ever since the beginning of MPS, it mainly focused on my Hamtaro fan-made character. Penny first came into the banner of the lost first layout, I luckily still have the banner since it was hosted by Photobucket. But then I wasn't sure if I should and since Webs is not supporting something that's helped me out since 2009, which stopped being supported around May 2017 was a problem that I couldn't keep dealing with so that's why all of them except this site moved to Byehost.

These are the link back buttons that I made for MPS, they where used on my other sites; SHH and MI.

The buttons for MB where inspired by these even though all of them include Penny. The second button is similar to the MB one with Penny except with some changes but I improved the sprite of her since then so the MB one has these changes; there's a speak of brown by her nose, there's only a line on her wing that divides between the feathers and the top part than having a couple round bumps that are suppose to be the outline of two feathers, showing that her wings (in this case wing) has them. The favicon was originally made for the sake of MPS during it's lifetime. It's first appearance was on it's 2nd layout according to it's coding. Since MB came after MPS and how it also features Penny I decided to use it instead of making a new one.