#without code. Designed for beginners.

[nepsah]

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i hate this class so much i am so, so tempted to just Stop Doing Assignments bc i don't even fucking care that i'll "fail" it

it'll be a massive waste of money but it'd be better than banging my head against a wall repeatedly while feeling like an absolute idiot for not understanding what the fuck is supposed to be going on here

[natures-uprise]

[kafus]

beginner’s guide to the indie web

“i miss the old internet” “we’ll never have websites like the ones from the 90s and early 2000s ever again” “i’m tired of social media but there’s nowhere to go”

HOLD ON!

personal websites and indie web development still very much exist! it may be out of the way to access and may not be the default internet experience anymore, but if you want to look and read through someone’s personally crafted site, or even make your own, you can still do it! here’s how:

use NEOCITIES! neocities has a built in search and browse tools to let you discover websites, and most importantly, lets you build your own website from scratch for free! (there are other ways to host websites for free, but neocities is a really good hub for beginners!)

need help getting started with coding your website? sadgrl online has a section on her website dedicated to providing resources for newbie webmasters!

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are the core of what all websites are built on. many websites also use JS (JavaScript) to add interactive elements to their pages. w3schools is a useful directory of quick reference for pretty much every HTML/CSS/JS topic you can think of.

there is also this well written and lengthy guide on dragonfly cave that will put you step by step through the basics of HTML/CSS (what webpages are made from), if that’s your sort of thing!

stack overflow is every programmer’s hub for asking questions and getting help, so if you’re struggling with getting something to look how you want or can’t fix a bug, you may be able to get your answer here! you can even ask if no one’s asked the same question before.

websites like codepen and jsfiddle let you test HTML/CSS/JS in your browser as you tinker with small edits and bugfixing.

want to find indie websites outside the scope of neocities? use the search engine marginalia to find results you actually want that google won’t show you!

you can also use directory sites like yesterweb’s link section to find websites in all sorts of places.

if you are going to browse the indie web or make your own website, i also have some more personal tips as a webmaster myself (i am not an expert and i am just a small hobbyist, so take me with a grain of salt!)

if you are making your own site:

get expressive! truly make whatever you want! customize your corner of the internet to your heart’s content! you have left the constrains of social media where every page looks the same. you have no character limit, image limit, or design limit. want to make an entire page or even a whole website dedicated to your one niche interest that no one seems to be into but you? go for it! want to keep a public journal where you can express your thoughts without worry? do it! want to keep an art gallery that looks exactly how you want? heck yeah! you are free now! you will enjoy the indie web so much more if you actually use it for the things you can’t do on websites like twitter, instead of just using it as a carrd bio alternative or a place to dump nostalgic geocities gifs.

don’t overwhelm yourself! if you’ve never worked with HTML/CSS or JS before, it may look really intimidating. start slow, use some guides, and don’t bite off more than you can chew. even if your site doesn’t look how you want quite yet, be proud of your work! you’re learning a skill that most people don’t have or care to have, and that’s pretty cool.

keep a personal copy of your website downloaded to your computer and don’t just edit it on neocities (or your host of choice) and call it a day. if for some reason your host were to ever go down, you would lose all your hard work! and besides, by editing locally and offline, you can use editors like vscode (very robust) or notepad++ (on the simpler side), which have more features and is more intuitive than editing a site in-browser.

you can use ctrl+shift+i on most browsers to inspect the HTML/CSS and other components of the website you’re currently viewing. it’ll even notify you of errors! this is useful for bugfixing your own site if you have a problem, as well as looking at the code of sites you like and learning from it. don’t use this to steal other people’s code! it would be like art theft to just copy/paste an entire website layout. learn, don’t steal.

don’t hotlink images from other sites, unless the resource you’re taking from says it’s okay! it’s common courtesy to download images and host them on your own site instead of linking to someone else’s site to display them. by hotlinking, every time someone views your site, you’re taking up someone else’s bandwidth.

if you want to make your website easily editable in the future (or even for it to have multiple themes), you will find it useful to not use inline CSS (putting CSS in your HTML document, which holds your website’s content) and instead put it in a separate CSS file. this way, you can also use the same theme for multiple pages on your site by simply linking the CSS file to it. if this sounds overwhelming or foreign to you, don’t sweat it, but if you are interested in the difference between inline CSS and using separate stylesheets, w3schools has a useful, quick guide on the subject.

visit other people’s sites sometimes! you may gain new ideas or find links to more cool websites or resources just by browsing.

if you are browsing sites:

if the page you’re viewing has a guestbook or cbox and you enjoyed looking at the site, leave a comment! there is nothing better as a webmaster than for someone to take the time to even just say “love your site” in their guestbook.

that being said, if there’s something on a website you don’t like, simply move on to something else and don’t leave hate comments. this should be self explanatory, but it is really not the norm to start discourse in indie web spaces, and you will likely not even be responded to. it’s not worth it when you could be spending your time on stuff you love somewhere else.

take your time! indie web doesn’t prioritize fast content consumption the way social media does. you’ll get a lot more out of indie websites if you really read what’s in front of you, or take a little while to notice the details in someone’s art gallery instead of just moving on to the next thing. the person who put labor into presenting this information to you would also love to know that someone is truly looking and listening.

explore! by clicking links on a website, it’s easy to go down rabbitholes of more and more websites that you can get lost in for hours.

seeking out fansites or pages for the stuff you love is great and fulfilling, but reading someone’s site about a topic you’ve never even heard of before can be fun, too. i encourage you to branch out and really look for all the indie web has to offer.

i hope this post helps you get started with using and browsing the indie web! feel free to shoot me an ask if you have any questions or want any advice. <3

[catskets]

A more in-depth guide for creating visual novels, especially in the horror, horror-romance, etc circles

Some of you have seen my previous, smaller post on crafting visual novels, especially in this little space of Tumblr that a lot of us have found themselves in. Since that post took off, I've wanted to create a longer guide to help touch on some points I've thought about for the past few months.

In case you've never heard of me, I'm Kat, also known as catsket. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Design. I've been making games for nearly 5 years, and I've been doing visual novels more "professionally" for 2. You may know me for Art Without Blood, 10:16, God is in the Radio, or Fatal Focus. I'm here to help you make your first visual novel.

Please note that my advice does not fit everyone, and you may disagree with what I say. That's okay! It doesn't work for all. That's why there's thousands of resources out there.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER MADE A GAME

So, you have an idea for a huge visual novel. Horror, a shady and obsessive love interest, a little bit of woo-hooing. 100k words. Maybe a million. What is this, the 07th Expansion?

I notice a lot of people getting into visual novels are artists first. That's okay! I wanted to do art for games before I realized how much I enjoyed writing. And even less of you have probably touched Visual Studio. Again, perfectly okay. We all start somewhere.

My number one piece of advice? Make shitty games.

What does that mean?! My recommendation to those who have never done games is to make a bunch of shitty ones. Think of a theme, or hell, even join a game jam, where you make a game that fits a theme in a short amount of time. Spend about a week on your game. Focus on making something polished. Polish your mechanics. Polish your output.

I recommend, if you can, to make at least 4-6, if not more, kind of shitty games before hopping into longer projects. Making a game is a skill, just like art, just like writing. And game development is combining ALL of these together into one big soup being stirred by a skeleton hand puppet. You'll get into the rhythm and see what works for you.

It also helps you learn, perhaps, the second most important thing here: do you even like making games? There are cases out there where people have created video games (not saying visual novels) just for clout. That's no fun for you, that's no fun for your players. And you might go through this process and find that you don't like making games. That's completely okay! It's not for everyone.

Also, you can use these shittier games to gather an audience. I've built my audience because, for the past few years, I've been releasing games that slowly give me growing fields of eyes every day. A success story overnight is a rare one. It takes time. It's like building a brand, but you aren't a brand, you're an artist.

REV UP YOUR ENGINES!

Ren'py is the number one engine you will be recommended. It is very beginner-friendly, with lots of tutorials, assets on itch.io to use and download, and support. The engine comes with a few tutorials in the form of games, whose code you can freely browse. This is the engine I use most often. Most visual novels you see are made in this engine.

Twine is a text-based engine that most people use for interactive fiction. You can add images and audio, though, if you don't mind messing with HTML. I use Twine for text games and for outlining for my larger games. Ever played Degrees of Lewdity? Yeah, I know you have. Don't ask why. That game was made in Twine.

RPG Maker has multiple versions and has been used for exclusively VNs if you don't mind fucking around with plugins. It can definitely give your game a super unique feel. I recommend RPG Maker MV, since it has the most resources. This line of engines usually costs money, but it often goes on sale for under $5-$15.

People will recommend TyranoBuilder, but as a user and player, the lack of options and the format the games often come in is just...not fun to navigate. It advertises itself as little to no code, but it's often evident in the final results. Some good games have been made in it, though, so if you want to use it for prototyping/practice, you can. I'm not a fan, but that doesn't mean that fans don't exist! This engine costs money.

Not an engine, but check out Ink! Super useful scripting language that's used for more professional projects.

DEMOS, DEMOS, DEMOS

You've got an idea for a long-term project, and now you want to show it to the world! But wait, wait, don't do that yet!

When should I start advertising my game? This is a personal opinion, but I say that you should not start advertising your game until 50-60% of your demo is complete. Why? As I've discussed with some fans of indie VNs, they can name quite a few projects that have been in the "working on the demo" age for 1-2+ years. I've been in the Kickstarter MMO circles. If you, making a single-player experience with little mechanics to balance and polish (aka a visual novel), are taking that long on a demo, I am going to assume the game is not coming out. There are some games I have seen out here that have been in "working on the demo" phase where I haven't seen a single ounce of what the project will look like.

What should I put in my demo? The purpose of a demo is to showcase the mechanics and the vibes and the mechanics of your game. It's a demonstration. In my last post, I pointed to the Dead Space 2 demo that was showcased at E3 (RIP), that takes place about 2 hours into the story and shows how enemies are defeated, some animations, bits of the story, etc. Usually, because it's less about mechanics and more about vibes, visual novel demos showcase a certain percentage of the full thing (5-10%.) Can you showcase the vibe of the game here and what players should expect? If not, show off another portion.

How long should I work on my demo? Before, I said 3-4 months. That can be true, that can also not be true. Think about how long the demo takes you in proportion to how long the actual game should take you. Don't put too much effort. The demo is to showcase the vibe. It's to see how much the public and fans may enjoy the game.

My game is 18+, what should I do? Make a splash screen when the game is downloaded to let players know your game is 18+. If it's going to contain sexual content, you can hide it with itch.io's adult content filter. Write it on the page itself that your game is for adults only. Don't put your demo behind a paywall. This is genuinely ridiculous. The purpose of a demo is to showcase what a game is like before a player purchases it. That defeats the point of a demo. I've seen this happen, and it discourages players from approaching, especially because most demos never make it past the demo phase. So...I'm paying you $10 for 2-3k words of a game that may never come out?

Should I make a social media for my game? YES! Go for it. These anchors are how people will find your game. Make a Tumblr and open that ask box. Make a Twitter. Go to BluSky. Advertising is not bad. Some YouTubers even take e-mail suggestions from developers. Feel free to shoot your shot. The worst they can do is not respond.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR ITCH.IO PAGE:

Getting your itch.io to a presentable state can be very challenging! There's many ways to do it. I highly recommend using this page image guide for learning how to size your images to make your page pop!

Itch.io themselves has suggested to not publish a page until the game or demo is released. You can make the page and keep it as a draft, but do not publish it until you're ready!

Your cover image is the image that will appear in the search of the website, on any front pages, in collections, and on your profile. What have I seen that works? Key art of one of the characters up close and the title of the game! If you can make it a .GIF, do it! Bitches love .GIFs!

Itch.io recommends 3-5 screenshots on your page. I recommend 1 of these 5 be a .GIF that shows how gameplay feels. This is effective, even for visual novels!

Write a 3-5 sentence summary about your game for the description. What is your story about? What is the draw?

DO NOT BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO IS GOING TO SAY "This is not like other visual novels. It doesn't have that cheesy this or that or-" No one cares. Genuinely. You're putting down other games in your genre and elevating yourself to the pompous level.

TAG YOUR GAME! itch.io gives you a list of tags to choose from when you go to tag. DON'T USE THIS! Try to go for more specific tags. Arimia has a very good guide on how to use itch.io's tagging system to your advantage.

GENERAL GAME MAKING ADVICE

SCOPE KNIFE IS SUPER USEFUL! Everyone makes games that are way over their workload. It's okay to cut out features and add them later. Prioritize making a finished game before hitting those stretch goals.

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! Writing outlines is super helpful. I use Twine for my outlines, because you can connect your passages together and make really well-thought webs.

IT'S OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP! Whether it's from friends, professionals, or anything in-between. They can help with assets, editing, etc.

HONE YOUR SKILLS OUTSIDE OF GAMES! Write some poetry. Do some sketches everyday. Improve on your craft to improve your games

MUSIC IS HARD. THERE ARE RESOURCES. Most of us aren't musicians. That's okay. Make sure the music you get for your game is allowed to be used. You can use anything non-commercial if your game will not cost money or donations. I try to do songs in the public domain or free to use overall with credit if I don't have a musician. Consult the Creative Commons website if you're unsure how you're supposed to use a certain piece of music. If you don't use the right stuff, not only can it put you in legal trouble, but it can put streamers in hot water if they play your game and they can't upload the video because music is copyrighted.

PLEASE, DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR UI. Wanna know an easy way to get your game to look more professional? Edit the damn UI for your game. Make a new textbox, even if it's just a black box. Change the font. Eventually, players recognize the defaults and patterns of games made in certain engines and may attribute a lack of UI changes to a developer being lazy. It doesn't take very long to change the colors around and move text! Please do it to add a little pop to your game.

DEADLINES ARE AWESOME. Not everyone works well under pressure, but if you give yourself an infinite amount of time to make something, it'll never get done. Set goals for yourself for how much you can work on something.

IF YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP, GIVE UP. Making things is hard, especially long-term. Emergencies happen, jobs happen, life happens. Let your fans know that a project isn't happening anymore. Don't leave them in the dark. You don't need to tell strangers your medical history or anything, but transparency + honesty are really hot traits. You should use those in your creative work. This is one reason why I advocate for not publishing or advertising things until you know it's stable.

SHOWCASING YOUR CONTENT

People love to see WIPs for games! This is what the devlog is good for! A devlog is a post where a developer talks about and showcases some things happening in the game? What can you add to your dev log?

PERCENTAGES! How much of the artwork is done? How much of this character's route is done?

SNEAK PEEKS AT ARTWORK AND SPRITES!

GIFS! GIRLS LOVE GIFS!

Anything else to showcase your game's content! Posting consistent updates retains and even gains a fan's attention for your work.

RUNNING YOUR TUMBLR

You've joined us, and you've made a Tumblr for your blog! Link it on the itch.io page, so people can come find you after playing your awesome demo!

Do I have to respond to every ask? No. It's your blog. Delete whatever asks you want.

I got a hate comment! What do I do? Delete it and move on. I have a more detailed section on hate below.

I want to interact with [blog]! How do I do that? Reach out to the devs for silly little collabs. If you come onto a developer slightly headstrong, they might feel you are being abrasive or using them for content.

If people make fan content, interact with it! Encourage it! Reblog it. Show your love.

OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS

PROFESSIONALISM IS KEY. These may be pet projects, but you want to appear some level of professional on your actual itch.io page.

Being dismissive of player and fan complaints or criticisms will make you appear childish.

If your game is broken, fix it. I have been told by some amateur developers to ignore game-breaking bugs. It does not make me, a player, want to engage with your content. It seems messy and unfinished.

With the above point, it's 100% okay to have bugs and errors upon release. Every developer and their brood mother has. To decrease these issues, get playtesters. Friends can play your games, spot any errors, and help you point out things that can be improved upon. I recommend having playtesters at every stage of development.

Make sure your game runs before you publish it. Please.

You can still be silly and giddy! There's no reason to not be, especially when you get positive comments! The point of this is to not be outright rude to potential players and fans.

IGNORE HATE COMMENTS. In this case, a hate comment is a statement that contains no constructive criticism and are only here to be insulting or malicious. People are going to leave you with actual piles of dog shit in your ask box. They are trying to provoke you. Giving hate comments any attention, even if you're there to "clap back" proves that they got to you, even if you don't take the hate to heart. They will continue to pester you. Delete any hate comments and ignore them completely. Laugh about them with friends in a private setting, sure.

THINK BEFORE YOU REFERENCE! I know one big thing in this community is adding references to other games in yours, such as plushies of other characters or putting them on posters. The best thing you can do it ask the developer before adding this. How would you feel if some random person you've never met put your character in a video game? Most of us would feel weird and potentially violated. Open communication with devs is awesome. I am usually okay with it as long as someone asks for permission.

As a complete aside, I prefer more tasteful references to other games as opposed to 523482346 plushies and posters. These have been slightly overdone. Why not theme a candy after another game's character? Maybe your characters know each other.

OTHER RESOURCES I RECOMMEND

Devtalk is a server dedicated to independent visual novel creators. You can find jobs, resources, advice, talks, and, like, everything there! Devtalk is super useful. Everyone in there is so cool. They have a really great and comprehensive list of resources that I could not even begin to cover.

Visual Novel Design is a great YouTuber. No other words, check the guy out!

Ren'py and whatever other engine you're using has documentation that's super useful to follow.

Arimia not only has amazing VN resources, especially for marketing, but she also just has? Amazing games that you should check out?

And for a shameless self plug, I'm the lead of Sacred Veins, a collective of devs creating narrative games, whether it be horror, humor, romance, or everything in-between. Come hang out with us!

[maryellencarter]

YouTube Downloads through VLC: Step by Step

So this guide to easily downloading off YouTube is super helpful, but there's enough important information hidden in the reblogs that (with the permission of OP @queriesntheories ) I'm doing a more step-by-step version.

Please note: these downloads will be in YouTube quality. My test video download is coming through at 360p, even though the video I'm starting from is set to 720p. They're legible, but they won't look great on a TV. For high visual quality, you'll want to seek out other methods.

This guide is written for Windows 10, since that's what I can test on. It's been tested on Firefox, Chrome, and Edge (which is a Chromium browser, so the method should work in other Chromium browsers too). So far, I haven't tracked down a way to use this download method on mobile.

BASIC KNOWLEDGE:

I'll try to make this pretty beginner-friendly, but I am going to assume that you know how to right-click, double-click, navigate right-click menus, click-and-drag, use keyboard shortcuts that are given to you (for example, how to use Ctrl+A), and get the URL for any YouTube video you want to download.

You'll also need to download and install one or more programs off the internet using .exe files, if you don't have these programs already. Please make sure you know how to use your firewall and antivirus to keep your computer safe, and google any names you don't recognize before allowing permission for each file. You can also hover your mouse over each link in this post to make sure it goes where I'm saying it will go.

YOU WILL NEED:

A computer where you have admin permissions. This is usually a computer you own or have the main login on. Sadly, a shared computer like the ones at universities and libraries will not work for this.

Enough space on your computer to install the programs listed below, if you don't have them already, and some space to save your downloaded files to. The files are pretty small because of the low video quality.

A simple text editing program. Notepad is the one that usually comes with Windows. If it lets you change fonts, it's too fancy. A notepad designed specifically to edit program code without messing it up is Notepad++, which you can download here.

A web browser. I use Firefox, which you can get here. Chrome or other Chrome-based browsers should also work. I haven't tested in Safari.

An Internet connection fast enough to load YouTube. A little buffering is fine. The downloads will happen much faster than streaming the entire video, unless your internet is very slow.

VLC Media Player, which you can get here. It's a free player for music and videos, available on Windows, Android, and iOS, and it can play almost any format of video or audio file that exists. We'll be using it for one of the central steps in this process.

If you want just the audio from a YouTube video, you'll need to download the video and then use a different program to copy the audio into its own file. At the end of this post, I'll have instructions for that, using a free sound editor called Audacity.

SETUP TO DOWNLOAD:

The first time you do this, you'll need to set VLC up so it can do what you want. This is where we need Notepad and admin permissions. You shouldn't need to repeat this process unless you're reinstalling VLC.

If VLC is open, close it.

In your computer's file system (File Explorer on Windows), go to C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\playlist

If you're not familiar with File Explorer, you'll start by clicking where the left side shows (C:). Then in the big main window, you'll double-click each folder that you see in the file path, in order - so in this case, when you're in C: you need to look for Program Files. (There will be two of them. You want the one without the x86 at the end.) Then inside Program Files you're looking for VideoLAN, and so forth through the whole path.

Once you're inside the "playlist" folder, you'll see a lot of files ending in .luac - they're in alphabetical order. The one you want to edit is youtube.luac which is probably at the bottom.

You can't edit youtube.luac while it's in this folder. Click and drag it out of the playlist folder to somewhere else you can find it - your desktop, for instance. Your computer will ask for admin permission to move the file. Click the "Continue" button with the blue and yellow shield.

Now that the file is moved, double-click on it. The Microsoft Store will want you to search for a program to open the .luac file type with. Don't go to the Microsoft Store, just click on the blue "More apps" below that option, and you'll get a list that should include your notepad program. Click on it and click OK.

The file that opens up will be absolutely full of gibberish-looking code. That's fine. Use Ctrl+A to select everything inside the file, then Backspace or Delete to delete it. Don't close the file yet.

In your web browser, go to https://github.com/videolan/vlc/blob/master/share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua

Click in the part of the Github page that has a bunch of mostly blue code in it. Use Ctrl+A to select all of that code, Ctrl+C to copy it, then come back into your empty youtube.luac file and use Ctrl+P to paste the whole chunk of code into the file.

Save the youtube.luac file (Ctrl+S or File > Save in the upper left corner of the notepad program), then close the notepad program.

Drag youtube.luac back into the folder it came from. The computer will ask for admin permission again. Give it permission.

Now you can close Github and Notepad. You're ready to start downloading!

HOW TO DOWNLOAD:

First, get your YouTube link. It should look something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123DEF45 If it's longer, you can delete any extra stuff after that first set of letters and numbers, but you don't have to.

Now open VLC. Go to Media > Open Network Stream and paste your YouTube link into the box that comes up. Click Play. Wait until the video starts to play, then you can pause it if you want so it's not distracting you during the next part.

(If nothing happens, you probably forgot to put youtube.luac back. coughs)

In VLC, go to Tools > Codec Information. At the bottom of the pop-up box you'll see a long string of gibberish in a box labeled Location. Click in the Location box. It won't look like it clicked properly, but when you press Ctrl+A, it should select all. Use Ctrl+C to copy it.

In your web browser, paste the entire string of gibberish and hit Enter. Your same YouTube video should come up, but without any of the YouTube interface around it. This is where the video actually lives on YouTube's servers. YouTube really, really doesn't like to show this address to humans, which is why we needed VLC to be like "hi I'm just a little video player" and get it for us.

Because, if you're looking at the place where the video actually lives, you can just right-click-download it, and YouTube can't stop you.

Right-click on your video. Choose "Save Video As". Choose where to save it to - I use my computer's built-in Music or Videos folders.

Give it a name other than "videoplayback" so you can tell it apart from your other downloads.

The "Save As Type" dropdown under the Name field will probably default to MP4. This is a good versatile video format that most video players can read. If you need a different format, you can convert the download later. (That's a whole other post topic.)

Click Save, and your video will start downloading! It may take a few minutes to fully download, depending on your video length and internet speed. Once the download finishes, congratulations! You have successfully downloaded a YouTube video!

If you'd like to convert your video into a (usually smaller) audio file, so you can put it on a music player, it's time to install and set up Audacity.

INSTALLING AUDACITY (first time setup for audio file conversion):

You can get Audacity here. If you're following along on Windows 10, choose the "64-bit installer (recommended)". Run the installer, but don't open Audacity at the end, or if it does open, close it again.

On that same Audacity download page, scroll down past the installers to the "Additional resources". You'll see a box with a "Link to FFmpeg library". This is where you'll get the add-on program that will let Audacity open your downloaded YouTube video, so you can tell it to make an audio-only file. The link will take you to this page on the Audacity support wiki, which will always have the most up-to-date information on how to install the file you need here.

From that wiki page, follow the link to the actual FFmpeg library. If you're not using an adblocker, be careful not to click on any of the ads showing you download buttons. The link you want is bold blue text under "FFmpeg Installer for Audacity 3.2 and later", and looks something like this: "FFmpeg_5.0.0_for_Audacity_on_Windows_x86.exe". Download and install it. Without this, Audacity won't be able to open MP4 files downloaded from YouTube.

CONVERTING TO AUDIO:

Make sure you know where to find your downloaded MP4 video file. This file won't go away when you "convert" it - you'll just be copying the audio into a different file.

Open up Audacity.

Go to File > Open and choose your video file.

You'll get one of those soundwave file displays you see in recording booths and so forth. Audacity is a good solid choice if you want to teach yourself to edit soundwave files, but that's not what we're here for right now.

Go to File > Export Audio. The File Name will populate to match the video's filename, but you can edit it if you want.

Click the Browse button next to the Folder box, and choose where to save your new audio file to. I use my computer's Music folder.

You can click on the Format dropdown and choose an audio file type. If you're not sure which one you want, MP3 is the most common and versatile.

If you'd like your music player to know the artist, album, and so forth for your audio track, you can edit that later in File Manager, or you can put the information in with the Edit Metadata button here. You can leave any of the slots blank, for instance if you don't have a track number because it's a YouTube video.

Once everything is set up, click Export, and your new audio file will be created. Go forth and listen!

[redtail-lol]

Hey guys I need advice. My dad wants to buy me a laptop and it would be really helpful for me to have one but I don't know how to choose shit. I need advice on what laptop model to get, and what OS I should get.

What will I use it for? I'm not sure. Writing, desktop versions of social media, non-intense gaming most likely, apply for jobs, general personal use.

My only for sure requirements are, it needs decent RAM (more than 4 GB), it has to be compatible with regular USB ports because I have a thumb drive with stuff from my school Chromebook and I have another thumb drive that I lost because it didn't work on my stupid motorola but if I ever find it again I think will work on my laptop, and it has to have more than 5 hours of battery life when used with low brightness levels. I don't care about weight or thin designs. I would like the color accuracy to be good but it needn't be perfect and I'll get what I can get. Even with my dad having a job we're still not really rich so either a.) this laptop needs to be affordable (under $500) or b.) this laptop needs to be old enough to buy a used one.

In terms of OS: I am most familiar with chrome but I am becoming ideologically opposed to Google. I absolutely will not use Windows - Windows 10 is going to go away soon and Windows 11 has built in AI. It also costs money. I am considering Linux, but I've heard conflicting information on if it would be good for me. My only knowledge of code is from not even a full semester of an HTML class (but the teacher did say I picked up coding pretty fast). Some people say I have to have some knowledge of computer science to use Linux, others say it's actually really beginner friendly nowadays. Some people say it's extremely limited in what it can run and others say more and more things are able to be run on linux with or without an additional program to make it run. There's also a bunch of "distros" that can be chosen from, though I've seen a source say ubuntu is the only one that can be run on a laptop. What's true and what's not? Should I use Linux at all if I don't know shit about code or Computer Science? Are certain distros better for beginners?

Please help if you can help in any way, whether it's recommending brands, exact models, or linux/linux distros..

[kingthreshie-official]

Personal Hat in the Ring on the Palworld discourse:

1) calling a group of developers soulless because one guy on the team likes AI is not only Bizarre but gives the impression that work is only valid if everybody working follows your Moral code. AI has its problems and AI art is blatant theft but hating something because the other guy has an "Unsavory opinion" makes you look worse.

2) no other creature catcher RPG (Yokai watch, mon hun stories, etc.) Got popular in the same way palworld is because they aimed for pokemons direct audience (Children.) Instead of seeing where there was a niche that needed a game (adults that like creature catching and crave intense experiences). On top of that, I would say Palworlds closest competition is ARK, Not pokemon. When you compare palworld to Ark, it's a lot more tame, accessible, and beginner friendly. It's an excellent way to get people who hate survival games (me) into survival mechanics without obligating us to droll experiences or color pallettes.

3) Palworlds models have better topography and while the designs are close to pokemon it falls under the line of parody, therefore the model arguments are stupid.

4) If a 3 year long dev process Indie game is able to Snag an unnoticed group of people that corporations didn't acknowledge, I say let them. Nobody else tried hitting this group? PERSONALLY, its a fun experience that's opening my pallette to a genre of games I usually don't acknowledge or like DUE to its closeness to pokemon. At the end of the day fun is fun and you can't stop people from having fun just because it's a little close to pokemon.

[wynns-wonderful-pixel-paradise]

it's wild finding out about wysiwyg software and trying to find a modern version that isn't an Adobe product (or some subscription thing like WordPress or squarespace) and hearing so much whining about how you can't make a good website with it and how you should learn how to code like a real man or whatever

The rude attitudes are extra telling because absolutely nobody seems to be able to consider the idea of making a web page for FUN and experimentation as opposed to bare functionality and corporate use or whatever I guess. I guess everyone has forgotten how to have fun on the internet

Meanwhile I feel like this could enable my stupid ass to make some more fun and experimental web pages without feeling like bashing my face into my monitor because coding is really hard for me to grasp outside of the bare basics

Its wild no web design tutorial mentions it as an option for beginners! I don't have time this weekend to try anything out but in the future I'll post about my findings on the subject, I think I have an idea of where to start but I'd it doesn't work out for me I'll see about getting old school frontpage to work for me (I might do that anyway just for fun)

[sparrowsgarden]

"i would do this project if i knew how to x" you don't need anyone's permission to learn a skill.

like i don't know how to say this to some people but you will need to learn new things, regularly, for your whole life. there is not some age at which you just know how to do shit, so one of the best things you can do is to get comfortable with the process of learning. knowledge is not going to magically descend upon you and also, hopefully, you are not going to subsist forever on what you happened to learn as a kid. so you'll need to learn the meta-skill of learning.

like 90% of my work is "nobody else has done this in a way that i like so i guess i'm going to", and that basically always means learning new skills! i learned plenty of things from school, but most of the stuff that i actually use regularly is self-taught to some degree.

let's make this actionable. here are some tips you can use if you want to learn art, or coding, or how to use a software, etc etc.

1. find somebody who knows how to do the thing and ask them how they learned/if they have useful resources.

there are some things which you have to actually go take a class for, but most things i see people vaguely wishing they could do are not those. however, it is worth asking someone who knows what they're doing which resources are actually helpful for beginners. the pros to asking self-taught people are they also had to learn from whatever stuff they could scrape together. the cons are they're more likely to have very weird ideas of how to do things. either should be fine for pointing you to stuff, though.

you can ask for tips too, that's always fine. but what you really want is to know which sources to trust when you need to look up how to do like a million specific little things.

also, if you're looking for beginner-level art stuff that is not for kids, it'll be to your advantage to find someone who has at the least gone through instruction targeted toward that level (such as, someone who's been in a college-level intro course that isn't specific to art students). it is super easy to get overwhelmed with art stuff if you aren't fairly careful and targeted about what you work on at first, especially if you're truly starting from scratch.

2. being confused is ok.

absolutely nobody opens up a program for the first time, without having done anything similar before, and understands how to use it. being confused when you start something new is not indicative of an inability to learn, it is a necessary step of the process. occasionally it also means that whoever designed the software did a bad job. either way, consider this part of the learning meta-skill.

3. fuck around. troubleshoot.

if the skill of troubleshooting problems is not one you're already good at, then you're getting a meta-skill two for one. don't be afraid to ask people for help if you get really stuck, but most of this is looking shit up. having that list of trusted resources to start your search will be a huge help.

4. don't do everything at once.

start simple and work your way up with mini-projects, no matter what you're doing. this is the advantage of having access to instruction, it's paced out to force you to practice regularly before moving on. depending on the size of the project you have in mind you can disregard this if it keeps you more motivated to see immediate progress, but beware!

5. resist the urge to redo.

at some point you will, presumably, get to actually doing that thing you want to do. when you get the urge to scrap everything and start over because you're not happy with your original approach, stick with it for just a bit longer. honestly, sometimes starting over is the right answer, but it's usually worth some extra consideration. if new stuff doesn't build on old stuff, you're probably better off moving on forward rather than getting trapped in the cycle of endless redos. if it does, at least really take the time to consider whether a redo would be helpful.

i would also say something like "make it a habit" but i have the type of intractible adhd where that's damn near impossible so like. do your best. anything that's worth doing is worth your persistence!

[blubberquark]

When "Clean" Code is Hard to Read

Never mind that "clean" code can be slow.

Off the top of my head, I could give you several examples of software projects that were deliberately designed to be didactic examples for beginners, but are unreasonably hard to read and difficult to understand, especially for beginners.

Some projects are like that because they are the equivalent of GNU Hello World: They are using all the bells and whistles and and best practices and design patterns and architecture and software development ceremony to demonstrate how to software engineering is supposed to work in the big leagues. There is a lot of validity to that idea. Not every project needs microservices, load balancing, RDBMS and a worker queue, but a project that does need all those things might not be a good "hello, world" example. Not every project needs continuous integration, acceptance testing, unit tests, integration tests, code reviews, an official branching and merging procedure document, and test coverage metrics. Some projects can just be two people who collaborate via git and push to master, with one shell script to run the tests and one shell script to build or deploy the application.

So what about those other projects that aren't like GNU Hello World?

There are projects out there that go out of their way to make the code simple and well-factored to be easier for beginners to grasp, and they fail spectacularly. Instead of having a main() that reads input, does things, and prints the result, these projects define an object-oriented framework. The main file loads the framework, the framework calls the CLI argument parser, which then calls the interactive input reader, which then calls the business logic. All this complexity happens in the name of writing short, easy to understand functions and classes.

None of those things - the parser, the interactive part, the calculation - are in the same file, module, or even directory. They are all strewn about in a large directory hierarchy, and if you don't have an IDE configured to go to the definition of a class with a shortcut, you'll have trouble figuring out what is happening, how, and where.

The smaller you make your functions, the less they do individually. They can still do the same amount of work, but in more places. The smaller you make your classes, the more is-a and as-a relationships you have between classes and objects. The result is not Spaghetti Code, but Ravioli Code: Little enclosed bits floating in sauce, with no obvious connections.

Ravioli Code makes it hard to see what the code actually does, how it does it, and where is does stuff. This is a general problem with code documentation: Do you just document what a function does, do you document how it works, does the documentation include what it should and shouldn't be used for and how to use it? The "how it works" part should be easy to figure out by reading the code, but the more you split up things that don't need splitting up - sometimes over multiple files - the harder you make it to understand what the code actually does just by looking at it.

To put it succinctly: Information hiding and encapsulation can obscure control flow and make it harder to find out how things work.

This is not just a problem for beginner programmers. It's an invisible problem for existing developers and a barrier to entry for new developers, because the existing developers wrote the code and know where everything is. The existing developers also have knowledge about what kinds of types, subclasses, or just special cases exist, might be added in the future, or are out of scope. If there is a limited and known number of cases for a code base to handle, and no plan for downstream users to extend the functionality, then the downside to a "switch" statement is limited, and the upside is the ability to make changes that affect all special cases without the risk of missing a subclass that is hiding somewhere in the code base.

Up until now, I have focused on OOP foundations like polymorphism/encapsulation/inheritance and principles like the single responsibility principle and separation of concerns, mainly because that video by Casey Muratori on the performance cost of "Clean Code" and OOP focused on those. I think these problems can occur in the large just as they do in the small, in distributed software architectures, overly abstract types in functional programming, dependency injection, inversion of control, the model/view/controller pattern, client/server architectures, and similar abstractions.

It's not always just performance or readability/discoverability that suffer from certain abstractions and architectural patterns. Adding indirections or extracting certain functions into micro-services can also hamper debugging and error handling. If everything is polymorphic, then everything must either raise and handle the same exceptions, or failure conditions must be dealt with where they arise, and not raised. If an application is consists of a part written in a high-level interpreted language like Python, a library written in Rust, and a bunch of external utility programs that are run as child processes, the developer needs to figure out which process to attach the debugger to, and which debugger to attach. And then, the developer must manually step through a method called something like FrameWorkManager.orchestrate_objects() thirty times.

[c-53]

WARNING: LONG ASK INCOMING

For hobby electronics there’s two major kinds of processors: Microcomputers and Microcontrollers. Microcomputers are small full computer systems like the Raspberry Pi, they typically run a general-purpose OS (typically some flavor of Linux) and are useful for the kinds of projects that require basically a full computer to function, but not necessarily individual sensors. They’re a great place to start for people who don’t know a whole ton about programming or working with individual components because they typically can output a true GUI to a screen and have the capabilities of a regular desktop computer. They have a main processor, true RAM, and either large on-board storage space or a way to read a storage device, like an SD card.

Microcontrollers are less complicated (component wise) than microcomputers, but as a result are more difficult for total beginners to begin working with. They’re typically primarily a SoC (System on a Chip) processor without discrete RAM modules and a very small EEPROM (on-ship storage space) and need to have components wired and configured to them to be able to do much more than being a fancy calculator. They’re used for when you need something to carry out electronic functions or get sensor readings, but not necessarily a full operating system, so they’re best suited for small/integrated applications. Your helmet uses a microcontroller to control the LEDs you used in the Cunt Machine post.

I build high-power model rockets as a hobby and with my university team, so I work with both kinds of processor as part of designing payload systems. I typically prefer microcontrollers in these as most of what we do doesn’t need an actual OS to run, and they’re smaller/lighter than microcomputers. One of the advantages of a microcontroller is that it runs a Real-Time OS (RTOS) which forgoes all the user-friendliness of things like windows and linux to instead be the bare minimum backend necessary to run code uploaded into the processor. 

The main advantage of using a microcontroller is really that they’re typically a lot cheaper than microcomputers are and are plenty powerful for really embedded applications. They also make other parts of whatever system is being built cheaper/easier to integrate because they require less overhead to function - the raspberry pi needs a minimum of 5 volts of power to work, while a chip like an ESP32-PICO can run at 1.8V. 

The main way you make sensors/buttons/peripherals work with a microcontroller is via digital communication busses. There’s a few protocols, the most common being I2C, SPI, and UART. I’ll talk about I2C since that’s generally the most common. With I2C each component is assigned a 2-byte “address” that they’re identified by. When the controller sends a request signal on the I2C data bus, every sensor along the line will return their own signal, marked with their address so that they can be identified. It allows for a large number of devices to be put on the same lines and you can daisy-chain them through each other to the microcontroller.

I’ll be honest I really can’t think of a good way to say much more on the subject as like a starting message because I’ve been working with computers so long all the tech stuff for me is second nature, but if you have any questions ask away I can probably answer them or google them.

.

[izicodes]

Hello! Today I am presenting to you a challenge I am going to be doing so that I stick to my goal to be creating more and not just reading all the theories on Web Development and only doing apprenticeship homework all the time!

In this challenge, I am starting at the very basics, a complete beginner! The best place to start is HTML and CSS. All I will do is code up basic web pages, upload them to GitHub and have them up and running for others to see. The challenge is supposed to be solely HTML code but oh boy is that boring to see without some colour and design! I will try and keep the CSS code to a minimum because I will later create a challenge for myself to code some CSS-focused projects.

I’ve already chosen the 10 web pages I will be attempting to be creating! They are the basic sites you will see out there! They are:

Tribute Page

Wikipedia article page ✅

Search results page

Survey form page ✅

Product landing page

A chessboard

An event or conference page

Photography website

Technical Documentation Page ✅

Restaurant page

*Not in order - I will randomly pick each time

This I have to remember throughout:

Keep it responsive as much as I can (I’m terrible with pure CSS responsiveness)

Keep it accessible as much as possible

How I am doing so far in the challenge: link

Thanks all! I will be using the #10HTMLPagesChallenge to keep track! Thank you and I’d love it if you follow me through this challenge! (^///^)

[learnfromkarl]

Hey guys, it's Karl and today I am excited to share with you a Fiverr service that is perfect for those who are looking to create their very own Android app. This service is not only affordable, but it's also reliable, fast and of high quality. I am talking about the "I will create you an app using Kodular or Mit App Inventor" service.

The Android app market is growing at an astonishing rate, with over 2.5 billion active Android devices in the world. This means that the demand for Android apps is higher than ever before. However, creating an Android app can be a daunting task, especially if you have no experience in coding. That's where this Fiverr service comes in.

The service offers to create any type of Android application for you using Kodular or Mit App Inventor. If you're not familiar with these platforms, they are both drag-and-drop app builders that require no coding skills. This makes them perfect for beginners who want to create a professional-looking app without having to spend months learning how to code.

But why choose this particular service? Well, for starters, the seller has over a year of experience in this domain. This means that they know exactly what they're doing and can create a high-quality app for you in no time. In addition, they offer fast delivery times, low prices, and good quality apps. What more could you ask for?

The seller's services include app development, splash screen, language translation, sensors, custom extensions, app design, multiple screens, app logo, Aia file, Apk file, ads, and much more. So, whatever you need for your app, they have got you covered.

Before placing an order, the seller advises you to contact them first. This is a good idea because it allows you to discuss your requirements and get a better idea of what you can expect from the service. It also ensures that the seller can deliver exactly what you want, without any misunderstandings.

In conclusion, if you're looking to create an Android app but don't know where to start, then the "I will create you an app using Kodular or Mit App Inventor" service on Fiverr is definitely worth checking out. With its affordable price, fast delivery times, and high-quality apps, you can't go wrong. So why not give it a try and see what kind of app you can create?

{LINK}

[woolieshubris]

hii alice! i'm very slowly trying to teach myself html/css by making a neocities, (what i have so far can be seen here, it's not much i know) and i was just wondering if you had any useful tips/resources? :0 your neocities is very cool (i was reminded by that other person that asked about it yesterday) so i thought i would ask <3 i'm already using mozilla webdocs and w3schools, but do you have any other recommendations?

i don't really know a lot about html/css yet, (i don't have a ton of coding experience, most of what i've done has been in python) and so i don't really know how html/css should be "structured", if that makes sense.

any help or pointers are appreciated! ty in advance <3 peace

Your neocities looks great! Especially for a beginner!

Things to look into:

For learning, I'd recommend learning more about semantic design- w3schools

Also, do some studying up on the box model! this website I found seems to have a lot of good information- box model

I'd also look into CSS classes- w3schools

Also, the fastest way for you to learn coding is to... look at other people's code! Go onto neocities, scroll till you see a page you like, and then inspect element the shit out of it >:3c Even if it doesn't make sense at first to you, looking at a lot of code can help you learn new ways of doing things!

blogs u should take a look at: Drakul78, moonview, twelvemen, and nyaa!

OK so for code analysis:

Overall: I like your website a lot! It's simple, it's cute, and it's functional. These are tips for when you want to "upgrade" your site, but as is, it works great :3c

I like to avoid putting traits other than background onto "body", since it severely limits what you can do with your website. (If you wanted to have multiple boxes on screen, for example, you can't do that...)

Also, the contrast between the background and the text is a little too low for my liking, but your text is nice and large so it's not too much of an issue. If you are going to make your text smaller though, you'll need to change those colors.

You already are using semantic design elements in your website, which is really good! Also, using style.css instead of putting it into the page itself is also really good practice.

Ideas for the future:

This is very subjective, but I feel like you are using your website like someone might use a caard. It's pretty, but each page is static, and links to another static page! You can merge a lot of this information into your index- such as credits/links :3c

FONTS! FONTS! FONTS! there are so many beautiful fonts in this world, and with google fonts, you can easily apply them all to your website!! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ google fonts

also, since you mentioned you were a coder- I'd recommend setting up a way for you to use vscode to edit your page! One of my friends wrote some git code for me that makes it so I can edit my page without making a billion changes to it in quick succession. I'll ask them if I can share it with you if that would interest you, and I could make a separate post on my visual studio code layout if you are curious :3c

[fruttymoment]

Whoa linux user

Do you have a guide on how to switch to it? I have zero coding knowledge (i think that's required) and I trust you with my life

I perfectly understand the "linux is scary and requires very big brain and coding its too hard to use!" thought coming from a Windows/Mac guy, i really do! But in the end, a linux distro is just a computer kernel that also has a desktop environment and just does what you want it to do like an operating system

Coding on linux is not required. Linux has so many distros at this point that designed to be beginner friendly, requiring "no knowledge but TO gain knowledge while using it"

The linux terminal is the thing that scares most of the users, but trust me once you get used to it you'll realize how efficent it is to operate your computer and do certain tasks from THE terminal instead! In the end, the cold looking white text with black background terminals are the REAL face of computers. Desktop environment is made so EVERYONE can use computers!

The terminal of gnu/linux uses the bash language. In a nutshell, it is pretty easy to learn basic commands actually!

Super beginner friendly linux distros are designed for people (YOUU) who has no experience whatsoever with linux! They are designed and engineered so you dont have to use the terminal much! For example, Linux Mint is the best distro you should start with. It looks and feels like Windows, even! And Mint does not require much terminal usage. That is also their mission, to make an linux distro friendly enough that no terminal usage is needed!

As easy as this sounds, i actually do not recommend staying this far away from the linux terminal. Please start with Linux Mint if you gonna, its just the best for beginners, but also please dont avoid the terminal much! The linux terminal is important to learn because it also teaches you how a computer really works, and certain operations are much more efficent to do via terminal anyway!

Push yourself to interact with the terminal, even. Learn very basic commands like "shutdown now" , and the "sudo" privilege and how it works (linux always asks your password while doing stuff and you also cant do muc without the sudo privileges!)

"sudo" is the command that gives you the REAL admin privileges to do ANYTHING. With your password and sudo, you can even delete your bootloader lol. Linux wont stop you

This means to be extremely careful while using sudo, though! You can do ANYTHING with sudo privileges, and that also contains accidently trashing your computer! Unlike Windows, that doesnt even let you uninstall Edge, linux has no boundries. Its like "we are gonna assume you know what you are doing."

Of course, friendly distros DO warn you on certain stuff, so dont worry too much!

So ye. U can use linux with no coding knowledge, but i dont recommend staying like that. After starting to use linux, you GOTTA let it teach you stuff!

And to the "switching to linux for the first time" part;

I recommend not deleting your main Windows, actually. For first time using linux i heavily recommend the "dual booting" , which simply means booting operating systems more than one in an computer! You can use BOTH linux and windows in thay way! Although, you need to shudown your pc if you want to switch between them and do it in the booting menu

This is because if something goes wrong, or you get very confused, just let Windows be ready in there. Only make the switch the moment when you feel you can operate linux with no issues and easily!

Dual booting basically slices your disk and creates partitions for operating systems. For example if you have an 512GB SSD, in dual booting you can slice it and make Windows use 256GB and Linux use 256GB too! Ofc u can change the numbers here (linux mimt will help u,.)

Before completely switching to linux; be aware that its a bit of a different world. Sure, very popular softwares exists in linux too but some softwares may not suppor linux. Adobe products dont support linux, for example! You can of course just emulate them with Wine software heh, but that would be a bit of a work!

Another problem will be certain online games. Online games does not like linux becuse how easy it is to manipulate the system, so they just either dont run on linux or they ban/kick you when you try to emulate it on linux

An example is Valorant. Valorant does not tun on linux!

And any online game that has a cheap anticheat system will be a problem!

With that being said, linux now supports every single game from Steam, with the Proton software. Just be careful about them online ones! If an online game natively supports linux (TF2, for example!) , it wont be a problem! Check the steam game's info thingy for it!

Oh and official Minecraft works in linux lol

Discord, Spotify etc. popular softwares also work on linux!

Linux in fact has an "app manager" software in their distros, making you install stuff with no terminal whatsoever! Think like Google Play Store but on le pc!

Anyways hehe thats it fo me bascallya! If u wanna switch to linux with no experience, start with the Linux Mint distro i say and explore it well! Tamper everything before fully installing it, dont worry about it! Linux is free. Linux does not care if you want to kill the entire system, even. Linux is freedom

Also please research the dual booting! You'll gonna be needing an 4GB+ USB for it, and a software like Rufus!

The site of Linux Mint has everything you need in detail, step by step ^^ good luck!

[makers-muse]

Tips for Encouraging Girls to Start Coding Early 

When Maya was just eight years old, she discovered a fascination with how her favorite video games worked. Her parents, noticing her curiosity, decided to introduce her to coding. They enrolled her in an after-school coding club where she was one of the few girls. At first, Maya felt unsure, but with the encouragement of her teacher and the support of her parents, she began to see coding not just as something she could do, but as something she loved. Maya’s journey highlights the importance of early exposure to coding for girls, setting the foundation for future success in technology. 

Why Start Coding Early? 

Introducing girls to coding at a young age is essential for developing problem-solving skills, creativity, and confidence. According to research by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), girls who engage in STEM activities early on are more likely to pursue these fields in the future. Early exposure helps break down the stereotypes that coding is “only for boys” and allows girls to see themselves as capable coders from the start. 

Practical Tips for Encouraging Girls to Code 

Make Coding Fun and Relatable 

The best way to spark a girl’s interest in coding is to make it fun. Use platforms like Scratch or Code.org that turn coding into a game-like experience. These tools allow girls to create stories, animations, and games, making coding a creative outlet rather than just a technical skill. 

Encourage your daughter or students to build projects based on their interests, whether it’s creating a game with their favorite characters or designing an app that helps solve a problem they care about. When coding is connected to their passions, girls are more likely to stay engaged and motivated. 

Introduce Role Models and Mentors 

Seeing women who have succeeded in tech can inspire girls to pursue coding. Introduce your daughter or students to female role models in the field. This could be through books, videos, or even local coding clubs where women in tech share their experiences. 

Mentorship is another powerful tool. Studies show that girls with mentors are more likely to continue in STEM fields. If possible, connect girls with female mentors who can guide them, answer questions, and encourage them along their coding journey. 

Create a Supportive Environment 

Girls often feel more comfortable exploring coding when they are in a supportive and encouraging environment. As a parent or educator, create a space where girls feel safe to ask questions, make mistakes, and try new things. Celebrate their successes and help them learn from challenges without fear of judgment. 

You can also foster a supportive community by encouraging girls to join coding clubs or groups where they can collaborate with other girls. These communities provide a sense of belonging, which is crucial in retaining girls in coding programs. 

Use Gender-Neutral Language and Examples 

The way we talk about coding can have a big impact on how girls perceive it. Avoid language that reinforces stereotypes, such as referring to coders as “he” or using examples that only boys might find interesting. Instead, use gender-neutral language and examples that appeal to a wide range of interests. 

For instance, instead of saying, “Let’s build a robot that plays football,” try “Let’s design a robot that can play your favorite sport.” This small change in wording can make coding feel more inclusive and accessible to girls. 

Encourage Persistence and Resilience 

Coding can be challenging, especially for beginners. Encourage girls to view coding as a process of trial and error, where mistakes are a natural part of learning. Teach them to approach problems with a growth mindset, understanding that persistence and practice lead to improvement. 

Share stories of successful women in tech who overcame obstacles and kept going despite challenges. This can help girls see that coding is not about being perfect but about continually learning and growing. 

The Long-Term Benefits of Early Coding 

Starting coding early not only builds technical skills but also fosters critical thinking, creativity, and resilience skills that are valuable in any career. Girls who begin coding young are more likely to pursue STEM degrees and careers, contributing to a more diverse and innovative tech industry. 

Programs like Black Girls Code and Girls Who Code have shown that early exposure to coding can lead to long-term success in technology. These programs emphasize the importance of starting early and providing girls with the resources, mentorship, and support they need to thrive in coding. 

Start the Journey Today 

Encouraging girls to start coding early is a powerful way to empower them for the future. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or mentor, you can play a crucial role in guiding girls on their coding journey. 

Join us at Makers Muse to explore coding resources, mentorship opportunities, and supportive communities designed to help girls succeed. Start the journey today and watch as they grow into confident, creative coders! 

Do you have questions regarding our STEM program?

Contact us anytime.

Take your first step into the magical world of coding for kids