January 23 New Years Reading

Creative New Year Goals

One of my biggest goals, and that I'm carrying over from 2022 is to continue to put my self out there a bit more. It's something I've always struggled with, and I know a lot of people do as well, so I try to be actively aware of when I'm letting fear get into the way of something. Entering competitions and being active in the World Anvil community are simple ways to stay on top of this goal, and sharing the work that I'm creating.

I've found I really enjoy building cities and shops so I think In want to focus more on that this year. Maybe even work on drawing interiors instead of using the various mapping software I have. I don't know how feasible this is time wise though.

I have a lot of pins on my map, and not a lot of those cities built, so we'll be building out the cities, if nothing else then the summaries will be done by December. This means that the interactive map will be fully operational, giving ideas of what each place is like, if not a complete overview of the city so I only have to build the shops.

Goals Checklist

Set up formatting templates 15/25
Continue putting myself out there
Redo Gods/Major Entities 5/23
Clear out the stubs 282/672
More Article art
Fully Interactive map
New Aegimius header

---

---

Reading List

Her Highness Princess Luna Kitten by AmelieIS

I love the first person approach of this. I've just recently started using more containers in my articles, so looking at how other people are using them is interesting for me. And alternating containers and normal text seems to be a common theme amoung some of the authors that I've read recently.

Slaying by Quirllion

I love the use of the side bar in Qurillion's articles. Side bars are another thing that I'm really taking notice of and what types of information people are placing in them. One of my biggest take aways here is the use of the same image in multiple locations within the same article. It really builds a sense of consistency in the article, and it's something that I've noticed him do in several of his articles.

Slow Whale by Mochimanoban

I love Mochi's use of the scrolling side bar since it takes away the guess work in the alignment and allows for the pertinent information to be there no matter where you are in the article. The inclusion of the art in the appearance section of the article is a great touch.

This is another article and author that I note frequently alternates regular text and containers. I can see how it could be useful for certain articles.

Artificial Sun by Callyxtus

My absolute favorite part of this article is the "Did you know" section from the Chibi Snow Elf Guide. Having it be right there is amazing. I tend to sprinkle quotes or other insights within an article, but having it right there on the side...It's like a smack in the face that I didn't think of using the sidebar in this way.

Dieties of the Great Beyond by Hanhula

I love how Hanhula's broken down the divine focusing more on domains and sub-domains, then the actual current holders of the titles. Having this format makes it so much easier to change or rebuild a god or new god.

One of my goals this year is to rework my deities to move away from D&D 5E standards, and make them more aligned with what I feel Aegimius could be. Breaking down the domains and the sub-domains that I want to exist in Aegimius feels like a great place to start.

Rak'tos by Stormbril

There's not much that can't be said about articles by Stormbril. Their use of images throughout the article, and the way the background is so incorporate and connected are all major goals. One thing that I've already taken away from the articles that I've perused by them is using the columns in the sidebar for information.

Making use of multiple containers, and even sidebars in an article is something that I've played around with once, but would love to start using on a more regular basis.

Magitech by Bonus Action

One of my favorite things about Tim's Articles is the lists on the side which he's said are generally made by using tags and the tagged BBC code in a list format. I've just recently cleaned up my tags to be able to have an index article and I've started playing with how to use this more regularly throughout the world, which has largely been inspired from Tim's world and his various lists and items.

Irathain Funeral Pyres by Panther's Eye

It should come as no surprise that on of my favorite sections of this article is Panther's use of CSS and containers with the maps to describe the Pyre material composition in each country. It was an absolutely inspired idea and I'm super curious what this is going to inspire from other people, and even myself.

Apart from that, I love how she incorporated quotes from both people and books. I don't always remember to incorporate literature into my articles, so seeing it throughout her articles makes me want to start including more in mine. Which means more excerpts from the Tome of the Six and other books.

Lord Enelien Cenlys -- The Dark Lord by AmelieIS

Amelie's use of containers, and columns or grids, is great for displaying a bunch of information easily and quickly. And with her amazing use of the FA and RPG awesome icons it really helps to go through the information.

Love her use of fa-icons.

Guide to Solaris by Nnie

Nnie has simply blown this Primer out of the water. I absolutely love how easy it is to read in the Q&A style. Her use of containers to help break things apart makes it so simple to read, and follow. I loved how she broke down the current events, told us where to start and who the main characters are. And we won't even discuss Nnie's art.

Breaking down articles like this doesn't necessarily come easy to me as I tend to just write stream of consciousness, so it could be interesting to stop and really do a Q&A on occasion from a character's point of view, or maybe even as an overview for a continent or area.

Hut Hut by Anna Katherina

I absolutely love the formatting of this article. The introduction without the sidebar, then the sidebar showing up through part of the next section. I will admit hands down my favorite part is the way the menu is shown. I need to spend more time figuring out exactly which table this is because it would 100% make several of my shops with multiple branches easier to manage.

Having each Rumor and oddity in it's own container really helps it feel like it's coming from multiple sources.

---

---

Overall Takeaways

Figuring out better use of the sidebar can really help improve an article. Finding and repeating elements, be it icons, containers, or images also helps to draw an article together. These all help to really tie the article, art, and overall the story together.

End goals are articles like Stormbrills that make the art part of the article, not just pieces on the side. Where the art and the article tell the story.

So ultimately what it boils down to is slowing down a little bit and planning out the format of the article after I've gotten all the information together. This will allow me to make better use of all the tools at my disposal and make the articles flow better.