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My Personal Pony Site + Free Graphics

NanoRuby

Flighty Pegasus
MLPTP Supporter
MLPTP Silver Level Supporter
Joined
Sep 22, 2021
Messages
275
Hello everyone! I hope this is the right board to put this in, I'd consider this art in a way and it's got some of my old pony art on it anyway.

I'd like to introduce my personal pony website inspired by late 90's/early 2000's sites, The Pony Highway!

theponyhighway.neocities.org/


Here are some previews of just a few pages:

ccfdcbee23ca0847341de1673803e9841a3aade4.pnj
6b01d1b2fb955cd18e496a2208b199f7225a822a.pnj

230231c380c7e77df92328550893b5b324c831c2.pnj


The current version of the site contains:
  • (Outdated) pictures of my pony collection
  • (Some) free graphics
  • An archive of most G1 commercials (never finished and needs updating but it's mostly there)
  • Links to (a few) other cool sites and pony resources
  • Some other stuff I think?
Don't get your expectations up, it's a bit barren at the moment :tongue:

If you don't care about my plans for updating the site, feel free to ignore the rest of this post!


I know it's not much to look at in its current state, I mostly made it by reverse-engineering old sites and mashing them together (please don't look at the code, it's embarrassingly bad). I didn't really know proper HTML or CSS at the time but I do now and am working on a few big updates!

Here's a (very WIP) look at the basic home page layout of the new version of the site:

bd434e7e2d98a84cd260494e8999e0604f975884.pnj


Ignore all the random borders, there are lots of placeholders here as I'm focusing on the overall layout for now. Oh, and none of the site is mobile-friendly but this page especially. You can view a version of this page by clicking the link at the bottom of the current site.

Future updates to the site will include:
  • Mobile compatibility
  • A complete guide of all species throughout pony toys and media
  • More detailed information about a few cool pieces in my collection
  • More free graphics
  • A massive commercial archive update including more languages and generations 2-3
  • Games and polls
  • Accessibility improvements
  • Images that don't take 10 years to load
  • Better credited sources
  • Optional background music maybe?
  • And more!
Eventually I also want to add a lore(?) update of sorts. I imagine the site as being set in a small desert town and want to include graphics and characters that reflect that, expanding on things like the "Town Hall, Thrift Store, Museum, Arcade" sections. This part will require a ton of pixel art though so I'm holding off for now. It's not a guarantee but I kind of want to add a text-based adventure game in this setting!

I have some questions about the updated version of the site:
  • Is there any content you would like to see added to the site?
  • Would you prefer sidebar navigation or header navigation? (For desktop only, mobile will probably get a hamburger menu RIP)
  • Is the current font readable and an okay size, or do either of those need changing?
  • Does the current test layout look okay or could it be more interesting somehow? Lots of modern neocities sites feature content separated into lots of different sections on the page and I wonder if people would prefer it that way, or even another layout entirely?
  • Does the current test layout function well, or do any aspects break? I can simulate different screen sizes and zoom levels on my computer, but it's never quite the same as viewing it on actual screens of different sizes.


I hope you enjoy exploring the site! Any other feedback, questions or comments on either version are absolutely appreciated.
 
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I'm working on a bunch of new graphics for the updated site, so here are some free stamps anyone can use!

ilmlpg1artstamp.png
ilmlpg1toystamp.png
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ilmlpg2toystamp.png
ilmlpg3artstamp.png
ilmlpg3toystamp.png
ilmlpg3-5artstamp.png
ilmlpg3-5toystamp.png
ilmlpg4artstamp.png
ilmlpg4toystamp.png
ilmlpg4-25toystamp.png
ilmlpg4-5artstamp.png
ilmlpg4-5toystamp.png
ilmlpg5artstamp.png
ilmlpg5tytstamp.png
ilmlpg5toystamp.png


These next two are blinkies to advertise the site, and I'll be including these ones on the current version. The above ones won't be added until I get the code overhauled.

tphblinkieborder.gif

tphblinkieletters.gif


Once I get the site's first big update done I will totally start making more of these and taking requests for stamps and stuff!
 
I love this! I really miss the days of the internet when people created cool websites like these. I'm tempted to make one myself now :lolpony:

By the way, regarding the new layout - it looks great! But sadly the top image overlays with some of the text on my PC:
1725203956733.png


My resolution is 1920 x 1080 and I'm using Microsoft Edge, if that helps. It could be just an Edge thing. I don't have any other browsers to try it on unfortunately!
 
I love this! I really miss the days of the internet when people created cool websites like these. I'm tempted to make one myself now :lolpony:

Thank you, and you totally should it's so fun!

By the way, regarding the new layout - it looks great! But sadly the top image overlays with some of the text on my PC:

Whoops, totally forgot to check Edge :surprisepony: Thank you so much for letting me know, I think it should be fixed now.
 
Screenshot 2024-09-08 at 23-48-31 The Pony Highway.png


Updated the test home page! I think this is roughly the layout I want to go with. Next I need to work on the navbar (which I'm totally not putting off) and making it mobile-friendly (which I'm also totally not putting off), plus some graphics.

If anyone wants to help test it and give feedback, if anything breaks at certain sizes or on certain (desktop/laptop) devices/OSs/browsers, or if anything looks too big or too small or isn't good for accessibility, this test page can be found at https://theponyhighway.neocities.org/new/.
 
Finally got around to working on this again, I've got the graphics for the different sections up now, plus a couple little heraldry-based pixels by the logo. I think I still need to fiddle with the Town Hall and Arcade graphics and might remove the heraldry pixels, but I'll work on more important stuff for now.

Screenshot 2024-11-04 at 00-10-37 The Pony Highway.png


Next I'm going to try and work on a rough version of the image that will go in the purple box on the right. I've got a couple of extremely rough thumbnail sketches here to test poses, any preference? The rectangles on the top would be a welcome sign and the shield thing on the bottom would be the route sign in the logo.

export202411031552046150.png


As always, help testing the site and any other feedback people might have is greatly appreciated!
 
As always, help testing the site and any other feedback people might have is greatly appreciated
I just took a look! It looks great (I especially love the graphic buttons, and would totally love to use some of them)

One note I do have is if possible, also making the format more compatible for phone use as well. It looks great on desktop, but isn't nearly as user friendly on phone. It still works, and still looks great, but requires a lot more scrolling/zooming than what is comfortable. Just my 2 cents. :satisfied:
 
One note I do have is if possible, also making the format more compatible for phone use as well.
I'm glad you like the graphics! I did mention in the first post that the site isn't mobile-friendly yet, but will be eventually. That's actually why I'm working on the image for the purple box now, to make sure that it will be formatted correctly on mobile.
 
Ah this brings back memories of geocities and Angelfire. <3 Love this, and the use of Comic Sans! <3
 
I'm working on a bunch of new graphics for the updated site, so here are some free stamps anyone can use!

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These next two are blinkies to advertise the site, and I'll be including these ones on the current version. The above ones won't be added until I get the code overhauled.

View attachment 98575
View attachment 98576

Once I get the site's first big update done I will totally start making more of these and taking requests for stamps and stuff!
And this reminds me of the stamps on DeviantART! <3 Lots of nostalgia thank you! <3
 
I love it!! I am currently working on my personal website too, and it's so nostalgic from the early 2000s era- simple to say I am having a blast and excited to share when I'm done! I also decided to go with Neocities, as I was very unimpressed with a lot of the current website builders in general. Did you experiment with any others before deciding on neocities? What were your thoughts?
 
Your website looks great so far!

I haven’t used anything like this before but me and my best friend have been searching for something to make something like this with. Think Piczo, you could make your own private sites with a share link.

With Neocities, does your site immediately go public when you start working on it? So even if you’re not finished it’ll be be put out there? Is there a way to make private?
 
I love it!! I am currently working on my personal website too, and it's so nostalgic from the early 2000s era- simple to say I am having a blast and excited to share when I'm done! I also decided to go with Neocities, as I was very unimpressed with a lot of the current website builders in general. Did you experiment with any others before deciding on neocities? What were your thoughts?

Thank you, and I'm excited to see your website when it's ready! I was inspired to make my site by a tumblr blog called oldwebmlp that would post old pony geocities sites, so I was pretty set on using neocities from the beginning since that was the vibe I wanted to emulate. There are plenty of other hosts with free or cheap plans, but none of them have the same community or feel as neocities so I've never really looked into them.

Your website looks great so far!

I haven’t used anything like this before but me and my best friend have been searching for something to make something like this with. Think Piczo, you could make your own private sites with a share link.

With Neocities, does your site immediately go public when you start working on it? So even if you’re not finished it’ll be be put out there? Is there a way to make private?

Thank you! I've never heard of Piczo before but now I'm sad that it's not around anymore, it looks like it would have been so fun!

Unfortunately yes, Neocities does immediately publish anything you upload or update and there's no private option that I'm aware of. I do most of my work on my local drive because of that and push it out to the live site when it's done or if I need to test something on another device.



I'm almost done with the bones of the new site version, the only thing left is the drop down part of the nav bar.
The site is even mobile-compatible now! I'm still tweaking exact break points and sizes though, so if something looks too big or small or broken, please let me know what browser and device model you're using so I can fix it.

Screenshot 2024-12-20 at 21-16-07 The Pony Highway.png

Screenshot 2024-12-20 at 21-16-28 Pony Template.png


Progress got slowed down a bit since I'm rewriting a lot of what I had with what I just learned in my advanced web design class, but it will make everything else so much easier going forward! Like, if I wanted to change the year at the bottom of the page, now all I have to do is change one file and it will change all of them instead of having to do it one by one!
 
Thank you! I've never heard of Piczo before but now I'm sad that it's not around anymore, it looks like it would have been so fun!

Unfortunately yes, Neocities does immediately publish anything you upload or update and there's no private option that I'm aware of. I do most of my work on my local drive because of that and push it out to the live site when it's done or if I need to test something on another device.
Thanks for replying, I didn’t really know of Piczo either until my best friend shared her memories of it. Neocities does seem interesting

Coding seems so hard, I could barely grasp the basics of HTML back in school about ten years ago now :cry: I can’t believe it’s been that long

I do like those graphics on your site as well
 
I love your site! I had a site like this called Rainbow Town on angelfire, way way WAY back when I was in high school. All pony collectors also used to use a site called Dream Valley for reference, sort of like we use Strawberry Reef or My Little Wiki now. It was laid out similarly. I am a big fan of all the little "freebies" you have for others to use! I will definitely be a repeat visitor to your page.

I recently learned about strawpage from a user here, and used it to create a little site for my Rattery. It was fun, I hadn't put together a webpage since the early 2000s and the interface was super easy to work with!
 
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