so you want to make a site, but one that stands out against the crowd. one that keeps people looking through, because it's just that fucking good. the internet and websites is good for this sort of attention-peeling, because you can use words, images, colors, and other things to basically scream "look at me, i made this, and you should look at it because i made it and put effort and it looks cool!" and it'll work. this is how the giant social-media platforms i avoid have so many addicts -- there are literal psychologists on the team, making sure each tap is followed by the urge for another one. same with gacha games. avoid both if you want to stay healthy :P

with that being said, here are some general tips, thoughts, and other mishmashes of thoughts on how to make your site interestiing, and stand out a little along the others.

first, the first impression. your index page. the first thing people see -- put a lot of thought into it. you've probably seen mine by now if you're here -- simple, the same theme as the rest of the site, and an obvious way to get to the rest of the site as well. your index page can be an entrance, or just the homepage of the site, too. either works, but the introduction i guess provides a lot of nostalgia to people.

think of a theme for this page. actually, no, scratch that -- the best way to make people interested in your webpage is to pick a specific theme for it. not only does it draw kind eyes in general, if somebody likes that themed site, they'll probably also like whatever you themed it after. the theme can be anything, no matter how vague or specific. you can have a purple-themed website. you can have a weirdcore-themed site. you can have a site themed after blorbo from your shows, plenty of people do this and it works. personally, my themes for my main pages are a mix of the sugarteara event from cookie run themed, as well as aquatic, oceanic stuff in general. people seem to like that -- blue is a color with power. every color has meaning.

now, with themes come popular themes, and there are a few "genres" of site theming that there's a lot of. people will probably be a little less interested and a little more judgemental if you pick something really common, and here's four types of neocities sites i see a lot, picked from my neocities mutuals. if you want these removed, please contact me! and if you want to visit these sites, just click on the images. while these site vibes may be common, they are common for a reason -- they work. they're good fucking vibes. it's ok, just, again, very common, and this is about standing out!

sites that are mostly pink and other pastels, generally very cutesy, decorated. also tend to be coded really nicely?	sites that are mostly neutral colors with a loooot of weebshit. dokodemo inspired most of the time
sites that are red, black, and hella gorey. edgelord hobbies. webmasters always the nicest, too.	the geocities-reminiscent sites. very simple, centered text, space backgrounds, rainbow dividers. nostalgia...

again, making a site such as these examples is not bad. the formula works, stick with it! i just see a lot of them.

if your first impression doesn't easily lead to something cool to look at, it will probably not be a good first impression. make sure you can access the rest of the site easily, or at least the important shiny parts you want to show off! easily done using navigation sections. just a few links, actual links or image-links, put them in a flashy area, and you've done your part. do not make the user search for this part. put it somewhere the eyes will go to -- and make sure it isn't a pain to look at.

actually, make sure your site is accessible for people to look at. i've talked about a certain carrd half a year ago that gave me an instant migraine, and you want to avoid that sort of effect, obviously. don't use overflowing amounts of neons -- bright colors are great and all, but only in small doses.

neocities is a place to express yourself -- do it a LOT. if i cannot hear about your very specific obscure interests, i do not know why i am here. if your site does not have at least one fan-shrine, do it. do it nowww. it's like, the best part of a personal website, to be able to just write about the things you like and not be called weird or autistic over it by some stranger who happens to see it. throw out the weirdness judgemental factors right the fuck now. one of my favorite shrines i've ever seen on this site was a dedicated webpage to the boiler from toontown. a literal boiler. it is fucking awesome. the people who judge you on this sort of shit are not worth being around anyways. shoot cringe culture in the head, it's your time to shine. what i'm trying to say here is just -- be yourself!

that's what neocities is about, being yourself online, away from a sanitized boring internet we've happened upon now. the bottom line of this writing should not be to avoid things, but to jump right into things instead. jump into making your website your's -- that is what will truly make it interesting. display your vast, oceanic soul, and people will find upon it, and cheer. just be your interesting self, and i promise it will all work out.