Today I’d like to write about the “why” associated with the furry community which I’ve been a part of for over three years, however to do that I’m going to first need to slightly inform some of you on “what” furries are and have become.
Furries are all around us just as many social groups tend to be. It’s becoming commonplace to meet people at schools, especially colleges such as I have, who are associated with the furry community. Simply put,
Someone who says they are furry is generally expressing an interest in anthropomorphic animals and/or creatures (1 Wikifur).
Which is a rather good way to describe the gist of it, for more information on the “What” view my sources. My reasons for joining the furry fandom began simply out of curiosity and boredom; which then grew into wonder, fun, and interaction. I found there was a vast close-knit community where friendships formed quickly when they didn’t already exist. From site to site you can find furry groups full of people who typically know one another and often warmly invite the new. These communities are held together by people with all kinds of interests who converge and share.
Remaining active in the fandom proved to be quite simple. I found that I could help individuals by speaking with them about their troubles or by sharing and collecting art. I’ve been collecting furry artwork since I joined the fandom and it’s been a great hobby of mine just as people collect photography, web design, fun wallpapers, funny pictures and other such things. One would jump to quickly point the finger that I’m dodging the bullet by not mentioning erotic furry artwork, however I would simply have to show them my collection of over a thousand entirely clean images of all kinds along with some music as well; some of which you may find awfully familiar and that collection grows as the community shares more.
As I’ve said before furries are everywhere; as many of you recognize this nearly meme status tune by Renald of vulpvibe in the album Furries in a Blender entitled “John Freeman”. From drawings, animations, and music, to cosplay clothing and fursuits. Some individuals collect, create, and share these wearable artworks to visit Furcons (Meetups). Not only is this an interesting craft and expression but this introduces one of the main reasons why the furry community has stayed strong throughout the years, commissions.
Commissions are a driving force of the furry community which allow for the talented to earn a reputation and sometimes a living while allowing the less talented to integrate into the community and further the art sharing process. Recently my friend and I have donated, in a sense, to the fandom by having a commission done of our fursonas (fandom characters) which acted as coloring practice for myself and avatars for us to use in various communities for a better sense of digital identity. On the internet no one is directly interacting with you, after all, and thus people from the fandom create these fursona characters in a way to form this digital identity.
Having a fursona is about being able to express oneself in a clear and concise way, more than what a simple closeup of your face could accomplish. This is what I feel lies at the center of the question, “Why furry?” because a fursona allows for your interests and core personality to be shown in a single entity. The ways that people express theirselves through fursonas can be really interesting, which makes me feel like humans are just visually boring. I wouldn’t go around collecting images of people wearing different clothes after all.
Expressing yourself through your fursona creates your digital identity and helps define your personality in the furry fandom. Many relationships are formed through the fandom and this is partially due to the hints of yourself shown through this fursona. Who you choose to portray yourself as and how subtly tells a lot about you. From choosing a species, to your color and furr patterns, to your clothing and accessories with more possibilities than you can choose in real life.
The biggest Why behind being a furry may just be because it’s fun. From roleplaying to art creation and sharing to the friendships and relationships that form: everyone is just having fun. Though there will be the few who give furries a bad name that comes with any diverse community. Through all the drama in the end people get over it and just have fun. That is why I am a furry.
Citation:
Wikifur, Someone who says they are furry is…
There has been a lot of speculation recently around using Tables in modern web design. I’d like to set the record straight.
Long ago in the beginning of HTML even before CSS; tables were created for the single purpose of holding tabular data, it wasn’t for a while that people began using tables to design their entire web layout. Unfortunately many people took tables to a strange extreme that has given them a bad name. It is because of this that some say tables kill web standards, are inefficient, waste bandwidth, and are impossible to maintain.
This is not true.
The web is essentially grid based with few exceptions, every html element that isn’t driven by flash or javascript boils down to being a box, a square. Hence why css web layouts refer to the box layout to understand html positioning and spacing.
Everything is a box and therefore everything is designed in a sort of grid. Even with carefully placed div elements you are just adding more boxes to our two dimensional grid based screen.
While there are many work arounds and methods to create fluid dynamic designs with div’s one thing that is lacking is how they work together. Yes we can intelligently decide which div’s are within the other and how we name them, however they never truly work together in unison. They aren’t directly aware of the other’s presence unless you are using parent and child relations in css.
A well designed table can use, for example, three rows and one-to-three columns depending on your layout. That’s it, for a standard site you are done. It is my belief that when writing a table to manage your design if you need another nested table you are doing it wrong. Use colspans and rowspans, they are very much backwards compatible and easy to understand. When you are done you may find that you’ve created less td (table data) cell’s than you would have created div boxes.
HTML and CSS coding is as much of an art as the design itself is. Look at your web design and think about the barebones of what you need to make the design happen. What people forget is that tables are entirely css friendly. In fact I encourage you to place only the tags with a class or ID in your html code and keep all of your style in an external css document just as you would if you were using div’s. Style your div’s with some simple thought and you’ll be amazed how fast a design comes together because all td table data cell’s and rows work together to create one simple grid defined by you to display your design.
Keep in mind even during the design phase of your website that no matter what you are working with a two dimensional grid. That’s what the web is, and although you can create fancy graphics with 3D and rounded edges when you are looking at the html and stylesheet you are still writing code for a grid. Tables are made to create grids, plain and simple. Think of the columns and rows you will need and don’t overdo it! You can still have div’s, paragraphs, lists, and more inside where your content belongs. If you find yourself creating four or more table rows you may find you are doing it wrong, or if you have four or more columns you are doing it wrong. Keep it simple and make it work, use CSS in conjunction with your tables and allow your cells to flow with eachother in one solid working grid. If you feel you need a nested table, rethink your design and replan your attack. Just know that tables are your friend and when you take the time to understand them they will be a valuable asset to your web designs.
June 14, 10
Web 2.0 is a buzzword (or buzzphrase I suppose) that is used often these days; and for good reason as the majority of our internet incorporates at least a variety of web 2.0 elements. As Claire recently pointed out in her article (Re)Discovering Web 2.0 it’s difficult to find any website that lacks anything web 2.0 related. The need for websites to adapt to the modern world wide web and utilize web 2.0 became apparent and thus the buzzphrase was formed. However, this is a phrase not many fully understand. There is a definite distinction between what is Web 2.0 Concept VS Web 2.0 Aesthetic.
Well what is Web 2.0 then? Simply put the concept is to move from static information oriented websites to dynamic communication oriented websites. A great example is twitter which would be entirely empty without considering its web 2.0 elements. Twitter’s interchange of user input leading to communication between users is exactly what web 2.0 is all about. Wikipedia may sound like it would fit the category of a web 1.0 website (static) being that it’s entirely information based with little communication, however Wikipedia is very much web 2.0 as users are able to dynamically alter the information directly on the website itself.
With these examples in mind we can see how web 2.0 surrounds the web in some way or another even if it’s as simple as leaving a comment or updating your status. It’s all about having the web recognize YOU as a user and not just another IP address.
So then, where does the confusion come in?
The confusion comes from websites trying to look fresh and hip by “wearing” a theme that looks flashy and new. What people think are standards in web design become cliché’s. Buzzwords erupt from this unfortunate hole web designers have dug over the past few years. A list of these is provided in elliotjaystock’s presentation fowd-november-2007.
- Vibrant High Contrast Colors
- Special Offer’ badges
- Gloss/Sheen
- Bevelled edges
- Gradients
- Diagonal Lines
- Soft-focus effects (subtle outer glow) and as I’d like to add, drop shadows.
- Reflected Logo
While these are not always a bad thing it’s important in any art field you’re in to understand what is cliché and when to use or avoid them. When overused what ends up happening is your website inevitably looks like everyone else’s.
Somewhere along the line these cliché’s spawned the idea of this look as being Web 2.0. This misconception of what web 2.0 truly is becomes a problem because clients all-to-easily ask for a web 2.0 design and get stuck with the same copy & paste effects everyone else is using. Speaking from a designer’s point of view it’s safe to say that many of these effects are simply to recreate within a few mouse clicks.
I’m not trying to say that simple is bad, however I offer the contrary. Some of the best websites choose not to bevel a content box or reflect their logo. Use these special effects intelligently and sparingly. For example, is it truly necessary to repeat your logo in a reflection directly below the actual logo? And flipped vertical at a lower opacity? If you can’t explain the reasoning behind adding an effect, then most likely it shouldn’t have been added in the first place.
Web 2.0 is a concept not a design aesthetic(elliotjaystocks), however the cliché’s that come with it can sometimes be useful if used sparingly. Knowing the difference between Web 2.0 concept VS aesthetic is a major part of the battle in achieving a good website. Be aware when you ask a designer to create a web 2.0 theme and don’t be afraid to be specific. Learn to recognize cliché’s and request that something more original and relevant to your website’s cause is reflected in the theme itself; that is the designer’s job after all. It’s your job to know what you want and specifically in this case, what you don’t.
January 11, 10
Growing up I’ve had unusual interaction with the outside world. I participated in Boy Scouts and Tai Chi groups, but I missed the social time people normally get from a public school. I was in public from K-2nd grade then I began homeschool clear until college while I stopped visiting my other social groups. I’ve never regretted the decisions made because I had been brought into a new light that not many truly get to see. I witnessed the socialization of my friends from a third person perspective, in a sense. I discovered that “who” we are, is at least in part, defined by the company we keep and our surroundings.
My education was unique, my views became unique, and my opinions are my own. They may not all be right but they are mine regardless. Having not grown up through the public school system I self educated myself in the ways of society through my friends and the internet. Such a learning style comes with downsides of course, but I believe I gained some interesting views through my way of life and most importantly I became a constant critical thinker. Which is something probably not focused on enough in schools today.
One would think that living in this kind of isolation, albeit slight, would make someone not as prepared for the big world. Interacting with people I found was actually surprisingly easy when I arrived at college with minimal adjusting necessary. Following in the footsteps of my early peers I was able to dress for respect rather than souly impression, with minimal fear of social repercussions. If it were even vaguely close to the social norm I’d wear my cosplay tail way more often, but even I consider some limits set by society.
The biggest difference I notice is I was able to avoid adapting the stereotypes of race, gender, and other groups from public schools. The downside was I had minimal experience interacting with other clicks and ethnicities, which lead to minor problems communicating, which I have been trying to overcome with time. Still, I was able to freely and truthfully speak to everyone I met with the same attitude not having to hide any discrimination against the other.
Though my view of the world seems to be different than others I interact with; I have been adapting to social life while retaining my “self” very well. My unique interaction with socialized friends and the internet seems to have had a beneficial effect on my socialization which is now combining with my new experiences to offer me viewpoints and a way of life I’m not sure I would have received otherwise.
