Petpages: The Right Way by arden_starr |  |
PETPAGES - What would you say if someone asked you the best part of NeoPets? Some
would say Shops, some Battledome, some Guilds, some Neopoints and some might even
say the Worlds -- but not many people would say the Pets themselves, which are
the essence of the whole site. Pets can be personalised with paintbrushes, trained
to be warriors, given books so they're clever and improved in most aspects, but
personality is the most important part of them. And which is the best way to show
people your pet's personality? Petpages of course!
Its hard work and much more time consuming than nipping to the Rainbow Pool
-- but it's far more rewarding, in my opinion. Nothing beats the joy of seeing
a completed petpage, with views from lots of people from all around the world,
and the pride you get from knowing that this started as nothing and ended up
a masterpiece, all because of you.
Before you start, be warned that it is a lot of hard work if you want
it to look good, and takes up a lot of time. However, it really is worth it,
and it will be the envy of everyone around! HTML is quite important to the making
of the page, so the Neopets HTML Guide is useful
for beginners, and worth reading even if you're a pro. Ready? Prepare yourself
for a lot of fun…
Appearance
It is the first thing people notice, though this isn't what distinguishes
a good page from a great page- this is more like the icing on the cake, if you
get what I mean. It's better if it looks good, but not absolutely necessary.
The first thing is a background. You can either just have a colour, like black
or red or green, or actually have a background- make your own, or find one on
the wide range of help sites out there. If you make your own, upload it on an
image hosting service, making sure that Neopets approves of the one you use.
Music is another good one, but don't get annoying ones; they might put off
visitors, and close the page in frustration. Music can start to grate after
a while, so some people might choose not to have any at all.
The layout of the page is quite important. You may choose to have a simple
one where you just scroll down, or have one with text over an image, or mess
around with tables. Whatever you choose, don't make it hard for people to browse.
Keep the colour scheme simple with just two or three colours (if, like me, your
petpage is bright, only have two or three colours that don't clash too badly.)
If you choose pale pastel colours, it doesn't really matter how many colours
you choose, but if its red and orange for instance, tone the rest of it down.
The next part: images. You can use images from the Neopets site, such as ones
of your pet, cool banners and funky little images found here. Also you can draw pictures
of your pet yourself, which is even better, and upload them. They personalise
your site and it will be one of a kind with your spectacular scribbles!
Lastly I will mention the finishing touches; quirky things such as cool cursors
and coloured scrollbars. If you are advanced at HTML these are brilliant, if
not however I recommend leaving them alone until you have more experience, as
these can sometimes be tricky to get to work properly.
Content
Hopefully the appearance matches your pet's personality, but this is the part
that really shines. It's also the bit that really matters- what is the
point of having a good-looking page if it is blank? People will come to read
about your pet and his or her adventures, so don't count this as second best.
You can start off with a simple introduction about your pet, written in first
person (or first pet, as we should call it!), such as "Hello visitor, my name
is LandriStarr, welcome to my page" instead of, "Hello welcome to my pet Landri's
page". I prefer the first one, it sounds more fun and informal, though it's
a personal choice.
Next vitality is your pet's statistics. If you go to edit your pets page, there
is a list of the shortcuts you can use for your page, such as #HOURS and #VISITOR,
which come in really useful. With statistics, include age, strength, defence
and movement, intelligence etc. and if your pet fights in the Battledome, include
those statistics also. If you want to fight other people's pets, put this here
and they may challenge you!
Next are the stories. Include fun little adventures of your pet if you can-
examples like "My first visit to Mystery Island" or "Meeting my family for the
first time", or you could have really original stories. All is entirely down
to you and your preferences. You can have things like your pet's likes and dislikes,
their friends and family, and even what hobbies they have! Be creative, there
are no fast rules to this, and this is perhaps the most enjoyable part of the
experience. Personality shines through here; you can make your pet valiant and
strong, peaceful and quiet, evil and nasty, gentle and kind, there is no end
to the possibilities!
For those who are naturally gifted at writing, you could go further by writing
long tales of evil and strengths, explanations to how your pet became painted
for instance, and even poems- haikus and the like, all about your pet and/or
Neopia!
Finishing Off
For this last section, I think you should stick to your strengths. If you're
a good writer, add a goodbye note and maybe a little farewell poem, or a little
story or goodbye passage. If you are good at HTML, add banners or animations,
or perhaps show off a little with HTML, and do something flashy! Don't be afraid
to dazzle people! If you excel at drawing, then perhaps you could draw a picture
of your pet waving goodbye. Whatever you do, finish in style and leave visitors
thinking how incredible you are.
I hope this article at least gave you a start with petpages, you can check
out my pet Landri's page
to see what sort of thing I have done. Don't forget, just because petpages have
been out a long time it doesn't mean they should be forgotten. They were, and
still are to this day, one of the most enjoyable and fun parts of Neopets.
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