A collection of cool links

These are a series of webpages or resources that I'd recommend to just about anyone, including you.

Indie Web Hall of Fame

These are a bunch of links to websites that I think are really cool and inspire me. I'm not affiliated with any of them, but they get the Dav seal of approval and you should check them out :)

Guides and tutorials

W3Schools
This is a site that contains tutorials and guides on a wide variety of code languages, with the most noteworthy being HTML and CSS. I highly recommend this site if you ever want to learn more about the web development tools or feel inspired to make your own site.
There's also other languages to learn such as Javascript, Python, C++, and more (i still need to get on that lol). Even if you're experienced in a few programming languages, it's still a useful resource for getting references for all sorts of functions.

3DS Hacks Guide
If you have a 3DS (or 2DS) system laying around collecting dust that you contemplate getting rid of, DON'T.
Instead, prolong the life of your 3DS by installing custom firmware on it! You'll be able to do much more with a hacked 3DS than you would regularly. You can run homebrew software/games and mods such as CTGP7 (Mario Kart 7 custom character and track pack), customize your home menu, play DS and GBA games natively, and more.
you can also obtain games throughout the 3ds catalog and more if you know what i mean

I recommend picking up a new SD/microSD card before you decide to hack your system, as well as a method of getting your PC to read your SD card. Be sure to back up what was originally on your pre-existing SD card in case something goes wrong.

Emulation General Wiki
This is a maintained wiki dedicated to documentation of emulators. Emulators for your pc, emulators on some other consoles, and what emulators are worth using. When checking for emulators per-console, there's a recommended column to see if the emulator in question is worth using, which is a good way to look into what the best emulators are instead of just using the same old ones that happen to have catchy names.
(looking at you project64)

Color Wheel - colordesigner.io
Learning color theory is necessary to making good designs.
In addition to a guide on how to make use of effective color theory, there's a color wheel that can let you create different types of color schemes from one color.

Creative software

Any free and/or open source programs that I recommend are for beginner or intermediate hobbyists like me who are willing to learn stuff like art and vectors, so expect a learning curve or two.

My condolences go out to those still shackled to Adobe.

FireAlpaca (Digital art)
This was the very first free desktop paint program I've used after switching from Photoshop, and first heard of it from an online friend who uses it all the time. If you're looking to get into digital art, I highly recommend this program for beginners as it's lightweight and has a simple UI while also providing a substantial amount of tools.

Krita (Digital art)
If you ever want something more advanced, then this is the program for you.
It's got a more complex brush editor, even more tools, and even a timeline you can use to animate! There's also all sorts of resources you can check out such as plugins, brush packs, and more.

Paint.NET (Photo editing)
Recommended extra: BoltBait's GPU Accelerated Plugin Pack
A free and simple image editor that offers a neat toolset for light and slightly more advanced image edits, which can be expanded with the plugin pack made by BoltBait.

Blender (3D modeling)
The golden standard for free software, does what it advertises and does a damn good job!
I've primarly been using this program for model mods for games, and I remember being flabbergasted when I realized how easy it is to use Blender once i got the hang of it. You might find yourself overwhelmed with the amount of tools at your disposal, but I can asure you that it's much easier than you think it might be. There are plenty of guides out there, but with the sheer amount of them leading to analysis paralysis, I should probably do a Blender guide category if I can find some good ones. For now, look for a book about Blender

Aseprite (Pixel art)
This is a paid program, but it can also be assembled from source for free. Either be money smart or computer smart.
While I haven't really gotten into pixel art quite yet, this is a neat program that specializes in such. The reason why I've decided to get it is because there's a plugin that makes it easy to make sprites for Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers. This still makes for a neat program if you ever want to do pixel art. If you wanna support whoever made or contributed to the program, there are multiple ways to purchase it such as through Steam.

Other useful programs

Parsec (Remote desktop)
An account is required to use this program
Ever wanted to play couch coop games with your online friends? This is the program for you!
Parsec is a remote desktop program that can let anyone viewing your screen to make use of any input devices such as controllers, enabling you to play local multiplayer games online. It also doubles as an alternate way to share your screen aside from methods like Discord's streaming feature.

Notepad++ (Simple programming)
This isn't just a fancier Notepad, it's also a simple tool to use if you ever wanna try some code stuff. While it may not have any plugins that more advanced code editors like Visual Studio Code offer, I still recommend this if you want to dip your feet into coding before giving VS Code a try.

Obsidian (Journal/idea management)
Imagine regular Notepad but with more organization, formatting options, and a web view.
You can create vaults that can let you store multiple documents related to what you have in mind, so you can write down and organize plans in a big ol' document for whatever project you got going.

LibreOffice (Word documents, slideshows, spreadsheets, etc.)
While Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets exist as alternatives to Microsoft Office 365 and do their jobs well, LibreOffice makes for a nice offline alternative to Office 365 that has plenty in common with it, so not much explanation is necessary.

ShareX (Screenshots and GIF captures)
Aside from being a more advanced snipping tool, this program also lets you easily screen capture a part of your screen or a window as a gif (gif compression may be necessary in some instances).
Perfect for when you want to quickly show something off or want to easily demonstrate something that a still image or your wording skills can't otherwise do.

HandBrake (Video compression)
Wanna send a video to your friends but it's too dang big? This program is helpful for reducing file size by reconfiguring dimensions, audio/video bitrate, and more.

voidtools Everything (File search)
What if Windows 10/11's file search function actually worked?
This is a program that lets you search your internal drives if you ever need to find a specific file but don't know where it is.

WizTree (Disk space analyzer)
Are you running low on storage, but can't put your finger on what's hogging all the space?
This program will let you scan any drive on your computer to analyze what files and folders are using up the most space.

Open-Shell Menu (Classic Windows start menu)
This is a utility for Windows that restores the classic start menu, which is an essential if you have the misfortune of using Windows 11. Open-Shell is super customizable, allowing you to do things such as choosing the style of menu to use (e.g. Windows 7 and classic), and you can even change the look of the start button if you want.

Win11_ToggleRoundedCorners
I hate Windows 11's rounded window corners. They may look sleek but that doesn't mean we should see less pixels... I HATE ROUND CORNERS I HATE WINDOWS 11 AND THE UPDATE THAT DUPED ME INTO GETTING IT.
Which is why this program is cool because it lets you enable sharp corners :)

ShaderGlass
You know those cool CRT and NTSC filters you'd find on emulators? This is a program that lets you use these filters by overlaying the ShaderGlass window onto your screen or any other window you want.

Good browser extensions

uBlock Origin
Pretty much the quintessential adblocker. It's lightweight, and can even block trackers too by default.

Time Snatch
Are you easily distracted or kept up at 3 AM scrolling through social media and watching YouTube? This extension allows you to set a time limit or scheduled block for select websites, incentivizing you to go to bed.
Just don't disable the extension for "one more minute of scrolling" because that'll only snowball lol

Indie Wiki Buddy
This might be a hot, spicy, flaming, burning, scorching, boiling, skincell vaporizing take, but Fandom kinda sucks. Why not be redirected to alternatives? That's what the extension does, and many wikis with Fandom origin had migrated to many different wiki platforms like wiki.gg.

Annotations Restored
YouTube may have axed annotations, but this extension allows archived annotions to be displayed. Just like the good old days where people would spam that shit and even create games out of them.

Fun stuff

Broken Picturephone
A spiritual predecessor to Gartic Phone, it's a browser game where you write a prompt that would get passed to other players to draw. By default, you draw based on the prompt and the next player will recieve that drawing without previous context. And then it repeats until hilarity ensues as you wonder how the hell one of the drawings were conjured up from what. Pretty fun/funny activity with friends I recommend.

Powder Game 2
A sandbox game/physics simulation where you can experiment with all sorts of poweders to make things happen.

noclip.website
"A digital museum of video game levels"
Basically this site lets you view any level or area in whatever games are supported.
From Pikmin 2, to Paper Mario, to Half Life, to Portal, to many different things really.

The Death Generator
A whole bunch of text boxes from various video games except you can write anything you want on there.

Super Monkey Ball Web
Developed by TwilightPB and many others, this is a web browser port of Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2. There's also support for custom packs, and includes levels from TwilightPB's other project, Monkeyed Ball 2: Witty Subtitle. There may not be monkey models yet, but the ball can be customizable and there's support for custom billboarded character sprites that's easy to work with. A downloadable template can be found in the multiplayer settings.

JS Paint
Classic MS paint in your browser.
It comes with all the features that classic Paint has, as well as new features.