Frequently Asked Questions

We're offering free resources, designs and downloads to help you bring your creative ideas to life. <3

Since 2016, technically, though it went through a hiatus from 2019 to 2024. The full story is on our about page if you're curious! The name itself has been around far longer - Nick used it as early as 2007!

We started having our own websites around 2007, though the actual tinkering with RGB, hex codes, and basic HTML began in 2006. Which was... years ago. Feel old yet?

You can read more about how we learned to code here.

Textures are images you can use to add details and they can be used in many different ways. For example, in game dev, they create structure, but in graphic design, most people use them as overlays to add some grain, dirt or cool effects to their art.

Almost all our resources are for people who want to create designs of all kinds, artworks, or even photo manipulations, where our PNGs would come in handy for example.

Premades are designs that are pretty much good to go. While our templates are meant to be bare bones so you can build on top of them, our premades are ready for your site with just a few small tweaks.

As for our audience, we try to have something for everyone. We grew up in the early 2000s era where the web was full of helpful scripts and random resources. It's definitely a niche nowadays, but we love staying in it. <3

We actually have a tool that makes it easy for you to design your own panels! Danny uses HTML for the overlays, not animation software. You can create some pretty impressive animations with CSS and JavaScript these days! Once he's happy with it, he simply records his screen by loading it as a browser source in Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) and saves it as a video.

For patterns based on photos or complex textures, we still do it the slow way by matching up the edges in our editing software. It is a bit tedious, but it is the best way to make sure the seams are actually gone.

If you just want to create simpler patterns with shapes like hearts or stars, you can use our pattern designer! <3

It depends on the image and who you ask, as we use different editing software and work quite differently!

Danny:
I'm using GIMP and usually just do it with the lasso tool, or by using the option Colors > Color to Alpha, if the background is more or less a solid color. Afterwards I'll just fine-tune the rough edges or anything I don't like. And sometimes, I edit the image itself a bit here and there.

Nick:
I use Affinity and swap tools depending on the image. For sharp, clean outlines, I use the path tool. When things get messy, like hair or fur, I use the paint selection tool and then tweak the selection settings to get the masking right!

Mostly because it's therapeutic. Just kidding, but honestly, while sites like remove.bg are great, their free tiers usually force you to export tiny, low-res thumbnails unless you pay up.

Price aside, the quality usually bugs us. Those automatic tools tend to leave blurry halos or jagged edges that look messy. Even if those flaws get covered up later in a photomanipulation, just knowing those ugly outlines are hiding in there is enough to keep us doing it by hand.

Short for Content Management System. Basically the backend that lets us write blog posts, manage different types of content and all that!

We built our own custom CMS using PHP and MySQL.

WordPress is amazing for blogs, but it is just not built for the way we handle our content. We would have had to stack a mountain of plugins and hope they did not break.

No. Not because we're gatekeeping, but because it's tailor-made specifically for how this site works. Plus, when you code something just for yourself, you tend to have a... different quality standard. The backend is a total mess, believe me.

We do offer plenty of smaller scripts you can grab for your own site, though.

The thing is, years ago, the community was a lot more active, and everyone helped each other out when they struggled with code. That's not really the case anymore. Releasing an "all-in-one" script today would mean providing constant support ourselves, which is why we scrapped those plans pretty quickly. But hey, never say never!

Whenever we feel like it! <3

You can check out our credits, but we're mostly using images from Unsplash, Pixabay, and sometimes our own.

First off, it's the only way to keep things legal. We definitely don't have the interest or the budget to deal with lawsuits.

But more importantly, it actually feels good to work this way. People often asked us if it's too limiting, but working within those boundaries is actually more inspiring. It forces us to get way more creative with what we have!

By sticking to license-free assets, we also try to make sure that our resources are as worry-free as possible for anyone using them as well.

Because we're having fun. And also read this.

Not as long as we're still having fun. People ask this a lot, wondering if there's even a "demand" for what we do anymore. And sure, the community is smaller than it was twenty years ago, but we aren't running a business here.

We mainly do this for ourselves, because we're having fun. While it makes us incredibly happy and proud when someone else finds our work useful, that's just a bonus. <3

We mostly stick to free tools! Danny uses GIMP for pretty much everything. Nick mainly uses the Affinity Suite, sometimes Inkscape for anything the Affinity Suite lacks.

Danny uses Notepad++, Nick uses Visual Studio Code.

Danny creates the fonts using an iPad and the app Fontself.

Honestly, it started with us just messing around. Back in the early 2000s there was this German chat called Knuddels, and if you were active enough you unlocked a super basic homepage. It was basically just a few textareas, but that was more than enough to start experimenting. Danny has created a rough recreation of what the Knuddels homepages used to look like!

That's where we first got into HTML, copying snippets, playing with RGB colors, and digging through random sites that shared CSS effects. For Danny, that was the entry point into web design. For Nick, it was similar, just that his sister was already into it and showed him a site she was part of, which made him want to figure it out too.

Later on, a lot of our PHP knowledge came from a now dead community called Giatu. People could sign up, share tutorials, and help each other out. The rest was just learning by doing, building things we thought were cool, breaking them, fixing them, and repeating that over and over. Honestly, that part hasn't changed much.

The JavaScript ones will work fine, but anything from our PHP section is a no-go. Neocities is a static host and doesn't support PHP at all. To use those, you would need a webhost that actually supports server-side scripts.

This is also why some of our JS tools feel a bit more manual. Since they can't create or save files on the server like PHP does, you usually have to copy and paste the code yourself. It is a bit clunky, but it's the only way to make them work on static sites.

We actually don't use status.cafe. Our status updates run on a PHP script we built ourselves! We just really liked the status.cafe format with the emojis and used it as inspiration when we decided to bring back our "Shortnews" section.

Honestly, it depends on where you are located. Free hosting with PHP support is also becoming pretty rare lately, so your options are limited if you don't want ads plastered all over your site.

If you are in Germany, lima-city.de is probably our top pick (as of 2026). It is one of the few left that is actually free and ad-free. Just a heads up: their free tier usually doesn't allow hosting .zip files or other downloads, but if you just want to show images or run a blog, it's great! We personally didn't have the best experience with bplaced because we found it to be quite slow and the aggressive caching caused some weird bugs with our scripts.

For users in the US, we don't really have any personal recommendations since we don't use those services. Most free US hosts we know tend to have very strict traffic limits or unreliable uptimes, so you'll have to do a bit of your own digging there, sorry!

If you're willing to pay for your hosting, we've been using all-inkl.com since 2016. They are based in Germany and we've basically never had a single problem with them in all these years.

For personal, non-commercial use, yes! We just ask that you do not claim our stuff as your own. Check the terms page for the full details.

For us, it comes down to whether you're making money directly from our work.

Not allowed: Selling anything that incorporates our work. This includes using our code in layouts you sell, adding our textures to paid resource packs, or using our patterns within designs you're charging for. If our files are part of a product for sale, that is commercial use and it's not allowed.

Allowed: Using our resources as supporting visuals for your own projects that aren't for sale. We know how annoying "personal use only" licenses are for creators in partner or affiliate programs, so you can obviously use our Twitch panels or background textures on your channel even if you're monetized. As long as you aren't selling the design itself, we're good.

However, using our work for your brand identity is strictly not allowed. You cannot use our graphics, PNGs, or any other content as your official logo or the main visual that represents your brand.

At the end of the day, we do this for free in our spare time, so we're appealing to your common sense here. If you're at a point where you have to wonder if your use case is commercial, it probably is.

When in doubt, assume it's not allowed and just ask us first! <3

Yes, for most things. A simple, visible link back to our site is enough! You can place this link in your sidebar or footer, or on a dedicated credits page on your site.

We'd actually prefer it if you could leave the credit where it is. <3 However, if you would like to put it on a dedicated credits page, you may do so, as long as this page is visibly linked and can be easily found.

Danny never used Wordpress, so this answer is from Nick:

There actually already is a starter theme generator called Underscores. It creates a blank theme with all the required core files for you.

A more recent option by Automattic is Blockbase, which supports the latest block-based features. Personally, I am not a big fan of those and still prefer the old-school approach using Underscores.

Maybe I will make templates for it in the future again, but I don't personally work with Wordpress anymore. The ecosystem has shifted heavily toward block-based editing and Gutenberg, which I am just not really into.

It's complicated. Most arguments can be shut down immediately by pointing out the environmental impact or the fact that it is trained on stolen content. We also aren't fans of how it replaces the learning process. Relying on it too much makes you lose the skills you worked for, or worse - you won't ever learn them in the first place. And these companies aren't saints. They want you dependent so they can eventually paywall your own productivity.

But the conversation around it has become so performative. It's reaching a point where some people feel forced to slap "made by a human" labels on everything just to avoid backlash, as if they're defending themselves before they committed a crime. People are pattern-hunting without understanding where the patterns even come from.

And that's because you even see people getting accused of using AI over the most basic things nowadays, like a simple blockquote or using long dashes. The irony is that AI only uses those patterns because it was trained on humans who used them first.

That said, zero excuses for multi-billion dollar companies replacing humans to save a buck, though. Fuck those.

AI is great for finding a needle-in-a-haystack bug in a script, even if it breaks things half the time. It's also helpful to quickly add features to existing codes, or to build quick proof-of-concepts to see if your idea works well. Using it for the creative heavy lifting or to rip off someone's style is where it crosses the line.

We aren't here to police you, but don't let it make you lazy. You have a brain, use it. <3

We don't take paid commissions, but we love hearing ideas! If there is a specific resource, script, or design you're looking for, drop it in our wishlist. We can't promise we'll make everything, but try your luck!

There is a contact form on the site, or you can use the wishlist if you want to request something specific. You can also find our personal social media accounts on our profiles. We don't bite!

Not at all! We love seeing people get inspired by what we do. As long as it's not a direct copy and you still put enough of your own personal identity into it, go for it! Just like with our other rules, we're appealing to your common sense here.

Sure, feel free to swap it out or tweak it! We want our designs to work for you. The only thing that's non-negotiable is the credit - that has to stay visible somewhere on your site.

Our premades aren't strictly meant to be used as base templates, but minor tweaks and color changes are absolutely fine. We encourage you to make the designs feel like your own, as long as the core structure stays intact and you don't claim the original work as your own.