I was hyper when i received Natasja’s super quick reply in my inbox! I’m a big fan of her website & i’m sure that a lot of you out there are as well ! I used to visit her website almost everyday back when i had just started online (her layouts are so adorable & so very inspirational!) – without further a-do enjoy this month’s interview & remember to visit the featured website & leave her some love!

1. Name / Alias:
Natasja

2. Website Name:
Kao-Ani

3. What got you to create a website? How did you come up with the name?
Actually it all started with the purchase of my first computer. I really liked those animated puffs, which I later found out were called kao-ani. My first website was quite small and displayed a collection of kao-ani, pixels and dolls from other pixel artists. I realized that making websites was really something and soon became an internet nerd ;-)

4. How long have you had a website?
My first website was hosted on a free server at May 2002 and called Kawaii at that time. During the spring of 2003 kao-ani.com was released, time flies!

5. What was the original theme of the site?
From what I can recall the first theme at kao-ani was a hamster sitting on a milk carton. I think I’ve got some sort of cute-food obsession… The menu appeared on the milk carton in Flash. Because not everyone could see that navigation I changed the layout later that year into one with pixeled Yumpop characters and a text based menu.

6 Where do you get inspiration for layouts from?
I used to stroll the internet for hours, staring at cute characters.That and rainbow colours -thanks to my my 80′s childhood ;-)- inspired me enough to design a layout. Nowadays I usually get inspiration at the weirdest places like in bed or on the toilet…
Last but not least I like to look at fresh webdesigns that you can find in CSS galleries like Screenalicious.com and CSS Mania for inspiration.

7. What kind of programs & tools do you use to make your layouts?
Photoshop is really helpful to design the initial look-and-feel. I start with a blank document and will combine colours and drag elements around for hours until I’m statisfied with the result.
That’s when Dreamweaver comes in to code the layout. Sometimes I use Pro Motion for pixeled graphics.
Also I can advice image sites like Istockphoto, I find it really helpful to start with a nice graphic to create a theme with.

8. Has your website / layout making technique changed from the beginning till now?
Definitely ;-) When I started out I thought iframes and tables where the bomb, which was probably still accepted at the time. Now I try to focus more on accessibilty and proper coding of a website. Visitors are still at risk of a cuteness overdose though.

9. Do you have a screenshot of how your website used to look at the beginning?
Only if you promise not to laugh. I’ve included the very first Kawaii layout, it’s very tiny which I believe was hot at that time -I hope.

Click on the image above to see whole image!

10. Have you ever done something that goes against the netiquette?
I’m sure I have! One of the most stupid things I’ve probably done, looking in retrospective, is trying to “protect” all my graphics and text. I’ve used a no-right-clicking script and even implemented a weird frame to hide my code. Not only wasn’t this very visitor friendly, I also came to the realisation that if someone wants to take something, they will. So now all those weird scripts have disappeared and I use a tiny watermark and ask people to link back, which they usually do (^__^).

11. Are there any webmasters whom you consider as your role model?
From the early years on I admire Bubs and Dodo. Because they always come up with great websites, useful free scripts and are also into the “cute scene”. Someone who isn’t involved in the cute scene, but whom I like for her witty stories is the ever popular Dooce.

12. Did you ever think that your site will be this popular?
No way! I think my site was more popular back in the days that I provided regular updates and more content, but I’m so happy to see that vistors still know how to find it. Thank you so much for sticking around (^__^)b!

13. What is your trick to make a website popular?
I don’t have a trick really. But I think a website can become popular if you provide useful content or stories that other people can relate to.

14. How much time do you dedicate on working on your site?
That depends on the spare time I have left. These days work and my offline life keeps me quite busy, so there’s not much kao-ani time left. Probably 1-2 hours a week, I hope to do better though (*^_^*).

15. Do you consider yourself as a mini celebrity?
Haha, not at all ;p One day a (Hello Kitty) store owner recognized me from my blog, that was a big shock.

16. Do you monetize your website? If so – approximately – How much money do you make each month?
I’ve had Google Ads on my site for a couple of months -which came up with irrelevant links- and also on kao-ani.com/cute. I probably make a couple of dollars from it per month. It’s not enough to cover my hosting costs, but still nice.

17. Do you have big plans for your website for the future?
I’m planning on making it into a million dollar company ;-). I hope to update more frequently. Also I would like to offer a free cute WordPress theme and a new pixeled icon set.

18. Do you have any tips for us?
If you want to become better at something, don’t give up, just practise and then practise some more. You’ll get there! I know a lot of people who are self-taught/autodidactic. When it comes to webdesign you can learn a lot by just starting to code, peek at other people’s code, follow online tutorials and just try things out. I usually don’t nail a design at the first try. I’ll just shift things around, change colours and font sizes etc, until it looks good to me. It might also help to ask other people’s opinions.
Now at the risk of sounding corny, follow your dreams (^__^) and don’t take everything too seriously.