Gravity Falls Archive

BySam Robinson

When given the task of creating a website based on literally anything, many struggle with deciding on a topic. Fortunately, I knew almost immediately that I would like to focus on the Disney channel cartoon from the mid 2010s, “Gravity Falls”

The Guidelines

The final project for my intro the HTML class required us to create a website using HTML. The website could be about anything we wanted, within reason. The website itself needed to have four pages excluding the homepage. In order to properly show what we had learned over the term, we had additional requirements such as including bold and italicized words, images, links, and an embedded video.

Choosing a Topic and Researching

It didn’t take me much time to decide what I wanted to create my website about. I grew up watching “Gravity Falls” on Disney channel and it was something I still regularly rewatch and reference. The show itself is incredibly deep and known for its mysteries and secret codes hidden throughout the show. Due to the nature of the show, there was even a worldwide treasure hunt created by the show’s creator, Alex Hirch which ran after the show’s final episode. Because of the show’s lore, interesting characters, hidden codes, and real life impact, I knew Gravity Falls would be perfect for this project. 

I decided to have each page dedicated to a specific sub topic. One page was dedicated to the main characters of the show. Another was a breakdown of all content associated with the IP including the show itself, animated shorts, books, and video games. I also included a page dedicated to the Cypher Hunt, a treasure hunt created to find a real statue of the show’s main antagonist, Bill Cypher. 

Creating The Webpage

Home Page

The home page features a brief breakdown of what the show is, who created it, ect. Scrolling down brings the viewer to a banner with a call to action which will redirect to the page about the Cypher Hunt. Further down on the page are images of the three journals, an important artifact within the show. Although they all bring the user to the same page, each one will direct to a specific section on that page dedicated to the corresponding season. 

Coding the books to function how I intended was the thing I struggled most with this project. I wasn’t able to create the results I intended with straight HTML and CSS. Luckily, I was able to create a finished product by using my limited experience with JavaScript from high school with some additional research and plenty of trial and error. The functionality of those journal buttons are most likely what I am most proud of when it comes to this assignment.

    • Character Page

    Gravity Falls has a very large recurring cast but there are a handful of characters who are technically integral to the series. I decided to create a customer color pallet for each character based on their prominent colors. I layered this underneath an image of the characters themselves. Each character’s section also included key details and fun facts about them. This page was a lot of fun to create, especially because of the custom color palettes.

    • Creation Page

    The creation of Gravity Falls had a lot of push back from Disney due to some of the language and representation the creator wanted to include in the show. I made a page dedicated to sharing a brief history of Gravity Falls. I also included actual messages the creator received from Disney’s Standards and Practices Team which he had posted on Twitter shortly before I began working on my site.

    • Content Page

    This page ended up being very long because I wanted to include as much media associated with the IP that I could find. In addition to listing episode numbers and names, I also included brief summaries. In order to make the page more digestible, I sorted everything into an accordion allowing the user to essentially minimize other content. This page was a lot of fun because it allowed me to not only revisit old episodes, but it also introduced me to content I previously didn’t know existed.

    • The Cypher Hunt Page

    My final page was required to include an embedded video. I decided to embed a YouTube video essay about the Cypher Hunt, a world wide scavenger hunt hosted by the show’s creator. The video I had found covered the topic very well and I found the concept incredibly interesting. The video can be watched here.

    Conclusion

    This project was an incredible learning experience for and acted heavily as a passion project. It reignited my love for web design and coding while also allowing me to research and create something based on a show that I love. Despite the struggles that I experienced when creating certain aspects of the website, I was able to find solutions and create a final product that I am incredibly proud of. Below is a video of me going through the finished site.