[5th Anniversary Letter] Thank You So Much for Following Along All This Time!

Today marks the 5th anniversary of “Norirow Note”, amazing!

noriko

norirow

Wow, it goes by so quickly to think that five years have already passed💦 hahaha

Can you believe it? Today marks exactly five years since I started writing Norirow Note Eorzean Adventure Story.

Honestly, I never imagined I’d be writing every single day like this, let alone that it would continue for five whole years. It’s something I couldn’t have even dreamed of when I first began.

Initially, I started this project with a simple idea: I’d pick out a few of my favorite treasures I found in Eorzea and keep a record of them. I thought, “If I curate these wonderful treasures, maybe they’ll be helpful to someone out there.”

I figured that once I’d finished documenting all my favorite treasures, that would be the end of it…

But even after five years, I still haven’t finished.

That just goes to show how much this world is overflowing with amazing treasures, doesn’t it? Eorzea truly is a vast, magnificent, and gentle world, through and through.

I began this journey in May 2020.

The world was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic—a really tough time for everyone. On top of that, I was at rock bottom, grieving the loss of a beloved family member who had passed on to the heavens.

But you know what? The world of Eorzea was so kind to me.

It wrapped me in its warmth. It became a place for me to live, to heal.

So I started thinking: How could I give something back to this world… or rather, what could someone like me do to contribute? That’s when I decided to start writing Norirow Note Eorzean Adventure Story.

Back then, what drove my adventures was the joy of discovering cool new outfits, weapons, and mounts. I’d think, “Oh wow, there’s such a cool weapon like this! Or such a cute outfit!” Those moments of discovery always sparked my next adventure—I’d set out to obtain those treasures for myself.

That’s why I started this record: I hoped it could serve as a little “spark” for others, inspiring even just one more person to embark on their own adventures. That’s the origin of Norirow Note Eorzean Adventure Story.

And as I went on these adventures, I began to realize something.

I saw just how beautiful, how kind, and how truly magnificent this world is.

I wanted more people to feel that, to experience it for themselves.

If more and more people can come to appreciate the wonders of this world, then Eorzea will surely continue to thrive for years to come. I dream of a future where this world endures for decades, even centuries, becoming a sanctuary for so many more hearts.

That’s the wish—the prayer—I pour into every entry of Norirow Note Eorzean Adventure Story as I write.

…Wait, what was I talking about again?

It’s honestly astonishing to think about how many people are following Norirow Note Eorzean Adventure Story now—something I never could’ve imagined five years ago.

Thank you so much for always reading and supporting me.

To mark this milestone, I’d like to share a little “timestamp” of where we’re at now:

• 📚 Total Posts: 3,792 articles
• 📸 Number of Screenshots: 28,891
• 📝 Total Page Views: 12,066,169

▼ And for reference, here’s last year’s timestamp: (Sorry for the post in Japanese)

In just one year, the page views have increased by about 5.8 million! That means roughly 480,000 pages per month, or 16,000 pages a day. (Did I calculate that right?)

I’m so grateful—and honestly a bit shocked—that so many of you are following our simple daily adventure logs. Thank you! 💦

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the support you’ve given me over the years.

I hope this record has been even a little helpful to someone out there.

I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep this up, but I have a feeling that the adventures of me, Noriko-chan, and Namingway will continue for a while yet.

As someone who can only express themselves through words like this, I hope to keep creating things that can touch someone’s heart as an artist and storyteller.

I’ll keep documenting each moment, praying that your adventures overflow with happiness.

Whenever you revisit Norirow Note Eorzean Adventure Story in the future, I hope it brings a little smile to your face—“Hehe, that’s nice.” That’s the kind of adventure log I want to create, so I’d be delighted if you’d pick it up again sometime.

Until then, thank you always for everything!

May your Eorzean days be filled with happiness ♪

Digression

By the way, over the past month or so you’ve been making a lot of changes to the behind-the-scenes of this site, haven’t you?

noriko

norirow

That’s right, I was thinking about how to make it more user-friendly for people who view the site. Especially with so many articles, it’s easy for them to get lost in the shuffle, so I think it was great that we were able to implement the “narrowed search” feature (I’m bragging).

I certainly find this “narrowed search” feature useful, but the rest of it is just your own self-indulgence that no one notices…

noriko

norirow

Ugh, there’s no denying that…

Parts that have been modified in the past month or so

• Implemented refined search
• Implemented a modal (pop-up UI) for refined search on smartphones
• Added category items and revised names
• Major addition of tags and revised names (for detailed refined search)
• Re-tagged all articles (approximately 3,800 articles) due to the addition of tags
• Created thumbnails for each page due to the addition of categories and tags
• Changed the title design of category pages and tag pages
• Revised footer menu items for smartphones
• Added text decoration to the follow and share modal in the footer menu for smartphones
• Adjusted margins when scrolling the footer menu for smartphones
• Changed category icons in the sidebar (changed by genre)
• Changed tag icons in the sidebar
• Adjusted the width balance of h3 heading decorations in the sidebar
• h2 headings in articles and design adjustments (PC version changed to exceed article width)
• Changed the design of h3 headings in articles
• Adjusted the design of links (blog cards) in articles
• Adjusted the movement of each element when hovering over it
• Adjusted the balance of the movement time of each element so that the fade-in animation when opening the page looks natural
• Adjusted the text of the four menu cards (recommended cards) at the top to make it easier to see
• Adjusted the top and bottom margins of the speech bubble
• Adjusted the top and bottom margins of the breadcrumb list
• Adjusted the display of pagination
• Identified and adjusted dead CSS
• Made web fonts lighter (woff2)
• Adjusted site speedup settings
• Adjusted site speedup so that it does not interfere with the loading screen
• Implemented specifications to automatically add Alt information to main images
• Changed Font Awesome from 4 to 5 and corrected all existing versions
• Adjusted each part to make the parts that look different between Windows, iPhone, and Android as similar as possible
• All English versions have been corrected in the same way as above

It makes me worry about Norirow-san because he always does these things by wandering around even cutting down on his sleep.

namingway

noriko

Fufu, well, I guess it’s fine if you’re having fun! Anyway, looking forward to the sixth year!