Preparing what your site will look like BEFORE starting to code is a good plan! Get your images ready, try to define what the colors will be.
CHECK THE LIVE DEMO WEBSITE AND USE THESES MEASURES:
(the width is the first number, the height the second one)

top banner is 800x180px
the "welcome image" on the index/home page is 500x500px
the "about" picture on the about page is 250x250px
the preview/thumbnail images in the gallery are 100x100px
the tiny banners are 88x31px
the "next" and "preview" images of the lightbox are 50x45px
the "close" image of the lightbox is 27x27px
the "loading image" of the lightbox is 32x32px... BE CAREFUL! IT'S A .GIF!



align="center" will center your image/text. "left" or "right" will change its placement.

width="800" height="180" defines the size of your image. If you resize a larger image, make sure the width/length ratio is right, or your image will be deformed!

<br> inserts a line break. The "enter" button won't work!



CHECK YOUR LINKS & DESTINATION! ! I'm going to repeat it over and over but 90% of the time, when your code isn't working (especially for images), it's because you have a broken link. Check if you didn't accidentally copy and paste the wrong link. Check if you haven't added an extra letter, check if the file extension of your image is correct (.png? .gif?)

In the same logic as checking your links, always refresh your page after updating it.

Rename your files CORRECTLY. Trust me, you don't want image1.png, image2.png, fediunbfdf.png in your codes, you're just going to make it harder for yourself.

Use ctrl + F when you're coding to search for keywords! (Hence renaming things correctly, it's easier to find your rat drawing when it's named "rat")

Test around things but don't forget to save your tests as DIFFERENT NAMES. If it works, just copy/paste the whole code, don't risk losing all of your work because you overwrote your previous file! Old tests will always be useful until the very end.

I provide some cool sources on the links page! Use them!

Coding is tiring, can be frustrating and takes a lot of time. Don't give up, but also don't stay up until 4 a.m. staring angrily at the screen like I do! Take a break if you need to.
You can ask me for help if you need it, but you need to make a habit of doing research by yourself as well. You wanna know how to add a clock that follows your cursor? Your search engine will help! Reddit can help!
Getting inspiration from other websites on neocities can be a great help for inspiration but don't forget: the main goal is to make your own gallery from scratch, if you don't know code! It's better if it looks like you!