For them
Make a website for your boyfriend
A website for your boyfriend has different rules from one for a girlfriend. He wants to laugh first, he wants proof over adjectives, and he will screenshot the funny part and quietly reread the sincere part. Build the page in that order and it lands.
The Magazine template fits. It is a flip-through magazine with him on the cover, nine reasons that flip over, a photobooth strip and film strips, his songs on a spinning vinyl and a letter. It opens on his phone, needs no app, and ends with a reply box.
Funny first, then the real thing
Put the jokes at the front and the sincere page near the end. The cover is the joke: his name across a photo he would not pick himself. The reasons are the second joke, nine hearts that flip over, written as dry observations and not as compliments. Then the film strips and the photobooth strip, where the jokes turn into memories without him noticing. By the time he reaches your letter, he has already relaxed. That order is what makes the sincere page feel earned rather than awkward.
The pages he will actually look at
Some pages in the magazine do more work for a boyfriend than others. The reasons page is a game, since the hearts flip over and he can tap through them in his own time. The photobooth strip is made for silly frames. The big line across a full-page photo is a good place for the one-liner he will quote back: 'Still the best seat in the car'. The songs page is a quiet win, because his songs on a spinning vinyl is something he will play on repeat. Skip anything he would not look at twice.
Pick Noir, or do not
The magazine comes in Cherry, Noir and Blush. For most boyfriends Noir is right: black and white, sharp type, and no pink. If he is a romantic who will not admit it, Cherry works. Blush is for the guy who loves soft things and will say so. The preview updates as you switch, and your words and photos carry over, so try all three on his cover photo and keep the one that looks like him. Do this early, because the style shapes how the jokes read.
Keep the letter short and the reasons dry
One page of sincerity is plenty. A hundred to two hundred words: one thing you admire that he would never say about himself, one thing he did that made your life easier, one line about what you want next. No poetry unless he writes poetry. Write the reasons in the same voice he would use about you, not in a greeting-card voice. 'You are weirdly good with my family' lands. 'You are my rock' does not, and he knows it.
The reply, and what you get back
The magazine ends with a reply box. Most boyfriends will not write a paragraph on their own, but a box with a plain prompt gets more than a text does. You get an email when he opens it and another when he replies. If he sends back a one-word reply, count it, because from him that is a lot. Preview the page on your own phone first. Previewing is free and private, so there is time to catch the typo.
Questions
Related pages
Start with The Magazine
Starts as The Magazine, filled in for you. Add your photos and words, preview it for free.
Start with this template