April 29, 2008
Version 4.0
Out with the old, and in the with the new. You’re looking at the fourth version of my web site. I’m excited to finally get this redesign completed. I began blogging back in 2002, before I knew about many of the popular blog software tools such as Blogger, MovableType, Typepad, WordPress, Textpattern, etc.
The first version I created was a little orange site that I updated with a single html/php form to add new journal entries to the site. I called them journal entries, because no one knew what “blog” meant. The first two versions of the site used this system.
Then in 2005, I did a complete overhaul of the front-end design as well as the backend database. I began using Textpattern. Version 3 (archived here) was probably the only site you remember. Just curious…I wonder if anyone other than my family saw that the versions prior to that one.
Switched to WordPress
I thought I should get to know another system, so this new version is powered by WordPress. The switch from Textpattern wasn’t that bad. Most of the database tables imported over just right, thanks to the handy importer that comes with WordPress. I also had to do some complex find/replace routines in order to fix some broken links within the articles, and I’m sure you’ll find some more. Let me know if you do.
Other Changes
- I’ve written new content for the About and Work pages.
- Twitter Updates now have more prominence on the homepage.
- There’s one big photo on the homepage instead of 6 small ones.
- There’s a nifty AJAX contact form. My old site had a contact form for a while until it was overrrun by SPAM, so I canned it.
- The Archives are much easier to search through.
- All our photos are now hosted by Flickr.
- Improved Portfolio section. I’ve removed a few older projects that I had done years ago that have since been redesigned by someone other than me.
If you like the previous site better, that’s OK, but I’d love to know why. Leave a comment or click the “Contact” link in the footer of the page.
