Introduction to my site...

This is not my first attempt at a site.

The story begins with Jiang's site. This site was not always as convoluted as it is, with dead links and pointless pages. It once featured a (sort of) lively forum and motivation. Of course I don't blame Jiang for stopping his site... we just lost interest. It's a long story.

My first site was on Angelfire. I got the idea to make a website from Jiang, and let me tell you, it was badass. I'd always loved to write, and I'd like the Internet as well. But - and allow me to abuse a cliche - when Jiang showed me HTML and Angelfire, it was like thousands of doors of opportunity had been opened for me. I was suddenly everywhere at once, trying to learn more HTML and abusing it left and right. You have no idea how little I tried in school in those days. I was literally in danger of dropping Geometry Honors, and my grades were all way below acceptable level. And yet... that was probably part of the best time of my life.

My first site wasn't all that bad, mind you. I had high-quality video game midis, and I created plenty of gimmicky pages, along with a simplistic yet excellent CJB.net-based forum. As time wore on, I became more ambitious with which direction I wanted to take it. I added tables and fixed news format. I tried adding professional-looking elements. I made bouncing balls, flashing links, and more cutsey-dootsy stuff. But the revolution of site-designing came too late. I really didn't want to revamp the WHOLE site. Or if I did want to...

My second site was a Geocities one. This time I came in knowing full well that I wanted a "professional" feel. I established it immediately with a boatload of features and it became instantly popular. However, as it began to decline, I implemented a new News system. I deliberately added all of the weekly updates in a separate section... worst move I ever made. This, along with a more high-tech but less simplistic forum system, marked a true decline in a circle of friends conversing online.

Because I see now why the first two sites failed. I was trying to confine myself too much. There was a ridiculous amount of overhead required for each news updated I added, which while it led to (fairly) high quality work and a nifty site design, was constricting and horribly time consuming. I had to run around, fixing several different pages each time I added an article, and eventually I began to get lazy and forget links. I discovered that Iframs were slowing me down, and that they resulted in ads even more annoying that what you see before you.

There had been other sites. Among them there was Pregnant Teen Conspiracy, which while I made it on impulse, was actually very decently designed. I've taken a few things out of that book, believe it or not, because I saw from it that simplicity is a virtue. It was similarly puzzling for me to figure out how my Xanga site was so accessible for me. The answer was just that: It was accessible. There was no time wasted on formating anything. I put it in and there it was. No high standards to meet, no guidelines to follow. I wrote something, and there it was. Unfortunately, Xanga itself tends to be a despicable medium in my eyes. The whole site is rather lame at its root, and it limits the things that you can do. And let's face it. No one wants to be associated with emos and people with horrible grammar and no writing skills.

... I am NOT calling the kettle black!

... Anyway, another key selling point Xanga (that I didn't realize before) is you're not expected to have a theme. I remember I would tell people that I had a website, and their first reaction was "What's it about?" This was always a rather awkward question; it was really a blog, where I could post occasional non-life-related things. But somehow, people expect your site to be based off of something. My sites didn't have this theme. I never stated this, but it's easy to point out in hindsight: This bothered me. I realize it now; before I just shrugged it off and grinned foolishly, saying "random stuff". That was an accurate description, but I think that not having a theme bothered me. For the record, this is still not a blog that I am creating now... but it is damn close enough, and I'll call it whatever the hell I want to.

This site will be everything that my previous sites were, minus all of the actual site-designing. It has a strictly simple template so far, and I intend to keep it minimalistic. All of the code that starts a page can be copy-pasted, and it takes up a tenth of a kilobyte.

So what can you expect? Essays and life anecdotes or summaries. Don't expect them in any order, at any specific time. Expectations limit me. But you can fully expect to have some reading. Why am I making this? The artsy answer that I hate is "to express myself". The fact is, I'm an egotist and I like to be heard. Also, I like hearing my voice - that is, my writer's voice. I just like to write, and I like to read it, and I like others to read it. I can't help it. As long as I use the internet... I will read and write.

SD
Sept 23, '05

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