What You Saw Is What Is Not Forgotten

I started blogging in earnest about seven years ago. I remember it well because it was only a few weeks before the September 11th attacks. At that point I was at least four years into scratching an internet itch that some would argue was already an addiction. My methods of updating were primitive. Even though blogging services such as Blogger and LiveJournal were readily available, I was satisfied (and proficient enough with HTML) to just update and upload a simple HTML file every time I felt like sharing my thoughts. This process proved more tedious as I endured several redesign “urges” that left me with an aesthetically incompatible history of past thoughts.

After several “next little thing” internet ideas that I failed to get off the ground, I started to put my growing knowledge of programming and databases (specifically PHP and MySQL) to good use. In March 2003, I set out to create my own PHP/MySQL based blogging platform. While I was wistful of internet stardom, I was really trying to limit the level of optimism to creating something for my personal use and perhaps a few of my friends. By April of that same year, I posted my first dynamically rendered blog and shortly thereafter a couple of friends (one being my future wife) started their own “scribs”.

Fast forward five and a half years later and as you might have guessed, not a lot became of Scribnotes. But it has been my blogging platform of choice until now. Today I am starting the transition from Scribnotes to WordPress. The part that I have been dreading, besides the mere nostalgia and feeling like I’m giving up on a child, is learning how to design within the confines of someone else’s framework. I’ll have to brush up on my standards and CSS, but I know in the long run it will be worth it. In fact, by abandoning development of my own web publishing system, I hope I can use that time to become a better designer, a better developer, and perhaps even something that resembles some sort of innovator.

Fortunately, the past is not forgotten. In the next few weeks while I reshape, recolor, and reimagine thedustindotcom, I will also be working to restore the past. I’m digging into the database structure of WordPress so I can import my archives. I am also reimagining Scribnotes. As we’ve seen with the Web 2.0 movement, the web is good for more than just blogging and information sharing. I may be too late for Web 2.0, but here’s to hoping I’m able to catch up with the masses. I’m excited about making the changes but I’m a little apprehensive about the persistence required to see it through to completion. For those of you who I call the Faithful Five, keep pressing me about things you miss, things you want to make their way back, and things you always wanted that I promised but never delivered. Thank you for your readership and for humoring me in this great hobby that occupies my idle time.