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May 28, 2007 / Filed under: History, Personal, Recollections

Blogging has certainly changed over the years. My first "blog" was a few static HTML pages containing random thoughts, during 2001. It's hard to believe it's been over six years already.

I want to preserve my experience with the web - not only the words themselves, but my designs, inspirations, and entire thought process.

This is the first post that attempts to re-claim some of these thoughts and information. I'll continue to provide these posts as a method of creating an historical timeline of my presence on the internet.

The timeline of this post starts at the very beginning of my exposure to web design. This post spans from February 2001 to Fall 2002.

February 2001

My first HTML pages are created for a school project. Fanatic about the band Radiohead, I molded my web site after the band, who initially called themselves "On A Friday," referencing the day of the week that they practiced during their schooling days. I even purchased the domain onafriday.tv, which was my "home page," up until the fall of '01.

I immediately embraced the idea of sharing personal thoughts and ideas over the web. I guess you could say I had "blogging" in my blood.

Fall 2001

I dump the domain onafriday.tv in favor of weridetonight.com, which is another reference to Radiohead. The site contains my resume and portfolio information, and a section called "news," which eventually becomes my blog.

I used a lot of Flash in those days, so I applied it to various sections of my site, such as the navigation and content sections. It was later I learned that Flash isn't ideal for such aspects of web sites. I hadn't yet been introduced to CSS.

To make my site more "personal," I included "head shots" of myself, and to this day, I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking. :)

December 2001, January 2002

With my formal education coming to an end, I needed a domain that was more professional, for resume and job interview purposes. I decided on matthom.com. The site would still contain personal thoughts and ideas, alongside my resume and portfolio information.

Around this time, I designed my favorite Flash application ever. It was a web site for my basketball team, and boy did I have fun with it.

Overall, I enjoyed web design because it allowed me to be creative with the design and content, while voicing my own internal opinions. I felt I had discovered an excellent avenue for self-fulfillment. (To this day, that feeling hasn't changed.)

The term "blog" is still a long way from becoming a recognizable word.

February, March 2002

My first "official" web log appears. I refer to it as a "log." It doesn't use a database, but rather static HTML files. (Over time, I've migrated most of this content over to my current database.) It also doesn't have any feedback or comment mechanism. This required scripting, or applications such as Greymatter or MovableType, which were just getting off the ground in those days, and probably the only "blogging packages" available. (WordPress came much later.)

I started using CSS more regularly in my designs, and enjoyed the "centered" and "boxy" look.

Summer 2002

As my writing continued, so did the centered, boxy appearance. I started using CSS to apply background images or patterns.

At this point, I was updating my blog every few days. The use of static HTML files started taking a toll. There was also no way of referencing an individual post, in the form of a "permalink." These considerations prompted further changes.