Patio, a la 2007
Posted in Site Updates May 6th, 2020 by dotcomboom

Updates to the blog!

First off, a WAP version of the Patio is now accessible here. Put simply, it uses a lightweight variant of XHTML designed for earlier mobile phones and cellular networks. It uses this WordPress plugin.

WinWAP is now available at w2krepo as well.

And also, the Patio itself has gotten a fresh coat of paint with that sweet, sweet Aero flair. I came across the theme on an archived version of the WordPress theme index, though you may still find it here. (Good luck finding it through much other means, as browsing WordPress’s theme index for anything but new, overly modern stuff is rather difficult past Twenty Ten.) I tweaked it just a little bit, and man is it looking spiffy, complete with working Start menu.

I like it. It strikes as just enough to have that early personal weblog feeling to it while being distinct. And really shiny. I’m not sure if I’ll keep this look, in case I come across another theme that matches the general feel I’m trying to accomplish with this blog, but it’s likely going to stick around for a while.

2 years of dotcomboom, a visual history
Posted in Retrospectives and Essays April 4th, 2020 by dotcomboom

The first version of dotcomboom (the site) was brought upon the world in March 2018.

March 27, 2018
(the background wasn’t captured, but it’s the same as below)
April 24, 2018
May 5, 2018
The jukebox’s options before being removed in following updates.
May 11, 2018

May saw the iconic(?) graph paper look (something I “borrowed” from the earliest site of an old acquaintance from earlier long-winded group stuff back in 2016 and 2017) ditched in favor of some public domain photography from a content producer I used to watch, and shortly there-after run through a program to make it all pixel-y. Also introduced was a project I had done in node.js called Neohitz, hosted on a site called Glitch, that sought to replace the image-based hit counters and modified date indicators everyone else on my old webhost was using with something more “modern”; that is, if you consider document.write('blah') modern. The jukebox also got removed by the 11th.

May 15, 2018

Some work was done separating the main navigation from the more minor stuff.

May 24, 2018

This stuck around until June, when it was tossed for no CSS at all, and very(!) shortly after that, an orange take, which also got restyled shortly afterward.

June 7, 2018
July 22, 2018
July 31, 2018

July saw the introduction of my personal favorite layout of this time, one that I’d use elements for many months to come. I’ll note that this was around the time I began to write and use what would become AutoSite Legacy, then just called AutoSite.

August 24, 2018

Going into October, I pulled a 180 and moved the whole site to a Bootstrap template for the meme.

September 30, 2018

Later in October, I came back with a new version of the previous layout. The banner at the top cycled randomly through screenshots of The Powder Toy with some JavaScript.

October 20, 2018

This would be the final layout on my old web host.

December 5, 2018

The Dreamhost Era

December 26, 2018

dotcomboom.somnolescent.net launched as The Snake Shack (with a rather embarassing intro text) in December. This version of the site stayed until March or so and can still be accessed here if you’re brave enough.

March-July 2019. Still available here.

July saw a comeback of the earlier layout with a new theme, featuring a hue-adjusted version of the old banner and Hypercard snakes (graciously ripped by mariteaux).

July 16, 2019. The final Tim Hortons locations in Minnesota closed shortly afterward.

This lasted through October, when the site got another overhaul with the water.css framework.

October 15, 2019

That brings us to today:

Pages have been added, and things have been tweaked with since, with the blog being formally launched in late January. As for the future? Anything can happen, so keep your eyes peeled.