By the end of the 2000’s, it had become clear that the web is an ephemeral place. I was spending a lot of time on Boardgamegeek, and I didn’t want my sporadic deep thoughts to suddenly disappear due to someone else’s bad business decisions.
I had also gotten into reading webcomics and thought I’d try to make some myself. I didn’t have delusions of grandeur, but it seemed like a worthy hobby.
And it was just time. The web had been in our world for just over a decade and I wanted my own little niche on this place (the short lived geocities site didn’t count).
So I started this blog.
It was going to be a odd-concept web comic, pairing random drawings and poetry. I hoped this project would force me to draw more and finally get a grasp on poetry. That endeavor didn’t last long.
But now I had my own little foothold on the internet.
Along with this WordPress blog, I also created an online portfolio using Stacey, a light content management system with a simple clean look.
My first job after graduate school was for a small firm. It was a great experience but was not a career position. Even though an online portfolio is not required for architects, I thought it would be helpful as a calling card when I started the next job search. I didn’t need anything fancy, just a simple stable place to highlight some past work for prospective employers.
Stacey was easy to set up, but it wasn’t completely intuitive. So I needed to re-figure out the system every couple years that I wanted to update the portfolio. Meanwhile WordPress continued to upgrade and make itself easier to use. My sporadic forays into learning css became unnecessary as WordPress themes got better and more responsive.
Last year, my Stacey portfolio started to glitch. Recent PHP upgrades were creating error messages in the header of the portfolio site. It was still operational, but the end was in sight.
Last month, my daughter was taking an online art class and wanted to share her work, so I gave her a blog on her own subdomain. In setting up her blog, I upgraded all my subdomains to PHP 7.3.
This finally nerfed the old portfolio.
So I migrated the portfolio, and now I have three WordPress installations under my care. WordPress isn’t idiot proof and takes a little effort to maintain, but it’s free and hosting is cheap. Hard to complain about a product that costs nothing, has enough momentum to keep updating, and isn’t completely under the thumb of some mega-corporation.
But before I fully settle into this new WordPress-centric reality, I want to thank Mr. Kolber for his little portfolio. I’m not sure if anyone checked out my site, but the presence of my online portfolio made me feel more confident whenever I went out on the hunt.
Stacey made me look good on the world wide web for more than a decade.
Le roi est mort, vive le roi!