It’s hard to believe, but the current version of my site (v21) launched in May 7, 2009. I did minor updates on December 20, 2009, and July 4, 2010, bringing the version to its current v21.2, and have made some tweaks around the edges, but all-in-all the site looks about the same today as it has for over 18 months. (As always, you can see what almost all previous versions of the site looked like on the Retro Websites page.)
Anyway, it’s time to start planning the next version: Website 22.
I’ve already done my mock-ups and designs, so I have a pretty good idea of how it’s going to look, but I haven’t done much implementation work on it yet. What that means is that you should share any thoughts or comments you have about the site now. I’m always open to (constructive) criticism, so please let me know what you think of the site and what I can do better. Your feedback will very likely influence the final product.
When I launched Website 20, the first version on the WordPress blogging and content management system, I derived a lot of my code from the default WordPress template at the time and combined it with a lot of custom code I’d written for previous sites (on Joomla). In Website 21 I re-factored basically all of my code and bolted on some new WordPress functionality as it became available (like their new menu system), but most of the WordPress-derived bits just came over un-changed from the previous version. My main technical goal for v22 is to re-sync with the WordPress default template code, but I’ll also continue improving and streamlining my custom stuff.
I’m also going to be changing how the mobile site works a bit. . . . More details on that after I figure out exactly what I’m doing ;-). And there will be a brand new Easter Egg, so if you haven’t found the one that’s out there now (and has been there since version 20) you should hurry up.