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Antony

Geeky Post: Website Development

By Technology, The Web3 Comments

This is a Geeky post and in it I’m going to show you how my website has developed over the years.

Version 1
My first version was created in HTML and looked like this:

It had sections to it: Personal, Carrer and Occult. It had Quick Links News on the home page.

The Navigation was simplistic as was the site as a whole. This first version of the site was online when I was 16 years old and at that time I didn’t have the domain antonysimpson.com.

Version 2

Version 2 was designed with sidebar Navigation in order to allow me to populate the site with much more content. It again was designed in HTML using tables. It contained much more photos than Version 1 including a photo’s section.


New features included a News page that had paragraphs of my news including Site Updates to let the visitors know what had been developed and updated. The Occult section of Version 1 became religion as I accepted Paganism as part of my religion. This version of the site was online around the time when I was 18 years old.

Version 3

Most significantly in Version 3 was the new blue design. I kept the sidebar navigation as I liked that it allowed me to populate the rest of the site with more content. The site used a combination of HTML and PHP, using Iframes. Removed the Site Updates but added on a Last Updated sentence on the home page so that people know when it was last updated.


The news section (above) had a page per news entry and an archive like a blog.

Version 4

Kept the same blue colours design. Kept the last updated sentence on the home page. Moved the Navigation to the top of the page. The main feature of this site was a wordpress blog which unfortunately I deleted being unable to pull off the posts and saving them. This was probably the shortest version of the site ever online, really I only focused on the blog.

Version 5

Again I kept the blue design (look above). It was the most advanced coding I had done so far. I liked the photos and had more of them to use as technology developed. I kept the Last Updated sentence and added a hit counter.


I created a windows-style little windows for the content. For the first time I had a guestbook.

Version 6

The major change in this design was the colours, using oranges and reds. The site design was the same, but I uploaded much more content.

Version 7

Easier on the eye colours were used. Advanced PHP coding used. Meta tags added so that I would appear in search results. For the first time I used an RSS feed. This was probably one of the longest sites online.

Navigation returned the sidebar with little yellow star bullet points! I discovered photoshop and used it to make my own banners. Put news on the home page. Kept expanding the site adding new sections and pages.

Also added Coming Soon – so that visitors would know what new content was to be added and Site Updates makes a return so visitors know what’s been recently updated.

Version 8

My friend Sye designed this site for me. I asked him to design it after seeing his cartoon artwork (see Funny cartoons from a friend and More funny cartoons from a friend). The idea was to create a noticeboard with a piece of paper pinned on to it. The Navigation was cartoon images that changed on mouse over at the top of the page.

The site was designed in dreamweaver using tables in a blog style. I also had a cartoon logo designed by Sye. I decided to have a wordpress blog for the home page and made some minor changes to the design to accommodate this to the version you see today:

So that’s how my sites developed over the years. Do you think I should make some changes to the current version or create a new version? Post a comment.

Antony

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Saturday 20 February 2010

DVD Review: An Evening with John Barrowman

By Happiness & Joy, Music & Radio, ReviewsNo Comments

An Evening With John Barrowman was a Christmas present to myself. It was recorded in Glasgow, Scotland which was appropriate as John’s family are originally from there.

He entered the stage wearing a jacket and trousers made out of a silver, silky-looking material which were tailored and very stylish. This combined with a tight black shirt and his white cheeky smile made him look very sexy indeed. (Definitely good eye candy!)

He performed a range of covers from his album Music Music Music. I enjoyed the ballets that seemed to suit his voice but felt it that both the album and performance would have benefited from some original songs.

During the breaks between songs John talked about his life and private family photos were projected on to a screen behind the stage. He seemed to want the audience to know more about him, his past and how he got to be where he is today. He mentioned his autobiography I am What I am, his time as Captain Jack Harness (see Torchwood – The Collection (Series 1-3) [DVD] & Torchwood – Children of Earth [DVD]) and towards the end even brought his parents up on stage.

Overall I enjoyed the show and was glad I bought it. I will watch it time and time again. Although his songs could have been original rather than covers, his charisma and sex appeal makes up for this. There is a part on the DVD were John shows that he knows his sex appeal as he turns and shakes his bum for a few seconds (causing me to say Wow!).

You can buy An Evening With John Barrowman on Amazon.

Review more things soon,

Antony

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Wednesday 17 February 2010

Time Out

By Adventures, Gay, Happiness & Joy, Life5 Comments

“That’s it I’ve had enough” I said a few weeks ago. And I wasn’t joking, so I went and booked a holiday to Benidorm.

I fly out a week today and the excitement is starting to fill me as it gets closer. Got my flight tickets and hotel confirmation from the travel agent today. I must say that although the last minute holiday was cheap, us in the land of singledom are discriminated against – I had to pay what worked out to about £100 more because I’m going on my own, rather than as a couple.

It is going to be a week of relaxation. Catching some sun, reading some books, eating, and hopefully making a friend or two along the way. I hope to explore the famous old town that apparently has lots of gay bars/clubs/restaurants etc. as well as making good use of the beach.

Will of course blog about it when I get back. I’m not sure if there are any pre-written blog posts scheduled to publish while I’m away – so you may still have some reading, you may not. Your guess is as good as mine.

Adiós para ahora, bloguea pronto (translated to Spanish via Free Translation)

Antony

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Tuesday 16 February 2010
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