New site!

Hello World!

As you can see, I have created a new website for myself! The old one was getting really old, really fast, and it didn't really feel as 'one' to me. Every section was separate, with a separate design. Which was not working out for me anymore.

I have come to the point in my life where things are getting serious. I have almost finished my education, and I'm going to be joining the workforce pretty soon (if any employer will have me, that is ;) ) and with that, comes a new site.

What can you find here?

Well, first of all, my semi-professional blog, as you can see. Furthermore, my portfolio, which I will update when I create new, shiny things to share with the world. At the moment it's filled with some school projects, and some personal projects I've been working on.

The social section allows you to keep track of what I'm doing on the web, and offline. The contact section lets you, well, contact me. There are some buttons next to the menu at top, which you can use to reach out to me, or get more specific details about my activities.

Everything is built from scratch, and powered by Mootools.

There are some things I want to address in depth, since I think they worked out well for me, and can prove insightful to fellow developers.

First off, the blog isn't hosted by me. Instead, I use Google's Blogger service to maintain my blog. Why did I choose this option? Several reasons.

First of all, it saves me the trouble of updating some blogging software like Wordpress. Second, it gave me an excellent opportunity of experimenting with the Google API. I require no database for my entire blog, which saves me from having to backup frequently. I tend to forget this :P

Now on to the portfolio. You would think this section is database driven. You are right, but not the content you'd expect. If you know me, you'd know that I'm a big fan of mobility. I like the idea of being able to take my portfolio anywhere, or update it anywhere. That's why the contents of the portfolio are stored in XML, with relative links to images and such.

Comments on portfolio items are stored in a database though, and are presented in a threaded display. This means that you (or myself) can comment on each other's comments! They are grouped, and replies aren't visible until you make them visible, by clicking on the reply group header.

Unfortunately Blogger has one drawback. It doesn't store comments in a way I can use to use this system, it has no "reply-to" function. I solved this by making a sort of "reply-to" fnuction for Blogger comments, but it isn't perfect. But it works nicely. So use it! ;)

Other then that, explore! And look out for some gothic hunters. I heard some things while coding which sent chills up and down my spine. I have no idea what or where they are though. They won't come near Internet Explorer though. Seems even they are scared of IE. Can you find the gothic hunter lurking somewhere on the site?