Duskrider's Blog

I've been designing and building websites since around 1997, when I was a senior in High School. Back then, having a website was a much bigger deal that it is now. Now, it's almost a requirement if you have a business, and it seems like everybody who's anybody has a blog, a MySpace, or at least a little corner of the web somewhere they can call their own.

The first website I ever designed (or actually helped design) was for my High School as part of a project in their 'brand new' technology class. Since I actually knew what DOS was and could browse a directory structure in Windows back then (not to mention create a Word document and a PowerPoint presentation), it was decided that I should take part in a grand project - my High School's first webpage. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

It was the tackiest, most annoying piece of drek you could imagine. There were animated gifs EVERYWHERE, I'm sure that the picture file sizes were huge, and none of the backgrounds matched anything. Each page had it's own separate background, each more visually disorienting than the last. The content was what you would expect... a nice, though oversized, aerial view of the school, a listing of teachers and their classes, information on the library, information on the gym, and a whole bunch of other information that nobody really cared about. It didn't matter to us though, what we were making, right there in that classroom, could be seen from anywhere in the world! What an amazing thing to think about... a high school junior in Illinois could create something that could be seen instantly from China, or Mexico, or Canada, or Russia, or Germany... anywhere! I don't think that wonder ever really left me. Now, of course, such a thing is quite common - MySpace takes the idea of young people creating content for the whole world to see to new, and often frightening, heights. This, however, is not what my entry is about, so I'll move on.

I've grown older and, I'd like to think, wiser since then. There was a point when I was just out of High School that I decided I could make a business out of designing web pages. By then, I knew how to make a rollover button in JavaScript! Take that, world! My business page at that point was hosted by my ISP, with an address something like www.mygreatisp.com/accounts/~ezenisek/index.htm. I rationalized that it didn't matter... just the fact that I could do a thing was enough. Of course, it wasn't, but it was nice to dream. Oh, by the way - that site had a different background for every page too.

I began to realize at that point in my life that I wasn't likely to make much of a living off the internet, and that I should just stick to Junior College and try to make what I can from my factory job. If I ever had one real regret in my life, that thought is it. It's not that I didn't continue to make webpages, because I did, but they were limited to personal pages that would never really attain much traffic.

If I only knew then what I know now. If only...

The internet, design wise at least, has certainly taken a turn for the better. My skill as a web designer has followed this trend, as I've gone from midi-laden, gif-flashing hell to the design you see today. I think I still may be a little over-the-top graphics wise, but this IS a site about digital art so I let myself slide.


The great thing about this website, and this blog, is that anyone in the world can see what I've done. Anyone, from anywhere, can visit my site and download a wallpaper for their computer. Anyone could be sitting at a computer with wallpaper I've designed, with my logo on it, anywhere in the world... RIGHT NOW. That, I think, is why I love this stuff so much. I certainly enjoy being able to give something to people for free, the satisfaction of knowing I've somehow made their lives just a tiny fraction better, but when it comes down to it... it's about knowing that people are seeing a thing I've created.

Like right now. When I hit this publish button, people from all over the world will be able to view and comment on what I've just written. It doesn't seem as amazing as it really is because everyone is used to it now. Every now and then, though, I still get a feeling of that old amazement coming back... like right now.

-Ed