I recently started some spring cleaning on my laptop and stumbled across files from the myriad personal websites I’ve created over the years. Looking through those files I was surprised to discover that I’ve had a personal website in some form since—at least—1999.
In finding that treasure trove of files and content, I want to capture all that content in one place—this blog. But as I was digging through the content I struggled with how to assign a date to things going back to 1999. Blogging didn’t eek its way into popularity until about 2002. And I didn’t start Autobrettographies until August 6, 2013. So is it accurate to date something when I originally wrote it, like from 1999? Or should I use the date when I actually posted it to this blog?
After some thought, I decided to use the original dates, if I could find them. And I thought it would be fun to take a look back at my personal websites that came before this one.
Heavy Lifting
Circa July 2010 – May 2011
In 2009 and 2010 I avidly used Twitter and ended up following a guy who was developing a gay-focused blogging platform called OutLoudBlogs. We hit it off and after awhile I proposed a blog concept where I’d document my struggles with being in the gym. In July 2010 “Heavy Lifting” was born. About 10 months—and only 7 entries later—I left the OutLoudBlogs. At the time I was giving serious thought to taking my part-time design firm full time and thought it would be better to focus my writing on professional things instead of personal. When I started Autobrettographies I loaded them here. You can find them tagged with Heavy Lifting.
brettrospective.com
Circa July 2005 – present
I started my own media design company in 2005 as a part-time gig to give me more creative freedom than I had doing the very same work for Uncle Sam. I moved most of my brettb.com blog entries to brettro.com in July 2011 and from time-to-time would write about personal things there until I started this site. Once I created Autobrettographies I moved the more personal things here. I still write about my thoughts on design and business on brettro.com.
You can find that personal content tagged with brettro.com.
brettb.com
Circa August 2007 – July 2011
In 2006 Apple announced iWeb, a WYSIWYG website development tool included with its iLife suite of apps. If you know me, you know that I love all things Apple, so I jumped right on the iWeb bandwagon and created brettb.com. iWeb, however, was difficult to use and buggy (as much as it pains me to say it). Plus it was released about the time blogging platforms like WordPress were gaining popularity and those were much easier to start and maintain. In July 2011 Apple discontinued iWeb and encouraged its users to host their content elsewhere.
You can find content from this site tagged with brettb.com.
The Brett Website 2.0
Circa September 2001 to ???
This is basically a redesign of The Brett Website. The design, while minimal, actually had balance and was visually appealing. It was also the first time I used my favorite quote on a website, “Insist on yourself, never imitate” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Since discovering these files I’ve started using that quote as this site’s tagline.
The Brett Website
Circa January 1999 to September 2001
My first website. No doubt I created it hunched over my first iMac, which I was so excited to have. There wasn’t much to it, just a few things I’d written in college and a bunch of links to organizations I find amazing. I had big plans to post password-protected photo albums to share with my friends and family on it, but I could never figure out how to write good code for it.
You can find content from this site tagged with The Brett Website.