The History
Beating to Windward has a long and illustrious history, dating back to July 26th, 2004 with the very first post on what is now entitled Miscellaneous Ramblings Page One. It was a conventional blogspot blog back then, with just one page, and the difficult-for-non-bloggers-to-figure-out archives in the sidebar. What I originally desired was a personal website on some kind of hosting service, but those require subscriptions that cost money and I was not certain enough that I would keep it updated to be brave enough to take that plunge. I also didn't know much about HTML, though I did know some of the basics.
Then a friend showed me blogger.com and I thought that looked interesting. I had never seen or heard of a blog before that. Thanks to the next blog button I quickly learned that a blog is a free website where you collect whatever happens to come out of your head -- a sort of barf bag for the brain, so to speak -- when you feel depressed. The rough draft should be posted without any editing or proofreading, and making any changes later is strictly forbidden. To qualify, it should contain information that could never be interesting to anybody except people who already know you, but you don't tell people you know that the blog exists because then you'd have to be careful what you write about. Naturally it is expected that the entire world is eager, yes on the edge of their chairs even, to read every post and leave detailed and interesting comments. Every other post should mention how insulted the author is that the millions of readers are never leaving any comments.
I thought that all sounded pretty cool so I started right in and Beating to Windward was born. It looked like a very normal blogspot blog at first,but I couldn't leave well enough alone and google taught me all about html and I was gradually able to create something a little more websitesque and a little less blogish. One of the first things I learned how to do was to put pictures into the wasted space in the sidebar, which is still on my coverpage and the original page, the aforementioned misc ramblings page 1. Later I figured out how to eliminate the sidebar and embed pictures in various ways w/in the posts. And actually, that is about it, come to think of it. That and careful link usage to navigate around.
Most people seem to be able to navigate the site pretty readily. A handful (about 2 so far actually) have said it is confusing. I am not sure why, but the only thing I can think of is that they are expecting it to be organized like a blog (which actually usually has no organization at all other than chronological order). Just think of this as a website, with a menu like all websites have. It should be pretty easy then. But the newest stuff is always on top in the menu, which should make it easier still.
Enjoy!
Then a friend showed me blogger.com and I thought that looked interesting. I had never seen or heard of a blog before that. Thanks to the next blog button I quickly learned that a blog is a free website where you collect whatever happens to come out of your head -- a sort of barf bag for the brain, so to speak -- when you feel depressed. The rough draft should be posted without any editing or proofreading, and making any changes later is strictly forbidden. To qualify, it should contain information that could never be interesting to anybody except people who already know you, but you don't tell people you know that the blog exists because then you'd have to be careful what you write about. Naturally it is expected that the entire world is eager, yes on the edge of their chairs even, to read every post and leave detailed and interesting comments. Every other post should mention how insulted the author is that the millions of readers are never leaving any comments.
I thought that all sounded pretty cool so I started right in and Beating to Windward was born. It looked like a very normal blogspot blog at first,but I couldn't leave well enough alone and google taught me all about html and I was gradually able to create something a little more websitesque and a little less blogish. One of the first things I learned how to do was to put pictures into the wasted space in the sidebar, which is still on my coverpage and the original page, the aforementioned misc ramblings page 1. Later I figured out how to eliminate the sidebar and embed pictures in various ways w/in the posts. And actually, that is about it, come to think of it. That and careful link usage to navigate around.
Most people seem to be able to navigate the site pretty readily. A handful (about 2 so far actually) have said it is confusing. I am not sure why, but the only thing I can think of is that they are expecting it to be organized like a blog (which actually usually has no organization at all other than chronological order). Just think of this as a website, with a menu like all websites have. It should be pretty easy then. But the newest stuff is always on top in the menu, which should make it easier still.
Enjoy!
posted by AndyOfVermont at 7:15 AM
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