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8/12/2008 Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0I've touched down on this topic many times before, but my mind keeps drawing me back the question (in regards to the internet): How spoiled have we become?
Think about it. Even 5 years ago, what I'm doing now would not have been very easy. I'm updating a website directly in a web browser and it is fully integrated with a commenting system, image gallery, etc.. 5 years ago I would have been uploading files via FTP to my site, individually editing HTML, GIF & JPG files one by one. I may have even been using RealPlayer (well, maybe not 5 years ago...but within the last 6 or 7).
The point is, is an entire period in web development dead? Do content creators even feel pride in what they create any more? Have websites become so commercialized and interactive that there is no longevity built into them (in that I mean are websites now built with the intention that they will be quickly discarded/replaced)?
Years ago, before blogs and content management systems were around, a reader would go to a site (professional or enthusiast) and immediatly know how much work had been put into making it. If your website had a messageboard, congrats. If your website had a hundred links all neatly placed into a table-based layout, that was impressive. If you were a person who managed to update your site on a weekly basis, that was exciting also. In short, going to websites was enjoyable.
Nowadays, you could argue that the fun/appeal is in the site's information, NOT the websites themselves. That's why you see so many Web 2.0 sites that seem to have no "soul" or "character"...most of the thought was put into a very cheesy name (combine two different words/terms and merge into one - like Joomla, Meebo, Reddit, etc.) and then the site itself was put together using nothing more than a modified blogging app (usually an off-shoot of Wordpress) and that's it. It's really sad, actually, when you think about it. Even RSS is hurting websites now. I love the idea of getting info from various sources immediatly throughout the day...but I won't lie in saying that it has all but eliminated my surfing of those same sites to any great-depth.
My fondest internet memories were of the first sites I visited: www.videogamespot.com and www.gamefaqs.com --- these two sites were so amazing at the time I can still vividly recall my experiences with each of them. Videogamespot was the first time I saw the potential of having information updated more than on a monthly basis compared to it's parent mag (EGM). At the time, in '96/'97, that was amazing. And as for GameFAQs, that was the first time I knew of where an average person could submit their work to a large, established entity and be individually recognized for their unique contribution (remember the ASCII art FAQ creators would make in that <PRE> text?). And my first buying experience was through Videogame Liquidators (www.vglq.com)...what was so fun was that since the web so new, so small...things didn't have to be instant in order to get items you wanted. Again, it was the experience of hunting through pages and looking through dozens of text listings for products that made web browsing fun.
That was the web for many years. It was a non-interactive experience beyond clicking buttons and whatnot...but it was great. If you wanted to contact someone or comment on what they wrote, you'd track down their email address or use a contact webpage (those forms were always so neat to me) and actually make writing an e-mail something worthwhile. The recipent would appreciate you took time to write them and you'd most likely get a response because net etiquette meant that if you took the time to write, you'd most likely get a response.
The web back then was also neat because of how it didn't focus on looks over content. Obviously, a site with a slick header image or front page would be very interesting but what made the net great back then was the content people created. As mentioned earlier, people would spend hours making text-based FAQs for their favorite games. Who does that now? People would write articles for all to read and people who came to the webpage would want to READ the article, not just see a fancy website interface, a 10-point list and comments from other people (like they do now). The only web guy I can think of who still does this is Maddox (maddox.xmission.com/).
What's funny about this is that while I am most certainly hating on Web 2.0 experience compared to the early web days (the first decade or so), I am a Web Designer and use PHP, RSS, CSS & Web 2.0 stuff in my creations for my employer. Does that make me a hypocrite? No way. I simply make the sites function the way my employer wants me to. I'd have absolutely no problem making every site for my company 100% standard HTML and nothing else but that's pretty hard to get away with nowadays.
So what's the point of all this? That I may be making more than a "nostalgiac trip" to the world of the so-called "Web 1.0"...I may completely return to doing web stuff by hand, for the pride of it (it'll be time consuming, yes) with a focus on content over flashiness/pizazz. Or maybe not...I'm not sure because in all honestly I have been toying around with the idea of making a new personal site for months now --- I'm just unclear as to how to proceed (if at all). I do know that Web 2.0 stuff is most likely just a fad that will be completely different in 5 years (will blogs be extinct?) but I'm unsure if totally embracing Web 1.0 only is the best idea either.
Basically, this entry is just about my thoughts on web content being ignored now compared to even a few years ago, and whether ANY actionis worth doing at this point because everything has become so "throw-away." What do you think? 8/4/2008 It's Late...& I'm Finished.Well, it's done now. I'm 100% done with Youtube. In fact, I'm done with online video sharing altogether. Over the past month I went through and re-worked all my GamerX² episodes to be 16:9 and DVD quality, because I had plans to release them on DVD at some point. I was tempted to re-upload them online and do more...but after the hassle I've encountered in trying to find a video site that shares ad revenue (they all suck!), uploads videos quickly (all sites except YouTube are megaslow), isn't a friggin eye sore (so many are!), give the user lots of options (very few do, some don't even let you delete videos...WTF!?!) and have a huge community (Only Youtube does)...I've decided it's no longer worth the hassle.
Plus, there were other reasons, as described by this guy:
So that's it...no more YouTube account, no more fancy-schmancy online video until someone comes along and does it right. I'd be willing to give it another go if Microsoft jumped into the ring with a decent Live branded video service (I don't want it to be anything like that horrid Soapbox) but from what I've read, that seems unlikely at this point.
Here's some interesting data on my now closed YouTube account:
Opened: July 31, 2007
Closed: August 3, 2008
Total Video Views: 38,413
Most Popular Videos:
1) MHW - Sesame Street Sketch - 13,625
2) GamerX² Ep.08 - World of Warcraft Sucks - 7,768
3) GamerX² Ep.05 - TMNT Review [XBox 360] - 3,192
4) GamerX² Ep.02 - Second Life Review - 1,911
5) Misc. "Catfish in the Food" Ripslyme Parody - 1,888
Web Series Stats:
Mental Help Wanted: 15,812
GamerX²: 17,610
Movie Rants & Raves: 3,103
7/25/2008 Spoiled On The 'Net...For the past few weeks I've been toying around with the idea of creating a new site dedicated to gaming. The great thing about this idea is that I already have content up the wazoo, so I don't need to stress about that. (Usually with a project it's always the other way around)
So here's my problem: I have the content, I have the know-how...heck, I even have the looks of the site about 90% finished and ready to go in Photoshop. So why isn't this site getting done?
Mainly, I think...because the web has spoiled me. When I say this, I mean I no longer want to spend hours and hours updating websites just for the fun of it. It's not fun...never has been. There's no joy in keeping a copy of site locally, making edits, uploading them via FTP and hoping you don't need to make more changes (or else it all repeats). The only thing that allowed me to put up with it years ago is that there really wasn't any alternative. I never even had an official blog until 2005 and even until October or so of that year I still updated my personal site page by page, file by file.
But nowadays, I just don't have the patience for that. In fact, I just don't have patience for a lot of web stuff. This is one reason why I like Live Spaces and other blogging apps so much --- all my photos, videos, lists, reviews, blogs, etc. can be fairly easily maintained via a web interface that I do not have to host, keep track of and most importantly, CODE. Even if I have to make a sacrifice on visuals/layout/etc. I will if it means I can avoid 90% of the headache of making my own site.
Even at work I want to start transitioning over to having an automated approach to web design. Unfortunately, that isn't such a simple thing to do and for now, with the web stuff I'm doing...coding/creating sites bit by bit is the best way to have 100% control.
So what do you think? Are you pretty much done w/ coding complicated sites page by page? Would you rather just use a web-based Content Management System like Wordpress or Blogger and let them take over all of the work. I will say that I always felt proud when I made a site because every line of code was personally generated by me (or at the very least put into place by me)...and I don't get that feeling from CMS tools like blogs...so I wonder if that is another reason why I have abandoned so many CMS platforms over the past 3 years. Again, your thoughts? 6/30/2008 Top 10 Animé Movies Of All TimeThis past weekend I saw Wall•E in the theater and it looked amazing. Pixar always seems to one-up itself in the animation department with every new flick it produces...and is able to make cartoons that both the young and old can enjoy. ...In fact, when I was little I wanted to be an animator and work for Disney and I have always been a big fan of this genre of films. I've decided to start doing more "Best of..." lists on my blog, and this first list is devoted to animé movies, a sub-genre of animated movies I was first exposed to in the mid-90s (I think 1996), thanks to the Sci-Fi Channel. So without further adieu, here's my list for the best animé movies of all time:  10) Iria: Zeiram the AnimationWhile this is technically a TV-show pieced together into a full-length film, this particular movie holds a special place in my heart: It was the first animé movie I ever watched completely and it was way back in 1996 on the Sci-Fi Channel. I remember the main character looking awesome & sexy, a really cool bad-guy and an epic story set in space. A must-see animé film.  9) Jin-Roh: The Wolf BrigadeA pseudo-retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in a totalitarian/dystopian future, Jin-Roh is an animé film that focuses on a soldier who begins to question his own actions after he begins to wonder if he was solely responsible for a young rebel's death. The movie definitely has a Hitchcock-feel to it and the beautiful score and moody colors/art style make the setting even more intriguing.  8) Grave of the FirefliesIf you ever want to watch one of the saddest movies of all time (animated or live-action), look no further than Studio Ghibli's masterpiece Grave of the Fireflies. The movie tells the story of two orphans after WW II as they struggle to survive in the most basic of ways during a time of confusion, social unrest and economic collapse in Japan. Definitely one of the most depressing films ever.  7) Millennium ActressDefinitely one of the most interesting movies I've ever seen storytelling-wise, Satoshi Kon's wonderful Millennium Actress focuses on a filmmaker's attempt to interview a once famous actress late in her life. The way the modern-day and past scenes flow into each other is so well done and amazingly complex. It doesn't hurt that the score is one of the best I've ever heard.  6) MetropolisIt pains me to put Metropolis at #6 because that gives people the impression that it isn't one the "best" movies ever. It truly is. The same people who made Akira created this film and it shows - beautiful 2D animation is everywhere and the highly stylized retro character design and eye-popping color treatment makes for one of the best looking cartoons of all time.  5) AkiraWhat would a "Best Animé" list be without Akira? It is perhaps the most well known animé film of all time and when put next to Disney's finest offerings, this 1988 epic blows them out of the water. Some might argue that Akira is truly the pinnacle of 2D animation - the amount of work and attention to detail in every frame is simply amazing...and I would have to agree.  4) Vampire Hunter D: BloodlustLet me just say it: Bloodlust is probably the most beautifully drawn animé of all time. I remember watching a "Making Of..." documentary and hearing how some of the frames of animation were so complex they took 3 hours just to sketch! Considering a film is 30 frames per second, that is insane. Plus, the sequel is so much better than the original (and even that was amazing!)  3) Princess MononokeThis is probably the animé I am most fond of out of all the ones I've seen because I first watched it back in 2000 when I started college. I had never watched an animé so complex and deep (that was accessible to nearly everyone) up to that point. This film alone made Hayao Mizaki a genius in my head and really showed how rich of world an animé could transport you to.  2) Ghost in the ShellCyberpunk. Pre-Matrix Sci-Fi. Blade Runner-esque. Ghost in the Shell is one of my all-time favorite movies ever, barely coming in #2 on my list. This film is so amazingly deep that the thoughts you'll be left with at the end of the movie will leave you questioning what it means to be human. Mix in revolutionary animation (2D & 3D), brilliant editing and sound and you have an instant classic.  1) Spirited AwayThis is it - animated perfection. If Princess Mononoke made me fall in love with animé, Spirited Away made me realize I could never, ever leave it. The film centers around a young girl who is magically transported to a spirit world and must escape with her parents before she also becomes a ghost. Everything about the film is perfect and could not be improved upon at all. Runners Up: Macross Plus, Record of Lodoss War, Vampire Hunter D 5/13/2008 Upgrading To Vista UltimateWell, it's been long enough. Last August I officially loaded Vista on my main PC and effectively said "Sayonara" to XP. It's not that I didn't like XP - I simply knew it was a matter of time before Vista became the de facto standard and I wanted to make sure I was keeping up with changing technology trends. However, I did not adopt Vista 100% even then - at the time I was on a budget and not too sure about my PC's ability to run Vista that well...so, I went with Vista Home Basic which lacks many powerful features.
But not anymore. Today, after I get off of work I will install Vista Ultimate on my machine. At the end of the week I'll order another gig or two or RAM and will then have full DVD-playback, HD-video encoding in Windows Movie Maker, Bit-Locker encrytion support, Aero 3D visuals and peace of mind in knowing that I'll be set upgrading for years to come. I was initially going to give XP Service Pack 3 a chance because I heard things like "10% speed boost" and such but then once it came out, I also heard that IE 7 was a requirement and IE 6 was 100% gone (I don't like having apps forced on me...and IE 6 was a very lightweight XP browser - I wasn't going to put IE 7 on it). Apparently there were also driver issues with SP3 and if I'd have to wait for drivers like I did for Vista, I might as well stick with Vista. Plus, I'd miss the way Vista looks (it's slick!) Right now I'm just backing up files to my portable harddrive and my laptop - I plan on doing a clean install of Vista Ultimate asap so I can have all my apps loaded before it gets too late into the night --- I hope to play a bit of Civilization: Beyond the Sword to finish off the day. So there you have it folks. XP is now permanently off my systems as an OS I'll use day-to-day.
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