Today, 2008 draws to a close as yet another year slips away from us. So, what better way to commemorate than with a blogpost devoted to the highlights (and some lowlights) of 2008, both on the website and in my own life – along with a look at what you can and can’t expect during 2009.
Highlights
After nearly a year of concrete planning to set up a website, and even longer of vaguely thinking about it, Boring Internet was finally launched. The domain was purchased in the final week of March; the first official day of updates was April 4th 2008.
After writing one of my most popular articles – Why I Hate Laurell K. Hamilton – I kindly posted a link to it on her official MySpace. Her personal assistant messaged me, oddly not taking it harshly in the slightest, but offering a few corrections – one day, I’ll incorporate these into a follow-up article.
Diary of an Emo made an impressive return to form after a sudden end earlier in the year – it went on to become one of my favourite features on the website.
Slowly, Boring Internet has been securing new writers; starting with Stuart Pryke’s novel X-Con, the first five (and later, sixth) chapters of which were released to promotoe the novel’s release, new features such as The Cell and The Adventures of Fuckwit the Wizard are produced specifically for the website by individuals other than myself.
Searching on Google for ‘boring internet’ sees the website take the top spot.
The Biased launched; the first drama comic series on the website. Though it has been released more slowly than I had hoped, it continues to be a success and a surprising amount of fun to make.
Lowlights
When trying to advertise the website after it launched, I wrote the URL in biro on the wall of a cubicle in the toilets of my college. My pen ran out halfway through and I was too afraid to get another one and go back to fix it.
The first layout proved to be far too bunched together, meaning there was a tiny space for articles. In addition, the background colour changed quite a lot in a small space, further reducing the slot for articles allowing them to be readable.
Due to the way I’d used IFrames on the original layout, linking to an individual page was impossible; this, along with the tiny layout (originally optimised for 800×600 displays) prompted a redesign for 1024×768 displays.
Despite fixing various problems, the overhaul was not perfect and the site still suffered an odd design as well as layout quirks; comics were directly linked rather than incorporated into the pages of the site.
The next layout almost nailed it, but colours meant there were issues with low-contrast monitors. This was finally corrected in the latest site overhaul, optimised for 1280×1024 displays, though designed in a way to take advantage of other display sizes.
Beginning October 23rd, Boring Internet took a roughly six-week long sabbatical as I sorted out issues in my own life and then set about redesigning the website layout without needing to make new graphics for a relaunch on December 1st. This relaunch was actually very mediocre.
Things you can expect to see in 2009
More of the same – The site will continue to be updated in its regular fashion, slowly trickling more content into itself. Whether that content will be any better remains to be seen.
Pixelated Anne – Season 3 of the comic still has 10 comics to go before Pixelated Anne draws to a much-needed finish. Most of these 10 comics are larger undertakings the most seen in season 3 so far – hence their delay – but they will get here eventually; 2009 will see the release of as many as possible.
Things you can’t expect to see in 2009
Diary of an Emo – No matter how much I would like to, and no matter how much people might ask, Diary of an Emo will not make a return during 2009. The story has come to an end, and though I won’t rule out a return later, say in 2010 or further down the line, Misunderstood’s return is not currently on the cards.
Who Killed Tobias Stanhope? – I’ve mentioned it a couple of times on here in the past, and I was hoping to start an ARG in 2009, but it’s indefinitely postponed; no groundwork is down yet, and it will take time to sort out entirely. It will come sometime, but pinning down a date is impossible at this stage.
Happy new year, folks.
