This is 3rd3y3.com version 2. The first iteration went online in 2009. It was entirely hand-coded on Notepad++, which took an awful lot of time. I’ve had an interest in website design since I first fired up Mosaic and I’ve dabbled with HTML. But by the late 2000s, what was once feasible for a hobbyist had almost become the reserved domain of professionals. Eventually, I managed to build 3rd3y3.com to my liking and, in the process, I learned a few things that I’ll never get to use again.
.
Fast-forward ten years later to the age of handheld devices and fully-responsive websites. The 3y3 was in dire need of an upgrade. Still, I was hesitant to tear it down. It was kinda working and I didn’t have the courage to start all over again.
.
Then Covid happened, and with it an abundance of time spent at home. I could finally take a good look at my back burner. This time, I was resolute to make my life easier, which meant using WordPress and a page builder. Hum, but still, it ended up being quite a bit of work. Running your own website is not rocket science, but you do tend to forget how things work if you don’t look under the hood regularly. I also have a couple of blogs (Diamond-Eyed Rodent and the game-oriented DungeonFunk — respectively powered by Tumblr and Blogger) and they are, of course, much easier to manage.
.
On top of that, I was facing a couple of extra challenges compared to your average blog. First, I wanted the site to remain bilingual, as it originally was. Second, I needed to embed the comics, which are served externally from another platform (Yumpu). The comics seem to be showing ok, although I’m still wondering if this was ever the best solution, as opposed to just having plain images for people to scroll. I suppose it enforces double-page spreads and the notion that these are supposed to be comic books. As for using two languages, it’s getting a bit tedious and I think I’ll stick to Globish except for real editorial content and bonus material, which I’ll also provide in French patois.