Blowing Off the Dust

Keetology started out as a small Tumblr site I created in 2008, with a few collection of articles I’ve written up to fill up the site. A few months after that, I ditched Tumblr and put it on its own domain, with a brand-spanking new design and a few new articles to boot. A few redesigns after and a few successful posts later, it started gathering dust.

In hindsight, Keetology was never about the blog–it was about the engine. It had its share of makeovers–maybe around half a dozen–but the stylesheets were supposed to decorate the real surprise, which is always a new blog engine powering the site. From the basic PHP “Fineprint” engine to the delightfully overcomplicated Raccoon site, Keetology’s main purpose was always to be the testing ground of frameworks.

So when the experiments become less exciting and when the engine fails to amaze, what you’re left with is a site that has not been updated for years, and a feeling that you’ve done something wrong.

Guilty

It’s guilt that resurrected Keetology. And that’s not at all a hyperbole; a couple of years have passed since my last post, and every time I load this site I get a feeling of disappointment, as though I’ve expected it to have already changed at some point without my intervention.

I’ve been meaning to fix it for some time now, but never had the chance (or perhaps the will) to actually do it. There was always something that needed to be done before I could tackle it. Perhaps a new design, or a better engine, or a framework that would make everything perfect. It seems that the last thing on the list is always to get it done.

You’ve probably noticed the new design, if in case you’ve been here before. I wish I could have said that it was a simple redesign, that all I had to do was to change the CSS here and there, but I would be lying. I rebuilt it from the ground up, reusing only the data in the form of posts and comments, and not a single other thing. No reuse, no recycling. It’s getting more and more embarrassing as I continue.

At least there’s no new engine, or at least there’s nothing new that I built. This Keetology runs from off-the-shelf stuff, written by other people. If I did everything myself, you probably won’t be reading this; I’d probably be still stuck writing the framework.

Where were we?

I could be naive and say that I’ll simply continue as before, and churn out posts on a regular basis about exciting stuff.

But I’m rusty; I haven’t done this in a while. I don’t even know what to write about. If anyone has an idea, please do mention it. I wouldn’t mind a starting point.

At least the guilt is receding, and the dust is thinner than before.