v4 is here!

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I've spent a couple months toiling and coding to come up with elijahtaylor.com v4, but it is finally ready.

Thank you all who have contributed through beta testing, suggestions, and the like. Your input has been most valuable.

One may ask themselves the question, "Why v4?"

I'll tell you why.

History of the Webmaster

It starts back in 1997. I was working for Tv2 at Cadillac High School, and I suggested to the then-director of the station, Marland Ream, that the station should have a web site. I still remember him actually saying "why?"

I started the stations first web site that year, along with my own site. Built in GeoCities in the simple text editor page they provided, the site didn't provide much for looks, but it did get the job done. I cringe at what I put on the web back then... but to my defense, there were not many decent sites even *online* at that point, even for bigger companies.

I put in my own little page, as the webmaster, to contain some ramblings and thoughts of mine, never realizing it would grow into what I has today.

Aceoft.com: Established 1999

I started my business then known as Aceoft, co. in 1997, and finally was able to move into the bigger world of domain ownership and real web hosting. On it, I created my own little space for my personal use, still known as "Webmaster" from the old Tv2 site. At the time, I endured ridicule from many peers, as it was not very common back circa 1998 to have your own web site with "you" as the sole subject. There was no MySpace or MSN Spaces or even MSN Messenger, it was mIRC with good old DALnet, and, for the less-skilled, ICQ. But I digress.

ElijahTaylor.com: Established 2002

When I released Shadow Chaser, I began working on a full-fledged site for my growing musical creations so there would be a reliable source of information online for those interested.

We're now on version 1 of ElijahTaylor.com.

Rewrite: Life On Rye

Version 2 came about as a complete rewrite coinciding with my 2002 release of Life on Rye. The data for the site all came from separate text data files that were manipulated and uploaded using software I wrote to run on my home PC. I recreated everything in a yellowish gold style that matched the CD packaging, and for a time, it was good.

Rewrite: Dissected

Again, another CD, (Dissected), another new version of the web site. This time, however, I sat down for a week straight and created an entire database structure and management system that allowed me to update the site securely from anywhere in the world. Now we're on version 3.

Rewrite: Ten Years on the Web - v4

It's been 10 years since I first started making web sites, and I thought it only appropriate that I once again rethink, redesign, and remake the whole site from scratch, using my best skills and methods of the time.

It's quite a head trip to look through all the old designs, and especially the old journals, dating back to 1999. Maybe sometime I'll move them all into the database and make it part of the repository that is my essence on the web.

And now you know.