The End Is Nigh

There's a saying that goes "Every ending is just a beginning." I tend to believe it, though I'm mentioning it right now more as a means to an end (no pun intended) than how it's usually intended. See, I've known for awhile that my blog needs a new beginning and I've been putting a lot of thought and energy into discovering what it might be. But in order for a beginning there has to be an ending. So I'm going to change that phrase into "Every beginning comes from an ending" I'm sure that's nothing new (nor is it very eloquent), but there it is.

I created my blog almost 2 years ago as an experimental foray into the world of The Blog. I grabbed the domain davejlowe.com because I couldn't get davelowe.com, and titled my blog accordingly. Later I decided I needed a special name for it (because there are so many great ones out there) and settled on Breadcrumbs for a couple of reasons.

That was almost a year ago, and for most of that time I've known it was the wrong decision. It was gimmicky, rushed, and, most of all, not me. I knew it needed to be changed but just as strongly I knew I didn't know what it should become. So I let it sit, and started casually working on new designs. None were very successful, but it wasn't much of a surprise—I still had no idea how I wanted my blog to change.

Finally I realized I needed to treat my site like any other project: get a good solid list of requirements (what did I want it to do), and go from there. It probably sounds obvious, but focusing on the practical details hadn't really occurred to me. Maybe it was just time for that next step.

h2. Empowered

I set the goal 6 months ago of building my blog engine from scratch with "Django":http://www.djangoproject.com, and that was certainly a liberating decision. It meant I could make it exactly how I wanted it, personalize it as much as possible. I know a lot of people use Wordpress, Blogger, or the other solutions out there and are perfectly happy. As a creative outlet for me though, the environment is vital; either the tools assist and add to the process, or they choke the life out it. Textpattern is a great tool but, like Wordpress, it's not for me.

I've spent the last several months developing with Django and it has been an incredible experience. I can't say enough about the Django Project team, and the amazing job they're doing. The more I use Django, the more I love it. "One of Blue Rocket Studios' clients":http://www.skitguys.com is now running on it, as well as a "Biola site":http://watercooler.biola.edu. Both were just plain fun to develop.

So starting in the near future, my blog will officially be powered by Django. I couldn't be more excited about that. I'm "using Ross Poulton's posts":http://www.rossp.org/blog/2006/jan/23/building-blog-django-1/ as a jumping off point, so if you're thinking of doing something similar, I think that's as good a place to start as any.

h2. Design

After many different ideas, I have a design almost finalized and I'm very pleased with it. My initial desire is always to try something way outside of my skill set, something really illustrative and textured. About 5 minutes later, I throw my hands up in frustration and resign myself to having the ugliest blog ever. Every week or so, I repeat the process. This time was no different at first, but due to some wonderful influences in "Jason Santa Maria":http://www.jasonsantamaria.com (his "Grey Box Method":http://www.jasonsantamaria.com/archive/2004/05/24/grey_box_method.php) and "Andy Clarke":http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/ (go pick up a copy of "Transcending CSS":http://www.amazon.com/dp/0321410971?tag=championithelost&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0321410971&adid=0GGW66C290GJXK2M70C8), I finally started making some headway on a practical design. I'm still working on the finishing touches and I want to be sure to give it plenty of time to just "sit" before moving forward. It's already been the longest and healthiest design process, so I'm feeling fairly confident about it.

h2. Timing

I've avoiding posting in the last month or two because I just want to wait for the new site, but I don't want to rush it either. I expect it'll be another month, and I should have several posts between now and then. There's lots of news I've been remiss to mention and I regret that. As Josh Works very wisely stated, a new blog engine doesn't solve the problem of setting aside the time to write.

h2. That said...

Hopefully I still have some readers out there. If not and I'm just writing this for my own benefit, well, that's why I'm doing this anyway, so I'm at peace with that. I'll also be renaming my blog at the same time as the redesign (I've started the process by removing 'Breadcrumbs' from the page title), so if there is any feedback to be had I'll be very interested to hear it.

Now to get back to it. There's lots to do. Those street corner signs don't make themselves!