Don't Back Down

Version 3.2 - Current - No major changes were made in version 3.2 from the perspective of an outsider looking in. But a number of things happened behind the scenes, to take dynamic publishing to a whole new level at Don't Back Down, most of which was done with the Smarty template language and a number of MTInclude statements to modularize the layout.

Version 3.1 - 05/21/2005 - Version 3.0 was one of the shortest-lived yet. I rapidly reworked the colors, and added some more contrast to the site to generate Version 3.1. While still quite a simple layout, and a departure from the look of many blogs, the new colors helped readability immensely, while allowing the site to still render on the smaller form-factor devices with relative ease. Version 3.1 also saw the introduction of dynamic archives.

Version 3.0 - 04/11/2005 - Version 3.0 took simplification to a whole new level. One of my goals with this version was to make the site readable on a smaller device - cell phone, PDA, what have you. Why? It seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately, I didn't really care for the complete elimination of detail, and the site looked very antiseptic.

Version 2.2 - 09/01/2004 - While the first true version of the site lasted for almost a year, I decided it was time to redo things. It was just too busy. So I reworked the site and cleaned it up dramatically. This version is also available as an archive. The major changes at this time were enhanced subscription options, the addition of donation buttons in the banner, prominently featured links to my plugins and a generally cleaner layout.

Version 1.4 - 11/08/2003 - This is the first version that I've kept available as an archive. The rest of the site isn't available in this format, but you can see what it used to look like. Updates included a search box and recent entries in the sidebar. In this case, as with all subsequent ones, the date is the last date that saw this version in widespread use on the site.

Version 1.3 - 08/17/2003 - Changed archive file naming convention for better usability. Also updated directory structure to better organize data by category. Added ifempty and utcdate plugin links to Movable Type button display.

Version 1.2 - 08/12/2003 - I've made some minor changes here and there, figured it was time to increment the version. Most notable change this time around is the layout of the entries. I actually found one of my posts on Google, and it had all the "subheader" stuff in it (date, category, comments, trackback). So I moved that info to the bottom of each entry, so if the title is pulled in, you will actually see some of the entry instead of just some garbage header information.

Version 1.1 - 08/01/2003 - Updated buttons for consistency - some used the left side for link and the right side for details. Some were the other way around. Should all be the same now (left side has data, right side has details). Also applied PHP to the site so that the buttons are being imported from an HTML file, rather than being included via MT.

Version 1.0 - 07/29/2003 - Finally! The individual archive pages have been updated with the current layout. Comments should display well enough. Had to redo some of the Javascript for handling comments. Trackbacks should be okay, too, but I don't have any, so I'm not certain of that. Removed category feeds from meta tags, un-funkified the CSS 2.0 feed, added the link to syndication subscription service, cleaned up the CSS a bit, added plugin links to the "powered by mt" button.

Version 0.9 - 07/22/2003 - Added category archives and feeds, changed section links to use CSS instead of images, updated colors on link buttons, rebuilt Blogshares button, updated meta tags to include category feeds.

Version 0.8 - 07/21/2003 - Updated links to BlogChalking (now defunct) and Bloglines. The Blogchalking link is now on a button in the links area to the side of the blog, and the Bloglines link was updated to automatically subscribe to my feed. If you haven't tried Bloglines, you might want to - it's great having the aggregating function on a server that can be accessed from anywhere, as you don't have to worry about missing your favorite links because you were out of town and your aggregator wasn't running. It'll be there waiting when you get back. It's free, too! Heck of a job, Mark!

Version 0.7 - 07/20/2003 - Updated the individual entry archive template so that it matches the rest of the site layout. Need to work on category templates (including links to them) and the error/popup pages, but that should do it!

Version 0.6 - 07/19/2003 - Added an RSD 1.0 link (since removed) as well as RSS 1.0 (since removed) and RSS 3.0 (since removed) feeds, and the Creative Commons license (now the Open Software Licenses). Also updated templates for month-based archive so that they match format of the main page. Moved some functions into modules so they only need updating once. Fixed related post links in sidebar. Nearly there now.

Version 0.5 - 07/18/2003 - Completed buttons (two-link) with CSS. This one really took a long time to get right. The entire button process is detailed in another entry, but let me just say "damn!". What a pain. Reworked the layout some more, too!

Version 0.4 - 07/15/2003 - Completed buttons (one-link) made with CSS. More detail can be found elsewhere on the site, but started with images, moved to CSS. Looks pretty good. Also did some general rework of the layout and made it more personal.

Version 0.3 - 07/14/2003 - Changes to CSS and XHTML, mostly concerned with validating against CSS 2 and XHTML 1.1 standards. Movable Type's default template seems to verify against CSS, but Index template is only compliant with XHTML 1.0 Transitional. Luckily, only a few changes were needed to bring it up to speed.

Version 0.2 - 06/26/2003 - Some small changes, including trying out some different styles, more personalization added. Still pretty stock. Also created the wife's blog (now inactive).

Version 0.1 - 06/23/2003 - What is this Movable Type thing? Downloaded the package, created MySQL database, created a blog (this one!). Running just the base MT template with some minor preference changes.

Sometime in June 2003 - Turns out that this Blog thing might be some fun, so I figured I better look into it to see what sort of trouble I can cause. Registered a domain, might as well start using it.