I’m Austin. I’m a web developer, guitarist, linux user, and an atheist. Occasionally, I’m also a web designer or writer.

My History

My first encounter with web development occurred many years past. My father introduced me to HTML using a very old book. I began to play around with it, and I quickly memorized the basic structure of a page. I began using other tags, such as <a>, <img>, and <h1>. If I remember correctly, my first large site was called ‘Greatest Links’. It was a primitive example of a link directory.

Shortly after creating my link directory, I hit the stage that every web developer hits. I filled my pages with animated gifs, flash games, and shiny images. This lasted for a little while, and then my web developing went on hiatus.

I returned to web development a few years later. I was an avid StarCraft player and a member of a few StarCraft clans. All of the clans had one thing that they needed: a good website. My friend and fellow clan member (who knew that I had some experience with HTML and CSS), got me to create a simple website using a premade template. I began to learn PHP and used it to power the website. I mastered PHP and MySQL and then developed a powerful clan website from scratch. This website and any forms of it are no longer in existance. ClanFade.org is a completely new website that is built similarly to that website but not an exact derivative of it.

After finishing work on those websites, I stopped playing games completely. I detached myself from any clans. I then began to apply my PHP knowledge to freelancing. I started this blog not too long after beginning to freelancing. At first, it was a SEO and marketing blog. Most of the content that I posted was based on what I read on the Internet. It slowly transformed into a web development blog. After multiple redesigns, it became what it is today.

Afterthoughts

It is ironic that video games (mostly StarCraft), symbols of idleness and unproductivity in my life, led to web development, a symbol of productivity and competence in my life. I guess that bad things can lead to good things and vice versa.