Bismillah. Aaah ... so this is blogging! Frankly, I'm here just to check things out - to see what blogs are all about, and the features this one has (I'm a web developer - it's crucial!).
It's amazing how fast the world of internet has evolved. I remembered back in 1997 when my family first got the internet (Thanks Babah for being such a forward-thinking person!) . I still recall the time when my father introduced Hotmail, while my sister introduced Geocities. I welcomed the Internet with opened palms. And that was where it all began for me and my love for web development.
Those days, where I came from, Internet was still a topic of debate in schools - "The Internet Brings More Good Than Harm" .... sheesh! Today, such a debate topic would be a laughing stock! The topic may be rephrased today as "One would die without Internet". Around this time, Malaysians were more into live chatting at a place like Alamak and/or express themselves via homepages at Geocities (before they were bought by Yahoo and ads start to flood in). I had my Geocities too at Athens/CollegePark/Quad ... something like that. I used to design with Xara Webster and created embossed and rotating (and annoying) text. The bling-blings were a hit those days ... even the highly irritating looping midies and the different background-for-different-page that makes you lose focus of the website content. But of course, those days, personal websites often had nothing much to offer their readers ... moreover a syok sendiri venue. Well I was syok sendiri too *blush*
Then life just got too uptight. Studies, love, marriage, then careeer ... I was only in touch with Internet for studies & work purposes - used the email (migrated to Yahoo mail), the search engine (was more into Yahoo those days until Google stole my heart) and some Instant Messaging. Malaysians began realizing the potential of forums about this time but I wasn't active. Cyber cafe business was becoming hot. Websites began looking more uniformed with templated designs and Frames (wuek). Then of course, all-flash websites were gaining popularity for their flashy appeal (obviously). I remembered reading on the Internet (I'll try to find the actual source for credits), where the author used the following analogy:
A flashy website is like a hot babe you'd wanna date, but a content-focused website like Yahoo is the fine lady you'd end up marrying.
Where was I in website development at this time? Lost in the ocean ........ actually did my Degree in Quantity Surveying and worked as a QS for 5 months before realizing that you get to live life only once (at least this life) so why torture yourself making money doing what you don't enjoy when you can make money doing the things you love - that's money & joyance all in one go!
By the time I got back into my web development boat, other web developers have already gone onboard the Star Cruise. I was too devastated looking back at the years I've left behind and how I was left behind in this field. Many times I'd tell myself, If I had held on to web development since those days, I would be far ahead today, at least within the local scene. Good thing I've gotten out of that devastation and is more optimistic today, alhamdulillah. Because we can't change the past no matter how badly we want to. So make the best of today for tomorrow.
My hubby & I were going to approach some sorta QIPs, trying to see if they would be interested in having their own website, something more dynamic than those provided by Yahoo Geocities and such. But I recently discovered that the Web has moved another step, no, another mile ... now to the blogland. And that's the challenge that freelance web developers like myself have to face - where everything starts to come free on the internet! Who doesn't love freebies? I know I do! But a business shouldn't cripple with new trends, because new trends mean new opportunities. How we make money today, may not be the way we make money tomorrow. If you're selling typewriters, don't fret when computers start taking over. Go sell computers or anything that comes with it! Guess I have to restrategize.
Salam ...
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