Every few years, Frank and Siobhan's web site gets a little bit more bland. Today's redesign comes to you courtesy of WildBlue's policy of downgrading our service by replacing strong core functionality in areas like email, Usenet, and web services with dumbed-down, extremely limited web-based things provided via Google. Don't get me wrong, I like Google, and it's nice that their web-based stuff is very rich for web-based stuff. But even so, Google Mail pales in comparison to a true email client running against a POP3 server using technology that was well-established in the 1980s. Google Sites is better than the Geocities and Tripod pages of the mid-90s, but it's also more limited, with the worst of a wiki shoved into an application that wikis aren't meant for. And Google Groups is more like the absence of a Usenet service than a real usable Usenet service. Yet that's what WildBlue thinks is a suitable substitute for the robust, rich offerings that were part of the service when we signed the contract.
Thus, our web site today is now this. Bland, simplistic, and yet cluttered. Sure, it's great for people who can't write HTML or work an FTP client. Sure, I'm all in favor of making the Wild Web civilized for everyone's grandmothers. They've had web-based build-your-own-web-site things for more than a decade now, though, but this is the first time I was forced into one that also prevented me from putting in tightly coded HTML, prevented me from using FTP to put my own pages in, and worst of all, failed even to import my old pages, forcing me to spend hours reformatting and rebuilding my entire site from nothing more than copy-and-paste.
Sure, I could go move my site to something else. But really, this isn't used much, so it's not worth it to do that any more than it's worth it to revamp it all. For now, this will do. Most of my important activity happens on other places like blogs and wikis (where that kind of web-based build-your-pages approach actually makes good sense).
If you're still reading this (first of all, why would you still be reading after that pointless rant?), the Navigation pane on the left is the place to start to go to the various parts of this site.
Thus, our web site today is now this. Bland, simplistic, and yet cluttered. Sure, it's great for people who can't write HTML or work an FTP client. Sure, I'm all in favor of making the Wild Web civilized for everyone's grandmothers. They've had web-based build-your-own-web-site things for more than a decade now, though, but this is the first time I was forced into one that also prevented me from putting in tightly coded HTML, prevented me from using FTP to put my own pages in, and worst of all, failed even to import my old pages, forcing me to spend hours reformatting and rebuilding my entire site from nothing more than copy-and-paste.
Sure, I could go move my site to something else. But really, this isn't used much, so it's not worth it to do that any more than it's worth it to revamp it all. For now, this will do. Most of my important activity happens on other places like blogs and wikis (where that kind of web-based build-your-pages approach actually makes good sense).
If you're still reading this (first of all, why would you still be reading after that pointless rant?), the Navigation pane on the left is the place to start to go to the various parts of this site.