Hotstickybun History
Having now been in existence for more then 5 years I’m a little shocked that I’ve managed to keep up with this website. What originally started as nothing more then a website created for our Edmonton entourage it’s become a full fledged site for everything from movies and pictures to a wide collection of blogs on every subject known to man (or so it seems). It’s somewhat comical at times bumping into people you haven’t seen in years only to have them mention that they “heard about that” through Hotstickybun. I guess I’ve slowly started to get the message across that some of us are still as immature as ever and enjoy the simple things in life a little to much.
Over the years I’ve had some people write for the website and if you’re one of those people dont hesitate to drop me a line and I’ll set you up with all kinds of fame and glory.
I wrote a post about the history of Hotstickybun and felt it fit in with what I’m trying to display as an about page. It goes on to show you the website through the years and the growth not only the site has had but me as a designer as well.
2004 – The First
Originally dubbed as “Voyeurs House of Filth” the website started out more so as a community amongst friends. Back in those days numerous people were living in Edmonton which resulted in ridiculous weekends and more importantly crazy Wing Wednesdays. At the time the website was nothing more then a place to post pictures (highlighted by our first ever Madden Bowl party), videos, and a place to get to know the 6 or so of us who made up the entourage that lived Edmonton life.
2005 – Experimentation Begins
After the fairly decent success and feedback I received on the initial launch of hotstickybun my mind began to wonder what if the website could grow into something more. Thus I began to add things like a message board and enlisted the help of some friends to write up some blogs. I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll say it again that there has been nothing I have ever written that garnered as much attention as Jmoe’s Trop Ten and Trav’s rants. To this day people still talk about them. Unfortunately at the time in early 2005 I was heavily interested in Macromedia Flash and stumbled across a website called cartoon smart which taught the finer art of tooning in Flash and thus spurred this version, which was quickly dismantled because the pain in the ass it was to maintain.
2005 – Third Times a Charm
This version of the website finally got my head wrapped around using a programming language and database to control all of the content which made life a lot easier. While I started pumping out more articles others who were writing before hand stopped which made updates sparse. This version touted the introduction of videos from our antics and the highly sought after hockey fights of one Matt Walker.
2006 – Video Video Video
It wasn’t until late 2006 that I introduced what would be the fourth version of hotstickybun and ironically still one of the better ones I feel I did. It was this version that introduced me to the grungy feel of design and since then I have replicated a lot of work after it. Gone were the other bloggers which left me to handle all blogging, I opened up to ask if anyone out there wanted to help contribute to the website but at the time no one would even consider writing an article , strange how things change with people writing blogs almost daily now. While I had included video in the last design this version of the website pumped out more custom videos then I could keep up with thanks to Flash Video (the same video you see today), sadly with the amount of multimedia being produced I needed an easier way to add it to the website.
2007 – The Worst One Yet
I’m not sure what I was thinking when I designed this one, I think I rushed into it wanting to introduce the new video sub section which ultimately led to one shitty user experience. The only good thing about this website was how it introduced me to a program called Wordpress which I still use till this day and ironically install on most client websites as a CMS.
2007 – Pink Anus Pudding
Experimenting with some new colors and going after the web 2.0 look (don’t ask, it’s a nerd term) I kept the condom logo in play and added some more vibrant colors. Nothing overly changed within the guts of the website, there was still photos, forums, videos, and my blog but while I was somewhat satisfied with how it worked out I eventually got sick of the mess and clutter of everything I was trying to accomplish.
2008 – Grunge Is Back in Style
Once again I came up with a grunge look which focused more on my stuff and my work and less on trying to entice people to join the website to help contribute. It was at this time I soon realized the message board was dead, It didn’t take long for me to figure out that people come to my website to either read my blabber, check out my pictures (cause I wont post them on Facebook), or view any videos I might have added. With the explosion of Facebook there was no point to have a message board or any reference to MSN, Email, or Skype for that matter because people just dont use it anymore. Communication consists of either posting on someones wall or sending them a text message. Thanks to wordpress plugins I was able to expand my tastes a little and got to showcase what I was currently listening to music wise, latest photos, digg articles, my twitter updates, etc.
2008 – Part Two
It wasn’t long after I introduced the latest Grunge version that a few friends finally started becoming interested in writing for the website again. Of course with the current grunge look there was really no place for them to have there featured articles so I went back to the drawing board. While I was never overly crazy about the design it helped teach me a good deal about the workings of Wordpress, something that has spilled into a lot of the stuff I do today.
2009 – The Present
Which brings me to today and what you’re looking at right now. I was quick to realize that no one is probably going to produce as many articles as me and once again with the last version got away from the real reason people come visit this website=, the pictures and videos. I know a lot of people read the blogs but judging from my traffic patterns its the other two that you all want to see. Thus came a complete overhaul which focused more on me and my day to day activities all the while making it easier to upload Photos/Videos not only for me but anyone who has a video of us they need to share.
The Future
If I could predict the future I wouldn’t be sitting here writing about this, I’d be playing the lottery and placing sports bets. One thing you can bet on with me is this design will probably get tiresome at some point in the next year (hopefully not). As of now I’ve completed 9 versions of Hotstickybun which will make the next one the tenth, and seeing as I’ll be entering double digits I figure the next one better add some new features to bring back the visitors I lost from the month I took off blogging. Regardless I hope you enjoy this version and all the other content I’ve added.