Perishable Press 14th B-Day

Perishable Press turns 14 this year! Amazing how quickly time flies, especially when you enjoy your work. This site started back in early 2005. I remember reading a ton of books on web design, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and everything in between. I soaked it all up like a sponge, and then practiced my new skills by developing Perishable Press, writing articles, sharing code, and helping all sorts of awesome people wherever possible. Truly an amazing journey that I hope continues for many years to come. So this post is to celebrate the site’s 14th Birthday, thank all of my readers, and reminisce a little along the way..

Memory Lane

If I had time, I would write a book chronicling the evolution of Perishable Press. Probably only a few would read it, but I enjoy going back and thinking about all the crazy stuff that has happened in order to get the site to where it is today. Taking a 50K-foot view and looking back, it’s all about finding balance, focusing on the positives, and working past the negatives.

Pros: the Good Stuff

Growing a site for 14 years is no easy task, but there are plenty of great incentives to keep it going:

• Freedom — Being your own boss, making your own rules.
• People — Get to work with some truly awesome people.
• Projects — So many incredible projects, so little time.
• Sharing — Sharing is caring and makes me feel happy.
• Helping — Helping others in the community is inspiring.
• Growing — The Web presents unlimited growth potential!

Cons: Endless Challenges

To be fair, working online is no walk to the kitchen. Constant change and forces of chaos constantly are working against you:

• Web Hosts — Getting harder to find good hosting.
• Inflation — Everything always is getting more expensive.
• Regulation — Don’t even get me started on this one.
• Shelf Life — Constant change means building on shifting sand.
• Uncertainty — Can’t depend on anyone but yourself these days.
• Trolls — The Web was better before it was easy enough for anyone to use.

But overall, the pros usually outweigh the cons. It’s just frustrating sometimes trying to “keep up” and deal with all the nonsense. I think it is better to find a balance between consistency and change, instead of mindlessly pushing for constant change above all else. Life’s too short, people.

Keeping it Fresh

For me, redesigning the site helps to keep the inspiration flowing year after year. This is why, in 14 years, I’ve redesigned the site 24 times. Creating content is much more fun when you are inspired by the site’s design. Here are some of my favorites:

After launching the Jupiter! theme the site really started taking off

The minimalist theme features all of my projects on the site’s home page

The Quintessential theme features sliding content panels and custom artwork

The Wire theme was in effect from 2013 to 2018

Those are my favorite themes of the 24 and counting. Currently, the site is sporting the X theme, which is a remake of the 2008 “Perishable” theme. For those who are interested, here is a complete list of themes used at Perishable Press. Only two themes left (for the letters “Y” and “Z”). Then after completing themes for each letter of alphabet, who knows, maybe I will sell the site and retire. Just kidding! LOL :)

By the numbers

Closing out the set, here are some basic site statistics to give you an idea of what 14 years of work can accomplish.

• 15 pages
• 836 posts
• 12,051 comments
• 9 post authors
• 19 categories
• 4,760 commentators
• 355,599 total downloads (includes all themes, plugins, scripts, etc.)

Additionally, during recent site renovations I’ve deleted around 150 posts for being too far off-topic, thin content, etc. You can find a complete summary of the site’s content in the Archives.

Thank YOU!

I love my work and enjoy helping people learn about web development and security. Thank you SO MUCH for everyone who has visited, shared, commented, and supported Perishable Press over the years. Here’s to another 14!

About the Author

Jeff Starr = Fullstack Developer. Book Author. Teacher. Human Being.