It's been a long two years. Way back in the beginning - January 23, 1997 - Parker's Page O' Uselessness was a small, simple web page created in a low-tech WYSIWYG editor. Back then I, a programming novice with minimal HTML experience, had no other choice for my home page.
The idea came about during one of my many brainstorms. I could not think of a topic that I both knew about and wanted to devote my time to. Earlier I had began a rather large, unique web site, but that failed greatly. I tried to think of a good topic that I could convey to an audience, but I couldn't break the boundary of humor. I suddenly realized that anything useful simply would not do. And with that thought, the entire saga I am about to portray all began.
The original Parker's Page O' Uselessness was a simple web page. The deer was there from the start. And all the colors have remained the same. The "About the Deer," too. But as many Internet web sites evolve, so did this simple page.
The first day I (still using a WYSIWYG editor) decided that one page wasn't enough. I created "Smileyland," a very simple web page featuring :-) and all his friends. But due to my hatred for the unworthy web page's lack of technology, it soon vanished, along with a few other pages.
Over time I realized that all the other peoples' home pages had info about themselves. Now don't call me a copycat, but I needed one. At first I had only slight information, and it wasn't till recently that I changed that. Now it's huge...
My memory is weak and I don't want to bore you, but page after page was created and added to the list. Since the WYSIWYG editor was not powerful enough, I converted the home page to raw HTML and later created a logo, which I recently redid, making a cooler, upbeat one (if that's possible).
Internet fads have taked over various areas of Parker's Page O Uselessness. You probably noticed the JavaScript, plug-in support, and webring. I also needed a web site award for PPOU - everyone else had one - why shouldn't I? So I created my own and awarded it to myself, and soon decided to cancel the distribution of it due to lack of responsibility. Later I won the "Drinking Buddy" award, my first prize issued from someone else, of which I am proud. I decided to try my luck at the award business again. Then I began running the Secret Einstein Awards, another flop. You can still view the winners of days past though.
To promote visitors, I told all my friends and relatives, and submitted PPOU to Yahoo! and a few other popular search engines. I also added the META tag, which basically tells special search engines what's on my web page.
In the beginning Tripod was my web server. But I soon saw the benefits of Geocities (no offense, Tripod!) and moved. I also had a visitor counter which had more than a thrilling 200 visits counted. But I received mail from Geocities telling me it was against terms of service to use a counter from the web site I got mine at. I was scared; I stopped. Eventually, I found another counter service and signed up. They haven't caught me - yet.
April 7th, 1999 brought the new Parker's Page O' Uselessness, a huge change to everything. Now the high-tech pages were available to people with Netscape Navigator only, with a lower-bandwith page for other browsers. Navigation was made easier, the interface more fun, and the content more up-to-date. This upgrade was the sign that I hadn't given up with PPOU yet, and am definitely not going to any time soon. With the new version came the introduction of P-Mail, an absolutely free E-Mail service with my name on it!
Things are cruisin' now! After a long absence, I'm back, with a much-updated web site and plenty of new stuff! I'm giving people a reason to come back!
So much has gone on since the beginning of the Parker's Page O' Uselessness story that I cannot name it all. But it's been great, all in all. Bring on year 3!