The last couple of days I’ve been busy building out new pages for the www.appeal-democrat.com, soon to be unveiled. The most recent release was the Comics voting form, which is currently running until October 19. Pick your next comic strip for the newspaper’s print Comic section, here.

Right now, I have 3 projects on the desk being reviewed, and at least 10 pending. A lot of planning goes into building new sections or pages, even if it is a one-time thing. It begins with an idea that processes quickly into discussion with Internet Operations Director Courtney Lopez and often includes Editor Len La Barth, Internet Managing Editor Steve Nelson, and the Publisher (currently Interim Publisher Debbie Baggett).  When all is agreed on, I begin creating it.  The building process often varies: most of the time I use a module provided by the Corporate, other times I may build it from scratch. When it’s finished, it goes through a review before it is turned public. Often, my work is sent to the Corporate for incorporation into the site.  Seems pretty straightforward and simple, doesn’t it?  In my experience, I’ve noticed that the hardest part seems to be in the details, either in design or the content.  I’d say my chief delight is seeing it online and being used.

Each time I see a work online, I think about how I arrived at this place and where I’m going. Twenty years ago, the Internet was unknown or a vague knowledge.  I was going to be an Illustrator for children books, with a minor in English.  Then all of a sudden, I saw my Macintosh turn from a machine for typing out my essays and reports with the occasional disk game, into a machine that went online and took me around the world!  Friends started talking about MMORPGs, chatrooms, viruses, customizing their computers, discussion boards and web sites.  My art classes started including computer graphics and designing for the Web.  Nine years later, I’m taking classes online from the comfort of my home or during my lunch breaks at work for an advanced degree in Web Development.

Although I’m not drawing or writing like I thought I might end up doing, I’m still doing those two things to some degree in the Web field.  There are other perks that come with the job that I had not realized, such as seeing comics 1 to 2 weeks ahead, testing out games before putting them on our sites, chatting with other webmasters, getting some freebies from vendors.  Like today, a friend that I made while working on a site project, shipped over some manga toy figures for me after finding out I am a big geek about enjoy Japanese manga and anime.  Sweeeet!  (Thanks B!)

By the way, did you know that in addition to tracking your Fed Ex packages, you can also see who signed off your Fed Ex package if a signature was required?  I discovered this feature today while obsessively tracking two of my Fed Ex packages!