Information about this website.
About the site
I launched the first iteration of this site on January 8, 2000, to widespread acclaim, of course. It started out as a simple static site using my space on the University of Delaware's web server. Since then, I've gone all out with PHP, a database server (formerly MySQL, presently PostgreSQL) and other spiffy technologies. All this means is that I can control and update the site more easily (not that I actually would update more frequently, of course). I've gone through dozens of updates to the site structure and mechanics, mostly to increase the automation, but also to add neat features here and there. At some point, I'd like to gather up all of the previous versions of the site and make them available here. But that's a rather large undertaking, so don't hold your breath.
In coding the various scripts and markup for the site, I use Quanta+. When I started out, I used Dreamweaver (just prior to Version 3, I think), since it allowed one to edit the code as well as do the WYSIWYG thing. And it also handled CSS decently well and didn't output garbage HTML like s ome editors (*cough*Frontpage*cough*). As time went on, I found myself using the code editor more and the visual editor less. Since I like syntax highlighting and good search and replace tools, I looked for something more advanced than just Notepad. I found Allaire HomeSite, and it was very nice. Later, Allaire was gobbled up by Macromedia, and I feared HomeSite would vanish. Luckily, they kept it going, but they seem to want to just package it in with Dreamweaver. Whatever, I found Quanta+ around this time, and I've not really looked back. The only issue is that Quanta+ is a KDE application that runs on UNIX-type systems. So, what I do is run it on my server and display it on my PC with Exceed, a nice X Server. In doing this, the colors get a little skewed and copying text doesn't work, but until I switch to FreeBSD as my main OS (not likely to be any time soon, if at all), this is the best option. I highly recommend it to all other web programmers.
About "The Nerdery"
For those who don't know me personally, I could easily be described as a "nerd". At one time, I may have taken offense to the moniker, but I've come to embrace it like the racial slur I've never had.
Anywho, a while back I was developing my skills with web design but had no real ideas on what to create. So I decided to make a self-deprecating humor site. The actual name was inspired by none other than The Bard, himself. In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote, Get thee to a nunnery
(3.1.122). There you have it; me being a nerd again.
About the server
When I first moved the site from my university web space, I used a surplus Gateway2000 Pentium 120MHz box that otherwise would have been on its way great Recycle Bin in the sky. I slapped a couple hard drives into it, loaded FreeBSD 4 as the operating system and was able to serve it from the university's network. I made some upgrades along the way, and managed to get a few years of service out of the little guy. In fact, it still works well, I just don't use it for anything right now.
During the summer of 2004, I built a new server. In addition to functioning as a web server, it also acts as a mail server and file server. At some point, I may list the full specs, but basically it's an AthlonXP 2000+ with 512MB RAM and a lot of hard drive space.
I'm using FreeBSD 5 with Apache, PHP and PostgreSQL to help serve up the site. If you really want to know more than that, just let me know.
Disclaimer
Since I see the benefit of open source technology with respect to the web, I have no problem with the use of my code (PHP/XHTML/SQL/etc.). But I do have a problem with the use of my content, including photographs, without my written consent. So all textual or photographic content is Copyright © 1999-2005 Christopher Bunn, all rights reserved.