1998

At the end of June, life as it happens begins, in a basic HTML code, with no pictures or images of any kind.

There's a quotation from Oscar Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest, plus a monthly list of entries.

1999

Early in the year, I got a new computer, with a scanner, and a copy of Photoshop. Suddenly the page is adorned with an image, taken from a book about film.

The quotation has changed, too: now it's from James Stephens book of Irish Fairy Tales, mentioning 'the music of what happens'.

2000

A new century, and a new design: a logo I designed myself, plus a visual pun - the buttons to click are all scanned buttons from clothing.

The quotation is the same, though.

2001

life as it happens goes full colour! Plus I figured out how to run table borders all the way to the edge. It's not as easy as it looks, you know. The baby picture is me, obviously.

A new quotation, also: this time it's Jean-Paul Sartre, about diaries and writing everything down.

2001 - Weblog

life as it happens, the weblog, is born. It's just an adjunct to the journal, so I can update while I am away in Ireland and later in Cambodia.

It's hosted on Blogspot, so there's an ugly big advert at the top. But I changed the template around a bit. This is an early version. The Oscar Wilde quote is back, though, in shortened form.

Later this year, the design is slowly being updated. Little icons appear with many entries, and there's a proper logo - based on a picture of the top of my head. By now the weblog is taking over more of my time, and the journal is suffering by comparison.

A series of boxes along the side contain links to other useful sites.

A whole new design to celebrate the fact that the advert at the top is gone - I paid the fee to have it removed. A nice logo emphasises the London connection ("a London journal") but neglects to mention the Irish one.

The links at the side are defined much more clearly.

2002

A new year, and a comprehensive redesign for the main journal site. London-based images but not many entries.

2002 - Weblog

A new year, and soon there's another new logo. The Irish element is emphasised more ("an Irish logo from London"). But there's not a lot of change in the overall design.

September 2002 - Life As It Happens changes to a new domain (www.lifeasithappens.com), the journal and blog are merged, and lots of new stuff is added. Including this.