Another update on the website detailing some “behind-the-scenes” work going on, as well as some plans for future content.
Over the past week, I’ve been in quarantine due to concerns regarding COVID-19. (Don’t worry, I’m fine and my quarantine is scheduled to end tomorrow.) This has given me a little bit of time to focus on updating a part of the website and thinking about what I want to do for content in the future.
Kewanee Boiler Site Update
In my last website update post last month, I talked about my goals for bringing the Kewanee Boiler website up to speed. The current website dates back to 2016, when it was designed only to be temporary. On December 13, 2019, I promised a “new, refreshed version of this [the Kewanee Boiler] website” that “will be 100% responsive.”
While I planned to have that refreshed site online by the end of December 2019, it never came to fruition. I got caught up in updating my professional portfolio website and some other things, which left little time to spend creating a completely new site.
I’ve finally got to work on updating that website. It isn’t 100 percent what I want, but it’s functional and will be easy to work with.
I’ve decided to consolidate the Kewanee Boiler site here to my main personal website, where it will be living among the rest of my content. I was originally against the idea of moving the Kewanee site to WordPress for a couple reasons, but the move makes it easier to update and easier to navigate.
Freshly revamped content for the pages have been in the works since November, when I started writing the new content on the 1991 Macintosh Classic. After looking through some of the pages, I discovered some of the information on the pages (specifically, the “About Kewanee” and “How a boiler operates” pages) was incorrect or outdated. My goal was to eliminate that and ensure everything is now as correct as possible, as well as free from mechanical (grammar and spelling) errors.
My current goal is to have the entire site moved over by the end of this month. After everything is moved over, the existing site will be archived on the Internet Archives and removed.
As a fun fact, that removal process will include removing the oldest page on my website. The Kewanee Boiler site started as a single page in 2014 after I discovered the 1968 American-Standard/Kewanee Type C boiler in my high school’s basement, and the 1974 Kewanee Type M next door. That page is so old that it was originally hosted under a different domain when I was doing freelance website design, and was designed using Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 on the MintTin when the MintTin was still running Windows 7. The page has seen practically no edits since 2014. The images on that page will be saved, but resized to conserve server space and improve loading times. (Another fun fact: the background image used on that page was the same background image used on the actual Kewanee Boiler website in the late 1990s.)
MARCHintosh 2021
On the topic of more content, I’m planning on participating in MARCHintosh 2021.
Now you may be wondering, what is MARCHintosh? MARCHintosh is a month dedicated to using retro 68k and PowerPC-based Macintosh computers and creating content surrounding them, similar to DOScember and SEPTandy.
Anyone remember my failed DOScember “contribution” consisting of me trying to get SoftPC running on the Macintosh Classic? Finally, something I can actually contribute to without having to emulate something.
My goal for MARCHintosh 2021 is simple: I’m going to be posting weekly posts (on a certain day each week, to be determined) discussing different use cases for the Macintosh. First will be a “general” post discussing the hardware and System 6, then posts discussing general productivity, desktop publishing and graphic design, retro gaming, then a special “wrap-up.”
However, I’m adding one more thing to make my MARCHintosh 2021 contribution even more interesting: I will be doing everything on my stock 1988 Macintosh SE with only 1 MB of RAM! You will not see my Classic with its 4 MB of RAM, nor my SuperSE or PowerBook 165 with their Motorola 68030 processors. Everything will be done from a bone-stock Macintosh SE.
I will be posting my MARCHintosh 2021 “contributions” and adventures on my Twitter at @gfuller_blog. Follow along with my contributions – as well as contributions from fellow Macintosh enthusiasts – by following #MARCHintosh. I am super excited to be a part of this month-long event.
If you want to contribute yourself, learn more on the official #MARCHintosh website.
Until MARCHintosh begins on March 1, I plan to refrain from posting any contents about my computers.
(As an aside, I propose that April should be dedicated to the Apple II. Apple April? Unfortunately, I don’t have an Apple II so I couldn’t participate, but seems like the perfect opportunity.)
This post written on a 1991 Macintosh Classic using Microsoft Word 4.0.
#MARCHintosh Event Logo concept and design by Javier Rivera | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC550QsLjbk-zxUv4u717EJQ | Twitter: @javierivera