Surviving the 1st Year
Tags: Site Update
I was looking back at some of my old posts and noticed I have now been blogging for a year. Now that I am reflecting back, I would like to comment on the things that I have learned and experienced.
What I Learned from Blogging
My director at my day job always told me that it’s important to give back to the community. I’ve had a great year being able to do just that, and in return I’ve had the opportunity to get to know some brilliant and talented people. I ended up learning more about the technique I was sharing from reader feedback and comments, and most importantly it made me overcome my fear of writing.
I was never the type to write, I actually hated it and avoided it at all costs. Although I still make stupid spelling/grammar errors, I am now able to communicate my thoughts much easier than ever before. Not only did it help my verbal and writing skills, but it has also helped me effectively teach people and allowed me to understand usability in a new light. Good communication is good usability (whether its written or demonstrated graphically), I never thought of it this way till now.
For those who hate or fear writing the way I did, its never too late to change. Get your blog started and see where it takes you. When you write about things you love, its much more enjoyable and your words will flow more naturally. Communication is key in dealing with clients and working in a team, blogging may be your gateway to overcome those fears.
Thank You
To all of those who have supported me, I truly appreciate your support and encouragement. Thank you for all of the comments, feedback, suggestions, calling out my fails, etc. this blog would not be where it’s at without you. Looking forward to another great year, feel free to catch me anytime!
Post Highlights
Just in case you missed some of my older posts here are some highlights:
CSS
- Sexy Ordered Lists with CSS
- Markup Hierarchy – Advantages in SEO
- CSS On-Hover Image Captions
- 5 Step Style Sheet Weight Loss Program
- Fixed Footer Backgrounds with CSS
- Achieving Double Background Effect with CSS
- Beginner’s Checklist Before Debugging CSS
- CSS Vertical Navigation with Teaser
- Using Print Stylesheets Effectively
- Debugging CSS – The Plan of Attack
- Liquid + Fixed Two Column Lists with CSS
- 5 Ways to Spice up Your Images with CSS
jQuery
- Simple Page Peel Effect with jQuery & CSS
- Smart Columns w/ CSS & jQuery
- Simple Tabs w/ CSS & jQuery
- Animated Navigation with CSS & jQuery
- Fancy Thumbnail Hover Effect w/ jQuery
- Simple Toggle with CSS & jQuery
- Side Navigation Tooltip / Popup Bubble
Thoughts on Web Design
- Do You Eat and Run?
- So You’ve Mastered CSS. What’s Next?
- Passion – It’s What Drives Your Success
- Bullet Proof Design Procedure
Related Posts
Author Bio
My name is Soh Tanaka and I am a Los Angeles based designer/front-end developer specializing in CSS driven web design with an emphasis on usability and search engine optimization. I also run a CSS Gallery which is updated daily with the best CSS websites from around the world. Come check it out!
You can learn more about me or 
Follow me on twitter for more updates and resources!
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+ Add Comment29 Peeps Have Spoken Their Minds...
Congratulations on your 1st year :). My site has been up for only one month and one year seems so far away. I hope I’ll be able to do the same “look-back” thing in one year. By the way, talking about your fear of writing, it’s kinda the same for me because I’m not an native english speaker and I fear making grammar and spelling mistakes without noticing! So now you’re up to the 2-year looking-back post ;).
Great going Tanaka! I follow your blog posts and twitter accounts. It’s always a moment of joy to get something new from you. It’s sad you’re not accepting projects at the moment. We’re programming in Rails at the moment in India and are always looking out for great designers to work with us on UI of our business apps or even review and assess our existing apps. I only discovered your blog a few weeks ago, but following it ever since.
Your communication of design ideas and example both help in getting your idea across, and it’s good to know that it helps you overcome your (former) hatred for writing too!
Keep it up!!
Cheers,
Aditya
Well done for getting to one! I’ll be coming up to my first year in November and I feel almost exactly the same about writing and what it has done for me!
I’ve even set up a second blog since then – my first blog is more tutorial/web-based like yours and because I was enjoying writing I set up a ‘microblog’ so that I could waffle about general irrelevance on a daily basis.
Good luck for the future!
Coming out of my reader to comment.
Please keep up the blogging and tutorials – I am a better designer because of you. Thank you.
You’re the man Soh! Keep up the good work, you’ve come a long way.
Hey Soh, Just wanted to say a BIG CONGRATS! Time fly’s. You have great content on your blog and it’s the best way in my opinion to give back to the community. Keep up the great work with your blog and the side websites you currently run. I thought I was the only one avoided/scared of writing seems like we have that in common. :) Here is to another great year!
-Henry
@ffffffive
Congrats man! I hope you will not lose your desire about blogging.
congrats man …. keep up the good work …
I love your blog and your work. Thanks for “giving it back” and I believe your director is right. I plan doing it soon myself. Wish you the best second year!
Grats Soh. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the wonderful posts Soh. Really enjoy your writing. Good job
A year in the blogging world goes by so fast, doesn’t it! Congrats on the milestone, and keep up the great work. You are by far one of the best css and jquery resources on the web. I love coming here to learn new tricks and inspiration.
You’re my definition of Jquery ninja. Congratulations, keep it up!
Congrats on the first year Soh. Hopefully there are many more to come.
Yes congrats!! I have just signed up in the past 2 months to receive your updates but have learned much from reading your posts. Your writing style is actually what drew me to your site. I had been trying to figure out how to get something to work in jQuery and after reading many other posts on the same thing, it was the way you explained it that made the light bulb go off for me. So again congrats on your achievement, I appreciate you putting your time and effort into this so that new jQuery users like me can continue to learn. Thanks!!!
Soh, congrats from me too. You know, the first is the hardest. All other come along easily. ;)
Its fun and pleasure to read your blog. I’ve learned a lot from you and your clear and easy to use way to write about stuff people very interested. Keep going on.
Hey Soh, congrats on the first year. But even more important I want to thank you for all of your contributions. You have made it possible for people like me to learn design and development without ever stepping foot in a classroom or reading a book. I know its not the best way to go about it, but sometimes you make it happen with what you have. Looking forward to giving back myself some day. Thanks for being a role model, and keep up the good work.
discovered your site just a while ago. great articles (especially the jquery ones). congrats. keep up the good work!
Congrats! Keep them coming…
Congratulations for your first year!!
Congratulations! you have great articles. keep doing that awesome work!
Congrats from here in Africa (Ghana). You’ve been of great company and help. Thanks a million for all you love. We look forward to better years ahead. We would support you all the way.
CHeers!
Congrats! Thanks for the great articles and keep up the good work!
Congratulations Tanaka. I like ur articles
Thank you so much, Soh!
My abilities have grown with your articles.
Greetings from Germany
I really like what you write and feel inspired by your posts & design ideas.
Thx very much, indeed!
Greetings from Berlin, Germany
Congrats, you are very useful! Thanks, from Portugal
Awesome Soh! I had trouble writing as well but through my blog it has become much easier to convey my thoughts!
And just imagine us foreigners, whose English is not motherlangue, who read your posts and learn many interesting tricks and acquire new skills. Thank you for your time, and I wish you to write this useful tutorials long time in the future, and contribute Internet community . Greetings from Serbia
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