Preliminary Thoughts

Like many millennials, my web design experience started with MySpace. Come to think of it… I believe my old username was LilPatchy7…

In 2009, I took a journalism course, and my professor introduced me to something called a “blog” (thanks, Andrea). So I created my first site using Blogger; it was called EncyloPat, and the color theme was black/cyan/pink.

I began working for The Seattle Times in 2010, where I handled data entry and database management for high school prep sports. This is just a fancy way of saying that I entered high school rosters and stats for the website and newspaper. It wasn’t until they hired my supervisor, Solange, that I was allowed to publish short recaps and write-ups. I also did live coverage and got my first byline. I’m so appreciative of Solange because it took three years before I actually wrote for the paper. She also taught me how to use WordPress.

Fast forward to 2019, when I decided to create a personal website to showcase my academic and professional achievements. Plus, I wanted to create a blog to express my thoughts. I learned some years earlier that WordPress powers 40% of global websites. Many of your favorite websites run on WP on the backend.  I also learned the differences in functionality between WP.org and WP.com. Since I was trying to create a virtual portfolio, and not just a blog, WP.org met my needs. Additionally, during my time at ST, we used WP.org, so I was already familiar with the dashboard.

However, there was still a steep learning curve. For a single page, I didn’t know what a hero, header, or footer was. I didn’t know what a call to action meant… I didn’t understand the difference between building a post versus a page, especially when they’re both blank. How did all of this align into a website?

I learned I had to buy a domain (the website’s name) and web hosting, and it wasn’t free. Shoot, it might have been easier to use a public platform that’s already built… I didn’t have UX/UI experience. I’m not a software engineer; I don’t know how to code. I relied on plugins and themes from developers who already coded them.

The website that I built in 2019 was self-titled. It was black and white, and I added some design elements. I remember the first piece that I published was called “Cathartic Free Writing,” and it was my Dr. Michael Eric Dyson impression: a bunch of multisyllable, complex words that required a dictionary to comprehend.  Even cathartic and free writing ” are redundant, but I digress. It’s funny too – some people have told me that my writing can be complex, which I don’t believe. Especially compared to my earlier writings, I’ve dumbed it down.

After my self-titled website, I built a second website called “StandPat,” the pen name and persona I wrote under from 2019-2022. I took the same elements from my first website and began my FreeSense series. I experimented with different color themes and became more comfortable using WP.

In 2024, I worked with a group of learners as gracious volunteers to build an author website for FreeSense. I collaborated with them and shared my vision, including the color theme I had in mind. They received my vision, then created wireframes and coded the site. A special thanks to JC, Alison, Akshat, Simo, and Said. Their wireframes influenced the site’s central pages.

The main challenge was that the author website was built on Render and was a static site. As I previously stated, I don’t know how to code. So, if I wanted to make a change, such as writing a new post, I’d have to send them the document to update it, and that wouldn’t be a feasible long-term solution. They did me a solid and sent me the files so that I could attempt to migrate it to WordPress.

That was a nightmare process, and it wasn’t possible to use WP as a CMS (content management System) for the Render files. So I couldn’t retain the full functionality, and the best I could do was create a new design that looked similar to my author website. After weeks and one hundred+ hours of troubleshooting, I archived it and left it alone for nearly two years.

In March 2026, I decided to use ChatGPT to help me add functionality to my PATCHYp website. Over the past few months, it’s been quite a creative process. For one, I have professional work to do. My paying job is the priority. So instead, I’ve spent all of my free time developing this website. All my evenings and weekends, I’ve averaged 2-3 hours of sleep per night while working on this project, because I truly wanted to perfect this website.

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I feel so fulfilled in what I’ve created. Unlike my previous websites that relied on developer plugins and themes, I coded 90% of this website – well, AI did. But I still had to prompt it. I gave it the creative direction, and I needed to have content that aligned – both visual and written.

If you read through this entire piece, you understand that everything on this website builds on itself. That’s ART. Every aspect of this website is intentional. From the written content to the visual design.

On the homepage, I have a clip from 2019 where I said, “At a time in which ingenuity and innovation are increasing, creativity is being stifled… And I think I can maximize this opportunity.”

That was three years before ChatGPT was released to the public.  

Yesterday happened 10 days ago for me….