Happy birthday to us! Another year older? Sure. Closer to death? Sure. But, we aren’t quite a Brittany Murphy case yet. Of course I kid, here at Use Bombs we all loved that girl very much. Brett is even on an imaginary cute–but real life creepy–first name basis with her, calling her Britts. He also goes as far as to make crazy claims about having traveled all over the Irish countryside with Ms. Murphy.
The original design.
That’s a perfect example of how eccentric the crew here is, and the perfect example of why I’m amazed that we’ve actually been doing this for five years. The whole ordeal has been akin to chickens running around with their legs cut off. By which of course I mean they’re not running around at all. But their amputated legs are running about, flailing, twitching, and kicking, believe you me.
Taking those facts into consideration, at what point would it be better to take a look back at our previous incarnations than this anniversary issue? Like the mighty phoenix–the Patronus protector of Albus Dumbledore and aide to Harry while fighting the Slytherin’s Basilisk–over these past five years the site has been redesigned, or reincarnated, seemingly again and again. This shouldn’t be a shock, change is one of the the virtues of the phoenix. We have to adjust to the times, become reborn, and become as changing as the phoenix. This is because at Use Bombs these virtues are the very same that we strive towards on our site and in our writing.
The first Use Bombs redesign attempt
Why should I lie then? What is the fowl of flames if not honest? Honesty is the virtue it’s best known for! Why then should I spin mistrusts and say that I’ve ever been completely satisfied with the previous looks of this site? To be as honest as the phoenix, the current design and layout is what we’ve been trying to achieve for years, we just didn’t know it. Little elements from previous designs have been incorporated exactly the way they should have been, and not the way they previously were. The current layout is not just something new, but a combination of somethings old, new, borrowed, and red.
But to say that the concept for this new design came quickly would also be a lie. Patience is the blazing bird’s most notable trait! We had to be as patient as the phoenix, perspiring over and tweaking the feel of the site for months on end. The notebook with the original layout actually got lost, and the whole process had to be restarted from scratch. This meant that we got to spend ample amounts of time really thinking about the format and content of the site.
The second site redesign.
For our site to be reborn as something virgin required craftiness–the combustible chick’s most acknowledged mark! Crafty as the phoenix we were in the efforts of our reinvention. Things had to be different, we needed a better system to manage our writing. Too many times we found ourselves with too much leeway, overwhelmed by the immense number of topics that could be written about at any time. Or we would find ourselves paralyzed by our own standards, unwilling to put any writing on the site that felt sub-par or too personal in nature. Crafting the approaches of our quasi-topical content model and the addition of personal blogs solved these issues.
Use Bombs couldn’t stop at that. We couldn’t draw the line there. After all, being community-minded is the feature the conflagrant cock that it’s most renowned for! We desperately cawed ideas at each other, ideas that would help us be as community-minded as the phoenix. Ultimately, the image of the Use Bombs Community Contributor Program was hatched. Opening the doors to most anybody in our locality who wants and is able to write is the best thing to do for everyone. And so along with the redesign comes the alpha of the UBCCP.
Changing, honest, patient, crafty, community-minded, flamboyant, flavorful, frivolous, organic, orgasmic, daring, caring… that’s but a portion of the list of the virtues of the phoenix, and that’s the Use Bombs difference. Go ahead, compare our current design and layout to the ones we’ve used in the past. And, while your at it, compare our prices to any of your local supermarkets. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you find. 