Day 180: Finished

http://blog.jenniferdewalt.com/post/62472912052/day-180-finished

by wallflower • 13 years ago

362 88 13 years ago

blog.jenniferdewalt.com

bobbles• 13 years ago

Full list of the 180 websites on the main page: http://jenniferdewalt.com/

shiftpgdn• 13 years ago

The lack of rate limiting on the chat box didn't take long to cause things to descend into chaos: http://i.imgur.com/IhaqMR3.png

Pent• 13 years ago

The entire journey is very inspiring. I wonder what she will do now that it's done? You could take this idea and run with it into other niches, like music or photography projects.

hownowstephen• 13 years ago

Or if you're really ambitious (also: independently wealthy), try a new niche each day. Must have been draining coming up with a new toy-size web project to do daily...

sillysaurus2• 13 years ago

This is by far the most interesting aspect of her journey. What was her process for coming up with 180 unique ideas over 180 days? It's like there's some secret wellspring of creativity she happened to stumble across.

When I think about what she's accomplished here, I get stuck in a mental loop like, "How the heck did she think of 180 projects, each able to be completed by a non-veteran developer within a single 8-hour work session, and then unfailingly complete them all?"

Congrats, Jennifer!

wallflower• 13 years ago

"Before I started the project I freaked out and wrote down a list of every idea I could think of. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to run out of ideas but I usually get inspired by what I've been working on."

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6097456

Wow. Kudos!

ivanhoe• 13 years ago

a good friend of mine had done a similar photo project a few years ago: 100 days of kissing (http://www.flickr.com/photos/29413748@N00/sets/7215762279459...). He was capturing a "kiss a day" with his girlfriend in front of a different London landmark for 100 consecutive days :)

DigitalJack• 13 years ago

So, he was learning to kiss? the 180 web project was about learning.

damncabbage2• 13 years ago

... "Paul Graham is gay"? http://i.imgur.com/UTk9DlM.png

jere• 13 years ago

Sounds like an old case of the unmoderated user input.

I've actually seen this kind of thing on a company page beforehand. There's really no excuse in that environment.

frenger• 13 years ago

the page takes user input & displays it in the background for the next visitor.

damncabbage2• 13 years ago

Ah! Oops. Thanks.

hawkharris3• 13 years ago

I was really taken aback by the "Paul Graham is Gay" in the background. Seems like that line is in poor taste unless there's some inside joke, which is not mean-spirited, that I don't know about.

Other than that, great work. I admire the author's dedication and her ability to create so many great apps on such a tight deadline.

hawkharris3• 13 years ago

Oh, sorry, this was a silly comment. I just realized that the background displays user input.

So some people in the HN community are sophomoric, not the author, which makes more sense. :p

jankins• 13 years ago

That wasn't her, it's users on the website typing stuff into the 'Say Something' text box and hitting 'Send.'

macarthy12• 13 years ago

Paul Graham is Gay

anyone can type in the box to add text

ratsimihah2• 13 years ago

How can you assume it was NOT her? Well no one knows for sure whether it WAS her or not, and it's highly likely that it was NOT her, but it's still possible that it WAS her. Just saying.

Sukotto• 13 years ago

That's just more anecdotal evidence supporting John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad theory

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

joe_computer4• 13 years ago

Paul Graham is gay -- is not derogatory unless you think being gay is wrong; it's simply factually inaccurate. Like saying, "Harry Potter is in Ravenclaw." Which is offensive if you have a prejudice against Ravenclaws.

nyan_sandwich• 13 years ago

Like saying, "Harry Potter is in Ravenclaw."

Well actually... In a certain really good HP fanfiction, Harry Potter is in fact a Ravenclaw.

http://hpmor.com

jamesaguilar2• 13 years ago

I assume you are aware that when someone claims that someone else is homosexual, when that isn't actually true, 90%+ of the time it is meant as a derogatory statement, and should be interpreted as such regardless of the listener's gender politics. Unless you actually believe that all the children in online video games using this same terminology aren't actually malicious, just factually inaccurate. In which case I have a bridge to sell you.

hawkharris3• 13 years ago

That's an interesting argument. It reminds me of Louis C.K.'s routine about how "no words are bad, but they become bad because people start using them to hurt other people."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcja4WFFzDw

It's exciting to think we can take words like "gay," which are used in some contexts to hurt people, and strip away their negative connotations.

Having said that, I don't see any evidence to suggest that the commenter was trying to innovate on the term. He or she should have written, "PAUL GRAHAM IS GAY, WHICH ISN'T TRUE, BUT IF IT WERE TRUE, IT WOULDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH HIS CHARACTER OR VALUE AS A PERSON."

But then again, I guess if you're writing in all caps, you must be very angry and in a hurry. Probably didn't have time to deal with nuances.

mmanfrin• 13 years ago

Falling words are user-generated.

holyZoso• 13 years ago

Cool! Where does the "Say something! > Send" field go when I click send?

EDIT: Nevermind, it looks like the confetti dots were previously words, and displayed unfiltered user input from the form. Always hilarious, always dangerous, this thing with the unmoderated user input.

vacri2• 13 years ago

An important day 180 lesson :)

faddotio• 13 years ago

Lesson from Day 180: 99% of user generated content sucks.

bandwevil• 13 years ago

I think that value might be a bit optimistic.

http://i.imgur.com/zYsc6oa.jpg

hayksaakian• 13 years ago

"You should really rate limit this thing"

newppc• 13 years ago

You mean day 179?

BWStearns• 13 years ago

Congrats Jennifer! I am quite impressed by the dedication you showed. Good luck in your future efforts!

andyl• 13 years ago

A web page with photo of bacon and sushi? Congrats I guess.

chernevik• 13 years ago

Here I posted that into the site submit box for you. You're welcome.

PS stop being a goddam grouch

pests• 13 years ago

Do you not understand what she is trying to do? This is not an MVP, a tech demo, being entered in design competitions, meant to conform to any specs or requirement... it is to learn.

Why does it matter if the images is of bacon and sushi? The way you interact with images do not depend upon their content.

kevonc• 13 years ago

that's pretty impressive. usually a web idea takes more than a day to execute, not including the learning part.

ratsimihah2• 13 years ago

Why the heck is it raining bacon?

vacri2• 13 years ago

Everything on the page is 'awesome'.

fedepyt• 13 years ago

type this into the browsers console: setInterval(function () { $.post('/node/hello_world/message', { message: 'lol' }); }, 1);

pearjuice• 13 years ago

You do know that this results in a DoS attack?

scotty79• 13 years ago

I guess what happens to this page is separate lesson in its own rights.

ValentineC2• 13 years ago

Congrats, Jennifer! Now that you're done with 180 websites in 180 days, what's next in life?

d0m• 13 years ago

Around the world 360 days!

kyro• 13 years ago

Coulda probably done all that in a weekend.

Just kidding, great job! What's next? I'm sure you've already received a handful of job offers.

ValentineC2• 13 years ago

Some background to this project: http://blog.jenniferdewalt.com/post/56319597560/im-learning-...

(HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6097155)

npras87• 13 years ago

Congrats, Jennifer. You inspire me!

ateevchopra• 13 years ago

Hope more newcomers will learn from you and make such goals. Not just in the field of Web Development, but also other fields. Thanks for always sticking to your goal. Good Luck !

enry_straker• 13 years ago

This is awe inspiring.

Programming is a hand-on activity, and the best way to learn programming is by doing it every day, in every way, till you can do it in your sleep.

davvid• 13 years ago

The site is inspiring. Unfortunately the "rate limit this" and other stupid comments are annoying. The internet is 12 year olds, I guess... whaddaya expect

smartwater• 13 years ago

I was involved in a company that hosted and rented servers for video games. It grew really big, but shut down solely on the basis of, "these 12 year olds are going to drive us insane."

__voidcast__• 13 years ago

+1 to say it out loud that "Programming is a hands-on activity". Imagine the inspiration she could be to countless people who, for various reasons, are afraid to even begin programming/continue after the initial(failed) efforts.

jenniferDewalt3• 13 years ago

As a side note, I have on countless nights been coding in my sleep. Sometimes I'll wake up realizing there is a bug in yesterday's code or having gained some insight on a new concept. Other times I wake up and wonder why I was trying to code an app to cook me ramen noodles.

zemo• 13 years ago

stop flooding her server you assholes.

epic9x• 13 years ago

congrats! I remember seeing your first post and sticking with it. start day 181 by rewarding yourself - you earned it!

dmak• 13 years ago

Is the site down?

obilgic• 13 years ago

Now the next challenge 1 website in 180 days.

sanderjd2• 13 years ago

Maybe she'll take a job where that will be exactly what she'll get to do!

jbenn• 13 years ago

Amazing and inspiring... how did you find the time to do this? Were you employed?

chestnut-tree• 13 years ago

Very inspiring. I think this reinforces the idea that regular practice every day (even if it's short practice) is often better than longer sessions done intermittently or spaced apart more widely (like once a week).

Here's another example of the "daily practice" approach from a different domain. A self-taught designer callled Mike Winkelmann has been posting his "everydays" on his website. From his site's description:

"Originally I started out drawing and did that everyday for a year. Then I decided I'd like to learn a 3D animation package so I did a render using Cinema 4D every day for two years. Then I did some photography and also Adobe Illustrator for a bit..."

http://www.beeple-crap.com/everydays.php

Edit: Just to add, another great post on the idea of practicing everyday from a motion graphics designer. I think it's applicable to any field:

http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2013/01/one-a-day/

philtar• 13 years ago

I don't think short practice does anything for you when it comes to something like coding.

I can't see anyone benefiting from less than a couple of hours of coding

ZirconCode• 13 years ago

Sure you can. Answer a hard stackoverflow question in your favorite field, Voila, you learn something, or need to connect the dots.

klibertp• 13 years ago

From my own struggle to learn something each day I can tell you that - at least for me - what you said is wrong. There are many "workflows" I tried and am still using, but generally speaking even 15 minutes is enough to gain something valuable. For example, when reading a technical book 15 minutes is enough to read a descriptions of a (sub)problem and to understand high-level concepts used in it's solution (if it's not, you're reading wrong book). I then go to work and think about the details of the solution during the lunch break and commute. Another 15-30 minutes in the evening is enough to check what I thought up with a book and realize where my thinking was incorrect. Then the next day I can code up whatever I was reading about in an hour max, but frequently less (if not, then I was reading wrong book - that is one which I was not prepared to read yet). Then in the next days I can deepen my understanding with 30-45 minutes sessions, and at the end of the week I have the problem internalized and I can move on.

That being said, when I'm not under extreme time constraints, I'm using other approaches. For example, for a whole week I'm reading and gathering bits of information I will need to build something. I have a large file, where I paste links, paragraphs of text from articles and write tiny little snippets of code, either mine or borrowed from somewhere. All this takes an hour or a little more each day (but it's nice that it can be divided into pieces). Then over the weekend I try to make this amorphous mass of data into understanding, in one or a few coding sessions.

There are other ways to make the best use of what little time we get, too. They'd better be, because otherwise we'd be royally screwed as working programmers :)

lostlogin• 13 years ago

When you have a full time job and a family there is no other option. My progress is slow and painful. By the time I've found my place in documentation/text, found where I was stuck and then searched solution to a problem, I'm lucky if I get a few lines down. I'm miles ahead if where I was, and thousands of miles from where I want to be. If I had several more hours in a day it would be great. I trade sleep for code time occasionally, but if I do it too often health or job suffer.

roninresearcher• 13 years ago

Adding another thread that reinforces regular practice.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=870

lmartel• 13 years ago

I agree with you, but keep in mind that Jennifer has mentioned that she spent 8-10 hours per day on this project.

possibilistic• 13 years ago

Where did she find the time? Is she a student? Was every one of these projects done on a consecutive day--including weekends? (I'm unfamiliar with this project.)

Regardless, kudos to her--this is a great way to learn.

ryan-allen• 13 years ago

Cool experiment, lots of discipline and lots of creativity. I poo-pooed the experiment in the past as the author described no programming experience prior, which I disputed. But irregardless, this is pretty awesome in my opinion, especially because the project was continued to completion, and that in itself is a 0.5% thing.

Inspiring effort.

thenomad• 13 years ago

Massive congratulations to her.

I'm about to start on a similar project myself, and seeing Jennifer complete her 6-month journey is both encouraging and quite a high bar to beat!

mattholtom• 13 years ago

Congratulations! This must have taken an incredible amount of personal discipline to accomplish. I can't even bring myself to floss for 180 consecutive days!

sanderjd2• 13 years ago

In fairness, flossing is a lot harder than making web sites... :)

jenniferDewalt3• 13 years ago

I agree :)

kirklove• 13 years ago

Congrats!

ufmace• 13 years ago

Cool project, and really cool on her actually sticking it out and producing a site a day for 180 days straight.

I am curious about her status/background. Is she in high school, college, out of school? Working a basic or full-time professional job? If she has a full-time job doing something else, it's a hell of a commitment to do something like this on an ongoing basis. I'm not sure how you could work 8+ hours a day, then come home and work on a project like this every day for 6 months straight. Even giving up more sleep than you should and any attempt to have a social life, it'd be tough to pull off.

It's a little different if this is the only thing she has going on right now. Not that it isn't still a great achievement - if I was in a position to do so, I'd be interested in hiring somebody with the intelligence, independence, and drive to complete a project like this with no definite payoff at the end. It may even be better that she can maintain a reasonable work-life balance on a long-term project and not burn out.

I'm working on my own project outside of work, but I sure couldn't spend 8-ish hours on it every day over the course of 6 months while still working at my normal job.

fibbery• 13 years ago

She doesn't have a job, according to her blog.

jenniferDewalt3• 13 years ago

Thanks for the kind words!

Making a website a day takes a lot of time. I've been working on this project full-time and on average worked for 10 hours a day including weekends. I'm looking forward to getting my social life back!

jdotjdot• 13 years ago

I think the question is, how were you able to afford to take so much time to do that?

Everyone agrees that your effort is admirable; it's a matter of understanding how you even had that kind of time to spend in the first place.

mjhea0• 13 years ago

great job, jennifer. you basically put yourself through an intense bootcamp. the amount of technologies you had to learn is inspiring and you've really taught yourself how to learn a new concept/technology quickly.

did you track your hours?

what's next? build a course. get it on kickstarter. start freelancing. contact me. i'll hire you. :)

on a side note, i cannot believe some of things others have said. it's sad. what's worse, is the lack of moderation. don't let a few naysayers ruin what you've accomplished.

congrats again. cheers!

hnriot• 13 years ago

This is really awesome, some of these are really well thought out and executed.

lnanek2• 13 years ago

The difficult thing in writing web sites or apps isn't writing them, or writing a lot of them, it's is writing a polished, successful, end product people love. So I think having a goal to write a certain number is self defeating.

overgard• 13 years ago

Practice is never self defeating.

Day 180: Finished

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