Written retrospectively for the 2005 archive.

The 2005 posts revisit a time when a small site could start with a folder of pages and grow into something that needed templates, a database, and a place to publish updates. I can see how each extra piece answered a question the previous setup had left open.

The question I still find useful is, “What am I trying to make easier?” A shared header makes sense when I’m changing the same menu on five pages. The technology is easier to understand once I can point to the problem it solves.