This site is in its second incarnation, the first being on a server at Mississippi State University. My original site was a one-file wonder with some random links. I didn't even go to the trouble of listing it in the search engines. I simply put the URL in the footer of my emails and watched a few surfers trickle in.
After about a month I decided to expand a bit, by moving the links to their own page and making some short treatises about myself and my musical interests. These pages became longer and longer over time, and last to this day. The new version of the site was something I would make into a complete, one-stop point where people could find out all about me. A clearinghouse, if you will. I thought, "Wow, just like Hollywood. A P.R. campaign all my own. Superb!" Well, I guess that's not really what I thought. But the whole idea did somewhat remind me of a stunt not unlike that pulled by an evil corporation, or the makers of some ludicrously overbudgeted film. So I had this really funny idea to make the site a front for The Jake Wimberley Fan Club. And what better way to advertise the club than with nineteen words of doublespeak emblazoned across its homepage?
So there you have it, friends. The "fan club" isn't real. I thought that was obvious enough in the beginning that I didn't need to explain it. But then I got these emails from visitors who actually wanted to join! I decided that there isn't any reason why I can't have my cake and eat it too. So I chose to welcome all memberships. I'd be glad to have you on my side. But this whole thing is a scam (that's why there are no advantages of club membership). It's not a moneymaking sort of scam, it's just part of a plot to enlarge my ego.
These people have gotten sucked in to my little trap and become members of the "club."
For the first three years of the club's existence, there was nobody in charge of overseeing P.R. and thus membership grew very slowly. This should change with the appointment of our first commissioned officer, April Gandy, who was selected for her great knowledge of the website and tireless efforts to recruit new members for the club (not because she specifically asked to be P.R. chairperson).
To book a motivational lecture, ribbon cutting, or golf tournament appearance, or to inquire about making Jake Wimberley the godfather of your children, contact April for full details.
So, now that it's no longer a joke, if you want to be a member of the all-new Jake Wimberley Fan Club, pass along a request. Membership is free! You can't pass up a deal like that. Unfortunately, there are no perks of being a member, aside from the fact that if you become a member, I'll put your name here.
As you can tell, I make wide use of color schemes and font changes. Colors and fonts are an easy way to make the site look slightly better. If you have trouble reading the text, I apologize. It's readable on all the computers I've tried it on, and if I find a machine not displaying the page correctly, I'll fix the code so that it does.
As of this writing I am converting all the pages to utilize CSS and making sure to meet HTML 4.01 Transitional standards. These, in theory, will ensure that the site appears the same to everyone viewing it, regardless of browser or operating system (though I'm biased toward open-source OSes and Firefox).
Using CSS allowed me to do some tricks, like the two-column format of the main page. That design was something I came up with spontaneously. The idea of using the little icons was actually inspired by the picons once popular with e-mail users. The idea of having the italicized smart remarks under the link headings I (ahem) borrowed from nimh.org.
CSS replaced invisible tables as my preferred method of arranging complex layouts. I like light, no-bullshit pages: no Java, no Flash, no runaway scripts. Don't expect the pages to get flashy any time soon. I have a small amount of JavaScript, though, as part of the SiteMeter buttons and to power the mouse-over function on the License Plate Showcase page. I can handle scripts in small doses. You have my word: I will never change your status bar text, nor will I resize your window.
I use the ISO 8601 time and date format to help improve readability across international borders. Not everybody conforms to the American system, after all.
The original version of this site went online in early 2002 on the MSU ECE server. After transferring out of the ECE program in 2003, I lost my account there, and began looking for a new web host. I discovered SDF, aka the Super Dimension Fortress, a non-profit organization providing Unix and web services to its members. Anyone from anywhere can become a member for as little as US$1. Various levels of membership, offering various degrees of functionality from the system, are available (see the SDF website for further details). I am a member at the ARPA and DBA levels. This means I have access to nifty things like Perl and MySQL, which I have used to implement my license plate database, among other things.
Since SDF is a non-profit gig, I try to limit my load on the system, so attempts to conserve bandwidth have been made where possible.