I used to blog extensively at http://developingfor.net, primarily about .NET topics but occasionally others. Strangely enough, I hardly ever blogged about Microsoft Expression Blend (the topic I’m best known for), mostly because I had other outlets for that information. I essentially quit blogging when I began writing my book, Expression Blend in Action: a developer’s guide. Anyone who’s written a book will tell you it eats up a significant portion of your free time, so I’m sure it is no surprise that I had precious little time for blogging.
As the book neared completion, Microsoft threw us all for a loop with the first BUILD conference and the announcement of Windows 8. Along with Windows 8 comes a brand new runtime and a new development stack. I’ve always been a generalist, happily bouncing from technology to technology, even platform to platform, but .NET was my core for nearly a decade. Amid the changes in the Microsoft desktop stack, I began working on a large ASP.NET MVC project, a rewrite of an old CGI application I had written in 2000. This project rekindled a passion for web development I had almost forgotten about. Along the way I also changed jobs, a big step considering I had been with my previous employer for over 11 years.
As a Senior Technology Consultant for Lotic Factor, Inc., I am focused heavily on responsive web design and single page applications. Unsurprisingly, my language of choice these days is JavaScript, and I’ll have plenty to say about that in the near future. I still use .NET for server side operations and I’m very interested in Windows 8 development. I have several applications under development and I speak often about Windows 8 and Blend. That being said, I realize that my focus on .NET has most likely passed, and so has the time for the old blog. You can still find all the old content at http://developingfor.net, minus a few screen shots and broken links.
With a new job, a new focus, and a new platform, a new blog seemed fitting. I hope you’ll join me as I begin anew.