Happy New Years Eve everyone! Just taking the opportunity to say thanks to everyone (again) for visiting and being a part of CSS-Tricks. This site has came a long way in one short year, and now is a great time to reflect.
Milestones
Screencast Launched
I moved to Portland, OR at basically the very first days of 2008. This site alone had me motivated to get my office set up as quickly as I could. I was already armed with the idea that I wanted to start doing a screencast, so I picked up some gear and recorded my first ever screencast on January 31st. It turned out to be a series of three on Converting a Photoshop Mockup, and they are still some of the most popular videos today.
Since the launch of the screencasts, much has changed. I originally just embedded them on a static page with Quicktime. Now I have moved the video pages inside WordPress so that they can have comments like regular posts, and the player is now a Flash player to accommodate more people. The Quicktime version is still available for the iTunes people and is now accompanied by an iPhone/iPod version. The videos now also feature a much more professional introduction.
Feed Subscribers
One of the statistics us blog nerds like to watch is our Feedburner subscriber count. As far as the success of a site goes, stuff like pageviews is far more important, but the subscriber count is a much more personal and meaningful number to me. It’s the number of people that enjoy the site so much they are willing to literally subscribe to it so they can see every article. I never dreamed (in fact, I literally thought the cap) would be well under 10,000, but the site has now broken that amazing number and is getting on closer to 15,000 some days. Crazy. And awesome.
Redesign
In early November I released a redesign of the site. It was mostly well received and I still like it to this day.
Launched Other Sites
While CSS-Tricks dominates most of my free time, I did manage to launch of a number of other narrower focused sites in 2008, all of which I am quite proud of.
Work
We did some pretty cool stuff at my “real job” this year and I’m very thankful for that. A large chunk of the ideas for this site come from my work there, as well as much my personal advancement as a designer and coder.
Statistics
I though it might be neat to list some statistics from the year, for posterity.
- 1220 people have submitted the contact form, and I’ve done my best to respond to each of them. Definitely not 100%, but I bet better than 90%.
- 269 posts have been published.
- There are 7,859 approved comments (includes ½ of 2007).
- Akismet has caught 42,488 spam comments.
- There are 998 members of the forums and a total of 5,671 posts.
- I have recorded and published 48 screencasts.
- The highest single traffic day ever was August 4th, 2008 with a total of 69,253 pageviews. The entire year saw 5,816,851 pageviews.
- The single most popular post was the one on CSS sprites.
- 43.76% of traffic comes from referring sites, 33.03% from search engines, and 22.74% from direct traffic.
What’s To Come in 2009
I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of specifics for you, but rest assured 2009 will be loaded with as much stuff and more as 2008. I have a TON of drafts of articles I have started and need to finish and I have a TON of ideas for videos I want to shoot. I’m excited to just keep plugging along with that stuff.
A Book
That’s right! I have commenced work on a book. I’m am not ready to announce anything at all about it yet, but I can tell you that it is going to be awesome and that I’ll share more about that soon.
Another New Site
Just another tease! I have another new site to launch VERY soon that I think many of you will find very useful. No details yet (sorry), but it’s another of my typical narrow-focused sites, this one a web app.
Who Knows!
Part of the fun is that I never really know what the future will bring. I’m sure when 2009 is coming to a close, I’ll look back on this post and laugh as to how little my past-self knew.
Redesign
I mentioned earlier I still like the design, but a year is a long time and I’ve already started to make little notes on things I would change. I’m sure 2009 will have at least one evolutionary redesign to the site.
Congrats for a great year Chris, I hope many more to come,
thanks for the great work.
happy new years eve!
Beautiful statistics.Really successfully blog:)
No, Thank you Chris. Some excellent articles and if I make the time to experience your screencasts I’m sure I won’t be disappointed there either. Have a great 2009!
Here’s to another great year! Looking forward to reading your articles into 2009
Excellent site! Glad all your hard work is paying off. Looking forward to CSSTricks ’09.
Thanks for the site, Chris! Looking forward to what you’ll be bringing to the web design world in 2009. Happy New Year!
Nah mate, thank you for a great site ;) Keep it going and we’ll keep reading.
Cheers and happy new year
My congrats as well, look at your site first thing every day!!
Congrats on the great year, I think I owe you a thanks as well, I have learned a ton from being a reader of CSSTricks. Looking forward to what you have planned for the New Year!
Chris, Thanks!
Your blog is well worth following and inspires me; what else can you wish for? I’m sure i’m not the only one.
Here here! Great site you have, Chris! Happy New Year everyone!
Happy New Year Chris, keep it up with all that great stuff !
Thank you very much, your screencasts got me hooked on webdesign, I can’t thank you enough for that! All the best for 2009!
Happy New Year, Chris!
And thanks for the cool screencast, I learned a lot :)
So… 2009 is coming and we all are prepared for it.
Happy New Year also to everyone who is reading my comment! ;)
Chris,
Thanks for the great content that you provide to us readers. I wish you the best of luck in 2009 and I’m looking forward to hearing more about your book.
Congrats on the success you’ve had this year Chris, it’s well deserved. Have a great new year!
Hey Chris, congrats on a great 2008; and here’s to a better 2009!
I’d like to say first of all that you are a very productive and innovative guy – I enjoy all your articles and screencasts and find almost all of the other sites you’ve created useful (especially HTML-Ipsum.com). Huge kudos to you for coming this far and hopefully you’ll go beyond your expectations for next year.
You are one of the very few guys who I’d buy a web design book from; to be honest, I have NEVER read a web design book (at least in print), but if/when you publish your book and put it on sale, I’m almost likely to pick it up.
Happy New Year to you especially and all your readers!
Congrats for a great year in web development and CSS learning. Cheers to another great year in 2009.
–Brenelz
Chris, thank you and all visitors of css-trick.com for the many tips and tricks. Have a very happy new year to you all.
Greetings from holland.
Congrats on a great year! I just started web design this year, and this site has been a great resource. Thanks for the learnin’. Happy New Year and a great 2009!
Cheers!
Thank you Chris,
Your blog is a valueable source of web design information. I’m looking forward to your plans for the new year.
Happy New Year!!
Definitely my favorite site in 2008! The screencasts have been awesome, and I just signed up for a Status account. Can’t wait to see what you’ve got for 2009 – I’ll be first in line for the book!
You rock Chris. It’s nice to see a fellow Portlander doing so well. Congrats!
Thank You Chris for the wonderful insight! I hope you have the best New Year.
Best Regards and Congrats 2009! eeek..
“CHRIS COYIER IS MY WEB DESIGN HERO”
Thank you for a fantastic year here at CSS-TRICKS I stumbled onto this site last summer and must say I check it everyday. I look forward to reading your articles and wait every week to see the screen-cast. You have taught me a lot, not only about CSS but web design in general. I would like to see how you make and post a screen-cast. I recently started a WordPress theme for a college friend and I am using FLV embed plugin is that what you use? well thanks again, and keep the knowledge coming.
Chris, you’ve done a great job this entire year. Thank you so much for all the tips and tricks you’ve shared. Have a great new years!
Hi Chris,
Thanks for all the great tutorials this year. I’ve been paring down my RSS list for 2009, but CSS Tricks will always make the cut.
If your looking for ideas for content in 2009 – I’d love to know more about including video on a site – video you don’t want to show on youtube or vimeo, what is the most widely accessible way to embed it?
I appreciate all the time and energy you put into this site.
Happy New Year.
Thanks, Chris! And a Happy New Year back at you.
I’ve really used your posts. In fact, CSS Tricks has it’s own folder on my computer–seems I kept flagging nearly every post as important!
Keep up the great work.
Chris,
Your readers should be thanking you. Your blog is one of my favorites. I look forward to your posts everyday.
Chris, your site is an inspiration to us all. Your blog is definitely at the top of many of our lists. Keep up the good work, and the top notch content.
I can’t wait to see what 2009 brings!
Happy new year, Chris. I’m one of the fans of this site. Thanks for all tutorials and knowledge you’ve shared. Wish you the best of luck in 2009!
Chris, congratulations on everything with the site, it’s my main source of tutorials and knowledge. Keep up the good work and good luck with everything else. Happy New Year.
Thanks for everything, Chris! Happy new year!!
CSS Trcks rockz! Happy New Year!
Thank you Chris, I check your page every day couple of times!
I find great insperation reading your articles and watching the screencast. Keep it up!
All in ONE, wait one, ONE year? Amazing! Thank You Chris. Your work has provided myself and so many others with tutelage and inspiration. If I was a rich man I’d send your ass to the tropics!
:)
Would never have got through the year without you Chris, thanks for some truly excellent help!
Thank YOU Chris! Your video casts have been so invaluable to helping me learning and become more proficient in CSS! Taking the time and effort to share you knowledge and insights is very very very very very VERY much appreciated!!