History of Tech Cores

Tech Cores was my first large web project of my own, outside of freelance work and personal sites. It was a technology news, reviews and guides blog I launched in November 2008 and ran with a small team of writers until January 2013. Many of the older posts on this site were originally published there, so here’s a quick look at what it was and how it looked over the years.

Version 0 (2008–2009)

The first Tech Cores, version 0, ran on Joomla, complete with forums, downloads, polls and a user menu. The tagline was “Where all the cores of technology are.” In early 2009 it had a rainbow header, a status box and a Tech Cores Services page for freelance work.

Tech Cores in March 2009, a Joomla site with a rainbow striped header, latest status and forum posts on the left, and login and polls on the right — Tech Cores v0, March 2009.

By August 2009 it had a new logo and a darker look, with the forums, downloads and reviews in the main navigation, but it was still the same Joomla site underneath. I call it version 0 for a reason: it ran on a modified free theme and wasn’t ideal, which is a big part of why I rebuilt it on WordPress.

Tech Cores in August 2009, a Joomla site with a dark header, forums and a sidebar user menu — Tech Cores v0, August 2009.

Version 1 (December 2009)

Tech Cores moved to WordPress with a redesign under the new tagline “The Ultimate Source for Technology,” adding podcasts, videos and a growing roster of writers. I wrote about where it all started in Tech Cores Original Design.

Tech Cores version 1, with a dark blue header, featured post banner and sidebar of categories and polls — Tech Cores v1, August 2010.

Version 2 (December 2010)

A full, from-scratch redesign with a brighter blue look, a featured post slider and category labels on every story. More in Tech Cores v2.0: All New and Redesigned.

Tech Cores version 2, with a blue header, social buttons and a featured post slider — Tech Cores v2, June 2011.

Version 3 (May 2012)

The last redesign rebuilt the reading experience from the ground up with HTML5 and CSS3, using an app-like layout with a navigation column, a post list and featured stories side by side. It launched with Tech Cores v3 Released: A New Web Experience.

Tech Cores version 3, an app-like layout with navigation, posts and featured columns — Tech Cores v3, July 2012.

I built all of v3 and did most of the design, with a hand from one of our writers. Before launch, a teaser site collected sign-ups for early access, and v3 came with its own mobile layout.

Tech Cores v3 teaser page about the new design — Teaser page on the new design

Tech Cores v3 mobile home screen with a list of posts — Mobile home

Tech Cores v3 mobile post view about Windows Phone Mango — Mobile post

After Tech Cores

In January 2013 I stepped away from Tech Cores to focus on my professional work. Around the same time I went back to blogging under my own name, and the Tech Cores posts eventually found a home here.