Run Calculator

A running pace calculator

March 2012

This was the first personal project I ever hosted on the internet. I never liked run tracking software, I didn’t like wearing GPS watches, and to this day I don’t enjoy running with a phone. I still found calculating pace useful, but was disappointed with the appearance of most online pace calculators. So I built my own.

v1: Index.html

In the first version, I wrote all the code in DreamWeaver in one single Index.html file. I had a completely novice understanding of tables and javascript, it was a miracle it worked at all. With great effort, I managed to make a good looking pace calculator that I was proud enough about to find hosting for.

v2: Bootstrap

After learning more web development skills, I broke the code out into css and js files with different functions. I also used Bootstrap, which was all the rage at the time. I didn’t truly understand what it was for, so I didn’t use it properly. I also added jQuery, which had use cases I immediately recognized and took advantage of. The code was cleaner and readable, but the app was more or less the same.

Advertising

I wanted to put advertisements on this website. In order to do that I needed to add content. Google Adsense doesn’t recognize web apps as “high value content” because there is no content there.

So, I started a blog. I wrote about a bunch of different high school events, I wrote my thoughts on different shoe brands, I wrote plans for my future. I’ve never really kept a journal, but I liked writing these memories down.

Eventually I had enough content that Google recognized the website as worthwhile. Over the course of several years online, I probably only made about $100.