The Name JackHoya
At Georgetown2, people often refer to everyday students as Joe and Jane Hoyas. It implies that they dress like everyone else, listen to the same music, and hang out at the same bars … not necessarily bad things, but it's nice to stand out from the crowd. Calling someone a Joe Hoya implies that they're a bit generic.
I was involved in a lot of activities during my years on the Hilltop, so a friend once commented that I was a real Joe Hoya. He didn't want to sound insulting, given the term's implications, so he added that I was more like a Jack Hoya, apparently in reference to Jack the Bulldog3 (Georgetown's mascot) and a "jack" of all trades.
This Website's Story
When AOL4 offered web hosting in 1995, I bought a book called HTML in 24 Hours and taught myself how to build a website for kicks and giggles. Like most tilde sites, it was crude and unremarkable. But I was hooked! With no formal training, I continued to teach myself new technologies over the years. I learned how to combine HTML and JavaScript to generate client-side DHTML, then how to use server-side scripting to build robust database-driven and dynamic sites. Along the way, I registered a real domain name and came to realize that I had an instinctive aptitude for usability and interface design, which led to my career as an Information Architect5. I also became a proponent of best practices on the web, including standards-compliant6 web development, and an advocate for elegant, accessible design.
This website now serves several purposes. As an Information Architect, it's a place for me to play around with and test new ideas on the web. It also serves as a creative outlet, allowing me to showcase new designs or my favorite photos. I can also post or link to anything that catches my fancy and keep far-flung family and friends up-to-date with my life.
JackHoya isn't the only place you'll find me on the web, though. I also maintain a professional presence, along with several smaller projects that are in the pipeline. Don't you worry, though; when the time is right, you'll be able to find links here.
Technical Information
JackHoya is hosted on a Windows platform at ArenaOne7, which I highly recommend. It was designed in Photoshop and coded in Notepad. All of the XHTML and CSS validates and degrades gracefully, which allows me to create custom themes (if I ever get around to it). I wrote lots of magic in ASP and VBScript, but I'll be switching to C# and recoding everything in Visual Studio at some point. The Blog and Archives sections are powered by Blogger8, but that will almost certainly change as well.