TheoShare History

A brief history of TheoShare

Back in 2002 a small number of brothers saw that there didn't exist a good place for technology to be shared with our brothers and sisters.   We thought about that for a while and then came to the conclusion that "sharing" should be the central idea for such a site.

So, that's how the name TheoShare came about.   The first site was quite simple and used an HTML template downloaded from the web and then modified.   It was not all that user friendly and we didn't really get large numbers of visitors.   Plus, it was a real pain to maintain the HTML code.

In 2006 one of us purchased a web site designer program — really cheap; around $40 — and it worked reasonably well and we were finally able to generate a unique design that served its purpose pretty well.   However, it was difficult to manage because it was necessary to duplicate the menu system on every "page" to ensure navigation was consistent.   It was a great help since we no longer had to manually write code.

Since 2006 when we launched the new design, we had an invisible counter on the front page to log how many people visited and also told us the country they came from.   However, this counter was not accurate since many didn't visit the main page, but went directly to the file link provided to them via email from a friend.   Some of those old links are still floating around out there and now hit our custom error page.

At that same launch we also installed the script driven Download Center which enabled tracking the number of downloads.   However, this counter was not accurate and based on the raw logs, we are now delivering about 1,200,000 files annually.   Our visitors span the globe and come from over 190 different countries.

In late 2010 another design was launched using a Content Management System (CMS).   This enables maintaining the content of the site separately from the presentation.   This is a leap forward for us as we can maintain the site better and faster.   Our visitor count has jumped greatly too and we now have served over 2,300,000 visitors with another 100,000 added every 30 to 45 days.   Using this system we launched yet another redesign in May, 2011.   This is the new gold tone you see now.   Our latest update in May, 2011 includes a new blog which offers some nice features including subscriptions to RSS feeds.   This works better than a newsletter and is easier for visitors to use.

Using our new tools, we expect to spend less time managing the site, and more focused on content.   We hope you enjoy your visit with us.   Our little baby has grown up quite a bit in the past 9 years and we hope to keep it going for many more.