It's been one year already and today we celebrate WDD's first birthday!

It's been an incredible journey so far... and I've enjoyed it immensely, and still am.

I started WDD out of my curiosity for blogging and my passion for design. I wanted to put my mark out there by pouring my design vision into the world.

Since WDD began, the blog has been visited by over 10 million people and that number is growing in leaps and bounds month after month.

Today, I'd like to share a few interesting details about myself and WDD, and I also have some very special birthday surprises in store...

Interesting (and not so interesting) facts

I normally don't get too personal or share much of the behind the scenes going on here, but today's a special day so let's do something different... just for fun!

Here are some fun facts about myself and WDD that you may find amusing or completely irrelevant...

• WDD is run by myself, Walter Apai, out of beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia
• There are almost 250 articles published on the blog to date and over 16,000 comments
• WDD has been visited by over 10 million people in the past year
• The most popular post to date is: How To Choose The Right CMS
• The most linked to post to date is: Operating System Interface Design
• The most controversial post to date is: How Not to Design a Logo
• WDD has over 80k Twitter followers and almost 40k RSS subscribers
• The most difficult decision for WDD's design was choosing the right background color
• In the past year I've received and sent over 20,000 emails
• Steve Jobs himself once sent me an email, too
• WDD has a mobile version available
• Most used software: Mail, Firefox, Tweetie, Skype, HootSuite, Photoshop, Transmit, Preview, iTunes and Stickies
• WDD has been redesigned multiple times, but the design changes have always been very subtle and gradual
• About 30% of articles written, approved and paid for, never get to be published
• The most traffic on a single day: 170k visitors
• Each week's content is scheduled 1 or 2 weeks in advance
• I'm mostly criticized for not sticking to only 'web' design, yet web design is an extension of 'design'.
• 55% of visitors use Firefox, 17% are on Safari
• 35% of visitors come from the USA, followed by the UK, Canada, Brazil and Germany
• WDD is published from a 24' iMac and a 24' Cinema Display
• Fortune 500 companies read WDD
• WDD articles are often used for teaching web design courses
• WDD is a Scorpio (and I'm a Pisces)

I'd like to thank the Academy...

Ehem, well, sort of... Firstly, I'd like to thank all of you, the awesome readers who have supported the site throughout. Thanks for leaving those comments! I mean, the nice comments, of course :)

A second thank you goes to all the writers who have helped build the site up, as well as our chief editor, Andrew Lobo, who makes sure our articles are up to standard and that we don't screw up by making horrendous spelling/grammar mistakes.

Last, but certainly not least, thanks to all the advertisers that have supported the site for the past 12 months and especially, a big thanks goes to Todd Garland from BuySellAds.com for getting great companies to advertise on WDD.

A special thanks to Nick Nelson from AN HOSTING and Chris Euland from NetDNA for making sure WDD is always up and running at the fastest possible speed.

Ok, so that's it for today... well almost.... just 'one more thing'... :)

One more thing...

We have some fantastic giveaways lined up for you as a thank you for your support. Here are some wonderful companies that are extending incredible prizes to celebrate WDD's first year on the Web.

For a chance to win any of these prizes, simply leave a comment below about WDD (e.g. a general comment or what you have learned from WDD, how the blog influenced your design, your career, etc).

The winners and their prizes will be drawn at random and announced on November 18th, just one short week from today, so go ahead and leave a comment below (one per person only).

Woo Themes

Prize: 5 Developer Package themes
About: WOO Themes offers Premium WordPress Themes for all types of web publishers, providing top notch customer service.
Website: WooThemes

Flashloaded

About: Flashloaded provides top notch Flash components for Adobe Flash with outstanding customer service.
Prize: 5 Copies of 3D Wall
Website: Flashloaded

Smashing Magazine

Prize: 5 copies of the upcoming Smashing Book
About: Smashing Magazine is a great blog that has been delivering useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers since 2006.
Website: Smashing Magazine

Envato

Prize: 5 cash prizes of $100 to be used on any of the Envato marketplaces
About: The Envato Network has a number of awesome design blogs and runs many successful marketplaces for web designers, such as ActiveDen and Graphic River
Website: Envato

SitePoint

About: SitePoint is a fast growing online media company and information provider targeting the Web professional market, specifically Web Developers and Designers.
Prize: 2 copies of the book Principles of Project Management and 2 copies of The Art & Science of JavaScript
Website: SitePoint

Graphic Leftovers

About: A graphics dedicated marketplace featuring royalty-free vectors and images from talented professionals around the world.
Prize: 3 vouchers of $100 each
Website: GraphicLeftovers

Moo

About: MOO is a printing company. We print beautiful products, using images you've uploaded directly, or designs from our designer galleries.
Prize: 3 sets of cards
Website: Moo

Icon Dock

About: Icon Dock is brough by Nick La from N. Design Studios and Web Designer Wall. The site offers stock icons in vector and pixel format.
Prize: 5 Icon Sets
Website: IconDock

VPS

About: VPS Cloud Hosting - The Next Generation of Web Hosting. Build, test and deploy your website on the VPS.NET cloud in minutes and access limitless resources with instant scalability.
Prize: 3 Free VPS accounts for 6 months to the winners. For all WDD readers, 25% off first month with coupon "WDD25"
Website: VPS.net

Jeremy Tuber

About: Jeremy Tuber is the author of two great books for designers and freelancers
Prize: 2 copies of Being a Starving Graphic Artist Sucks and 2 copies of Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers
Website: Being a Starving Graphic Artist

Once again, to participate in this giveaway, simply leave a comment below about WDD (e.g. a general comment or what you learned from WDD, how the blog influenced your design, your career, etc).

Thanks again for your continued support and here's to another great year ahead!!!