PDRater – a retrospective
Today PDRater.com is one year old! You can click on the images below to see what this site used to look like.
The very first version of this website was launched on July 23, 2007.
On a whim I looked up what else has happened on July 23. Birthdays: Martin Gore of Depeche Mode, Raymond Chandler mystery writer, Woody Harrelson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, and Slash of Guns N’ Roses.
Thank you wikipedia!
This first version of PDRater.com only calculated old and new schedule ratings and generated reports. Pretty ugly, I know. At this point I was just trying to put together something that would work.
I updated the entire website on September 17, 2007. I’m sure other important things happened on this date too.
This version of the website offered MDT (multiple disabilities table) calculators, CVC (combined value chart) calculators, lists of work restrictions, and a life expectancy calculator.
This was the first time that I offered a subscription version with additional features.
This is also the first version that had any kind of advertising. I started off with the ubiquitious Google Adsense you see everywhere. Then I put up ads from an independent certified impairment rating specialist SnapRater.com and a court reporter Janet Lombardi & Associates.
I spent WAY too much time developing the version of this site launched on January 1, 2008.
This version included a date calculator, temporary disability rate calculator, wage loss / total partial disability calculator, life expectancy calculator, life pension calculator, average weekly wage calculator, simple interest calculator, and permanent total disability calculator.
My goal was to offer more California workers’ compensation calculators than anyone else anywhere on the internet – and do it for free. I’m fairly certain that there is no other single source that has more calculators than you’ll find here.
The version of the website you’re now viewing was launched on July 6, 2008. I had been fiddling with WordPress as a website/blog platform for several months before this but didn’t switch over the main site until July 6.
Using WordPress as a website platform for these calculators has allowed me to focus on providing better content (links, downloads, self-indulgent blog posts) and on the calculators themselves.
When I launched this latest version, I took out all of the advertising so that I could focus on making the website look better.
That said, July 23, 2008 was a totally unrealistic and overly optimistic target date for totally revamped calculators. I really don’t know what I was thinking.