Only 90s Web Developers Remember This

[Beverleyh]

Dynamic Drive got a mention in this article about cutting edge web techniques from the 90s http://zachholman.com/posts/only-90s-developers/

[djr33]

Hahaha. That's amusing.

I think I got into web design right around 2000 (when I was 12), so I missed a bit of that. But I was an active user of GeoCities at first, I did quickly learn the power of  , and my first editor was Netscape Composer, which I remember fondly (I still think it rivals the big WYSIWYG editors today, but I'm probably biased by my old memories).

I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever used a <marquee> tag. Maybe. I might be forgetting one or two.

It did take me a few years, until around 2004, to start being serious at all with web design-- I stumbled upon PHP and learned a few tricks then the rest took off from there-- I learned HTML, then CSS, then Javascript, in that order, so that I could keep up with what I needed to do with PHP. All trial and error.

[Beverleyh]

Well Danny-boy, I didn't realise you were such a wee snip of a grasshopper!

I started getting into "web stuff" in about 2002/2003 after we got dial-up at work, and id been in contract management for about 5 years at that point (I'm about 10 years older than you) but it was only when I bought my first second hand laptop through work, and got a dial-up connection at home, that I started asking the "how have they done that?" questions about the websites I visited. I was intrigued by the pretty images and buttons, etc, that "did stuff" (the power to open a big picture at the click of a button - wowee!), so I emailed a few website owners - got a bit disheartened when they spoke of "code" - but got hold of NVU, which later became KompoZer, and started mashing ideas together. I hated the uncertainty of WYSIWYG though, and quickly started looking for patterns in markup that I could manipulate through the source code view. Then I ditched WYSIWYG altogether and learned HTML and CSS, in good ol' Notepad. <marquee> was a big deal and I used my fair share of spacer gifs and &nbsp;

Then when I was in my mid twenties, I went through some pretty horrific personal circumstances and I thought "to hell with this. Life's too short and I want to do something that I REALLY WANT to do" so I left my "safe" contracts job and went on a mad web discovery frenzy - joined Dynamic Drive (I lurked for a long time), learned PHP and a touch of JavaScript, went back to college to study Business and Internet Technologies, and started working as a website technician for local government. I'm in my 6th year of official web-based employment now and I couldn't be happier

Web is definitely where I'm happiest. People ask me "why?" (I suppose I'm a bit of an anomaly because I wear more pink than some would consider normal, and I collect dolls, so I imagine that I come across as some airy fairy fluffy type to the casual observer) but I tell them that it satisfies both my creative and logical streak. Plus I'm always learning new stuff - I would hate to be stuck in a job where I didn't wonder "what will I know this time next year?"

[djr33]

I started getting into "web stuff" in about 2002/2003 after we got dial-up at work...

That buzz of dial-up connecting still makes me cringe. I remember waiting hours (days even) to download small videos or other files. Memories, but glad that's over with!

I would hate to be stuck in a job where I didn't wonder "what will I know this time next year?"

I know what you mean. Now I spend a lot more time dealing with Linguistics than web design, but they both satisfy the same need for me-- I'm curious and want to figure out the answers.
Something odd I've noticed about learning is that the new information is just as integrated as the old-- I don't feel like I know that much more than I did before, but then I think back and reflect on just how much I really have learned, and it's a lot. Worth it, certainly!

[marain]

Well now, perhaps you don't know that much more than you did before--in the sense that what you knew before but have not used you've forgotten. I was once reasonably sharp with 360/370 assembler, as well as Microsoft PC assembler. But having not touched either one in over thirty years, I would not now recognize anything that even I myself coded. At the same time, things that I have worked with in the intervening years I have a shot at remembering. Different decades, different toys.

A.