The website evolves once more
This website first started life in 1999 and it's interesting - if geeky - to look back at its evolving design (and underlying technology). (This burst of nostalgia has been provoked by version 7's launch last Thursday.)
You can see most of these versions on The Way Back Machine's website, though not the first version.
(Thumbnails can be clicked for pop-ups . . . if you are bold enough!)
1. The original 1999 version
Asymetrix ToolBook Instructor and Dreamweaver ~ generating bloated, non-standards-compliant DHTML!
Almost impossible to recall now that prior to this first website I used to post CDs containing a ToolBook-built interactive presentation as a sort of animated CV. Appropriate that the site was built in ToolBoook, given that that was the system I used to write a ton of software; but how primitive it all now seems.
2. The 2002 version
and some more Asymetrix ToolBook Instructor and Dreamweaver ~ generating bloated, non-standards-compliant DHTML!
No real change of design here, although major software projects got their own descriptive page with internal drop-shadowed roundels highlighting technical wizardry.
3. The 2005 version
Dreamweaver ~ generating standards-compliant, semantically-clean HTML
Everything slimmed-down and simplified.
4. The 2007 version
and some more Dreamweaver ~ generating standards-compliant, semantically-clean HTML!
A sombre background to highlight the first table-free version.
5. The 2008 version
the full-Monty of Microsoft Visual Studio on the .NET platform with various databases, one of which ran the blog (served by a MS Word hand-rolled data-input system!) ~ generating standards-compliant semantically-clean XHTML
Still sombre, with the vivid green accentuated. A right-column menu in the web-development part of the site. This site went for bust as a showcase for the Microsoft .NET platform, including a database-driven glossary system and a switchable visual style (white-on-charcoal or charcoal-on-white). First appearance of the blog.
6. The 2009 version
Dreamweaver with a linked Drupal blog ~ a return to a light and fast site that retained standards-compliance
A return to the stripped-down light-and-fast design, with a menu on the left. A front-page that indexed nearly everything up-front.
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