TW Blog :: Archives for October 2004

Wayback When?

Relates to Web Standards and CSS Design, Peregrinations

My first steps into the world of web development came in 1997 during my time studying philosophy (and other inter-curricular activities!) at Leeds University. Initially this involved the utilisation of Tripod's online web builder tools. Then, my first big breakthrough came on discovering the view source button and my technique rapidly evolved from simple cut and paste to raw coding HTML. From then on web development became a past-time that I dabbled in when occasion allowed as I added first Javascript and then CSS to my arsenal. The target of my experimentation were two websites: Still Stoked Longboard Skates, which first appeared in late 1997; and the Bore Riders Club which arrived in spring 1998.

The current versions of both these sites, initially revamped in Spring 2002, are built to Web Standards on the front-end with content delivery powered by PHP and MySQL. Still Stoked was enhanced for improved accessibility in Autumn 2003, while the currently Flash intensive BRC site is on a long to do list. Now, thanks to the internet archive Wayback Machine, snapshots of some of the earlier incarnations of both these sites are still available to peruse!

Content Warning! All these snapshots demonstrate poor design practice for today's web. Expect explicit use of font tags, multiple table nesting, Javascript rollovers, extensive unmaintainable code and prolonged download duration (especially on 56K Dial Up)!

Still Stoked has actually been through 5 major redesigns and several minor reworkings over the past 7 years before arriving at the current longboard skates for surfers website.

1. 28th August 1999 Snapshot - full redesign, original build date unknown
2. 23rd October 2001 Snapshot - full redesign, original build date early 2000

The Bore Riders website has seen 2 major redesigns in its lifetime prior to the current Severn Bore surfing website.

1. 16th November 1999 Snapshot - original build date unknown
2. 7th June 2000 Snapshot - minor colour changes including rather cheesy Javascript powered rainbow text!
3. 17th December 2001 Snapshot - full redesign completed sometime in 2000

While these relics of a pre-standards web (at least from my perspective - standards have been around a lot longer than these archives) show how not to approach web design and development, I still feel quite proud of what I achieved in those years when I dedicated a weekend here or there to coding. It also acts as an indicator of what I have personally achieved since then in the time I have worked full time in this industry. Also these snapshots ignite memories, especially Pegasus (productions), of my past and the evolution of both Still Stoked and the Bore Riders Club, both well established entities today. Thanks to Wayback for keeping alive these dinosaurs that should have been made extinct a long time ago ;)

Posted on Saturday, Oct 16, 2004 at 21:46:54.