Sep 11
My first website
2006 at 01.45 pm posted by Veerle
Let’s do something boldly and step into the duoh.com time-machine. I’ve searched our archives and found some interesting material. I’ve first started to make my feet wet in the Internet world back in 1996. We didn’t even have a domain name back then. First a bit of history on how I discovered the magical powers of the Interweb :)
How did I discover the Internet
In 1996 we had a Tektronix Phaser 140 printer that had a little bit of trouble communicating with AppleTalk. You gotta love those OS 8/9 days where a crash a day was on the menu. We had a pricey support contract with an Apple dealer Compuvision that charged us money to just say “I’ll look on the Internet to see if a new driver is available”. That’s when I started to get fascinated with that mystery thing called Internet. So I went to a computer store and got myself an account with a service called Netlink and got myself a Farralon 14.400 modem that I soon after exchanged for a 28.800 one.
My very first website
Some things are better kept buried but I’m not afraid to show you my old work :) No seriously, this also serves as a great reminder that we all started somewhere and got wiser along the way. So before you start laughing, try to remember that line ;) You also have to agree that I had a sharp vision for already anticipating the hatred towards frames back then :o) You’ll also notice my hip animations made with Macromedia Director, I was complete intoxicated by that program back then. My other favorite tools were KPT Bryce and the KPT Power Tools and KPT Vector Effects for Illustrator. Kai Krause was one of the first to experiment with interface concepts, something not really common back then.
So without any further delay I present you ”My first company website”.
42served
1
I love it! It not only demonstrates the separation of your artistry skills and what was available at the time for UI options but also clearly instructs the user where to navigate in a time where the Internet such an adventurous experience. I too hold my brief when looking at older work...really gives you an appreciation for the learning process as a whole!
2
I love all the dated elements: old apple logo, frames, and the guestbook.
Oh how I don’t miss guestbooks (though I suppose commenting here has the same effect).
Thanks for sharing!
3
I thought about doing something like this a while back, I just need to find the old HD with my first website on it. Like you said, it shows us where we have come from, and all of the things we have learned.
Thanks for taking the bold step. And my, how you have progressed!
4
It amazes me how much my design skills improves over a year. My first one was created in front page using a default template. Those were the days :)
Your post gives hope to all the new guys starting out. With time patience and some skill you can craft beautiful websites.
5
Great Article Veerle! Remember when i started designing my first website back in 1998, using photoshop 3, ulead gif animator, and other stuff like this, and working on it using Notepad and Frontpage 3! =) It was really non-standard! Sorry about my english, i only speak spanish =) oh! and french! Cheers from south america!
6
It’s amazing how we all progress both with the technology and delivery. If I were to look at all the great designers today, I’ll bet there was a time when they were pretty bad. Since we’re sharing first websites… Here’s mine from 1997. www.corbysimpson.com/baskinrobbins/
Gotta love that painfully pulsing lenseflare!
7
A great way of travelling through time is the Wayback Machine:
http://web.archive.org/web/
It helped me find material long gone..
8
Nice clients already back in those days. Kraft and BRTN. :D
9
:) Mort de rire
10
I’m way too embarrassed to show anybody my first web site. But this certainly brings back memories of when the Net was still just emerging and held so much mystery :-)
11
The screen shots from Kai’s Power Tools certainly do bring back some memories.
12
you’re a brave, brave girl! Love it!
13
Hi Veerle! Thanks for sharing your past design experiences with us! ;-) beijos, Erika
14
hehe… I saw you linked to my old old OLD site Ultimate Apple Search thats funny, then we’re like old old old friends. You even liked to the first url before I got a real dot.com name. hm small world.
:-)
Michael
15
What are those .dcr files being downloaded every time I load a page?
16
Lol...good go, Veerle.
I still remember my first website. Filled to rim with scrolling marquees and java applets to add water effects..fun times.
17
Hey, that site of yours is hot! ;)
I wish I had saved my old ones. Kudos to you for having the foresight to do so.
18
Hello Veerle! Nice to see your first steps in web design here. Actually just some days ago I also published a short article about the website evolution of my own site. Funny to have a look back now on how it all started…
19
DeaPeaJay said:
Those are ShockWave files.
20
Hi Veerle,
I am just starting out with web design, I have been a print designer for years, but am also fascinated by the web! Thanks for the great encouragement, seeing your first steps in web design shows, that improvement and progression is possible. Love all the tutorials, all the tips and the design of your blog! Mega thanks! Eva
21
I remember that website… probably because there weren’t much Belgium designers using the made on a mac logo ; ) Or mayby we just started at the same time…
At least your code is getting better! lol
22
I’ve see that underground diagram for water purification before? Just cannot remember where.
23
I just yesterday looked at my first few pages through archive.org. My spelling and grammer were terrible (not that it is much better), and my designs were pretty bad.
However they are better than I remember them… Somewhere between my first pages and now I somehow got worse, before I got better.
24
Very old school, i like it :)
The sad thing is that there are still
alot of people today, 10 years later
still producing and selling websites
similar to this.
Its amazing how radically different things are now :)
25
Excellent! I think this is very grounding stuff to bring up, often people look up and aspire to achieve in life (in this case novice designers) but think the odds are insurmountable. This shows you were once a beginner, if you know what I mean.
I think more designers / developers should kick back to their roots - maybe a timeline of every 2 years or so…
Anyway excellent idea. :)
26
Wow, good for you for showing that! I remember my first site built in Adobe PageMill. I spent so much time getting those metallic 3d spheres to animate! It was all I thought mattered. Content? What is that?
The KPT screenshots are a real trip back in time too. Thanks!
27
Nicely done. Very cutting edge work at the time and it’s refreshing to see how far someone with determination and a will to improve can come.
28
Hohohohohoho...made me think of this classic at the CSS Zen Garden.
29
Hardcore!
30
*stand up and applause!
looking at our past sure give us satisfaction on seeing how far we have come:)
31
haha, i love it. It made me look back at my work to ;-)
I saw that this site of mine is still in the air: http://members.home.nl/renekleizen/
It was made 7 years ago, I was into learning Flash at that moment ;-)
32
Love it, I have no idea where the files are for my very first site… and thank goodness I say :P
Thanks, as always for sharing.
33
1997! Those were most definitely the days. My first website was actually done in ‘95, a one-pager with a light blue background. I remember it fondly.
34
Let’s see what we say about current designs, for example in 2016 ;)
Thanks for sharing.
35
What a wonderful (and honest) entry!
I was just looking through my blog from July 2002, and I said very clearly I’d never switch to Mac from PC. And here I am, writing this entry on my PowerBook…
36
Veerle,
That’s such an inspiration, it really is. I am not designer but I’d love to be one day, and it’s great to see how far you have come, and today your design is worldclass. It really shows that one make progress—real, meaningful, substantial change and vast improvement—with dedication and hardwork. Seeing how far you’ve come let’s us look at our own abilities and project out 10 years and say that kind of improvement is actually possible and we can go for it. A lot of times people think great talent is a gift and either you have it or you don’t—you’ve shown much hardwork is needed to really make it unfold, and that it design ability doesn’t just fall in your lap. Wow.
Mark
37
I have my old portfolio from ‘97-’99 tucked away under dusty boxes cluttering my upstairs office. I cringe when I recall some of the work stashed away in there. Still, to see you boldly displaying your first site is quite refreshing. You’ve designed a great site and I know for a fact that it’s been an inspiration amongst a few of my fellow designers.
38
Aaaargh! My EYES!!!!
;-)
39
Fun - trip down memory lane for me! Iw as at macworld 95 and remember seeing Ka give a talk to all his obsessed fans!
40
I also admire your courage to display your first site. Considering what was available in those days, I’d say you were already ahead of your time.
I didn’t get started on the net until 2000, six years ago now. I don’t have the original files anymore, but the Wayback machine still holds a partial version of early 2001. I look back at it with a warm feeling and it inspires me for the future…
41
This was surely interesting. Reminds me of my first work on the web. I guess it was around 1998/1999. I’ll dig into my HDs to find it, I remember it being about the surf world tour and all in flash! Those were the days, when flash was used to create sites that could have easily been created without it. He he. Thanks for sharing!
42
OMG, how exciting was KPT when it first came out?!
It isn’t the first site I designed, but I was able to find this one from 1998 which was the first I designed using—are you sitting down?—a background image. Which just goes to show that just because you can do something, it doesen’t mean you should :)