6.7.09

From the archives: Ten years on the web

Last month marked ten years since I first "launched" (rather a grand word, as nobody noticed) my cartoon portfolio website. I know this as I've still got the HTML pages on my computer. Here's what it looked like in 1999. Click to enlarge.



Hey, internet retro! Man, we loved those line rules back then. I put this together using a very basic grasp of HTML gleaned from a two-sheet A4 handout used by a friend of a friend who used to teach computers. What's amazing is how many sites you see now that still look like this.

The main cartoon was from New Statesman, from the days when they took on-spec gags. Scrolling down (it was only one page at this stage) we see a selection of gags from the Times' Saturday section Metro, now no longer with us.



Excuse the redacted old phone number! In the top left you can see the original of the leopard cartoon that has served me well and which I wrote about in May: Cartoons that keep on going.

My knowledge of HTML is still pretty basic so my portfolio site (which you can find at roystonrobertson.co.uk) may be slightly slicker and more well-stocked with (better) cartoons, but it is still a pretty straightforward affair. But when you're simply presenting cartoons, with a bit of info about them, I don't think you need too many whistles and bells.