I wrote my first web page back in 1994 using the VI editor (a unix based editor that relied on keyboard commands only, now known as VIM) when HTML was at version 1.2. I had a list of the possible commands or tags from a Dr Dobbs journal article. 

For context, Tim Berners-Lee had written the first version of HTML in 1993.

HTML 2.0 came in around 1995. This gave us the option to add tables which were quickly hijacked for graphical elements rather than just used for content.

The websites shown here were coded by me over 20 years ago – they show how far design and development has moved on. In particular, we nolonger need to create text only versions of websites or worry about keeping the “page weight” below 60kB! Note that modern browsers can display some elements incorrectly (form fields can be aligned poorly) and that certain elements such as dynamic content or adverts will be missing from the snapshots.

Yellow Pages Australia – in the days before Google the yellow pages for Melbourne alone consisted 2 very large books. The website enabled a search of all entries. This snapshot is from 1999.

iOOF Health Claim – I created Australia’s first online health insurance claim form in 2002. 

GOeureka – Australia’s search engine, based on the Alta Vista engine in 2000

White Pages Australia – it seems like a lifetime ago that people only had landlines and that by default they were listed in the White Pages and fully searchable! 2000