Web Design - The Early Years!
I've been in a nostalgic mood of late. So, I decided to look up a few web design projects I worked on more than ten years ago. At that time, we web designers (or webmasters according to the lingo of the day) were limited to web safe color palettes, VGA screen resolution, and 56k modems. AOL (America OnLine was the biggest ISP of the day, and Netscape was the browser of choice. The clients I worked with then were often highly creative in their own right. They saw the web as a way to reach new audiences and try new business models. It was an exciting time to be a freelance web designer.
One of my first paying clients was a Doctor who practiced clinical and homeopathic medicine in the African American community.He wanted to create a web site that addressed their health concerns, offering tips and advice on a wide range of issues. It also served as a means for promoting his latest book on homeopathic medicine.
This was one of my favorite projects because it allowed me create the sort of web design I love. I used lots of texture, color, and images boldly within a web design that borrowed heavily from magazine layouts. Each page was had a unique color palette typically using .gif images with transparent fades against textured tile or color backgrounds. The pro software of choice at that time was a little program names Pagemill by a startup company named Adobe. I pushed the limits of html as far as I could using that software and hacks to basic html.
This web site did not survive more than a year, as the good doctor could not make it work as a business model. However, it was a very popular website, and attracted lots of new business to my fledgling new web design studio. It also gave to good doctor a great vehicle for promoting his book and led to television and radio interviews. Those were the days!
