Tip: Fascinated by the magic of the internet, my programming efforts started at some point in 1996... Back then, WYSIWYG wasn't born yet, and any web page started ultimately as a BBEdit venture.

THE BEGINNINGS
Within a single hour, a friend explained the logic of HTML-tags, and directed me to the documentation provided by the official WWW-consortium. Throughout the next few months, I examined the HTML-scripts of well-designed sites and immersed myself deeper and deeper...

DESIGN VS. HTML
At this stage, it became apparent that in order to create a good web page, one would need a good command of design principles rather than simply know how to write HTML. True in 1996 and still true today...

IMPROVING DESIGN SKILLS
Inevitably, the question arises how to enhance your understanding of design principles. Who should you ask for advice ? Under the assumption that web design companies (for example those featured here on about.com) know best, I regularly check out design companies' online presence. While I learned many things from this approach, I also realized that many companies out there don't really know what they are doing design-wise... (at least I wouldn't entrust my online presence to their skills).

THE FUTURE
With the advent of powerful, professional WYSIWYG editors, HTML programming skills might seem less important than ever before. But I remain convinced that in order to execute good and clean design, one still needs to know how to use HTML. And in that tradition, I still look at the source code of good web pages.....

If you want to tell your story and have it posted here email it to me.

Read Other First Web Page Building Adventures