I'm So Old: Web Edition - myspace.com.mm

Time can be a funny thing. I still remember discovering HTML, CSS, and JavaScript coding. I still remember my first college programming course. I still remember my first day at my first coding job, then my first day at my second coding job, and then my first day at Mozilla. I still remember my first day coding for MetaMask. This year marks my 20th year as a professional software engineer and it’s happened in the blink of an eye.

Every once in a while I will make an old programming reference to a much younger engineer and then realize they have no idea what I’m talking about.

I’m so old…

Webpage layouts were being done with <table>s and this new “CSS float” property was becoming the new standard
Rounded corners were achieved via images and VML hacks for Internet Explorer
FTP was the best way to upload websites changes
SVN and copying its trunk was the best versioning tool
alert and confirm were the standard for “modals”
Firebug was the best debugging tool available
The “standard” for getting videos to play properly was finding the right codec to install
ActionScript knowledge was as valuable as JavaScript knowledge
Dreamweaver was best in class text editor and design tool
XML was the future of data structures
Mobile-first? Mobile didn’t exist
Reactive navigation? How about Java Applets…
…or even different <img src=""> upon mouseover and mouseleave!
Want to code a desktop app with web tech? Try Adobe Air!
NPM stood for “not performant, man”
Voting on a poll meant the page would refresh
“Social media” meant HotOrNot.com
The love sound of the web was a 56k modem connection purrrrr
Disabling right-click enforced image security
Bitmap (.bmp) was a viable image format
JavaScript had a competitor called JScript
SpyJax’ing let you detect where your user had been
Cookies were the pinnacle of user tracking
Social media wall? It’s called a “guestbook”…
…and a friends list? It’s called a “web ring’
Search engine optimization was spamming the <title> with keywords=

Whew, those where the days. How old are you in web?

Designing for Simplicity
Before we get started, it’s worth me spending a brief moment introducing myself to you. My name is Mark (or @integralist if Twitter happens to be your communication tool of choice) and I currently work for BBC News in London England as a principal engineer/tech…