I got started with web programming in the early days. ’97, specifically. CGI.pm was the soup of the day for 4 years straight. But starting in early 2001, I went off to do server and desktop programming and didn’t return to the web until 2008.
I’m not a designer; I’ve never intended to be. But I do think I have a better eye for it than the average hacker. So it’s been an interesting process getting my feelers out to web-design again. These are the 5 designs (in current form, the first two have been updated to look nicer) that I’ve done in the last year. It’s been a steady progression from my out-of-the-90s-let’s-get-Pearl-Jam-on-the-phone style design to something more modern.
Design seems to work like a lot of things. When you’re not doing it, you’re not paying attention to how it works, what you like or why you like those things. Once you start paying attention to it, start becoming self-aware, it starts coming more naturally.
The downside is that there’s a wake of designs I’m not thrilled with behind me. The Directed Edge page is hurting for an update, but it’ll probably be deferred to our next product release.