This DHTML site

April 6, 2000 11:54 AM

This DHTML site is just plain amazing. Hearing that the author wrote the whole thing by hand in a text editor with nothing but a book for reference is incredible. It reminds me of seeing an insane rug or quilt at a museum and hearing it was stiched by hand using only crude sewing tools. Just thinking of the work it took to make that site makes me want to cry in pain. [link pilfered from kottke]
posted by mathowie (21 comments total)

All that was done by hand?! I'm in total shock.
posted by Cavatica at 1:42 PM on April 6, 2000

Yup, it was done by hand. This is my site actually, thanks to mathowie for posting the link here. It took me 3 months to make this site, mostly because I was learning as I went. Back in January I wanted to get back into doing code (I was doing a lot of design at the time), so I thought DHTML would be cool. Picked up the O'Reilly DHTML book, and started learning the ropes. I also decided not to get code from other sites. It was sink or swim on my own. And it turned out to be fun. Reminded me of the old days learning HTML for Mosaic. I'm glad you guys like it!
posted by vitaflo at 1:49 PM on April 6, 2000

Wow, this is one of the coolest things I've seen all year. Wonderful work!
posted by Dean_Paxton at 1:53 PM on April 6, 2000

Hmmmm, makes me want to actually read my O'Reilly DHTML book instead of sitting my Pepsi on it.
posted by corpse at 3:30 PM on April 6, 2000

it's about time someone made dhtml presentations featuring video games
posted by starduck at 4:23 PM on April 6, 2000

Very cool! Everything works fine in IE 5 on my Mac, but the three colors on the main page end up being too similar (the old Mac PC gamma issue I suppose). On my Win2k workstation everything looks great.
posted by Axodys at 4:36 PM on April 6, 2000

almost made pull out the super nes outta the attic...Creative stuff indeed.
posted by neo452 at 6:14 PM on April 6, 2000

Super nes? Mega-man and Mario =< 3 are old school NES, sans super.
posted by alan at 6:28 PM on April 6, 2000

The NES is and always will be the greatest console system, ever.
posted by corpse at 6:57 PM on April 6, 2000

You'd be right corpse, if it wasn't for the ColecoVision!

waiting for a crazy uncle to come in and mention some stone age game system.
posted by alan at 8:04 PM on April 6, 2000

Check out Arcade @ Home if you haven't already. There you'll find ROMS and emulators for all of the older console/arcade games that you are longing for. It'll be good for ya... Dig out your gamepad. There are hundreds more, but that'll get you started.
posted by Dean_Paxton at 8:10 PM on April 6, 2000

Does anyone know what that old TI thing was that ran the space-game Parsec?
posted by EngineBeak at 8:26 PM on April 6, 2000

A ha. The TI99/4a.
posted by EngineBeak at 8:40 PM on April 6, 2000

I had one of those! It rocked. The graphics and sound were awesome for the time. That's the computer I first learned to program on, in TI Basic, the most screwed up Basic you can find. It ensured that I was continually confused by all succeeding Basic implementations until about two years ago.
posted by daveadams at 8:43 PM on April 6, 2000

What's the font he's using? When I read the about section, everything was kinda too small to read. Other than that, it's great Brent!
posted by hobbes at 9:38 PM on April 6, 2000

Looks cool, kind of Designer's Republic (those responsible for the look of the Wipeout series of games on the Playstation), and done by hand too, wicked!
TI Basic was terrible, but the Pascal cart. was really good, I had a head start when I went to Uni. and they taught Pascal, and Parsec was the dog's danglies for ages.
posted by Markb at 1:55 AM on April 7, 2000

Intellivision was great when it first came out, since there were so many companies trying to grab everyone's attention. You had that weird Vectrex machine, those little arcades you saw Gizmo playing Galaxian on in "Gremlins", and the Atari 5200.

Once the Nes came out, it was mainly Nintendo vs. Sega, Episode One. Those were the great years in early videogaming. I think I still have a copy of Simon's Quest (Castlevania II) and the original Metal Gear laying around, though you can get roms of them.
posted by Cavatica at 4:28 AM on April 7, 2000

Not to take anything away from such a great well thought out design but.....

I can't believe so many people are impressed by hand coding ...what does that say about the current skill sets of todays web designers and developers...have web developing tools become such a crutch, that when someone actually takes the time to come up with original code we all sit and marvel at it?
posted by dangerman at 7:17 AM on April 7, 2000

Why not marvel at it? It's marvellous. Not just because it's hand coded, but also because it's neat. It would still be neat if it wasn't hand coded.

Frankly, I am not as impressed by the fact that he was able to do it by hand than by the fact that he did. Do it by hand.

Are web developing tools a crutch? Well, sure, sometimes but I don't think that's necessarily bad. I mean, just because you know how to get some where the long way doesn't mean you shouldn't take the shortcut. And besides, Dan, our reliance on code generating software just means code monkeys like you are always going to be in demand!
posted by jennyb at 8:40 AM on April 7, 2000

Like I said on RC...I think the site is really great. I was merely commenting on the fact that everyone emphasized the "hand coding". I myself...code-slut or not, still use DW and VInterdev for my pages...I just think with the introduction of newer better web tools, general programming skills are being lost and degraded.
"...and the monkey flips the switch"
posted by dangerman at 10:04 AM on April 7, 2000

Hmm.. I thought everything was done by hand still. I guess I haven't used DW since very soon after it came (2, 3 years?) I'm surprised that everyone is emphasizing the did it by hand part. Especially if you're making a new design, I can't imagine not wanting to do it by hand so you know exactly how it works. Personally, I was impressed by the design only.
posted by stopgap at 2:42 PM on April 7, 2000