The Year of the Monkey? Hardly
February 29, 2004 4:07 PM Subscribe
Webmonkey to close down
Ave, Webmonkey, old friend. You were a great source of new tricks for self-taught old dogs.
Ave, Webmonkey, old friend. You were a great source of new tricks for self-taught old dogs.
Yeah. Amen. Thau's Javascript tutorials in particular helped me enormously. And they were a great resource to point other people to.
I ought to have been annoyed by their cutesy folksy cheesey tone, but I was too grateful.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:41 PM on February 29, 2004
I ought to have been annoyed by their cutesy folksy cheesey tone, but I was too grateful.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:41 PM on February 29, 2004
Webmonkey was my textbook when I was learning development and design in the late '90s (in fact, I think I was reading and studying it from its beginnings), and I give them a lot of credit in being able to become employed professionally as a web developer. The people who wrote for them knew what they were talking about and weren't going to fall for the latest glitzy, unworkable trend in design. Unfortunately the dot burst not long after I moved to the Bay Area, and after being laid off three times in a year and a half, Fuckedcompany.com replaced Webmonkey as my most visited industry site of choice for a while. I must admit that Webmonkey's breezy, gee-whiz tone grated on my nerves after having my techie dreams shattered.
Now I drive a tow truck for a living. I work less hours and make almost the same money, at least when it's busy (sometimes more). I still do web development on the side, and I still have an e-subscription to Webmonkey (guess that will end soon, with a whimper like everything else in the dot bomb world). However, it took a while before I wanted to work on any more websites after the third layoff and so haven't checked out the funky monkey much since then. Sort of makes sense that it's folding, as I, too, noticed that there was hardly any new content announced in each e-newsletter in the last year or two, if any at all. I do miss them days sometimes, but it's best to move on.
Now, I am wondering if I should get my skillz up to snuff to become a network admin, which is much more my style than web development, which in its heyday became like a factory job on an assembly line, and the finished product was always just marketing copy when it came down to it. Ugh. Why didn't anyone tell me that web design was essentially a marketing position? Guess you figure it out sooner or later. Marketing was definitely not where I ever wanted to be.
Still not sure if networking would be worth the time - I know most of it already from hacking around on my machines, and there is no great demand for it, especially for someone with no pro experience as a sysadmin on the resume. Ah well. For now I like driving around in my tow truck, helping people who are genuinely happy to see me when I show up. It's much less stressful, my boss is way cool as are most of my co-workers, and it's a good feeling knowing that, even during the slow periods, there's no chance I'll get laid off ... and I'm actually doing something people need. Imagine that. However, the industry mags and teaching tools for tow drivers aren't nearly as cool as Webmonkey was.
posted by krinklyfig at 5:36 PM on February 29, 2004
Now I drive a tow truck for a living. I work less hours and make almost the same money, at least when it's busy (sometimes more). I still do web development on the side, and I still have an e-subscription to Webmonkey (guess that will end soon, with a whimper like everything else in the dot bomb world). However, it took a while before I wanted to work on any more websites after the third layoff and so haven't checked out the funky monkey much since then. Sort of makes sense that it's folding, as I, too, noticed that there was hardly any new content announced in each e-newsletter in the last year or two, if any at all. I do miss them days sometimes, but it's best to move on.
Now, I am wondering if I should get my skillz up to snuff to become a network admin, which is much more my style than web development, which in its heyday became like a factory job on an assembly line, and the finished product was always just marketing copy when it came down to it. Ugh. Why didn't anyone tell me that web design was essentially a marketing position? Guess you figure it out sooner or later. Marketing was definitely not where I ever wanted to be.
Still not sure if networking would be worth the time - I know most of it already from hacking around on my machines, and there is no great demand for it, especially for someone with no pro experience as a sysadmin on the resume. Ah well. For now I like driving around in my tow truck, helping people who are genuinely happy to see me when I show up. It's much less stressful, my boss is way cool as are most of my co-workers, and it's a good feeling knowing that, even during the slow periods, there's no chance I'll get laid off ... and I'm actually doing something people need. Imagine that. However, the industry mags and teaching tools for tow drivers aren't nearly as cool as Webmonkey was.
posted by krinklyfig at 5:36 PM on February 29, 2004
[this is very sad] For non-industry, non-tech people like me, WebMonkey has always been a good resource that bridged the gap between being too technical for dummies and too dumb for (mildly) technical people. A real shame, but no surprise, I guess.
posted by dg at 6:00 PM on February 29, 2004
posted by dg at 6:00 PM on February 29, 2004
Editorial founder June Cohen described Webmonkey's voice as "the smart, sassy friend you wish you had."
Why is June Cohen making fun of me?
posted by Hildago at 6:51 PM on February 29, 2004
Why is June Cohen making fun of me?
posted by Hildago at 6:51 PM on February 29, 2004
I too relied on it in the earlier days...I hope the people who created it know that they helped a ton of people. They did great work and presented in a great way.
posted by cell divide at 6:57 PM on February 29, 2004
posted by cell divide at 6:57 PM on February 29, 2004
This is where I learned to do mouse roll-overs and image maps. oh, useless javascript of days now passed, how I doth miss thee...
posted by kaibutsu at 7:19 PM on February 29, 2004
posted by kaibutsu at 7:19 PM on February 29, 2004
Does tarball mean archive??
Yes, it's a term that Windows users employ in a vain attempt to not sound like Windows users. Those of us who are secure in ourselves use the term "zip file," or, as you said, "archive". At the end of the day, they're really all the same.
posted by Electric Jesus at 8:44 PM on February 29, 2004
Yes, it's a term that Windows users employ in a vain attempt to not sound like Windows users. Those of us who are secure in ourselves use the term "zip file," or, as you said, "archive". At the end of the day, they're really all the same.
posted by Electric Jesus at 8:44 PM on February 29, 2004
...or maybe it really does mean tarball, as in "an archive file generated by the unix 'tar' program", which would make sense given most web servers run some form of unix and thus many (most?) web people have at least a passing familiarity with such standard tools...
...anyway, yeah: I learned everything I know about CSS from Webmonkey. They were always the first place I looked for web design information. I'm sorry to hear they are gone, but not surprised; the time for that sort of new-media, new-economy coolness is long past.
posted by Mars Saxman at 9:21 PM on February 29, 2004
...anyway, yeah: I learned everything I know about CSS from Webmonkey. They were always the first place I looked for web design information. I'm sorry to hear they are gone, but not surprised; the time for that sort of new-media, new-economy coolness is long past.
posted by Mars Saxman at 9:21 PM on February 29, 2004
Wasn't there already a link on this?
It was covered extensively about a week ago on every other blog in the world, but I think its the first time on mefi.
posted by Dennis Murphy at 9:50 PM on February 29, 2004
It was covered extensively about a week ago on every other blog in the world, but I think its the first time on mefi.
posted by Dennis Murphy at 9:50 PM on February 29, 2004
Wow. I learned html with their tutorials in 1997. I don't think I'd be where I am today without them.
and I like where I am
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:07 AM on March 1, 2004
and I like where I am
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:07 AM on March 1, 2004
There was a 125MB 'tarball' posted to one of the BitTorrent sites last week.
posted by Kip at 7:45 AM on March 1, 2004
posted by Kip at 7:45 AM on March 1, 2004
so, when will the site actually be taken down? (looking at what's left, i'm impressed. i only wish i had learned of it, oh, 8 years ago when i started learning that crap.) has anyone found an archive, or at least a mirror that will be up for some time to come?
posted by quadrinary at 7:54 AM on March 1, 2004
posted by quadrinary at 7:54 AM on March 1, 2004
Yep, I learned basic HTML & PHP from the monkey in the late 90s. These guys really did help out alot of people. Whenever anyone mentioned an interest in learning web development, I always pointed them to webmonkey to get them started. Thanks webmonkey.
posted by password at 7:59 AM on March 1, 2004
posted by password at 7:59 AM on March 1, 2004
got a link to that torrent, perchance?
posted by nonreflectiveobject at 8:57 AM on March 1, 2004
posted by nonreflectiveobject at 8:57 AM on March 1, 2004
WebMonkey was a lot of help for me too. Much more so than my professors in introductory computer classes. Can anyone recommend some other quality tutorial sites? I'm sure that webmonkey was far and away the best, so anything that's say, about half as good should be decent. Thanks.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:20 AM on March 1, 2004
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:20 AM on March 1, 2004
I read a lot of Webmonkey years ago too. But eventually I noticed that the articles were getting old, and while useful for grasping some basic concepts, they weren't current tech anymore. These days I tend to head to W3schools.com when I need some pointers.
posted by dnash at 10:54 AM on March 1, 2004
posted by dnash at 10:54 AM on March 1, 2004
Score. Thanks dnash. Looks like a good site.
posted by Ufez Jones at 6:16 PM on March 1, 2004
posted by Ufez Jones at 6:16 PM on March 1, 2004
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posted by rough ashlar at 4:34 PM on February 29, 2004