Webmonkey and picnic plates

When I first started learning web design stuff, I was a Notepad Warrior. I refused to use such idiot WYSWYG tools as Netscape's HTML editor (crap!) or FrontPage (crap!).

I would set off in my Notepad (sorry, still a MS user so not geeky enough for many people) and hit save then flip over and view the file in Netscape. (I remember when Navigator Gold came out. It was so cool.)

Much of my knowledge came from:

• Trial and error
• Conversations with fellow Notepad Warriors
• Webmonkey

Oh, how I loved the monkeys. They were talented, explained things in plain English and just sooo cool.

When I hopped on the frames bandwagon (pre-SSI, pre CMS) I encountered my favorite Webmonkey tutorial: frames are like picnics. That was oh so clever!

I became even more devoted when I won a WebMonSki hat through a Webmonkey online contest. The ski hat is a really ugly grey color, but it has a Webmonkey embelem stitched to the front. I haven't worn it, but I love it and I'm not going to eBay it (the horror!).

When we got interns who were new to HTML coding, as most of them were in the 1990's, the first thing we did was set them up with a few Monkey tutorials. Ah, the perfect babysitter. They'd teach them to code correctly and the interns would be entertained as well.

I must admit I'm still sad that the Monkey has basically shut down. I know it's old news, but I still mourn. I got all excited when they started the MonkeyBites blog a few years ago, but that's over now too.

I still send interns to the Monkey, but there's no doubt that times have changed.