It’s my last day at work before the holidays, I’m slowly recovering from the christmas party last night when random browsing leads me to back to k10k’s issue 100 from Joshua Davis. I’m drawn in once again to the touching confessionary tale, one that brings me back to the heyday (or at least my heyday circa 2000-2001) in web design, when anything seemed possible, when the community was tightly knit and supportive, and the “cutting-edge” (irony partially intended) were sites designed with 45 degree angles, tiny nonsense type, and big fat arrows. Dik, surfstation, tDr, alt.sense, dreamless, etc. If you know what I’m talking about…

It seems strange to be feeling nostalgic about designing websites, but I am. Maybe its the season, maybe its the result of dancing my ass off last night like I haven’t in a while. Maybe its a twisted sense of hope that the excitement I felt back then in my “profession” can still be achieved. Because of or in spite of all the web 2.0 blather.

In a day before the popularity of blogs Davis recounts his personal struggles with addiction and poverty, and how Netscape 2.0 saved his life. Read on…