Met a guy on a dial-up BBS in 1995 who taught me how to edit HTML by hand in Notepad

He sent me a 3-page email explaining how to change background colors with hex codes, and I still use that trick today when I'm fixing old sites for clients - has anyone else had a random online mentor like that stick with you?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora_wells5810d ago

That mentor sounds like a legend. Those hex codes were a total mystery back then but now they're just muscle memory. It's funny how those early internet lessons stick with you way more than stuff you learn in a formal class. I still remember a random guy on a forum explaining why you shouldn't use too many fonts on a page. That simple advice has saved me from some ugly designs over the years.

seanperry10d ago

Those hex codes were a total mystery back then" - @nora_wells58 nailed it, I spent like three hours trying to figure out why #FFFFFF wasn't making my page white until someone finally told me I was typing too many F's. That same guy also taught me how to use tags, which I guess was both a gift and a curse in hindsight. Still beats trying to explain to clients why their 2004 GeoCities site looks terrible on modern browsers, though.