Neverside

State of the internet today

Back in the days of TutorialForums, tutorials were the big thing, everyone was learning how to make orbs and tentacles in photoshop, splash pages were in, and abstract 3d art was the rage. Pixel fonts were cool. People got excited when 2advanced released a new design. Robouk was everyone's hero. And nobody liked the Spoontards (wait, I guess some things haven't changed.)

In another thread someone brought up the point that the reason TutorialForums had to evolve was that tutorials were no longer representative of what people were looking for. So if we are to get this community up to date, what kind of approach is relevant today?

Is the "Internet Of The Now" basically Web 2.0, big fonts, glossy logos and happy bright pastel colours? Or is there something more underneath the surface?

What has changed and what has remained the same? And where do we go from here? Discuss.

The web is a place I research things, kind of like an unorganized 24 hour library.

Its also home to facebook, where I keep in touch with friends and whatnot.

I think the biggest thing that changed community wise is that people grew up. Regulars got girlfriends and wen to college and changed interests. Its not that no one reads tutorials anymore, its just that this group has moved on.

Thats my two cents at least X-)

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:: pop ::

I definitely agree with the major lack of interest in "PS tuts" etc. The web HAS changed, but not necessarily in a good way. I miss the good ol' days when I spent hours browsing these forums, helping people and also talking about nothing. Compared to a bunch of AJAX web2.0 bullshit, the forums were better, and certainly more beneficial to the progress of our minds. In that sense, web2.0 is nothing but eyecandy and is a complete waste of time when compared to actually learning and teaching.

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Correct me if I'm wrong, I got the impression neverside was targeting a completely different audience to TF.

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Hello! :-)

Last edited by Gaara, December 10th, 2007 10:19 PM (Edited 1 times)

i'm from the old tf not for long or not a major member, but in all honesty i prefered the old tf and the first fresh neverside, now most the forums are dead and the scripting parts are at the bottom of the forums :[ also lots of other people moved on with their real life and what not :[ andyway i'm browsing today to see if anyone knows any other nice community coding sides to get assistance and tips from like neverside used to be, and i came accross this post

i think the community neversid/tf had was what made it not the tutorials and what not it had, but the great support fast replied and mostly mature members also something i liked was there was more then one option on a code snippet and plently of differernt ways shown to output what ya needed and so on --- this is my little ramble about it

nertman, so true about the members and help :O ah, the good ol' days of vogonpoet and fredmv(?)... they were the true masters

you might try devshed.

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There are a couple of reasons why these things are going away, or at least

The Internet as a whole is maturing. The things you mention were cool at the time but if you saw them now they would look very dated. Splash pages, abstract 3D, and pixel fonts did not go away without reason; they are ugly and detrimental to the user experience.

I think today's Internet is much more pleasant to look at and also more intelligent. AJAX is a trend at the moment and because of this it is given a bad reputation, but I don't think it's any worse than the sites that had intro animations, colored scroll bars, or inline frames.

As Nykoelle mentioned, people also getting older and more involved real life. I signed up to TF in April of 2002â€"five and a half years ago. My mind has changed drastically since I was 11-years-old, and I'm pretty sure everyone suffers from nostalgia every so often. I've come to learn that longing for the past is natural, but dwelling in it is pointless.

It's inevitable for people to move on, however. Even if TF stayed the same, it would have decreased activity (like now) or it would consist of new members who haven't gotten sick of it. I think the most productive view is to accept that life does not become worse over time; one gains experience and has a chance at new opportunities.

I was a huge fan of Penn Jillette's radio show and I learned a lot from listening to it. It's cancelled now, and it's one of the things of the past that I long for the most. Ironically, I ended up learning about nostalgia from the show. Penn would always say "Never better, boss," to a caller that asked him how he was doing. His reasoning was that he was always doing better than the last day, because he has gained the experience. Continue to move forward with what you have gained from the past.

Well said Radley. Yeah... I don't think pixel fonts are coming back on todays screens :[

fredmv was a coding yoda.. introduced me to 'Ajax' back in '04*. nowadays I'll post to a relavant google group if I can't find some insight to a problem on the net. it's not the same though, I agree.

* i HAD to go look up that thread...
http://forums.neverside.com/thread/78769/page2/
i was(am?) such a goof... aw good times!

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riah.mat1c.org

State of the Internet? Come on, nano. We all know that the web is stateless technology! Bwhahaha..

Originally posted by nano:

... tutorials were no longer representative of what people were looking for.

Tutorials are for beginners. 5-6 years ago, Photoshop was new to most everybody. But look back now. There's really no use in drawing up these elaborate tentacles and planets and things. It was just a stepping stone for developing your own talent & creative eye.

The web community seems as strong as ever. But it doesn't seem to me that so many people are entering the field like they were when it was younger technology. That's why the content on this site and others (Spoono, et al) are growing stale.

Originally posted by nano:

So if we are to get this community up to date, what kind of approach is relevant today?

I love to follow creative contests and competitions. TheSuperest.com, Layer Tennis, even Designologue. It seems like people are starved for creativity and inspiration. Good talk about design, music, art, film, etc. might aide there. People also love conferences, conventions and meetups. All this 2D talk on a computer to strangers does bring about a hollow feeling.

Originally posted by nano:

Is the "Internet Of The Now" basically Web 2.0, big fonts, glossy logos and happy bright pastel colours? Or is there something more underneath the surface?

I hate buzzwords, but web two-oh is a definite shift for the user experience. It is simultaneously amazing and heart-breaking.

Originally posted by nano:

And where do we go from here? Discuss.

Oh God, anywhere but here. I'll stop my lurking altogether one of these days.

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Jon Culver Chia Pets

There's some good reading in this thread thus far...

I first got "connected" to the web back in June of 2002. Countless design trends have come and gone, and content presentation has taken on a whole new meaning. Java applets were the rage, Flash was the future, and Perl was the language. Netscape and Internet Explorer were mortal enemies. Front Page and Dreamweaver were at a draw. Paint Shop Pro was considered Photoshop's mortal enemy. 3D Studios Max was for the elite. Maya was for the gods. Blender was for the kiddies...

I think we can all agree that the computer world in general has taken several huge steps forward since the times afore mentioned, but there will be a few backtracks that will be necessary in order to continue the progress.

If we were to be honest with ourselves, Tutorial Forums would be hitting the dead waves as well if it still existed; Neverside was simply Tutorial Forum's do-it-yourself hari kari kit.