I just found the very first website I built using GeoCities. Here’s what I learned looking back on it.

Background

When I was 14 years old, I started my first website on Yahoo GeoCities. My username was robinhuiscool. I still have that account.

The site was concerned primarily with geometric constructions with compass and straight edge. Yes, I was that stereotypical math obsessed nerd. I researched geometric constructions and compiled everything I learned onto a website. I learned how to construct pentagons and heptadecagons (that’s a 17 sided polygon in case you didn’t know).

People actually visited my site and sent me e-mails with questions and comments. It was a fun hobby.

I slowly lost interest after a few years. Yahoo shutdown GeoCities in 2009, and I didn’t even bother to archive my site. Luckily, there is a website that keeps GeoCities archives: Geocities.ws. My site was archived, and I was able to recover it fully.

You can see my first website at this mirror: geocities.robinforest.net

With that, here’s 10 things I learned after opening my old website in 2017:

1. My design skills were terrible

I took random images I found on Windows XP and made them my website background. I used scrolling marquees. I created text links that changed color when the mouse moved. I was obsessed with site counters. I basically just combined a bunch of random stuff that I thought looked cool. It was a beautiful mess.

2. iFrames were common

My site consisted of two iFrames side by side. The one of the left was my sidebar navigation, and clicking links in it would open in the right iFrame. I’m amazed that this still works in 2017 browsers.

3. My JavaScript skills weren’t bad

I have some old JavaScript programs on the site. One of them is a small program to calculate arbitrary digits for the square root of a number. Another is a prime number generator. I also made a DHTML reference sheet and an HTML editor.

I’m actually quite impressed at my 14 year old self!

4. My online biography was…cringeworthy

I had some strange likes and dislikes. I liked collecting locks. I was weird okay.

5. My geometric diagrams still come up in search results

Man, things really do stay on the internet forever. I just did a Google search for “mascheroni construction pentagon”, and my website was listed on the first page.

It turns out that reference material on geometric constructions is still not very common. Even after 16 years, my site still holds up in some way. That’s incredible.

Conclusion

Yes it’s embarrassing to look back on things you created as a teenager. But it’s also heartwarming and nostalgic. I’m glad I was able to look back in time and see the programs I wrote, and the knowledge I shared. It’s quite inspiring to see how far I’ve come.