Tim and I first mooted the idea of working together to build an affordable website platform for Liberal Democrat council groups and individuals in October of 2002. But we’d already known each for other a little while before then.
We first met in August 2000 at ABC Connect, a groundbreaking development company where we built web applications for interactive cable TV set top boxes, including the world’s first online TV banking application, an in-house travel agency platform, and innovative prototypes including a fully featured TV office suite. After this company wound up during the post 9/11 slump in the travel business, we’d worked together on a website for an events company and Tim had gone on to build websites for 4 or 5 Liberal Democrat local parties, including his own (then) home party in Bedford.
ABC Connect had been a Microsoft shop, developing with a combination of classic (pre-.NET) VBScript, SQL Server, and a little bit of Java, so Tim’s initial version of the websites used a VBScript clone for Linux whose name now escapes me. On the other hand I’d got started with PHP, which was free to use, incredibly well documented, and ever so easy to pick up and was using it to host my own photo sharing, cocktail recipe, and diary apps. These were the days before Flickr, and Calendar wasn’t even a twinkle in Google’s eye.
We’re proud to say that first website Tim built has stuck with us to this day, through three iterations of our Liberal Democrat platform. So happy 21st birthday to you too, Bedford Lib Dems!
Tools of the trade
- Classic ASP / VBScript
- PHP 4.1
- HTML 4
- Gentoo Linux
- CVS
- Easily
- OpenOffice
Location, location, location
- Borough High Street
- Bedford
- Isle of Dogs
The year in tech
- BlackBerry releases its first smartphone
- Basic web content available on mobile thanks to WAP
- eBay acquires PayPal
- Amazon Web Services launches with focus on building apps for the company’s e-commerce platform
- Pop-up and ad blocking added to new Firefox browser
Sample code
<?php include("include/settings.php"); ?>
<?php include("include/bodylibrary.php"); ?>
<?php include("include/mainhomecontent.php"); ?>
<?php
DataConnect();
OpenPage();
PageHeader();
LeftHandMenuStart();
Buttons("home");
LeftHandMenuEnd();
MainContentSectionStart();
$results = db()->query("Select * from LD_News where FrontPageStory=1 order by StoryDate desc")->fetchAll();
?>
<!-- Insert main content here - you have a table to work in, which is closed for you at the end -->
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" border="0" bgcolor="#ffce00" class="thinborder">
<tr>
<td>
Welcome!
</td>
<td>
<img src="photos/andrew.jpg" alt="Andrew Stunell MP - Working for Hazel Grove all year round">
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>