| TheCooker set itself up in grey space in 1994 and
witnessed the monthly onslaught of new tools enabling new ways to communicate
and design.
Here are
the first screens from TheCooker ... annotated.
TheCooker
1.0 1994 Mosaic
0.1 beta / SimpleText
Emerging from the pioneer space of dark screens and flickering green
text came the first graphical interface to link the expanding interconnecting
network (Inter-net) of computers. This early Mosaic "browser" gave limited
control over text and its positioning on the screen. Images could not
be used. However it was a universal browser that could present the viewer
with almost the same experience worldwide !
TheCooker
2.0 1995 Netscape
0.9 beta / SimpleText
By late 1994 images could be incorporated into web site screens. At
this time I realised what I had stumbled on. A new medium of mass communication
that could be used for artistic ends. No-one I knew in Britain had heard
of it. I have always utilised "highstreet" technologies to make art.
The internet is not a "high-tech" standalone piece of hardware in a
gallery, it exisits in peoples homes and is a public space in its own
right. This makes it unique and a popular medium.
TheCooker
3.0 1995 - later
Netscape 1.0N / SimpleText
The internet lets you be nostalgic about an instant that occured only
a few years ago. I still remember the first time I saw a background
image on a web site and a background colour other than medium grey.
The hundreds of advancements that have occured since then haven't struck
me so deeply, except perhaps the ability to specify type faces.
TheCooker4.0
1996 Netscape
2.0 / BBEdit
The very strange "frames" facility came into being and the much more
useful "tables" which allows the designer to approximate where images
and text appear on the screen.
TheCooker
5.0 1997 Netscape
3.0 / Internet Explorer 3.0 / BBEdit
Re-design of the site interface. Features the first Internet Explorer
"only" features such as background sound.
TheCooker
6.0 1998 Netscape 4.0 / Internet Explorer 4.0
/ BBEdit 4.0
A complete re-design of the entire site interface using Javascript and
Java Applets for random and time based qualities. Further use of sound
files and tests using Netscape 4.0s "layers" technology.
TheCooker
7.0 2000 Netscape 4.0 / Internet Explorer 4.0
/ Dreamweaver 3.0/
BBEdit 5.0 / Flash 4.0
A re-design of the interface focusing on a scaleable window. Reorganisation
of the sites contents to reflect its usage as determined by feedback
and log stats. Many areas - such as Macro Meals - redesigned and coded
to allow for better browsing-
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