Monday, March 17th, 2008
Five years ago glasshaus went the way of the dodo. I swear it seems like it was yesterday… I was working there as a technical editor at the time, a diversion from web development following a dot-com redundancy. I was hoping publishing would be more stable. Somewhat ironic, considering.
It was a great job. It’d flown me to the USA for Web Design World ‘02 and shoved me into the deep end with standards (hey, you can’t edit folks work without knowing the subject inside out). I was working with great folks like Chris, Bruce and Simon and helping edit great books.
To say it had an impact would be an understatement. It left me with an abiding passion for web standards and accessibility in particular. I was gutted when in came to an end.
Five years on standards and usability are more the norm than ever before. It’s easier to learn the right ways straight off. Looking at the state of web development today there’s a seam of glasshaus running through it. Hell, I remember a meeting where we decided to start using the term Web Professional for our audience, and that seems to have stuck.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Time its a funny thing. It only seems like yesterday I went to night school to see what all the fuss was about with this worldwide web and mosaic thing
March 29th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Yep, time does fly - nearly five years in Oz now. Though I am moving back in July
March 29th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
It does!
You’re coming back? Brum, or elsewhere?
March 31st, 2008 at 8:02 pm
[...] Matt sums it up. [...]
April 1st, 2008 at 2:16 am
Yup! I don’t know where yet. Probably London?
April 1st, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Nice one Matt - I really had forgotten about it…I think it was a wonderful job too, and it was great to work with such intelligent, charming, attractive people…and Bruce.
The day of the bankrupcy was all worth it, just to see the fat man weep.
April 1st, 2008 at 2:41 pm
@Chris How quickly the memories fade when you’re swanning around the place for Opera
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
There’s not a March the 14th, goes by, when I don’t remember it - which is funny, since I’d actually taken the last two days of that particular week, off, as holiday, when the bankrupcy was announced (I’d known something was brewing - probably something bad - and felt that whatever time I took off, before then, might be one day less, that I’d lose: we were nearly paralised with rumour, by that stage, anyway).
What a beautiful early spring, it was, that followed, that day! I was flat broke, but I still felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I’ve seldom before had such fine riding, and walking weather - nor so much time, in which to enjoy it!
When the redundancy money finally came through, I bought a trip in a horsebox, for my horse, with it, and escaped away up North, to sponge of friends and family until I could retrench my life. When I look back on my time at Wrox/glasshaus, I feel proud to have worked with so many tallented people, but I’m glad that the mounting pressure, we were under - especially at the end - is now passed.
April 14th, 2008 at 11:56 am
And RIP Friends of ED too…
April 14th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
@Dan, great post. The talent working there was extreme. Glad to know you got a horsebox out of the redundancy! What’re you up to now?
@Jerome, yes them too! Though Friends of ED did get reborn in a new Apress-like form.
April 16th, 2008 at 9:46 am
I remember it well - Matt was editing the book I’d contributed to (I didn’t know this until we met a couple of years at UCE, as was) and The promised royalties didn’t show up!
The Glasshaus books are still a cornerstone of my technical teaching - I haven’t discovered a better, more concise and thorough format.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:40 am
@John. Strange how small the world is, isn’t it! I did feel really bad for the authors who never saw royalties, though they can take solace in the fact employees only got statutory redundancy.
Speaking of the books. I keep meaning to give a copy of that particular one to some people I know…
April 16th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
@Matt. I wrote my bits during and after being made redundant - and my experiences of managing intranets were not hampered then by any possibility of being hauled over the coals. The politics of Intranets were then quite interesting where I worked as there were a load of stakeholders doing their own thing, but at the same time not quite in harmony.
I joined UCE soon after the redundancy event.
The company I worked for no longer exists, having been taken over and moved. Such is life, unfortunately.