As most of you interested in web design have no doubt noticed A List Apart 4.0 went live yesterday. In the look back, Zeldman mentions how A List Apart got started as a mailing list, back in 1997. To really appreciate what a long way the web has come since then – and in some ways still wrestles with the same problems – you should take a look at the following article: The Web Is Ruined
and I ruined it
which was published in 1997 as well. If not for the historical value, the entertainment value alone is reason enough.

Browser wars, the brand new 4.0 versions ;), blink-tags, promising brand new stuff like PNG, Flash and XML, from “HTML Terrorists” to “the light at the end of the tunnel” called stylesheets – there’s really too many things to find a single quote that stands out. You’ll have to read it all I’m afraid – and I doubt you’ll regret it.