I was hired as a student clerk for the Collier County Sheriff’s Office in 1996. After working for a short time, they noticed my skills in web design. Remember, these were the early days of the internet. If you could do a website, you were skilled.

From time to time, when not making copies and researching historical information, I would work on the site. After several months it became my only task. I decided to try some new ideas with this site: frames, animation, and background images. I used clip art extensively.

Sadly, this site is still better than most MySpace pages. What I now consider clutter and waste—animation, video, music, and backgrounds all rolled onto the same page, is actually the norm for a MySpace profile.

After designing this site I realized there’s truth to the phrase “less is more.” The site was briefly mentioned in the Sheriff’s 1997 annual report. Towards the end of my student clerkship, I received a letter of commendation from the Sheriff for all my hard work.

This entry was posted by Matthew Crumley on Saturday, August 4th, 2007 at 11:48 AM. Matthew is currently a software developer who works on simulation devices and their user interfaces. In his spare time he reads the news, dabbles with code, is active in his homeowner association, and enjoys life with his wife and pet terrier. You can leave Matthew a comment or trackback from your own site. Follow comments to this entry via RSS. Explore other posts marked with these tags: high school, web design.