Tomorrow, Saturday, December 30th, it will be 10 years exactly since I unleashed the first version of my web site to an unsuspecting world. I remember I was really excited when I did this, and very surprised that it actually worked, considering the fact that I had started learning about html and web publishing only three days earlier, on the 27th.

The first version was called “Michael’s Home Page” (not extremely original, I admit). It already had the branching structure, with the index page serving as a table of contents, leading to 6-12 second level pages, which in turn may lead to any number of third level pages. This tree structure had a tendency to grow like weeds. Within a year there were 43 pages, and after five years, there were more than 150 in four languages.

The motto “Only connect!” served as a title for the front page from the third week until the autumn of 2002, when I redeveloped the site on a smaller scale under the new title and domain name “Prose and Passion” -- which of course derives from the same quotation, which still adorns the top right corner of the front page. In May this year, I redirected this domain name to point at the blog, leaving only www.michaelgross.co.uk to direct people to the front page.

The slightly more professional “bookshelf” design emphasizing my name and profession was only introduced in July this year. (The previous version had eight “juggling balls,” i.e. round pictures arranged in a circle.)

Oh well, so much for the last 10 years, now let’s tackle the next decade !