History and Evolution of this Web Site
Our first webmaster, Denny Ladwig, put the first TMUG web site on the net early in 1997. Its design reflected the available technology of the time. Browsers were primitive and standards were almost non-existent. Consequently, the site design had to be very simple.
Over the next four years, some decent web standards were developed, but few webmasters paid them any attention because standards support in browsers was so poor. Although the visual design of TMUG's site became more sophisticated, it still used the same outdated web technology. Formatting was done via marked-up tables, resulting in an almost unmaintainable rat's nest of code.
After Denny died in 2003, because we had no replacement webmaster, little work was done on the site for almost two years. However, in Spring of 2005, it was becoming painfully apparent that many things we wanted to do could not be done without a complete rewrite of the site. Fortuitously, Zack Williams was involved at that time in the design of a site for his business, and he convinced several of us that web technology and standards had developed sufficiently that a rewrite would be feasible with the volunteers we had on hand. A new volunteer offered to be webmaster, and after a multi-month, multi-person effort, the first iteration on a new site for TMUG resulted.
We dedicate this website to the memory of Denny Ladwig. He worked with the Internet early on at the Office of Naval Intelligence. After retiring to Tucson, he joined TMUG and, with the help of his wife, Lois, dragged us out of the dial-up BBS era and onto the web. Denny died unexpectedly on September 22, 2003. He is fondly remembered at TMUG, and many of us miss his guidance and expertise, his willingness to speak out against bad ideas, and his drive to adopt methods and programs that would make TMUG a better group in the Internet age.
