From FrontPage 2000 to AI: 25 Years of Building Websites

The Beginning (2000)

I was twelve years old when I built my first website. It was the year 2000, and I was sitting in front of a bulky CRT monitor while the dial-up modem made its familiar screeching sound as it connected. I had Microsoft FrontPage 2000 installed, and I was determined to create something real on the internet. The site was ps2home.co.uk — a simple fan page dedicated to the newly released PlayStation 2.

Twenty-five years later, that same site is still online. It has lived through multiple redesigns and platform changes. What started as a kid’s hobby project with serious scaling problems eventually became a major resource for the PS2 community at the time. Against all odds, it earned over £25,000 through Amazon affiliate links and other deals. That early success kept me hooked on building websites for the next two and a half decades.

I have never been a big-time coder. My skills have always stayed at the basics level. But the tools evolved in exactly the way someone like me needed. FrontPage gave me a start. WordPress powered many productive years. Then AI arrived and changed everything. Tools like Cursor helped me understand databases, APIs, and modern development in ways I never could before. By 2026 I had fully moved away from WordPress, believing it no longer represents the future.

This is my personal story — the frustrations, the small (and big) wins, and the lessons that still matter.

Microsoft FrontPage: The Magic of Beginnings

Microsoft FrontPage felt like pure magic the first time I used it. Drag-and-drop elements, ready-made themes, and a visual editor that let me see roughly what the site would look like without writing much code. For a twelve-year-old obsessed with the new PlayStation 2, it was the perfect entry point.

I poured hours into ps2home.co.uk. News pages, game lists, image galleries, and links to other fan sites. But the limitations appeared almost immediately. Everything was strictly page by page. There was no central template system. If I wanted to change the navigation or footer across the site, I had to open every single file and make the edit manually. As the site grew — and it did grow — this became a nightmare. Scaling felt almost impossible some days. I would spend entire weekends just trying to keep things consistent.

Publishing was another battle. Export the files, connect via FTP to whatever hosting I could afford (often cheap or free accounts with limitations), and upload everything manually. On dial-up, the process was painfully slow. A dropped connection meant starting over. I remember watching progress bars and praying the upload would finish without errors.

Despite all the friction, the site took off. It became a major resource for the PS2 community during the console’s peak years. Visitors came for the latest news, reviews, and resources I had compiled. The traffic grew steadily, and eventually, the Amazon affiliate links and other partnership deals started paying off. Over time ps2home.co.uk earned more than £25,000. For a kid who started with pocket money and a dial-up connection, that was life-changing money and validation.

“

"Persistence beats perfect tools."

Those early years taught me that persistence beats perfect tools. The scaling problems were real, but I kept pushing because the reward of helping other fans and seeing real results was addictive.

Learning HTML

As ps2home.co.uk expanded, FrontPage’s visual editor could no longer keep up. I started viewing source code on other sites and teaching myself basic HTML. Tables became my primary layout tool — nested tables inside nested tables to create columns and organize content. I used transparent GIFs for spacing and added every animated GIF I could find.

The page-by-page reality remained brutal. Every design tweak or content update required careful manual work across multiple files. One mistake could break layouts in Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. I learned to test obsessively.

Yet the site kept growing. The community response was incredible. People bookmarked it, shared it, and relied on it as a central hub for PS2 information. The affiliate earnings proved that a simple site built with basic tools could generate real income if it delivered genuine value.

Those HTML learning years reinforced an important lesson: understanding the fundamentals, even at a basic level, gives you independence. I wasn’t writing advanced scripts, but I could diagnose problems and make the site work. That hands-on knowledge stayed valuable long after I moved to better platforms.

The Rise of WordPress

Discovering WordPress felt like a massive upgrade. Suddenly I had themes that controlled the overall design consistently and plugins that added powerful features without writing everything from scratch. No more editing dozens of HTML files for simple changes.

I used WordPress to its absolute maximum for many years. I experimented with different themes, created custom modifications, and relied heavily on plugins for SEO, performance, forms, and community features. ps2home.co.uk moved to WordPress and benefited enormously from the easier management. It continued to serve the community while requiring far less manual maintenance.

For a practical builder who preferred results over complex coding, WordPress was ideal during that long middle period of my journey. It let me focus on content, features, and growing the sites instead of fighting technical limitations. Many of my projects during those years were built or migrated to WordPress, and they performed well.

But platforms evolve. Over time I started noticing the accumulating downsides — plugin bloat, performance overhead, security patches, and a feeling that the ecosystem wasn’t moving as fast as the broader web. By 2026 I made the full transition away from WordPress. It was the right tool for its time and powered a huge chunk of my work, but I no longer see it as the future for forward-looking projects.

Moving Toward Modern Tools

Leaving WordPress behind was a significant shift, but it opened new possibilities. I adopted Vercel for hosting because deployments were instant and preview links made testing effortless. GitHub became central for tracking changes and collaborating with myself across devices.

I began exploring JavaScript frameworks and component-based architectures. I kept things realistic given my basics-level coding background, but modern tools made it possible to build cleaner, faster sites. The combination of better architecture and reliable deployment felt liberating after years of managing older systems.

This transitional period was about learning how modern sites connect — understanding the role of different pieces without needing to master every detail. It prepared me perfectly for what came next.

Then AI Arrived

The real breakthrough happened when accessible AI tools matured. ChatGPT, Claude, and especially Cursor changed my capabilities dramatically.

Because I had never been a deep coder, many advanced topics felt distant. Databases and APIs were concepts I understood at a high level but struggled to implement confidently. AI removed that barrier. Cursor lets me work in a normal editor while describing what I want. It generates code, explains it clearly, suggests improvements, and helps debug in plain language.

I can now build features involving databases and APIs that would have been extremely difficult or impossible for me before. The AI doesn’t just write code — it teaches me as I go. I ask questions in context, iterate quickly, and gradually build real understanding through practical use rather than abstract study.

My current workflow — Cursor for development, AI assistants for planning and refinement, Vercel for hosting, and GitHub for version control — feels like the natural evolution. I’ve completely moved on from WordPress and am building with greater confidence and speed than ever. AI has been the perfect tool for someone with my background: it amplifies practical knowledge instead of demanding expertise first.

What Used to Take Weeks

The difference in daily work is striking. Here’s a detailed comparison from my own experience:

• Time savings are real, but the deeper benefit is psychological.
• I can experiment more freely.
• Fear of breaking things has decreased.
• I spend more energy on strategy and user value instead of fighting tools.

What Hasn't Changed

Despite enormous technological progress, some principles remain rock-solid after 25 years.

• Good ideas and genuine value still win. ps2home.co.uk succeeded not because of fancy technology but because it solved a real need for the PS2 community at exactly the right time. The £25k+ in earnings came from delivering consistent usefulness.
• Consistency compounds. Keeping that site alive through multiple eras — despite scaling challenges — proved that steady effort over many years creates results that flashy one-off projects rarely match.
• Helping people is the true north. Whether it was early PS2 fans finding resources or current projects solving modern problems, the most satisfying work has always been the kind that makes someone’s life or hobby better.
• You don’t need to be an elite coder. I’ve built and sustained successful sites for 25 years with mostly basic skills. The tools have finally evolved to support builders who focus on results rather than code purity.
• Thoughtful decision-making still matters most. AI is incredible at execution, but human judgment about what to build, who it’s for, and how it should feel remains irreplaceable.

Looking Ahead

In 2026 I believe the web development future has clearly moved beyond WordPress for most new projects. AI-powered workflows combined with modern platforms like Vercel and GitHub offer better performance, maintainability, and developer experience.

I expect AI agents to become even more powerful — handling complete site creation from high-level descriptions while still leaving room for human taste and strategy. For practical builders who aren’t full-time developers, this is an incredibly empowering time.

My own plan is simple: keep building, keep learning with AI as my accelerator, and continue focusing on useful projects. The same curiosity that drove a twelve-year-old to create ps2home.co.uk despite all the technical friction is still alive — now supported by tools that finally match that ambition.

The Through-line

From FrontPage to AI, my journey reflects constant adaptation and the enduring importance of delivering value and learning. The tools have evolved, but the core principles of persistence, genuine value, and thoughtful decision-making remain as relevant as ever.