Portfolio Retrospection: Yakima.com

Back in 1997, when I was working at The Digital Foundry, we were given the project to work on Yakima.com, the official website of the Washington state based roof rack company. At the time, this was by far the biggest project I was given the privilege of working on, and I immediately took the opportunity to learn everything I could about the company, and how to develop a great website for their brand.

Even in the late 90’s, just being on the web was a significant step for most companies, and we at the Foundry were dedicated to pulling off miracles. What seems elementary and essentially required of today’s websites was revolutionary at the time. Most of my time was dedicated to ensuring that the pages were appearing correctly, as well as fine-tuning the functional code to navigate the site, as well as the revolutionary dealer location functionality.

The core aspects of this site included:

• Vehicle fitting guides - This was a crucial sales factor for roof racks. Nobody wanted to buy a product that wasn’t right for their automobile.
• Dealer Locator - Again, this was hot-off-the-presses stuff, not something that could be easily integrated in to a Google Maps API like it can today.
• Loads of Images - There was a time, barely a decade ago, when the web was simply text. Broadband penetration wasn’t even a blip on the radar, so dial-up responsiveness was key. It reminds me of the same challenges mobile-web developers are experiencing today. Developing Yakima.com meant watching every single pixel to ensure we were providing great images with reasonable download speeds.

This was really my first foray in to the production process of a real live website - with a real live budget to actually get it delivered to the client on time and on budget. Yakima.com has experienced numerous innovations since the initial work we did for them, but I still recall the euphoria of being a part of the team that made this site happen. We’ve come a long way in the last 11 years, and the further I get from this project, the more it reminds me of the fact that the web wasn’t always something to be taken for granted.