ABOUT US - The journey so far, by Tim Gentle
Welcome to thewebexperts.net.au, the eighth generation of an online legacy that began in 2001 as www.timgentle.com - TGTV. We service small businesses and organisations in regional Australia, although we do have clients in Melbourne.
The Web Experts are made up of me and my wife, Kylie. We have employed Ryan Gentle on a Traineeship in Multimedia and we occasionally employ the services of contractors to assist in larger productions.
We live and work in Lancaster, Victoria. In 2005 we left Todmorden Cattle Station in Central Australia and travelled via Asia to Londonwhere we lived and worked for over a year. In late 2006 we headed home to get married, then moved to the country to start our new life together and grow our business.
The Web Experts’ website, www.thewebexperts.net.au, is the new face of a seven- year history of developing websites.
Previously we operated under timgentle.com.au. Pictured below is timgentle.com.au showcasing the website we built for our chicken-breeding hobby 'The Poultry Princess'
The TGTV Story
I have always like to keep a running record of how timgentle.com (now thewebexperts.net.au) has progressed over the years.
TGTV 2007
Before timgentle.com.au we operated under timgentle.com which was more of a personal travel website than a web design business. However, we did showcase some of the websites we built for people while travelling.
TGTV 2005 - 2007
TGTV was secretly launched on 18th August 2007. The site timgentle.com still houses all the past stories that make up the TGTV journey. We welcome back HMTL, but introduce PHP. The timgentle.com gallery is by far the best it has ever looked. It allows you to navigate your own way through the stories and features larger photos and slideshow functionality. At one stage timgentle.com boasted more than 5000 images for friends and family to enjoy.
Another major change that year was that Spinnaker Multimedia (www.spinnaker.com.au) was phased out and merged into timgentle.com. We began servicing our clients via the timgentle.com banner. You can still view all the websites we created by visiting our gallery.
TGTV was an ASP database-driven website, with embedded Flash elements and an online shopping cart. We used Oxford Street, an off-the-shelf online shopping cart package. It offered browsers secure logins and the ability to purchase TGTV calendars online.
We also used the shopping cart facility in what would have been the most popular story to emerge from TGTV. The ‘ Let’s build this hut together’ story covered Tim’s fundraising effort to build MgMglay, the Burmese refugee we sponsor, a new hut and shop in Thailand. Thanks to the generous support of family and friends, we managed to raise $AUS2175 which allowed us to actually build a hut and shop for MgMgLay.
TGTV 2004-2005
TGTV was also an ASP-driven website. We used an off-the-shelf ASP package called Your Virtual Store. The software has all the functionality built in and allows you to customise the look. It allowed us to jump from a static html website to a website with dynamic navigation and search functionality.
TGTV 2001-2005
After I completed a Masters in Multimedia I was keen to jump straight into the 'dot.com' world and see what it had to offer. I knew the best way to learn was to register my own domain name and jump into the deep end. So I registered www.timgentle.com and created my own website.
I was keen to have a website design that was unlike anything else I had seen before, but it also had to be simple to use. After some initial sketches and concepts, I came up with a website design that used a traditional TV. The TV would house all my stories and photos as though someone was watching a TV show. I knew that even the most novice user would be able to use my website because people had been using TVs to view information for years!
In August 2001, with the help of Brett Poole, TGTV (www.timgentle.com) was officially launched and the first story to go online was ‘South East Asia farewell’ . I remember launching the website while travelling in China. In particular I remember putting the final touches on the story at an internet café in Xiahe, China. There were these two Tibetan Monks sitting on a computer next to me asking me to show then how to cut & paste.
Back then blogs, travellers’ websites, MySpace etc didn't exist, and TGTV was the first personal travel website that existed in our circle of friends and family.
TGTV received lots of positive feedback from family and friends back home and also from other travellers I met along the way, so from that point on I decided that TGTV was here to stay.
TGTV really did pave the way to where we are today. There was plenty of time spent updating travel stories from a laptop in hostels throughout the world.
TGTV was carried through to when Kylie and I landed ourselves a job at Todmorden Cattle Station in Central Australia. Religiously we would snap away and add regular pictures and stories for family and friends to view.
TG's first website, hard coded January 2001
My first website design was created in Yahoo’s Geocities www.geocities.com/timgentle and in fact it’s still online. If you are thinking of creating your own website and don’t have any web design experience, try using Yahoo Geocities for starters. It's free and there are heaps of online tools and expert advice to guide you through setting up a webpage.
Global Pursuit
The site timgentle.com has slowed down considerably since we moved to the country and turned our focus to servicing clients of www.thewebexperts.net.au. However, our stories from across the globe, including Australia, UK, America, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Italy and London are still online for you to enjoy.
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We have tried to include plenty of travel tips, links to accommodation, attractions, local guides, references, maps etc.
What's he doing that I'm not?
I have decided to keep this photo in our history as the image is somewhat the driving force for what I (we) do today.
For those who haven’t seen this photo before, it is me standing in front of a billboard in a subway in Shanghai, China (2001). I uploaded it straight away to TGTV and made it the opening photo for Channel 2, which was my 'Business Channel'. I soon made the concept of the photo one of my life’s missions, that is, 'to be able to run my own business from anywhere in the world'.
Kylie… the web guru 
I have watched with amazement as my wife Kylie increases her web design skills everyday. In fact her programming skills surpass mine. I think it would be true to say we are a great team and those who work with us say the same.
The Web Experts into the future
Our future dream for The Web Experts is help small businesses in regional Australia 'get online' and do it well. We plan to do this via the delivery of our website seminars. We open our doors to new clients, but you have to be focused on developing a winning website as well. If you can't make a seminar, then simply contact us to get the ball rolling.
Now that you know a little about us, why not find out about enrolling in one of our more about website seminars - click here to learn more
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