SitePoint is a

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

-based website, and publisher of books, courses and articles for web developers.

History

SitePoint was founded by

Matt Mickiewicz SitePoint is a Melbourne-based website, and publisher of books, courses and articles for web developers. History SitePoint was founded by Matt Mickiewicz and Mark Harbottle in 1999. The company had its origins in Webmaster-Resources.com, an in ...

and

Mark Harbottle Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

in 1999. The company had its origins in Webmaster-Resources.com, an internet forum Mickiewicz founded as a resource for beginner web developers. Originally, the company's business model was based on selling

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

and sponsorship. Following the collapse of the

Dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...

in 2000, the company looked towards publishing as an alternative source of income. The company's first book, ''Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP and MySQL'', was published that November, based on a popular online tutorial. Originally made available using print on demand, the book went on to sell 20,000 copies. By 2004, the company had published six books, and began distribution through

O'Reilly O'Reilly () is a common Irish surname. The O'Reillys were historically the kings of East Bréifne in what is today County Cavan. The clan were part of the Connachta's Uí Briúin Bréifne kindred and were closely related to the Ó Ruairc ( ...

. The SitePoint Marketplace, a spinoff from the site's existing forums, was launched in 2005 as a forum in which web designers and developers could outsource projects. In 2007, part of the marketplace was spun off as

99designs 99designs is a Melbourne, Australia, based company that operates a freelancer platform for connecting graphic designers and clients. The company was founded in 2008, and has a United States office in Oakland, California. History 99designs was ...

, an online marketplace for

crowdsourced Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...

graphic design. In 2011, 99designs received its first outside investment in the form of $35 million in venture capital funding from

Accel Partners Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is a global venture capital firm. Accel works with startups in seed, early and growth-stage investments. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and San Francisco, California, with additional ope ...

. Another SitePoint spinoff,

Flippa Flippa is a private marketplace for buying and selling online businesses, based in Melbourne, Australia, and Austin, Texas, United States. It was founded in June 2009 by Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz. History Flippa was founded by Mark ...

, launched in 2009 as a dedicated marketplace for buying and selling websites and

domain names In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services, and more. D ...

. Following the introduction of its own courses, the company launched Learnable in 2010 as a new online learning platform for web developers. Originally designed as a marketplace, it later became the primary outlet for SitePoint's online book and course products. Learnable was later phased out for the simple
SitePoint
website. It allowed some courses to remain as paths, but mostly removed the community aspects of it. SitePoint now partners with major book production companies and has SitePoint Premium, a subscription or one-time purchase to get access to their whole library. Th
learnable.com
website now redirects to SitePoint.

References

{{Authority control Book publishing companies of Australia 1999 establishments in Australia Companies based in Melbourne