Terror Alert Status
|
The History of Hierarchy's Darkside and other Web SitesJune 28, 1996... Web site first established as "Hierarchy's Home in Cyberspace!!!" on the Geocities web site, it's address was http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/2157/ . Started out with Spock GIF (crummy one) and substandard GIFS and layout. It only had one page to start out with also. July 2-4, 1996... Moved to the CNS web site. It's address... http://gr.cns.net/~hierchy/. The web site expands to include a Star Trek info page. The pages are redesigned to shed all geocities looks, the Geocities site becomes a place where Trek images and extra stuff are stored within the next couple of days after the move. The homepage and the Trek page were dubbed "version 1.0." MIDI also used for the first time. July 30, 1996... Frames are added to the site. Separate versions of the trek and home pages are created. The non-frames pages keep the version 1.0 label while the frames get the 2.0 designation. They get crude versions of the GIFS that were made especially for the frames pages. They will stick with the pages until the next versions come around. September 28, 1996... The pages move to a new server, Kodenet. Address... http://bsd1.kode.net/~hierchy/. This is the current home of the site because the author moved across the state to a point where he couldn't use his old ISP anymore. All pages are updated for links and information related to the move. Early October 1996... The ideas of redesigning the site come around. Preliminary designs for the MSIE 3.0/Dial up Networking setup help begin, in which it is a joint project with Sk8. October 11-13, 1996... The Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0/Dial-Up Networking Setup Help constructed and implimented. 1st GIFs made on computer by webmaster constructed (even though they were basically cut-and-paste GIFs created for the page). Java is given a look at for the redesign of the other pages. Other ideas are eyed, including own animated GIFs, etc. October 17-19, 1996... Design work on version 3.0 of the web pages is implemented. Downloads software for making animated GIFs and graphic design begins. Java idea is dropped because of the time involved, the code, and learning it. Preliminary designs for a freeware page and this page begin. October 23-26, 1996... Version 3.0 of the home and Trek pages constructed and implimented. Named Site 3.0, home 3.0, and Trek 3.0 beta(because of the info on the page, which has to be combed through yet) officially. Title of homepage changed to "Hierarchy's Dark Side of the Universe." Features include changed frame design, new frame area, updated links, tables, and the Animated Title GIFs. A few seconds of animation took up to 2 hours to create from scratch. The old frames-formatted GIFs for the trek page get fixed for a better look on the page. An MIDI that actually fit the mood of the home page is chosen... Gangsta's Paradise. Plans for review of the Geocities page and content goes under review and is expected to be completed by November 7th. October 27-28, 1996... Bought a CD containing free software. ActiveX seriously gets looked at for possible integration into the web site in the future. The title GIF for the home page might be changed for something with more animation, so that goes under review. Construction of a new software and this page begin. Freeware page expected to be up by November. November 1, 1996 Rated this web site with the RSACi. Updated all pages for a ratings tag. November 13, 1996 Due to problems with the ISP Kodenet, Hierarchy's entire web site is taken offline and a refuge page is set up on America Online's server. This upsets many of the regular visitors. Many of this was because America Online required the use of their FTP program, which is too cumbersome and the possibility that the site would expand to include commercial items, so the time was taken to evaluate many hosting providers. The Geocities site is neglected until November 22, 1996. November 22, 1996 The Trek page is put back online and the Geocities site is updated because of Star Trek: First Contact's release. This is the last update for the Geocities site and the last update of the Trek site. December 1, 1996 A decision was made to expand to web design. The search for a hosting service intensifies. December 26, 1996 Work begins on the site that will be the home of Hierarchy's Web Design. First act of business, create a button similar to those advertising other stuff (i.e. Netscape, MSIE, Nonags, etc.). January 2, 1997 A temporary site for Hierarchy's Web Design on America Online is created and the actual web page work begins. The refuge page is updated to include the HWD button. January 6, 1997 The actual website and business for Hierarchy's Web Design is launched. It has no order form and the possibility of staying on AOL's server was there, so an attempt to contract out the order form service was made, with no success. Search for a hosting service doubles in intensification. Just a couple of days later, the owner of the site switches to Prodigy Internet as a primary ISP. January 25, 1997 A web hosting service is found. The WWW Service Provider is selected over a couple of others, one of which was trying to make an active bid, but failed to have the figure to the owner on time. February 6-10, 1997 Hierarchy's Web Design and Hierarchy's Dark Side of the Universe is moved to the new hosting service and the AOL accounts are cancelled. As the move is done, work on Version 2.0 of the HWD site and Version 4.0 of the Dark Side site begins. The Geocities site is wiped completely and is set up as a mirror for Hierarchy's Dark Side. Hierarchy's Dark Side becomes browser billingual (Netscape and MSIE enhancements). February 13, 1997 Work is completed on the CGI (a form script and a guestbook). A day earlier, the Hierarchy Site Group is created. February 16, 1997 Decisions were made to add JScript for testing (offer it as free) and to add mIRC bot scripts and the guestbook service to the list of HWD services. Hierarchy Site History, freeware, monthly opinion column, and a list of links are put on a list of what might be added to Hierarchy's Dark Side of the Universe. A decision was made not to bring back the Star Trek and Internet Help sites. Early March 1997 Java was added to the list of offerings of Hierarchy's Web Design with the full unveiling of the HWD Java Information Window. Work begins on learning ActiveX control making using Visual Basic Control Creation Edition 5.0. March 23, 1997 A decision to begin full redesign of the HWD site as well as the Java Information Window was made. The Java Information Window could not be made correctly, and as a result, Java services were dropped. April 7, 1997 The Java Information Window is completed, and is now a combination of Java and JavaScript. Phase II of the HWD redesign commences with the title design and imagemap design. Freeware was dropped as an idea from Hierarchy's Dark Side. Counter service as well as Imagemaps are considered for future offerings. A Prodigy Internet Mirror of Hierarchy's Dark Side is added when web space is provided to ProdNet members. April 12, 1997 Phase II ends with the completion of the title design and imagemaps. The titles now are of a high-resolution quality and is the first major redesign of the titles since HWD was formed. April 19, 1997 Phase III begins of the HWD redesign begins with the testing of Adobe PageMill 2.0 beta on a test redesign of the home page, which will not be posted. Chances are that the HWD pages will be designed using another editor. June 1997 Hierarchy's Web Design closes up shop. July 1997 Hierarchy's Dark Side moves from the WWW to Burgh-com, LLC., as Hierarchy becomes a co-administrator for the server. The site becomes a place to download CGI scripts. The site remains there until 2003. February 14, 1999 An attempt at redesigning the Hierarchy's Dark Side website, which would be renamed "Mak's World" (as this was Hierarchy's new, more used nick for IRC), is made. It does not ever go live. The website is never updated (and there are a few dead links). June, 2000 The man behind Hierarchy gets a job doing web design work for Grand Valley State University's University Communications. He is most responsible for creating the online issue of Horizons and for the GVSU Shakespeare Festival 2000 online guide. He also is responsible for a javascript that had a random image show up every time the main GVSU webpage is accessed. August, 2000 Hierarchy leaves the web design job with University Communications. December 7, 2000 As part of being on the Internet for 5 years and making webpages for almost 4 and a half years, A "4 years of Hierarchy" webpage is made. This is presented as an HTML Creative Project for a Desktop Media class. Early July 2001 Hierarchy's Dark Side of the Universe is taken down, and preliminary work on a new website is begun. It is decided at that time that it would be database driven, using PHP to help dynamically generate the website. This would make updates easier and would allow the site to be up-to-date in both technology as well as content. July 13, 2001 Work starts on converting the website to PHP. July 15, 2001 The PHP version of the website, complete with a new site logo/scheme, navigation panel, as well as a "what's new" panel on the home page is launched. The site is now called simply "Hierarchy's Dark Side". It even features its own domain (hierchy.burghcom.com). All data is stored in a mySQL database, including ramblings and links. September 16, 2001 Due to a crash on the Burghcom server, the site is down for a week. When it comes back, the basic site is intact, but unfortunately all data is lost. New procedures are in place to back up data periodically so that this doesn't happen again. October 31, 2002 The domain heicher.us is purchased for two years, and forwards to hierchy.burghcom.com. April 2, 2003 The site, due to the increasing demands as a systems administrator at ThrillNetwork, as well as the ever-growing split from Burgh-com, is moved to ThrillNetwork. as it becomes part of ThrillNetwork.net, a group of sites that have a close relationship with the main site for content. The domain heicher.us immediately starts forwarding to darkside.thrillnetwork.net. April 11-27, 2003 "Coasters" and "Friends" are designed, coded, and added. Both are the most sophistcated sections of the site in terms of what it takes for some of the features (ride ratings, friend pictures, etc.) to work. "Friends" was launched 2 years after its inception. July 26, 2003 Work begins to "Staticize" some of the URLs. This requires some changes in the way some of the sections (Ramblings, Friends, Coasters) are coded, so as to avoid any extra processing time on behalf of the host's web server (which was to use Apache re-write). Within the PHP code, it is made so a reference to a rambling article (ex. http://darkside.thrillnetwork.net/ramblings.php?id=14) looks more "static" (ex. http://darkside.thrillnetowrk.net/ramblings/14.html). This does not require webpages to be written, and 14.html is just a call to the Ramblings script to bring article #14 out of the database. The benefits to this are that search engines will now spider the pages, and that URLs are easier to type. "Ramblings" is the first to receive the treatment. October 3, 2003 With the URL staticization complete, work begins on making backend improvements, including adding WYSIWYG editors to the forms (for textareas) used to update and add content to this site. June 21-August 26, 2005 Darkside 7 (codename DarksideX), a major redesign of the site, is undertaken. A switch to XHTML 1.0 Transitional (from HTML 4.0) begins, a cleaner look featuring a "chopper life" theme and new features, such as forums, pictures, and "The Blargh" are included. "Friends" is retired as that was hardly updated. It's name is also simplified to "Hierarchy's Darkside". It is also the first version of the site primarily tested in Firefox, which helps ensure standards compliance. July 4, 2006 Hierarchy's Darkside celebrates 10 years of being on the web, much longer than several websites out there. From a one page Geocities page (now part of Yahoo) with graphics provided by the host, to a 100% self-maintained site that is dynamically driven (complete with RSS updates), the site continues to evolve. The future... Who knows at this point? |
|||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
© 1996-2007 Hierarchy's Darkside. All Rights Reserved. |
||||||||||||
