PixiMyst: A Brief History

Judging by what you see today, it is hard to imagine what PixiMyst was like at its point of origin. Indeed, it has gone through many changes since then; both in structure and in purpose. It has survived through times of computer crashes and long absences, and made come-backs with elements that have appeared and faded with what experiences only a sense of nostalsia can re-open... Those who have known me for the longest amount of time can say that I view the whole thing as a learning process, continually re-forming itself to make better of what it ever had been prior!

It all started, perhaps, long before PixiMyst -- during the years of RCKC. Shortly after I was introduced into the world of petz, I had a stubborn inclination to create a website for it - seeing how I was marveling at those already in exsistance. The only problem: Web-page design (at the time) was as about as familiar to me as Peruvian rituals are to the people of Scandinavia. To be quite frank, all my attempts at creating the preferred vision started out simply moving cheesy graphics around on a WYSIWYG editor (Geocities); creating what I then called "Rainbow Crystal Kennelz and Cattery." It was poor, to the relative understanding that I had little knowledge as to the placement and size of many of the graphics I created -- but it was cute, all the same.

I was such a new chip on the block (in fact), that up to that point, I only had ever known around 14 petz to have entered my game... ever!

Now, around the later part of 2003, I had been crusing around the PC - taking particular interest in a website called Cheetah Kennelz (this being when it had a larger visitor ratio). One of the things that was going on was known as a "Story Contest" as a Win-a-Site idea. As an added bonus, the winner of this contest would recieve a unique Border Collie hexie -- Cheetah-style! Needless to say, my entry carried the gold and in February of 2004, PixiMyst was born!

However, I wasn't out of the water just as of yet. Even though there was an unbelievable serge of joy running all about my outlook online, it still didn't change the fact that I still didn't know HTML that well. In fact, my first few attempts to work with this "new" medium turned sour. Nearly half the site was completely messed up - forget trying to fix it... I would have to start all over again. But this time, I did my homework!

As I progressed with my skills, the layouts became more and more advanced - as I learned how to manipulate iframes and work with different types of navigational menus. The first few layouts mark tribute to this aspect. (I've lost many of the screen shots for most of the early / never released layouts... A couple of "mock" versons are displayed below). With the changes at hand came also the progression of material displayed on the site. At first, it featured almost 100% of the common aspects found throughout a typical page in the Petz genre. Indeed, it was built that way. But, as I became more established within the PC, I felt the need to branch off a little.

So help us, the concept of "pixi-dust" was introduced. It is actually quite humorous to go back and read old scripts from old conversations I used to have on taggies -- noting how much the word "pixi-" came up is absolutely histerical. In Layout #7 (The Tenderness of Spring), I had made an FAQ page that explained it all. Perhaps if I ever uncover the link, I'll post it for you to read. ;)

Through all of its growth, it's fair to mention that PixiMyst has also experienced long periods of hiatus. I am, in fact, quite notorious for leaving the site down while I go on a one-month re-modeling spree. The longest transition in the books, however, started back in June/July of 2005 and lasted clean through November of the following year!

It was all for a noble cause, though. As it turns out, I managed to save up enough to buy my own domain name - marking the re-opening as a "first" in many respects. For one, not only was I going to throw out the traditional look and feel of the average site, but I was going to expand it - reaching for that extra mile. It ended up as another one of my own "simple complexities" - providing for the flexability to continually grow with time. Not to mention lessening the hiatus ratio! ((*hopefully*))



Below I have compiled a gallery of all the screen shots I could find of past layouts. Commentary now included! Enjoy >^^<

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Snapshots ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version 1: Untitled Alright, so this is the only "mock" screen shot on display - but it is fairly accurate. Wuvy is star in this one ;) Version 4: Nature's Precious Gifts After some trials and tribulations, I finally got something unique! The background was a combination of two pictues that I drooled over for a while. This is the first layout where little pixi-pups are flying around in the background. Version 6.1: Dreams Untold This one had a charming splash entrance that still captivates me... While soft and beautiful, I never really liked the way it all fit together (the picture took a while to load on slower computers) and was very apprehensive about it at the time. Version 7: The Tenderness of Spring Ah, interesting style change here, I started experimenting a lot with tables and frame effects. Though I wasn't overly thrilled that the whole piece never fit in one screen, I loved the fading effect I was able to work into various areas. This was the last layout made before the "humungo hiatus" in 2005/2006. Version 8: Quiltwork November 2006 - December 31, 2006 Opening day layout! (a.k.a - Quilt theme #1) This one was very functional from an HTML perspective, though it did have its limitations (i.e. - because the menu was on every page, to change anything about it I would have to spend more time than I wanted to going around individually and uploading them ONE-AT-A-TIME >O_o<) I didn't really like how the purple/tan combination showed up on some monitors - so when it was time for a layout change, I was sure to choose my color scheme carefully :) Version 9: Winter Summerland January 1, 2007 - June 15, 2007 Oi - I think my screen-shots are getting larger XD Wow. What a layout! I loved this one so much, partly because it was so simple and yet pulled off the scrapbook-y theme I was after -- which is the main reason for its six-and-a-half-month run. Interestingly enough, it was by far one of my quickest changes in terms of actual coding time. Of course, there were some things I just couldn't bare to get rid of after the previous layout; like the flowers, and the scrollbar - the likes of which was ment to be altered, but never ended up having anything done to it until Layout 10. Version 10: The Joy of Cloudwatching June 16, 2007 - December 12, 2007 Hmm, like I said -- larger screenshot :) Anywho, here be another fantastic layout that I figured I never wanted to change <333 I had decided to carry over the blue theme, since it had worked so well before, but altered it so that it was much brighter! The layout featured clouds that moved either left or right depending on the size of the viewing window, as well as a top graphic bar that was meant to change every time you came to the site. Unfortunately, the other pictures never materialized ;) One thing I didn't care for in this particular layout was the sliding head piece that read "PixiMyst" -- which was in the wrong spot of the screen both in Firefox & widescreen moniters. Version 11: At Christmas Time December 13, 2007 - February 16, 2008 Alrighty - widescreen moniter here >^^< Anywho, I was really happy when I finished this one; REALLY happy ;) A lot of things just seemed to work with this particular one. The alignment was MUCH better across the board, I actually got some 'petz' back in the design, and was just a smashing hit overall! It all started one day when I had been working on pixel artwork in PSP when this horse jumped out of my head! Knowing that PixiMyst needed a remodel, I decided that it would be neat to bring out one of the PixiMyst horses again, since the last time they made an actual appearance was around 2005. Eh, why not? Roman Dweller & Shlkali also were featured riding along in the sleigh :) So what's not to like? Well, for one thing -- it's seasonal. Going into it, I designed it somewhat nonchalantly so that it wasn't TOO Xmas-y. This way I could give myself a little buffer when it came time to re-design. Looks like it worked -- It survived Valentine's Day alright >^^;< Version 12: Sweet Summmer of Youth February 17, 2008 - June 27, 2008 Can I get a consistant screen shot? Why no, I don't believe I can ;) This layout was inspired by a poem I had written about dreaming about what it was like to be a child again, virgin to the world and all of its troubles... ah yes, and then there are the puppies =D Both Huskalin & Prairie were featured in this one. As far as running time goes, it was rather short compared to what I had originally expected. I wanted to remodel again in late fall or early winter, but I've since learned that inspiration has a unique way of springing up most unexpectedly... either that or my muse is being a giant tease >^^;<