History
In Internet terms, you could almost consider this page a living fossil, and like a fossil it does have a lot of history. This site started in 1996 as a simple Sailor Moon page (yes that's right, Sailor Moon), using the Geocities automatic page builder. After trying to figure out the entire Internet thing I eventually decided that I was ambitious enough to have a main page, a page about the good guys and bad guys in Sailor Moon. That's a total of 3 pages with a few pictures here and there.
Around this time I discovered that Comic Junction (in Fargo, ND) actually rented anime. And from there I went totally crazy watching anime (rather cheaply). I had also been getting fed up with the people associated with Sailor Moon, so I moved Sailor Moon to a sub-section and re-titled my web page: "Archen's Anime Page". While this title isn't as 'cool' as most page titles out there, back in 97 all pages were named "Bob's Xena page", or "Cindy's Ranma Shrine". For a while I tried to come up with more artistic page names, but then I'm thinking "Yeah, who am I kidding? I'm not that artistic." I just call sub pages Archen's {blah blah} page too now.
I guess you could say that if I had a hobby, mine would be making web pages about anime. Why all about anime? That's what my mom used to ask me all the time. Sure I have other interests, but in the end anime is a big interest of mine, and combo pages of unrelated things lack focus and aren't as interesting. If you want to read about anime, you look up anime. If you want to look up garden gnomes, you look up garden gnomes. Having a page about both just isn't needed. Although back when I started making web pages, those kind of Internet homepages were pretty common.
"Anime Pages" like mine don't really seem to exist anymore, and I've seen more than a few morph into blogs, typically not really focusing on anime itself. At one point I had decided to concentrate on anime series that there weren't any resources on (uncommon anime as I put it), however in today's environment even the most popular series have only a handful of actual pages about them. So I've shifted my focus to doing pages on whatever I happen to like. Content is what I focus on more than anything. I also try to put my own spin on pages, and you can usually tell that I wrote it - not just because of my terrible grammar and limited vocabulary either. I know a lot of people don't like that, and would prefer generic information; but I figured if I'm going to offer something, then it should reflect this being a personal page made by me. You will also notice that my page is not all in one format, but consists of many different layouts. When I started making pages it never occurred to me that I could just use one layout and then cut-and-paste the rest. But I've never really liked that approach. I feel that each section should have it's own feel to it. I also tend to make a section, then leave it. In this way I move on and older pages stay the same, which is why some parts of my site look incredibly dated while other parts look much more trendy. So if you consider all that, I guess the goal of my site is to have a personality to it, be about anime, and hopefully be informative and/or entertaining to you the reader. I mean what's the point of having a web page if no one looks at it or doesn't to some extent enjoy looking through it?
Site Information:
Archen's Anime Page Brochure - compact, adorable, fast, educational
Since its start back in 1996, my page has gone through many incarnations and formats. This site has actually moved a few times, although not for years at this point. This site was first located at www.geocities.com/Area51/9235/, back when they gave you 800Kb of space. While free, Geocities had huge problems with going down all the time. From there I went to belldandy.net/archen/ back when my girlfriend used to own that domain. Due to bandwidth issues I decided to move again to scythe.net. I also added a European mirror at archen.animanga.com, I still have no idea why. So why didn't I just get my own domain? Laziness perhaps. Does it matter? Not really when you think about it. You also may see this whole "version number" thing on some of my pages. I have no idea why I started doing that, and it doesn't mean anything. If I updated a layout I increased the version number. I have this weird sense of tradition with continuing to do things, even if it's weird and makes no sense.
If you haven't noticed by now, this has become the official logo of my site. I tried out about 5 different designs, and eventually this is what I came up with. I know, I'm amazed it actually looks as cool as it does too, but I guess even I have my moments.
My page is mostly HTML 4 strict and mostly follows web standards. I have a lot of CSS2 stuff in here too now. Older parts are simple HTML hacks and follow no standards. Firefox has the best results although any standards compliant web browser will do. I currently create pages assuming you have a resolution of at least 1024x768. If you're in the 4% of people with a lower resolution, it's probably still viewable. I create my pages using Paint Shop Pro 5 (yeah, seriously) and Vim.
A look through the past:
So here's a fun thing to look at: What my page has looked like through the years. Keep in mind that the target browser on some these sites was usually Netscape 3 or MSIE 3, so they don't exactly look very exotic. Almost everyone at the time had 800x600 resolution monitor settings which actually made things a bit easier if you ask me. This only shows the index page, which is of course the main page and the only one that has been updated throughout the entire history of my site. Honestly now days I just don't have the steam to be bothering with updating the main page when I feel I'm always so far behind with the rest of my site.
| Years 1-4 | Old Layouts | Other Stuff |
Disclaimers:
- I do not claim any responsibility for seizures in small domesticated animals (such as cats). If your pet has a seizure as a direct result of viewing my page, it is imperative that you not mention my page in any way to the veterinarian, the police, or the FBI.
- If you decide to view this page under the influence of any illicit drugs, I claim absolutely no responsibility for any ideas I may have given you, and take no responsibility for any of your actions thereafter.
- This site will not be held responsible for hearing impairment or loss of hair.
- No responsibility will be held against this site for any domestic disputes, riots, small scale wars, or any unusual military combat tactics inspired from this page
- This site takes no responsibility for Elvis being kidnapped by aliens, and does not accept responsibility for the actions of those aliens.
- This site takes no responsibility for bloody noses, watery eyes, or unusual seizures involving pelvic thrusts
- This site in no way advocates violence towards antelope.
- Viewing his page will not result in gum decay or tooth loss!
- This site takes no responsibility for corrupting hard drives, morals, politicians, daughters, frisbees, sheep, misc. food items, or anything else this site may manage to corrupt.
- This page claims no responsibility for not claiming any responsibility.
