The History of TheBlackzone

This is a very early version of my website. It was unnamed and has been set up at the end of 1997/beginning of 1998. The backup this screenshot was taken from dates "January 3rd, 1998". The site was unnamed and linked to two sub-parts: "Quake", related to the first-person shooter and "RISC OS", related to the operating system RISC OS (these pages were actually called "German Acorn Programmer Pages".

The pages evolved. This version was present on the web from January 1998 until August 1998. It was still without a name, just showing "Welcome to my homepage". The content of the site had been extended with pages that contained a link collection, some jokes and funny stuff, some information about the Internet and finally a page that presents my collection of "ancient computers".

Fanfare! Here comes the first "named" version, called the "Blackzone". It was up in September 1998 only for a short time (about two months). It had basically the same content as the last version, but also a news section. It was also the first page that had some self-made graphics.

This one was a slight variation of the last one. It was online from November 1998 until January 1999. Still with pretty much the same content but re-worked layout and the first real Blackzone logo.

This one, from February 1999 until May 1999, has been improved in its appearance. Complex, machine-style graphics were dominant. I tried to imitate some of the big computer-gaming sites as my own site had become something like a "news site" on computer gaming and computers in general by that time.

From May 1999 until September 1999 I used this version. It featured medieval style graphics and a new layout. It still had very frequent updates on topics like computing and Quake (the game). Core content has been the same like last versions.

Here's a short intermezzo that appeared for a short time in August 1999. A friend of mine had his own server hardware running and offered me unlimited web space. I was about to leave my provider and put all pages on his server. Later, severe security issues with his server came to light and the change has never been made.

From September 1999 until June 2000 this totally reworked version has been placed on the web. I have spent a lot of effort in the machine-style graphics (which was partly animated). Content has changed as the news-updates got less frequently and the rest of the site changed more and more to a typical personal homepage.

This is a shot of a sub-part of my site, dedicated to my Quake activities. It is a version that has been placed there in December 1999.

In January 2000 the Quake part was taken off the main site and made into a site of its own. It was a test. My provider didn't allow me to have server side scripting by that time, so I took the Quake pages and let them host by another (free) provider which had offered scripting. It had been there for a while (until June 2000) before the Quake part has been re-integrated into the main site again.

Also in January 2000, I created this version of my RISC OS pages. It had never been online and remained just a test. The main focus was to create a page that is accessible without problems for the pretty outdated web browsers of the RISC OS operating system.

From March until June 2000 there was an extreme cut in appearance. This version was cut down to very minimalist HTML. It was a test to see how to make it without any fancy graphics and layout tricks.

In June 2000 my Quake pages were re-integrated into the main site and received this new layout.

From June to December 2000 this version was present. The layout was similar to its predecessor but the graphical appearance had changed notably. It was the first time when I used CSS.

This was a test site I created in October 2000. My provider told me that my ever growing site was out of the limits that were allowed for private homepages and told me to reduce the amount of storage space used. I planned to change provider and re-launch the site under a new name, which was "The Void".

Here's a shot from a test that has never been online. I created this layout early December 2000. It already contained texts in English (all versions before have been in German). The original site has been translated to English shortly after this version.

This page has been luckily never used. In December 2000 I was almost forced to close the site because of the web space limits the provider imposed. The "Good bye" page was already created and ready to be displayed. But negotiations with the provider were successful and I was able to continue.

In January 2001 this version with a metal-style graphics replaced the old one.

It has been slightly changed in the internal layout and I kept it until February 2002.

Early 2002 I tried something new. This here is a test version that has never been up.

This version was in use from February 2002 until April 2002, for only two months. It is basically the same as the previous with only slightly changes to the layout. It now used the whole browser window size.

Early April 2002 I once again made a medieval style layout. It has been on the web for about four months.

The final version of the "Blackzone". It came to light in August 2002 and was there until September 2003. After that I closed my site to make significant changes. I haven't been present on the web for the last three months of 2003.

After having registered my new domain "zardos.org" I started to test a few styles and layouts in January 2004. Here's the first one (that has never been used).

This one, also January 2004, took me quite a while to create. After I had finished it, I discarded it. I don't know why. But somehow it wasn't what I wanted.

Yet another test, dated back January 2004. Also a version that has never been used.

In mid January 2004 I had put up an interim page, linking to my webcam and to a feedback form.

Finally in March 2004 the first real pages of zardos.org came to live. This first version was yet again complete in German.

In July 2004 I did some minor changes to the logo and title bar, was well as to the colors. Changed backed to English.

In January 2005 I re-worked the complete layout. Still kept quite simple, it differs significantly from its predecessor.

On March 31st, 2005 I started yet again with something Quake-style. This industrial-rust design was a theme I created for the Pivot weblog.

Only two months later I switched yet again. I found the last design too dark and created something more brigther and lighter. From July 3rd, 2005 this has been the active layout.

On June 1st, 2006 this design has gone public. I tried to find a balance between a dark and light scheme, combined with a warm look.

In 2007 I was very short of time and was about to abandon my website. First, it was stripped down to only a single page with contact data. This shot dates back to September 2007, and was taken shortly before I completely gave up zardos.org.

After almost a year without homepage, I decided in August 2008 to create one again. I moved to the domain theblackzone.net and put a placeholder page there. Then, in October 2008, I finally brought it to live with this design.

This is how the site looks after a major redesign in May 2009. While maintaining a dark design, I added some nice colors that actually made it look less dull. This design went online on May 31st, 2009.