The History of Pumpkin-King.com

I’m a big proponent of archiving Web pages and I love what is being done with the Wayback Machine at archive.org. I actually stumbled upon the previous versions of Pumpkin-King.com a few years ago while I was digging through some old files on my hard drive. I was working on version six of the site at that time (which is now known as the final non-Web standards, flash-heavy version of the site) and was so amused by my findings that I added a ‘history’ section to that version that showed some of the old projects I had uncovered. I left those archived sites out of version 7, but decided to bring them back for the latest edition of the site.

Obviously, like with any archived versions of a site, some of the links and such will not work anymore, but those links are not what this exercise is about anyway. This is all about looking back at the past versions of the site with sometimes fond, and often embarrassing, reminiscence.

Version 1 – circa 1999 The very first version of the site, which was largely a product of me trying to teach myself Flash and being determined to abuse that knowledge as much as possible on this and subsequent versions of the site (warning: I have become very cynical in regards to Flash and its overuse, especially concerning previous version of my site – be forewarned, ranting may follow).  If nothing else, this version is amusing for the really young pictures of me that I wrapped into the design. Seriously, why did I think my mug needed to be a central aspect of the site design and why the hell was I wearing a gas mask?

Version 2 – circa 2000 Holy animated intro!  As part of my initiative to abuse Flash as much as possible (in my defense, it was 2000 and I was not alone in this by any means), I decided to add an animated intro to my site – a REALLY long animated intro with no ‘skip’ button mind you. My apologies in advance. Also of note is the fact that my narcissism graduated on this version from a gas mask-wearing picture of myself to some intro text that did little more than discuss how awesome I was. Please disregard my Year 2000 ego – I can offer no real excuse.

Version 3 – circa 2002 Well, at least I lost the animated intro on this one!  I remember being really excited at the concept of letting users change the ‘theme’ of the site when I was working on this design. To that end, I spent more time designing each of these themes and writing an explanation for each one that I did on actually designing the overall interface or any kind of user experience. Thankfully, this version was short-lived and was only online for a few months.

Version 4 – circa 2002 This version built on the ‘themes’ concept introduced in the previous edition, but tried to do so in a more realized interface at the very least. This version stayed online for a few years, in large part because shortly after this version was launched, I began working at MontegoNet designing touchscreen kiosk user interfaces (a job I would hold for the next six years). That position meant I wasn’t working on the Web much anymore, so new additions to my portfolio became few and far between.

Version 5 – circa 2004 The animated intro (or in this case, ‘interface build’) was back, but at least I included a ‘skip’ option this time. This version was probably the first version where I started taking my work and my portfolio seriously, using the site for more than just a placeholder for my resume and a few project examples. This edition was actually online longer than any version of Pumpkin-King.com before or since – over 3 years. I was still heavily enamored with Flash at this time (and would be for one more version), so be prepared for animated silliness.

Version 6 – circa 2007 This is final Flash version of the site and although it includes typically embarrassing Flash elements, some of the visuals I used on this version made it to the next version of the site and some still remain today (the curvy lines you see at the top of the site in the masthead). Although this version was online for just about a year, and although I am still embarrassed by the overuse of Flash, overall I am proud of this one. It’s kind of like that somewhat boorish family member whom you truly love, but that you prefer not to be seen out with in public due to their embarrassingly bad behavior.  Yeah, it’s just like that.

Version 7 – circa 2008 And so I was introduced to Web standards and CSS and the wicked beast known as ‘animated Flash intro’ lived no more. In terms of the tone of the design itself, this version had a lot in common with the previous edition, but the approach to the site was completely new. This was the first version of the site that did away with not only Flash, but also with tables for layout, opting instead for a CSS-for-layout approach and an adherence to Web standards. This was also the first version to lose the ‘resume’ portion of the site and the first to include the ‘blog’ as well as frequent posts and updates to the portfolio. It’s no coincidence that these changes coincided with me beginning to do more freelance Web work and moving away from the kiosk interfaces I had been designing for close to six years at that point. As I wrote about previously, the desire to expand on the blog and have the ability to art direct the site at the page level is really what led me to redesign Pumpkin-King.com just over a year after going live with this version. What I learned on this version really help me set the groundwork for the current version of the site.

Version 8 – circa 2009 The third version of the site in three years - you’re on Version 8 right now. If you haven’t already done so, read my synopsis of why I redesigned and what I hope to accomplish with this latest version (other than keeping it intact for more than a year).