History of the Dark Realm
Since it's opening in February, 2000, this site has gone through massive changes. Some changes were not as massive as others, but even so, all of the changes have turned this site into what it is today. This page contains information about the general history of the site and the past layouts that this site has gone through. There is a picture if one was taken. As you will see, this site has gone a long way from it's "grand" opening, and even still it continues to improve. When this site was created: The Dark Realm was created on February 14, 2000 as a way for me to get rid of all of the happy feelings that come with Valentine's Day. It's kind of ironic if you think about it because the DARK Realm was created on a day of happiness and joy. Well, I hate both of those things and much more, so I decided to create this site on that day. Why it was created: The Dark Realm was mainly created as a way for me to spend some time with my computer. I also chose to make it a Sailor Moon site because I wanted to show others the wonders that I saw in the Sailor Moon series. Originally, this site was a general information site, and I had no fanfiction on it what so ever. Shoot, I didn't even know what fanfiction was at the time. I also created this site as a way for me to explore the Sailor Moon world. Who created it: This site was created by me and only me. The site started out simpe, so no one else needed to work on it. However, as the site started to grow larger, Kaichuu came in, and she started helping with the humor section of this site. At the time, however, KAichuu was known as MoonBunny, and I was known as Sailor Sun. (Sailor SunnyBunny *smacks Kaichuu with frying pan*) Those characters are dead, and they will never come back, and I am glad about that. Meian also started to help around the site, although he didn't really create anything. Shigo soon popped into the picture, and now we are the happy family that we are today. I do have plans to add one more member to our "happy" and "functional" family. *dodges as Kaichuu races around the room throwing duct tape at Meian and Shigo* What was used to create it: In the beginning, there was Tripod. Not so far after the beginning, there was Tripod PageBuilder. After Tripod PageBuilder, there came Trellix, which is what I used for versions two and three. This builder taught me so many things, and I am so glad that I used it. However, this site began to expand, and new measures had to be taken. This site was then converted into HTML, and now so many more things can be done with it. As for actual tools that were used to make this site, there were the ones that I just listed, Notepad, Painter, and Paint. What has changed: Essentially, the site as a whole changed when the drastic change was made from Trellix to HTML. In the beginning, this site was not otaku related, and now it is only that. The creation of the fanfiction made this entire site change, and I am so glad that it changed. This way, I feel like the site is open to anything, and it does not have to be restricted. The only real thing that has remained since version 2.0 is the humor section, which is Kaichuu's pride and joy. Now, on to the layouts... February 14, 2000 - Version 1.0 This layout was so plain and useless that it wasn't even a layout. The background was black (BIG surprise), and the text was a light shade of green. (ouch) I had a paragraph about the Sailor Moon show as well as small photo album with low quality pictures. I had no information on the outer senshi since I knew almost nothing about them. Hey, at least I didn't have incorrect information on them! This version lasted for about a month or two before I found something that would change the site for the next three versions. April/May, 2001 - Version 2.0 This version could now be called a layout. It was very simple, but I have to say that the navigation sucked. The only way to navigate through the pages was if you went back to the main page and clicked on the links from there. The title was at the top of the page in red, and under that was a line-break (?) image of one senshi, which was changed once a week. Below that there was a *very* large group image of the senshi which was changed every so often. Below that was the navigational menu, which was poorly laid out because the menu would move all over the place because I used   spaces instead of tables or something more useful. Each page was "hosted" by a different character, and each page also had a picture of the character. The pages were laid out simply and just had a left-aligned title, a picture, and an intro paragraph.
Sometime in late 2001 - Version 3.0
This was, and still is, my favorite of all the layouts. It had a top and a left frame which reloaded everytime a link was clicked (thanks to Trellix), and it brought some color to the site. The three navigational links at the top were "Lower Level," "Middle Level," and "Upper Level." Each section had about four pages, and like the last layout, they were "hosted" by a different senshi. The same layout for each page remained the same, only now the navigation was a whole lot easier. I had everything that a regular Sailor Moon site had, but humor was our pride and joy. Tripod deleted my account when I purchased a new computer, and the copy of the site was too big to transfer from the old computer to the new one, so I started from scratch, but the layout remained the same. After a while, this layout was the first to show signs of this site turning into a fanfiction site. Little by little, the "regular" pages began to disappear and were replaced with new ones about the fanfiction.
Febuary, 2002 - Version 4.0 : Grayscale
This was the first layout that the Dark Realm had when it turned into a complete otaku site. Not a lot of people liked the fact that the only colors were gray and black, but I liked it because it brought out the title of the site, which is "Sailor Moon DARK Realm," not "Sailor Moon Sunny Realm." The only part of this version that wasn't otaku related was the humor page, but visitors liked it just the same. This layout was the first to be coded using pure HTML, and it took me FOREVER to do the entire site. It. Was. Worth. It.
April/May, 2002 - Version 4.5 : [Senshi's name here]
This layout was much the same as version 4.0, which was why it was called version 4.5. I decided to spruce things up by making the top bar the color of one of my otaku senshi, and it was changed every two weeks. The scroll bar as well as the links matched the top frame. The layout that is shown above is Version 4.5 : Phoenix because of the red for Sailor Phoenix. Navigation was very simple, although some people didn't like the fact that all the layout was was a top frame. In this version, as well as in version 4.0, the characters began to develop more and so did the story. The soundtrack changed a bunch of times, but the same idea still remained as well as with a few other pages.
July 30, 2002 - Version 5 : Chibi Troubles
This, as you can see, is the first of all the versions to feature a picture of all of my otaku senshi, as well as the only version to have a splash page. (Version 4.5 had a splash page toward the end of its reign) The soundtrack changed yet once again, and the characters also changed a little bit. The navigation was abstract just like in version 3.0, but this time I used JavaScript to help the visitors along.
March 9, 2003 - Version 6 : Circular
In an effort to celebrate the season of Lent, I made a layout for this site that was purple, which is the color of the season. Since I had no images that would work for a new layout, I made a design in Paint that was similar to the one from my blog at the time. Instead of the navigation being on the right like the previous layout, this time the navigation was below the main frame. The same JavaScript that was used in the previous layout was used in this one as well. The one new thing that I added to this layout was the option to have music play while looking through the site. I did this because I am a firm believer that music sets the mood for a lot of things, and I just so happened to find the right piece of music.
July 7, 2003 - Version 6.5 : Cryptic Summer
Although this layout looks a bit different than the previous one, they are essentially the same. The exact same JavaScript was used, and I kept the splash page almost the same as well. I kept the music, and it will stay for a while because the music just fits. I had been waiting for Kaichuu to work on a picture so that I could use it in the layout, but since that didn't work, I just sat down and made this. I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out where to fit the scroll bar, but it worked itself out in the end. (Don't ask how that happened.)
August 16, 2003 - Version 7.0 : Blue Waves
I noticed a pattern with the colors of the layouts, so I decided to keep up with that pattern. This design was inspired by the upcoming installment of the fanfiction. I had officially completed the fanfiction of July 5, and I decided that since there would be two fanfictions here, then I needed a layout that could display both of them nicely. I chose blue because the previous layouts had taken the Constellations's own colors. So, blue was next in line for Sailor Aquaria. With this layout, the two sections could be displayed properly, but I had to make a bunch of new pages.
February 14, 2004 - Version 8.0 : Connection
Although the next layout in line was supposed to be red for Sailor Phoenix, I decided to do a "joint layout" for the Dark Realm's fourth anniversary. I added in a new rollover script, which I had been meaning to use for quite some time. This layout only required four new pages- one for each link under the main frame. This is a more condensed way of navigation for the two stories, as opposed to the one showed in Version 7.
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