Site History
Cold Hands, Warm Cards was launched in July of 2003 at http://www.geocities.com/kellerchik. After learning basic HTML skills from Webmonkey, I studied the HTML of a number of sites I admired, and began a trial-and-error experiment that eventually became the first version of my beloved site. It was created entirely by hand, which might explain why the layout was so simple:
There was more to the site, of course - if I remember correctly, I had a series of buttons to the left of the main paragraph, taking people to what few pages there were back then...mostly a couple of my fanfics and basic Rogue and Gambit info. Sadly, I didn't think to save the actual layout, so I had to turn to the one scrap of HTML that I saved in the very beginning (just in case someone hacked into my site and changed it) to re-create the basics of what it looked like.
All images on the site were scanned into my computer, then altered using whichever version of Adobe Photoshop was around back then. Buttons were obtained from "Holy Cow!! 250,000 Graphics" CD ROMs.
The second version of the site wasn't so different...I just added a repeating tile background:
Again, the above image was re-created using the aforementioned "scrap of HTML." By the time I made a new layout, the site consisted of quite a few sections, so there were a number of buttons that would've appeared to the left of the main paragraph. I also made buttons that matched the layout of each section, which was a tiresome chore, at best. Below is a collection of the buttons that would've been found on the "main" or "home" page.
Again, images on the site were scanned into my computer, then altered using whichever version of Adobe Photoshop was around back then. Backgrounds and buttons were obtained from "Holy Cow!! 250,000 Graphics" CD ROMs.
In March of 2004, I changed the layout using a series of different shades of blue (my favorite color) and arranging information in tables.
I liked this layout a lot, which is one of the reasons it was up for such a long time. I used tables instead of frames because, back then, there were still some browsers that wouldn't support frames, and I didn't want to have to deal with that nonsense. I think the tables served their purpose nicely.
The menu was specifically designed to allow a user easy access to (almost) all the pages available to them...something that wasn't possible in my previous layouts. I've never been a big fan of having to click on the "back" button every five seconds.
I also added the quote at the top of the page and started using an avatar to decorate my updates - something that was very "in" at the time - using a scanned picture of Jean Grey as "Desolation" from Uncanny X-Men #382.
Once again, this layout was coded in HTML entirely by hand and images on the site were scanned into my computer, then altered using whichever version of Adobe Photoshop was around back then...most recently I've used Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0. Any images that were taken from another source were noted as such.
The current, and fourth, layout was almost an accident. After reading several articles about current problems with HTML, and how it would probably be obsolete in the near future, I decided that I better update my code. I did some research before concluding that XHTML (similar to HTML but cleaner and more precise) was the way to go. In the process of learning XHTML, I realized that I needed to learn CSS as well (which I did).
My teacher in the fine arts of XHTML and CSS was W3Schools Online Web Tutorials, a resource I continue to use as I try new things. The site allowed me to play with sample code in order to get the desired results, which was very helpful. And so, once again, I began to tinker with code and explore the code of other sites in an attempt to master my skills.
In the process of practicing, I decided that if I was going to have to change all my code, I might as well change the layout as well. I began by making a new, more sophisticated title banner, then built the site from there. I also purchased a domain name from GeoCities in order to allow me the space and flexibility to expand my site and create new ones. The main domain http://ariadneslabyrinth.net was approved July 4, 2007, and work on the Cold Hands, Warm Cards subdomain http://chwc.ariadneslabyrinth.net began that day.
*Note - despite many attempts to create a drop-down menu that was to my liking, I eventually gave up on the idea...sadly, this means on once again having to rely on the "back" button. I find solace in the fact that many of the sites I admire have similar systems. Perhaps sometime in the future, I'll figure out how to change this minor annoyance.
This layout was created entirely by hand. I have personally changed all the original HTML code into XHTML or CSS myself. It was a difficult, time consuming experience that has nearly eaten my entire summer vacation. But I am immensely proud of the results. Images appearing on the site were scanned into my computer, then altered using whichever version of Adobe Photoshop was around when they were created. New images were altered using Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0. Any images that were taken from another source were noted as such.
This version was open to the public August 19, 2007.