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Pre-launch Design
Launch Design
Version 2
Version 2.5
Version 3
Version 4
Version 5 - GameSpy Design
Version 5.5 - TWW GameSpy Design
Version 6
Complete
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In the summer of 2001, I was in Spain on holiday,
missing my computer. I was begging to do something on it - anything, perhaps
just to play around with Photoshop or Frontpage. I'd come off a string of failed
websites which I'd opened less out of passion and more out of curiosity, about
the internet, and about adding to it. So, ideas started flying around and
suddenly I identified the one games series I had a clear love for - The Legend
of Zelda.
The moment I had access to my PC, I was in Photoshop throwing things around. For
a week, I did nothing but create Zelda Elements, and that next Saturday, I had a
domain with hosting ready for the site. The first day, the newly-opened
zeldaelements.com received 50 visitors, which was a huge shock after considering
websites with 10 visitors a day a success. After the visitor count climbed to
100, I decided to redesign the site.
When the site grew to 200 visitors, I redesigned the site again, and again, and
again, until I reached a design that I thought truly represented the type of
site I wanted Zelda Elements to be. All this time, content had been growing
faster than the rate of visitors, and a new design needed to be able to house
this. Version 4, which lasted a whole 8 months, will be remembered by many early
fans as the defining Zelda Elements design.
By this time, the site had grown to around 400 pages, and it covered every
single Zelda game ever made.
It was using this design that the site hit its stride. We opened our first
forums, and moved from shaky GameSquad servers to the fantastic home of GameSpy,
which saw daily visitor counts rise to around 1300 a day. The site often
outranked even zelda.com in the Google search for "zelda".
However, 6 months down the line and changes needed to be made. The quality of
the site needed upping, and we needed to expand. For two straight months, a new
design was made that would be easier to navigate, would load quicker, look
better, and fit in with the other GameSpy websites while keeping the classic
"Zelda" feel. After every page was remastered, rearranged and rewritten, we
added loads of new sections, information and images. Version 5, the GameSpy
design, was launched on Zelda Element's first birthday - what we liked to call "ZE
Day".
While everyone liked the new design, some were unsure whether they liked it more
than Version 4. In retrospect, it was clear that the GameSpy design was
technically better than 4, but it didn't carry the same level of Zelda
romanticism. In the run-up to the American release of The Wind Waker, the site
was looking decidedly "Majora's Mask", so we went about cleaning it up and
injecting a bit of vibrancy to the design. While we succeeded, the redesign was
almost as controversial as the cel-shaded look of the new Zelda game (though
obviously on not quite the same scale!), but at the time of The Wind Waker's
release the site was receiving around 5500 visitors a day.
For some time, the site was updated every day, and thanks to staff member Evil
Sponge, we provided the best coverage of The Wind Waker. All was going
fantastically, until I got my hands on the game...
After covering the game in enthusiastic detail (Evil Sponge really liked the
game), many were surprised at the tone of my own commentary. My enthusiasm
levels had dropped to an all-time low and the site went through a long hiatus
over the summer of 2003. The site was considered frozen, until I decided to
complete the site and send the site off with style.
A vastly improved design, Version 6, was released in Christmas 2003 with content
filling in all the gaps we could find. The navigation took another step towards
perfection, with drop-down menus reducing clutter. Updates continued
sporadically for five months, until it was time for me to leave for university.
Knowing I wouldn't have any time to maintain a site as big as this, I completely
shut the site down.
At some point I offered content to someone, I can't remember who, so I put the
site back online. And I left it. And left it. And the dead site was getting 2000
visitors a day, accumulating profit for GameSpy.
Now, I love GameSpy, but I had plans to open a new site, and I needed visitors. So I moved it
Zelda Elements to a new server as a subdomain to the new site, and benefited.
Without GameSpy's backing, or the momentum of regular visitors, Zelda Elements
plummeted, so I had an idea. Make Zelda Elements the best it possibly can be!
So I did, and the Complete design was the product.
Also, while making the new design, something fantastic (and really, really lucky) happened. I began to really
love Zelda
again, and I wanted this new site to reflect that. It would be a shrine, a
poem, a dedication and much more, so I took absolute pride in rewriting every
single page, putting intricate details into the graphics, and filling out the
content as best I possibly could. And better, there's more to do. I have
articles in mind, features, and at last, a momentum and a desire to provide the
best Zelda coverage possible.
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