The evolution:
LaurenJackson.org has had its fair share of different looks over the years, so
this section has been created to catalogue the changing ways of LJorg. You
also get a chance to see what I was - or wasn't - thinking at the time of the
various layouts. This is by no means a formal history of the site, just a few
thoughts.
New to the site? Check out the layouts you missed out on!
Loyal visitor? Bring back any memories?
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v1: The
Green Original Pre-Publication The original design was developed in September/October of 2000. It was never used as a proper layout, except for one unveiling on October 22, 2003 for shock value for a few hours. Opals inspiration - hence the green and yellow 'v' shape for the header ala the bodysuits. Gradients appeared horrible with low colour settings and was rather painful on the eyes after a while. Plus I didn't know how to set an image as a background at this time. Don't laugh, I was young and didn't plan on actually using it. |
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v2: First Layout Oct 22, 2000 - Mid 2001 Established on October 22, 2000. This was essentially the first layout displayed on the site. If you used anything less than 1024x768, you had trouble viewing this layout. A scrolling marquee was impressive back then. From what I can gather, Lauren first saw the site on April 3, 2001, or thereabouts - before she left for the WNBA. I didn't actually take a screenshot at the time so that's why the content is exactly the same as the next version (it was, however, largely similar). |
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v3: Big Header Mid 2001 - Late 2001 Not too different to v2, but this marked the movement away from the pointed 'v' header. The blockish look moved in - obviously struggling to find an identity and hiding behind an oversized header Still wasn't friendly to anthing less than 1024x768. The index page soon became overcrowded with too much junk and something had to be changed. |
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v4: Getting
Structure Late 2001 - Mid 2002 (?) At last! People with 800x600 screens could see the site properly. By the looks of things, it only had about 15 pages but with LJ finding her feet in the WNBA, growth was beckoning. The header changed every now and then to freshen the look. I discovered feathering and glows in Photoshop - very tragic. Looking back at it now, the layout is rather disturbing with the feeble scaffold seemingly propping up the right side of the page. |
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v5: Stability Mid 2002 (?) - Feb 21, 2004 Stuck on blue! I was definitely in a blue phase for several years. This layout stayed for a lengthy period of time, again only the header being changed once in a while, and is probably the look most of you became familiar with. The vertical right banner was introduced, featuring the roster of Lauren's active team - whether that be the Caps, Storm, or Opals. I was actually experimenting with new designs in 2003, but didn't come up with one that sat well. Site size: 27 sections. |
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v6: The Flop Feb 22, 2004 - April 17, 2004 The v5 layout had served its term and I was beginning to escape from my blue phase. The blue was changed to a different hue with a purple tinge, gold and white were also added. The header for this layout actually started black and purple, but was inverted to shed more light. This look only last a couple of months before it really bugged me. I was even counting down the days until the layout was removed (4 days left when this screenshot was taken). Site size: 28 sections and 50 pages. |
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v7.0: Refined April 18, 2004 - May 22, 2005 (v7.1 inclusive) Another year of blue, but this blue felt right. I still have a tremendous soft spot for this layout and I'm very tempted to dip it in charcoal and bring it back. We shall see. I tried to do too much with the previous layout so the idea with this version followed the KISS method - Keep It Simple Stupid. Colour palette of a couple blues, gold and white; simple heading; clean lines. In 2001 it was a scrolling marquee. In 2004-05, animated gifs were the go - although most of you didn't notice the top image of LJ fading in and out of colour until I pointed it out, but that's cool, I prefer subtlety. |
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v8.0: Charcoal May 23, 2005 - present (v8.1-2 inclusive) The blue phase finally ended and now we're into the charcoal phase. I am immensely monochromatic, preferring to only use spot colour, and definitely gravitate towards darker tones. Inspired by the photo shown in v7.1 and the Storm warmup top, a new colour scheme was developed. Predominantly charcoal, highlights of dark teal and yellow/gold provided a new personality. No scrolling marquee, no animated gifs - now it's interchangeable headers. With four or five different banner headers in rotation, one is chosen at random per page load. |
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