Evolution of a web site...

No, no, no... i'm not trying to start a religious discussion, just trying to have some fun with history! =^)

For those of you who are counting, this is version 8.1 of Mia's Place. It's hard to believe that it has been going this long... but hey, i think Ms. Kirshner's well worth the fun!

Anyway, it had occurred to me that some of the newer fans (as well as some nostalgic older ones!) might get a bang out of seeing the progress and evolution of this site. Please feel free to peek at some of the older designs. Some outside links may be broken, but all internal links should go to the current pages. It would have been ridiculous to post entire websites for each design, so i figured i'd post the most relevant one... the one you would have seen had you discovered this site WAAAY back when.

Sadly, i have been unable to recover the original design and page content. I found the artwork used, but without the text... i just can't bring myself to put it up. Sorry about that.

If i seem like an uber-dork in some of the writing on these pages, please remember that i was once a young college student who would occasionally fantasize about someday meeting Ms. Kirshner. The idea of taking her to a hockey game came much later! =^)

Enjoy!

Version 7.0

2 January 2003 - 31 December 2003

This is the design that probably didn't live as long as it deserved to. I brightened the site up after having a black background for so long, added some fun curves to the inside pages, and even had a variety of images to greet anyone entering the front door... set to display randomly.

It was a very fun design... and in many ways, i am sad to see it become a part of the site's history. I know i will miss it's vibrant colours.

Does this mean that i'm going to redesign this site on a yearly basis again? I don't know. I was inspired by the '04 design while driving home from work one day, and i had to see if i could do it... even though there are some other projects that i should have been working on instead, including a long overdue fan letter to Ms. Kirshner herself! =^)

However, this design is here now. I have several projects to keep me busy for the time being, as well as real life. So enjoy what's here for now! =^)

Version 6.0

27 July 2000 - 1 January 2003

A brave, new world. With this relaunch i fell in love with maintaining a website all over again. I finally had so many photos i had to break the gallery up. Had made some friends online who were able to provide ideas and opinions, and even more photos... and then there was eBay. I have no idea just how many auctions Jettlag and myself bid each other up on, but between us the Mia memorabilia was very, very valuable!

I think he won most of them tho'! Deeper pockets, i guess. =^) I guess that's to be expected, after all, i am in journalism...

This was also the longest running design to date. I'd like to say that was solely because it was really, really cool... but in all honesty it was because it took over a year to create the design currently delivering your Mia content to you. The forum wasn't added until August of 2000, but i think it has helped more than anything to create a buzz regarding our favourite actress!

It is still a gorgeous design, but it was time to move on and try new things. After all, change is good!

Version 5.0

29 January 1999 - 27 July 2000

Yikes, another website inspired by a photo! While i think the photo is great (very sexy!), a lot of people still think i was too racy by using it for the front page of the website.

All i could think about was how "weird" that was. I had just moved to Kansas from Wyoming... the culture shock left me numb for a couple of years after!

Maybe it was too racy, i don't know... the visitors didn't seem to complain. While i loved the photo, this design was the first one i really got tired of. Going from college-life to real-life didn't help resolve that problem either. This was the design that really saw pictures of Mia take off!

Version 4.2

19 May 1998 - 29 January 1999

Uber-dork alert!! This design actually had two variations... and i wrestled with which one i was going to display here for some time. I finally settled on the subtle grey one.

I'm not sure why, but this is one of my favourite designs of all time. It was a first for me in several elements of web design, and it taught me a lot. In fact i think this one taught me that the browser wars suck! =^)

Since i was on a college network, and had no idea how much traffic i was getting (still don't know if it was a lot or a little)... well, the images tended to get a little on the "heavy" side.

Oh, and the alert was because i actually used the word "love" on this one... while i truly admire Ms. Kirshner, and i love her work, i can only hope that maybe, maybe someday i can have the chance to "fall".

Ok, guess i'm still an uber-dork! =^)

Version 3.0

20 November 1997 - 19 May 1998

Woo hoo! My love affair with yellow! Funny thing is, i still stick this shade of yellow in wherever i can... should i be worried that i like pastel yellow? Nah, yellow's supposed to be a happy colour.

Besides, it matched well with the very new photo of Mia from Movieline that was actually the inspiration for this website. As you may have noticed, this photo is a fave of mine (well, duh! it dominates almost half of the designs... you don't need to hit me with a brick! =^)

I think this was the photo that made me think, "Wow! Mia has a really cute nose!" Sorry, i'm a nose guy! Actually i was going to say that this is when i found out Mia's eyes are blue!

Also, with the release of Crow: City of Angels, Anna Karenina (i SOO want to see you ice skate again!), and Mad City... photos started to pop up here and there. For a while, i think i had a stretch without hearing "you have a webpage dedicated to who?"

What can i say? I like watching the li'l known films... and my li'l known actresses too! =^)

Incidentally, this site went live one short week after my first confirmation that Ms. Kirshner had seen it.

Version 2.0

11 April 1997 - 20 November 1997

Web page that sucks alert! =^) Ok, considering that i wasn't very good at the whole design thing and was using a very, very basic (but free!) graphics editor the site really isn't *that* bad!

So what if rainbow-coloured rules and off topic pictures of one's car (yes, that's my car... yes, i still have it) don't really mesh with the design? How many people were on the internet in 1997? How many would stumble onto this page? I remember how totally frustrating it was trying to get this site off the ground, because one couldn't just search infoseek (search engine of choice back in the day) and get images of Mia. I had four, and i scanned them in from either Movieline magazine or the inserts from the Exotica soundtrack... they were all i had!!

I don't even think i knew that Ms. Kirshner had those gorgeous blue eyes yet when this one was live. On my 13" screen watching Exotica on rented VHS, which while it was a fantastic movie... the dark lighting really, really obscured little details like eye colour, i was totally oblivious! So, in some ways, the logarhythmic growth of the internet has proven helpful in many ways.

Besides, if it wasn't for the internet... we probably wouldn't even know that unseen gems like Admiring Melora, Cowboys and Angels, or Party Monster even exist!!