When I first began, I had no idea how to upload. I would see others having pictures on their site, yet I had no idea how they got them to appear. So, before I learned the concept of uploading, I used the rainbow thin line that Geocities has & "turned" that into a background graphic. Can you see how harsh it is? Anyways, my uncle Jsiem said it was too harsh.

Back then, I had a "Thoughts About Teachers" section...but I decided to take it off when I gave the URL to some of my teachers.

A ha! Finally! I learned the concept of uploading...but not learning how to make my own graphics. So I continued to use the black line from Geocities & I got this rainbow background from this Web Designer program that I got at a computer show. I recently heard that the Web Designer program "stole" backgrounds from various sites & sold them as if they were their own. This looks like a background that is featured at Andy's Art Attack. It was around this time that I began to apply for awards....mostly because I wanted to give out an award & in order to get people to want to apply for my award, I had to establish some credibility, which I have been able to do successfully.

Finally! I learned how to make my own graphics. This was the first background that I made for myself. I made this using the Logitech photo hand-scanner program. & the smiley lines, I created using Microsoft Image Composer (MIC). In this era, I created many graphics & the "mirror site". I won the SoHo writing award for my songs & the SoHo Sparkle award for my web-site building graphics.

I was getting bored with the way I had my table of contents organized, so I changed it around a little, but I still wasn't totally satisfied with it. Now that I was busy with college work (18 credits!) , I had less time to focus on my site. The only thing that I would update often was the journal. Heh heh. I also had an update section on this page below the table of contents, but then I found it rather redundant because I mentioned most of the same things in my journals.

A ha! Finally found a table of contents that I am satisfied with! This idea came to me one day as I was walking to the post office. I felt kind of bad because one of my friends said that she coincidentally thought of the same idea for her site. This one doesn't take as long to load up as the previous one did. It took me a while to organize the colors, but I did it! I have the content organized with most personal on top, written works on the left, graphics on the right, & the interactive stuff on the bottom.

I felt that it was time for a change. In this time, I'm working on cutting down the size of certain graphics. I even have an image map for the guestbook (not shown). I have the side bar in rainbow order (pink - purple) I organized the content from info about me & ppl in my life then drift towards more about the visitors who visit my site. (that would be you! Thanx!). During this phase, I have decided to retire the "Mirror Page," "Superhero," "Photos," and "HTMLhelp," and "Journal" sections. I moved my journal to a more private location. I have also decided to retire the quiz.

I figure that since it's been almost 2 years since I last changed the index page, it's about time that I make up another one. I actually wanted to make it back in May, but I couldn't think of any good ideas. the idea for this one came up while I was sleeping. I added the "Peeves" section to this site. I actually counted up how many sections I have included and I counted 25. I plan to add atleast two more eventually, but I might retire more sections as well. I created the dots myself using Microsoft Image Composer.

I'm sorry, but the balls just had to go. Also, I've decided to rename this site from "A Smile For My Thoughts" to "The Alura Network." Also, I've decided to do away with the opening page. I had it just so I could get an accurate count of how many viewers I've had and since the counter that I've been using stopped working, what's the point? I could get another counter, but it doesn't really matter to me now. One section that was introduced during this time was Big Alura, which was like a web-reality show involving the Sims.

I just got to the point where I decided that I wanted to design the site more for myself and less with other people in mind. So I removed a lot of the sections during this time, such as Awards, Banners, Survey, Big Alura, Free Graphics, etc. Some sections came and went: Address Labels & Boxes. The Wishlist was introduced during this time. To come w/ the design itself, I used elements from what I thought was most successful from previous designs.

In this design, I wanted to incorporate a little bit of what I learned w/ using Dreamweaver, such as using rollover graphics for the links. Sections left in this version: About Me, Music, Crafts, Wishlist, History of My Website, & Links.

early July 1998 - late September 1998

late September 1998 - early March 1999

late March 1999 - May 24, 2000

Felt it was about time for a change. All part of the plot to cut down on the size of the graphics I use. I used a table to sort out the two columns. Because the mirror page didn't look that good backwards with this entrance, I decided to take that section off.

To celebrate the 2nd birthday of this site, I decided to create a different entrance page. The borders contain a picture of the first quilt that I ever made and I created a jpeg graphic for the title.