Hogwarts A Histroy

Hogwarts a History

By Stephanie Mackenzie

Well I know there is probably very few people who will actually read this, and that it probably won't even be interesting for me, but I will write the history of this site if only to get it down before I forget.

Chapter One: The Beginning

It all started one summer day. Frustrated with a day of looking up Harry Potter sites, I just couldn't see why someone couldn't create a realistic place. Well if someone else wasn't going to do it, then I would. So began the search for the place to build my site. Now let's keep in mind that I had absolutly no experience at all when it came to building websites. So I looked around. I signed up first at expage.com, but it proved usless. I knew I could never build an extensive site there. So I went on ask.com and found out all the places that hosted websites. I found quite a few and there are many different places in which the name "enter hogwarts" is registered. For that was the name that I had decided on. Somewhat unique, yet still easy to remember, and suggesting some of the mystique I wished to have. I finally found the perfect place after a few false starts at other sites. I had settled on homestead.

Chapter Two: The Site is Born

Then came the mornings which I can still remember now, some two years later. Getting up early to the hot summer day with the wind slightly blowing into my room. Whenever I wake up on those summer mornings I remember my early excitement. I would jump to the computer to create my latest idea. For I was full of them. each day brought new plans. But I had to start at the beggining. I created Diagon Alley so that my students could first buy their supplies, as that was a neccesity. Let's keep in mind that I still had very little knowledge, if any, of how websites worked. It took me some time before I realized that although I had created a couple of webpages, no one would ever see it, because how would they find it? I signed up at a few minor search engines, not really knowing what I was doing. A little after I had my first students. You can't imagine how excited I was to finally start a real school. Well of course those students didn't last long, seeing as I didn't have much to offer, but what did I care, I still had plenty of things to occupy me with the site. I worked happily for some time, and the site expanded greatly. Not even near half as big as it is now, but it was coming along. And I had students. For the first time people would actually stay, and would interact. I was meeting people from all over, people who were excited about my own work. If that isn't good for the self-confidence, I don't know what is. So I was minding my own business, having fun, when all of a sudden Homestead dropped their bombshell. Unless I began to pay my site would no longer be accessible.

Chapter Three: Reconstruction

Well there was no way I was going to pay. But what would I do? I had spent so many hours working on my site it really was impossible of thinking of starting again. So I began to research. I really was upset, and I was not going to let Homestead get the better of me. I learned of something called FTP. Basically I thought I could just transfer all my old pages to whatever new server I decided to use. And I was partially right. But there was a little catch which I will discuss in a minute. So I tried to find another place to transfer my site to. I tried angelfire for a little while - one of it's advertisements was that you could transfer your old site to it. I thought that I could just do that and be done with it. That was when I realized that to make anything on angelfire you have to use nothing but html. For those of you who don't know anything about it, it is a very odd concept. You have to basically write from scratch with nothing but a blank page in front of you. And what you write can turn into a webpage. I know I am not explaining this well, but trust me, it is like learning another language, and not something you can just pick up to create a site in your spare time. So that was out. Then I tried hometown. I got my hopes up on that on. I successful managed to transfer my old site onto their server. Now I could continue to build my site! But then came the catch. When you transfer pages of an old site, the only way you can edit them is by using html. As I've already said, that really was not going to work for me. Let me explain how I build sites now. On geocities, which is what I use now, I start out with a nice blank page. But I have a big toolbar which I can choose several different options from. I can add a text box, and start typing, or I can add a picture, ect. The point is, I basically add whatever I want, and then drag it to wherever I want it. It is very easy, and you don't need extensive knowledge of really anything to do it. Now I didn't figure out until later that I would not be able to edit me webpage unless I used html. I just thought that my pages hadn't transfered correctly or something else had gone wrong. So I moved on to another place. This time I tried geocities, which I am currently using now. There, I stayed.

Chapter Four: It Begins Again

At this point, I still didn't realize why I couldn't edit my pages. So I went online and learned a little about the process. That was finally when I knew that I would never be able to edit or change any of the old pages that I had made. So I knew that all the work I had done, all the hours that I had put in, (and there were many, believe me) were in vain. I would have to start from scratch. But I learned a little html from an online course, so I was able to use a couple of pages. I now can manage to make a few minor changes. I still use some of those old page from 2000. They are your common rooms, and now that explains why they aren't as nice looking as the rest of the site, and why they never are changed around. Someday I will get around to making new common rooms, but for now they will work. So this time I built the site, and I had even more ideas than before. I am not sure which site is was, but one I visited gave me the idea to create different floors of Hogwarts. I realized that you could never get a realistic experience with all the places you could go in Hogwarts all lined up, and you click on the links. I needed to create the castle, and I do believe that I was one the first out there to do that. I had never seen any other site that had done that, and there are very few now that I know of that have created that.

Chapter Five: Wrapping it Up

So that's basically it. The history of this site. When I think about how much I have learned and experienced I surprise myself. It is amazing to think how this humble site has grown. Now my biggest worry is that I will outgrow the amount of space I am allowed to have. But I still have enough space for the time being, so the site will continue to grow. Not that it all has been easy since geocities. I no longer get that excited feeling when I get a new idea, and I don't go rushing to the computer to create it. And while at first this site was created simply for a love of Harry Potter, I no longer have that. I still do enjoy the books, and my head will still turn whenever I see the logo in any store, but I now believe that I can be happy living in someplace other than Hogwarts. I continue to run the site for the fun of running it. For meeting new people, for leaving a mark somewhere, even if it is just a faded memory in someone's mind. But how many people can say that they have created something in so many different people's lives. I closed the site down a while ago for a long time; it had just become too much. But after a few months I realized that I still wanted to be apart of something. So I came up with new reorganization ideas to help the site run smoother so I wouldn't have to devot too much time to it, and reopened. And while I know that it is not the biggest or best, I know that if just one person was excited at the thought of joining then the purpose of the site was achieved.