Website Design History
Published: March 31, 2025
Throughout the years, my site's been through a few redesigns (and name changes). I thought it'd be fun to chronicle that, so below are some screenshots and information about the old formats.
Student Hosting
I started working on a homepage back in 2011 or so. Originally, it was just a project for an information systems class in university, in which we had to build a basic HTML page. I didn't know much at all about developing websites at the time, so I decided to take it a bit further than the basic assignment and make an actual site for my creative work. I never had this on a paid hosting service or anything, just my college-allocated student space.
Following that, I built a pixel-art based design. I think it was a fairly cool idea, although I never actually put it on the web.
StudioDensetsu.com
After scrapping the previous design, I went with a simpler aesthetic, and actually registered a domain and signed up for hosting space. The domain was studiodensetsu.com.
WallyChantek.com
Next up was wallychantek.com. I knew a bit more about HTML/CSS by this point, and tried to give it some more personal flair.
Up until this point, I was writing everything as raw HTML/CSS files. Around the time of this next design, I switched to PHP.
A bit of refinement on the previous design, though I did like the Makua banner and the glossy navigation bar. Honestly, this one looked pretty nice.
MagLeymai.com
Eventually, I rewrote the entire site again. This time, it was effectively just a single static PHP page with content injected from text files. I used the parser I wrote there for the blog on the current site. Around this time, as well, I changed my name to Mag Leymai, which obviously did not last.
The previous design was pretty flat and simple, so I changed it up a good bit, giving it a glassy look with a nature background. The site had two skins:
A daytime skin...
...and a nighttime skin that activated between 8pm - 8am EST.
Honestly? I think it looked pretty damn cool. I might go back to something similar like that at some point. My main issue was that it just felt a bit much, and I didn't like the sidenav, either. But there are still some cool elements there that I'll likely consider in the future.
StudioAquaCube.com
That's what you're currently on! I'm sure the design will inevitably change... but maybe this time the domain won't? Only time will tell.
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