Retro Shrine Features

[neo]

I loved it when I found fansites for series or characters that had a "Letter to the Character(s)" section!

Normally the webmaster/mistress and the character(s) would respond in humorous fashion and it was just fun! I guess it actually could be achieved with "fake" letters you think they would get from fans or a fanclub :).

Here are some other things I remember liking:
- Quizzes (How Well Do You Know...?, Which "x" are you?, etc.)
- e-Cards tailored by the webmaster/mistress
- Character birthday events
- SPLASH PAGES (although they are making a small comeback)
- I miss Pocket Bishounen

Also, this isn't really relevant to old shrines, but I'd love to see a webmaster/mistress do a themed icon challenge like you would have found on livejournal back in the day. Not even 100 icon themed challenges, just like 10 that really resonate with what they are shrining.

Winamp Skins

I miss Winamp Skins because I still use Winamp LOL I do have some really pretty ones, though <3333

Wallpapers

The reason I don't really make these is because of so many multiple screen resolutions. But, with the addition of smartphones, you could try making smartphone backgrounds~~~

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Honestly, I miss A LOT of 90-00s elements for all of the interactivity and fun. But, there are things you can add to your subject to add a little more.

edit:
This might not be doable for everyone, but I really had a fun time doing this page! (:

And also, I follow a few "incorrect quotes" blogs on tumblrs for anime series I love and I think that would also be fun ~ (quotes that the character(s) TOTALLY did not say, but sounds like something they might say)

edit:
ALSOALSO, something that drives me absolutely insane: you can't view the Anime Web Turnpike's (Anipike) link directory in the Wayback. If there is one truly Retro thing I miss it is this source and I know there are more things to add to this list andandandand it may be impossible ;;

[Crystal]

A good way to get around this is to just design your wallpaper for the biggest resolution available. Right now that'd include widescreen. Then you can just resize to the most popular sizes listed at this site. Actually, people should just be able to use the wallpaper at higher res and it should automatically scale down without too much trouble (maybe, haven't tried it lately). I'd just do the biggest aspect ratios and let it go from there. xD

Oh wow! That's a nifty idea. I like this very much. :D

[Laura]

@neo - AMAGAD. YES. ALL THESE THINGS. I actually still have a character quiz on my Uranus/Neptune shrine and I think I'll be making more for my other sites when I have the time. :D I think it's a really cool interactive feature to test the knowledge of your viewers! The 90's and early 2000's were TOTALLY about being interactive and I really miss that as well... I love reading and galleries but I like to try to give "more" to fans too. :) I have a couple ideas I'm keeping secret tee hee~

Also, this isn't really relevant to old shrines, but I'd love to see a webmaster/mistress do a themed icon challenge like you would have found on livejournal back in the day. Not even 100 icon themed challenges, just like 10 that really resonate with what they are shrining.

This would be a really cool idea! I guess 100x100 would still be the go-to size, but I find that these days, it seems a lot harder to figure out what exactly to design for... It seems like there's less use for using icons and stuff. :( I know some people use LJ stlil but it's not as much as it used to be.

ALSOALSO, something that drives me absolutely insane: you can't view the Anime Web Turnpike's (Anipike) link directory in the Wayback. If there is one truly Retro thing I miss it is this source and I know there are more things to add to this list andandandand it may be impossible ;;

I REALLY miss the Anipike! Anyone could submit sites to it and it was such a good way to find other character shrines. :/ I LOVE Emotion and the amassment directory but they still aren't the same as Anipike, mostly because amassment requires you to be a member (not a big deal but still an obstacle for some ppl) and Emotion, you can only submit your own sites. With Anipike, I would submit all the sites I knew of and it'd be a great way to get people to learn about new places to go. I've actually already found SOME shrines that aren't listed at either directory. :D I think I linked them on my general links page at Genrou but yeh~ Would make it a lot easier to find out about new shrines. Poor Anipike~ It turned into such garbage ;_;

A good way to get around this is to just design your wallpaper for the biggest resolution available. Right now that'd include widescreen. Then you can just resize to the most popular sizes listed at this site. Actually, people should just be able to use the wallpaper at higher res and it should automatically scale down without too much trouble (maybe, haven't tried it lately). I'd just do the biggest aspect ratios and let it go from there. xD

Oh wow! That's a nifty idea. I like this very much. :D

Thanks!! :D It's how I would design my wallpapers back in the day... I'd do the largest size and scale down. OMG I still remember doing 640x400 wallpapers... LOL

[Crystal]

My reasoning for the rule you can only submit your own shrines at Emotion is kind of a reflection on how I feel about having anything of mine listed at a directory. It bothers me when someone adds one of my sites at a directory without my permission, and while the gesture is flattering, I generally prefer to do it myself. That's why I prefer having people submit their own sites at Emotion. I can understand where you're coming at too Laura because that means the super old awesome shrines don't get listed and therefore cannot be enjoyed by everyone.

Anyway! Sorry about that. 640x400 was an actual screen resolution? That's so tiny! That's like almost my banner size for my layouts lol.

I remember quizzes! I made a Fire Emblem one once upon a time ago, and I think I still have it somewhere too. I've thought about adding it to Lyn but I don't really have anywhere to put it.

[Laura]

My reasoning for the rule you can only submit your own shrines at Emotion is kind of a reflection on how I feel about having anything of mine listed at a directory. It bothers me when someone adds one of my sites at a directory without my permission, and while the gesture is flattering, I generally prefer to do it myself. That's why I prefer having people submit their own sites at Emotion. I can understand where you're coming at too Laura because that means the super old awesome shrines don't get listed and therefore cannot be enjoyed by everyone.

Anyway! Sorry about that. 640x400 was an actual screen resolution? That's so tiny! That's like almost my banner size for my layouts lol.

I remember quizzes! I made a Fire Emblem one once upon a time ago, and I think I still have it somewhere too. I've thought about adding it to Lyn but I don't really have anywhere to put it.

Oh yeah, I completely understand why you only allow people to submit their own sites and I didn't mean to imply that it was bad! xD It'd just be nice if there was some way for us to have a listing of old shrines that aren't listed anywhere.

640x400 was totally a resolution that people used!! It was SO long ago but I remember I resized my wallpapers for it in case anyone still used that resolution. XD I think I used 800x600 for a while myself before we got a bigger monitor... man, talk about reliving old memories, ahaha!

I hope you can figure out where to put the FE quiz!! I think people really love taking quizzes. :D

[Robin]

LOL I just realized I still have a (kinda) retro feature on my sites: link lists!

It started out back when I was in the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom pretty heavily in the mid-2000s; I collected links for LOTS of Yu-Gi-Oh! fansites together, mainly for people who were just starting out in the fandom. (It was...kind of a mini-Amassment, now that I think about it, except that I just collected the links as I found them rather than having them submitted.)

These days I keep a somewhat-large links list for all sorts of cool stuff I've found on the internets, including domains :D It's kind of retro but still pretty cool, too (I think?) xD

[Crystal]

Oh yeah, I completely understand why you only allow people to submit their own sites and I didn't mean to imply that it was bad! xD It'd just be nice if there was some way for us to have a listing of old shrines that aren't listed anywhere.

640x400 was totally a resolution that people used!! It was SO long ago but I remember I resized my wallpapers for it in case anyone still used that resolution. XD I think I used 800x600 for a while myself before we got a bigger monitor... man, talk about reliving old memories, ahaha!

I hope you can figure out where to put the FE quiz!! I think people really love taking quizzes. :D

No of course! I totally get what you mean. I think we talked a bit about this on Skype.

Yeah! I think it would be a fun addition to have on the site. Maybe I'll have to add a new section for media or something.

[Laura]

@Robin - Your link list is awesome! :D Actually... I guess link lists HAVE become retro. I see a lot of sites that don't even bother with making them anymore; they just have affiliates or link exchanges. It's become gradually more common over the years but I still make link lists on my sites. xD It's one of my fav parts, combing through the internet to find other shrines. xD;;

[Laura]

I just thought of two more retro things!

Awards and award pages were pretty common back in the day... Though honestly, I don't think they really meant much because it was just given out by random people, so they were entirely based on the opinion of one person. xD And some sites would have entire pages dedicated to showing off all the awards they had won. I haven't seen this as a site feature in YEARS.

Heavy vs Light Layout Options - Often, people wanted to have graphic heavy layouts but because there was still a transition from dial-up to broadband internet, they wanted to make sure that their site was accessible to people with slower net connections. So they would have a splash page that offered a choice of graphics heavy or graphics light layouts. I think because most people are on broadband or better, this isn't really a necessary option anymore so newer sites haven't used this in a long time. xD

[Destinie]

I LOVE AWARDS AND I WANT TO MAKE AN AWARD SITE SO BAD.