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Back in August of 1999, when I first learned how easy it was
to write a simple HTML document I got a vision in my mind for the
development of a website. To have a website you need content. So I
picked something I liked...Final Fantasy games! At first I wanted to
build a site to cover all eight (at the time) games. A fools errand
for a beginner. I went to see what kind of FF sites were out there.
I found a lot of bad information and poorly designed fan sites, some
big full coverage but thin-on-content (unless it was FF7) sites, and
only a smattering of good quality fan sites. So I scaled back my
"Paladin's Final Fantasy Source" idea to simply "Paladin's Final
Fantasy IV Archive" to cover my favorite game in the series, which
was to be a high quality site (at some point). It went online at
ff4.50megs.com in December of 1999.
For a while "The Archive" was more of a learning experience
than a real content driven site. I had some basic information, but
not much else for content. The work I did on the site taught me a
great deal about web design and site functionality. There ended up
being about 3 different iterations of the old archive.
By November of 2000 I had learned how to a do a simple
site template using images and tables. It was then that I set up a
new FF4 site version (4.0) called "Paladin's Final Fantasy IV
Chronicle". This went online at a new hosting account called
Paladin.5u.com on the first of November, 2000.
Exactly two years later in 2002, I decided I wanted to
experiment with iFrames and a table template, however the banners
that plagued my free site simply were too much trouble, so I began
paying for Paladin.5u.com and gave the entire site the moniker
"Paladin's Netsoft Publications" in which existed a home site for
myself, the FF4 Chronicle and a new Final Fantasy IX Chronicle. This
"5.0 version" iterated up to 5.2i ("i" for "iFrames). I soon became
so interested in getting all the information I could about Final
Fantasy IV that I invested in rare materials, mostly books from
Japan, that told the whole truth about FF4. By the summer of '03 I
had a lot of work to do to whip the Chronicle into a site that
people really wanted to visit and would be impressed by. Then I
learned about HostDime.com.
Again on November first 2003 (11/1 is my birthday that's why
I wait and do these things then...) I signed up for a wonderful new
account and registered the domain name PaladiNet.com. Soon I had a
phpBB running as well as a lot of new extras at the same price as
the old site. With the new site came an extreme redesign of the
Chronicle and a new special way to present it. The 6th version went
into beta testing up to version 6.2, and now version 6.3 is the
official chronicle.
While it has never really been finished, my ongoing Final
Fantasy IV Chronicle is being flanked by FF5 and FF6 Chronicles as
well as LEGO, Audiophile, and Lodoss War web sites. There is a lot
of work left for me to do on the FF4 site because I need to
translate a lot of the original information to really put together a
world class site. As I'm a perfectionist and fickle about working on
any one personal project for any extended period of time...it may
seem like I am not working on the site any more or have given
up...but please be patient. In due course I will have this site
finished. The ultimate goal is for it to be 100% complete with
nothing left out by 2011 for Final Fantasy IV's 20th anniversary
(and good lord, my 31st birthday!!!). I hope and believe that it
will be done much sooner. Just remember I do this because I love the
game and receive no compensation...and in fact pay to do this (about
$85/yr).
In any case if you love FF4 then I think you will come to
enjoy this site as more content comes up. Until it's done please
enjoy the content that is up, and know I'm doing my best to make
this the FF4 site of record on the web. Thanks for
visiting! ~Paladin,
Webmaster, PaladiNet.com
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