Operation Machete

I just backed up my websites in preparation for perhaps the biggest site overhaul I have ever attempted. Skyhaven Adoptions, online since 1999 in some form or another, has grown largely unchecked, each new addition piling onto the last, old templates lingering as new ones came online. Finally, I decided it was time to sharpen the virtual machete and wade in to the fray. And so I am faced with the daunting task of deconstructing and rebuilding a website with nearly 500 pages. (No, I'm not kidding. Even discounting filler pages that nobody sees, that's in excess of 450 pages. Now you see why Operation Machete's time has come...)

It's too soon to say what will stay and what will be spared. The more recent creatures and overhauled templates will probably be safe. I expect the Jewelwings to survive, and portions of the Hunt (including the Megahunt, though I may alter portions of it.) I would like to be able to keep the Official Hunt Guide in some more manageable form, as well as some background info on Tirialle (which, in addition to giving me some creative leeway, is a great way to hide potential clues for nasty puzzles now and again.) I also have a weakness for the original Skyhaven dragon and griffin, though that's not set in stone. Beyond that, anything and everything could be hitting the chopping block. If that means temporarily closing down the Hunt or halving the Main Adoption Lair offerings, so be it. It needs doing, more desperately than most visitors would probably realize.

This, of course, is the part where ambitious plans usually hit the wall. I'll go in there with an itchy Delete key finger, eyes wild, and then I'll hesitate. Can I really get rid of that after I took so long to get it going? Remember all the trouble I had cleaning up this template? This was a doozy of a puzzle - do I really want to reconstruct it from scratch? This isn't the first time I've stared Skyhaven in the eye and flinched when it came to overhauls. I'm hoping for the best this time. It is, after all, a new year, and I just ticked over 20,000 hits. If ever there was a time to redo the site, this is as good as it's going to get.

So, if some time over the next few months, you happen to swing by Skyhaven and find your favorite critters missing, or the puzzle in the Hunt that you've been working on for a year (and finally solved in the shower last night) gone, you'll know what's happening. Sometimes, like a phoenix, a thing must be broken down into ashes so it may rise again, more glorious than before. Speaking of phoenixes, that template's always bugged me... pardon me while I sharpen my machete...