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The History of Strekonline.com

What began as a simplistic fan site in 1998 as "Randy's Star Trek Site", would undergo constant changes in name, design, and content to eventually grow to be one of the largest and most recognizable Star Trek websites on the internet.

Predecessors to Strekonline.com included Star Trek Badlands and The Ultimate Star Trek WebsiteEarly Beginnings
The first website developed by Randy Hoffman was Randy's Star Trek Site in 1998. During that time, webmaster Randy Hoffman has seen some of the largest and most popular Star Trek websites come and go, and established close relationships with its webmasters. After a quick name change to Star Trek: Badlands, the website began to take off, but still had a long way to go to achieve the success of its successors. Star Trek Badlands was short lived, eventually changing names to the "Ultimate Star Trek Website".

Star Trek Webmaster Services
Shortly before the name change, the website had expanded into web service offerings for fellow Star Trek webmasters. These services followed the "Ultimate" branding upon the name change. The first offerings were a banner exchange, award, webring. 

St-Misc.Com premeired in 2000, the direct leadup to Strekonline.comFirst Domain Name: St-Misc.Com
In the year 2000, The Ultimate Star Trek Site grew by leaps and bounds, and once again changed names, and for the first time landed its own domain name, St-Misc.Com ("Star Trek Miscellaneous"). It was at this time that the website would finally establish its own tone and content, and gain ground as a primary destination for Star Trek fans. During the course of the next year, St-Misc.Com underwent major revamping and expansion, while experimenting with numerous new techniques and content offerings.

Star Trek Masters & Red Alert Webservices
Shortly after the launch of St-Misc.Com, the webmaster services became an increasing focus. The web services were rebranded "Red Alert" and placed onto a separate website called "Star Trek Masters". These newly branded services also expanded to feature a top site list and links search engine. "Red Alert" was also used as branding for the short-lived "Red Alert Star Trek Movies" content.
 

Strekonline.com Debuts
By the end of 2000, it became clear that St-Misc.Com was inadequate to meet the needs of its visitors. The domain name was complicated and easy to forget, and therefore the need had arisen for a permanent name and destination for the popular and growing website. Strekonline.com first debuted in February 2001, shortly before the Voyager series finale. St-Misc.Com was officially shut down that summer, and the new website quickly gained attention and acclaim. It was at this time that the website debuted its flagship product, screen captures.

Elite Force Alliance & Other Partnerships
Over the years, Strekonline, and its predecessors, has teamed up with some of the best Star Trek fansites. In 2002, Strekonline.com was honored to be inducted into the Elite Force Alliance (EFA), a group of some of the largest and most recognized Star Trek websites at that time. Strekonline.com webmaster Randy Hoffman eventually became one of the highest members of the Elite Force Alliance. The EFA has since disbanded, but Strekonline has continued partnerships with many of the websites. In addition to the EFA, Strekonline.com had also established partnerships with StVoyager.Co.Uk and TrekConnection.com, both have since been taken offline, but at the time were some of the largest websites. The site's partnership with both sites went far above simple link exchanges, with several joint ventures. Strekonline had teamed up with Trek Connection to establish and maintain Warp 9 Webservices, which replaced the Red Alert services.

Continued Changes and Expansion
Over the next few years, the website underwent continued changes, from logos and layout, to content. 2003 was a big year for Strekonline.com, a year it debuted two spectacular designs and logos, and a brand new section. A brand new logo and website layout was debuted in March 2003, and would become the primary base for future layouts on all Hoffman Creations websites. A short-lived layout debuted in October 2003, and with it came a brand new section, Deep Space Nine, the only series that had virtually no content on Strekonline.com.

New Strekonline.com Debuts
In 2004, Strekonline.com was relaunched with an exciting and bold new layout that paved the way to what the website is today. This new layout was the longest used in the website's history, and provided the site's first true identity. Even after Enterprise finale, Strekonline.com continued to expand and grow in leaps in bounds. With the ending of Enterprise, Strekonline.com was able to further grow the content from all series and movies.

Incorporating New Elements
At the end of 2007, Strekonline reinvented itself once again, with a revamped new design and brand new content offerings. Elements from other Hoffman Creations websites were integrated into Strekonline.com, testing the new website under the "Hoffman Creations" banner. For the first time, Strekonline.com branched into other series beyond Star Trek. First to come was Pirates of the Caribbean, followed by Jack of All Trades, X-Men, and Star Wars. The former layout and design was in use for over four years, and the Strekonline webmaster felt it was time for change. In addition, the former layout was not designed for widescreen resolutions, which have grown increasingly popular over the years. Thus, the new layout was far more versatile than before, with improved navigation and design. With the new design came a reorganization of the website content. Some of the site's less popular sections were removed, and others temporarily shut down to allow restructuring.

This first version of the Enterprise section debuted in 2002A new Enterprise section debuted in 2003, and underwent a slight design change in 2004 Although never published, this experimental layout paved the way for future Strekonline designs The Warp 9 Banner Exchange was a joint venture between Strekonline and Trek Connection This Star Trek: Nemesis section debuted several months prior to the movie premeir, and remained online until the relaunch in 2004 A short-lived downloads section Screenshot of Strekonline after its relaunch in 2004, showing Motion Pictures homepage Screenshot of Strekonline after its relaunch in 2004, showing DS9 homepage
This St-Misc.Com logo was used at the end of its run The "Star Trek Masters" logo incorporating the "Red Alert" webservice products

The first homepage of Strekonline.com
This layout debuted in 2002, and would become the foundation for continued website designs
A revamped homepage debuted early in 2003
This short-lived design debuted in the middle of 2003
The "arch" design was a short-lived experiment that premeired toward the end of 2003
A revamped version of the "arch" design, with a new logo debut
Strekonline was relaunched in 2004 with a bold new design and logo, which would remain for nearly four years
The new website that debuted in 2007 was enhanced for widescreen resolutions

 

 


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