iSoaker.com is a site dedicated to all water warfare enthusiasts. The primary goal of iSoaker.com is to promote safe and fun water-warfare for all people interested: young and old. Water blasters are not solely for the use of children and many new water blasters should not be used by those in the early-teens simply due to their sheer size and weight (carrying excessive weight can stunt growth).
iSoaker.com is one of the major points of entry for the online water warfare community. With help from various related sites, iSoaker help found the Aquatica Organization: a group comprised of individuals of all ages who enjoy sharing their knowledge and experiences on the water war front.
Water warfare should be a past-time enjoyable for all.
Leave
NO one dry!
iSoaker.com motto
Statistics | Current Holdings | iSoaker History
The following is a simplified breakdown of the iSoaker.com website based on file types, file sizes and other bits of information.
Note: iSoaker.com is paid for and run by a lone individual. If you have any suggestions or wish to sponsor the running/continuation of this site, please see Submissions for contact information.
(Stats page last updated 20010522.)
Total Site: 754 files, 9.52Mb
Graphics Programs
Used: CorelDRAW 10, Macromedia Fireworks 3.0
Animation Programs Used: Macromedia Flash 5.0
HTML Authoring Tools: Macromedia Dreamweaver 3.0
iSoaker.com Armoury:Current Holdings
iSoaker.com History
SUMMER,
2000:Evolution
Start: June 8, 2000
The
year 2000 soaking season found SuperSoaker.com supporting (at least, in
part) Aquatica Club's efforts in creating the best online Supersoaker
support group. The time was right for change. As such, Aquatechnology
was renamed under its newly acquired URL and became known as iSoaker.com
- For The Extreme Water Warrior... The motto, "Leave NO one
dry!", remains from the days of Aquatechnology, but the rest of the
site had begun the metamorphosis to mark the new beginning.
Tech
Stats: Total Site: 3.89 Mb
Still Image Files (60) 715 Kb, Flash Movies (66) 2.04 Mb, HTML Files (186)
1.14 Mb
Fall,
2000: Metamorphosis
Start: September, 2000
Off-season
means the end of out-door blaster use and general hibernation of most
online Supersoaker websites. iSoaker.com is no exception to this rule.
However, lower frequency of updates allows much grander changes to occur
site-wide. To shed most of the old Aquatechnology styling, the iSoaker.com
website had undergone through more alterations. Basic navigation icons
remain, but various pages and sections were condensed and their layouts
altered. New sections and features have been added as well including a
Soaker World News section which is different from the general news and
updates. As well, an iSoaker Forum using Yahoo! clubs was created for
online discussions concerning anything iSoaker.com related. The end result
is a more stylish, more functional, and, hopefully, simpler to navigate
website.
Tech
Stats: Total Site: 5.17
Mb
Still Image Files (71) 1.0 Mb, Flash Movies (80) 2.62 Mb, HTML Files (218)
1.55 Mb
Winter,
2000: Enlightenment
Start: December, 2000
|
Flash-Based
Main Page Text-Based
Main Page |
Shedding old site designs, iSoaker.com has taken the off-line opportunity to transform its general graphics interface with a cleaner, tech-like feel. Even the iSoaker.com logo has gotten a facelift. The largest change to the website is the inclusion of Flash-free version for those whose systems cannot handle the new Flash movies. While the non-Flash version of the site will be maintained, it will not contain all the sections or benefits that the Flash-based version has. In the Flash-based site, the main navigation menus now employ submenu-loading, allowing visitors to navigate from any page to virtually any other page in the site. The use of Flash movies to load sub-movies allows for nicer page-transitions, less amounts of file loading, and smoother navigation overall. Menu design was also continued throughout the site with inner-menus featuring the same dot-button/arc styling. Even the titlebar which adorns the top of every page allows the visitor to jump to virtually every page on the iSoaker.com site (Flash site, that is). In the non-Flash site, the menus, submenus, and most of the detailed blaster review Flash movies were converted into text and graphics. However, many other Flash movies were simply removed since they could not be easily converted into simply graphics and text. However, preservation of the the overall new graphical feel of iSoaker.com was attempted though it requires a few more steps to get from page to page. In addition to the two versions of the iSoaker.com website, the iSoaker.com image gallery section was also launched, containing images free for personal, non-commercial use. Perhaps one of iSoaker.com's greatest kudos is the picture given to iSoaker.com of Lonnie Johnson, the inventor of the Super Soaker, from Mr. Johnson's company, Johnson R & D with approval for use on iSoaker.com by Larami Ltd. In response to this honour, the Super Soaker History page was expanded with more background information about the invention of the Super Soaker. All these changes and additions resulted in an larger overall website while making browsing even faster and simpler for everyone. Tech
Stats: Total
Site: 856 files, 13.1Mb |
2001:
Upgrade
Start: March, 2001
Simply
done to smoothen out some of the rough edges and experiment with various
Flash commands, an upgraded version of iSoaker.com was launched in March,
2001. Flash-movies for the various blaster reviews were modified to include
pop-up windows and main submenus were increased in size to spread out
the menu-items on the screen. As well, the iSoaker Exchange section was
removed due to lack of activity and its position in the menu was replaced
with the iSoaker Elite section. However, this 2001 upgrade was minimized
since it was felt that these changes would not yield the desired end-result.
As such, the upgrade was posted earlier than expected while a much larger
change to the site was begun off-line.
Tech
Stats: Total Site: (1083)
14.45 Mb
Still Image Files: JPG (324) 6.93 Mb, GIF (28) 135 kb, Flash Movies (94)
3.44 Mb, HTML Files (455) 3.59 Mb
Spring,
2001: Forging New Ground
Start: March 21, 2001
The
early-March released version of iSoaker did not achieve or appear to be
improving on the pre-existing design by much. At the same time, the way
the site was previously constructed meant that at least two pages would
need to be updated in order for one section to be complete since there
were separate Flash-based and non-Flash-based sections. The first thing
done for the new site was a recombining of the two parts to make updating
simpler. However, text-based links were put on every page so that the
entire site would be navigateable even without the Flash 5.0 player. Of
course, it is still a much better viewing experience for those with browsers
that support Flash 5.0 movies. Extraneous Flash movies were converted
into still graphics while key Flash movies were upgraded. More stylized
collage-artwork now decorates the main page and many submenus. The "arc"
theme for the main pages has also been abandoned infavour of the droplet/splatter
theme. Also, much of the actual text-content has been reworked and reorganized.
The Elite section now pushes Aquatica's newest on-going development, the
Aquatica Elite. The overall changes throughout the site are, in my opinion,
even more extensive than in the Winter, 2000 update. The site was released
to greet the 2001 Spring Season here in Canada.
Tech
Stats: Total Site: (597)
9.01 Mb
Still Image Files: JPG (259) 4.01 Mb, GIF (23) 146 kb, Flash (84) 2.77
Mb
Late
Spring, 2001: Breaking the Moulds a.k.a. the Many Faces of iSoaker
Start: May 8, 2001
After
debating, then debating further, then thinking hard once last time, it
was decided that choosing to support both Flash and non-Flash browsers
properly would be too much work for a lone site- operator. Since getting
a second operator is currently out of the question, it was the non-Flash
browsers that are being left unable to fully view the site fully. Based
on statistics reports generated by iSoaker.com's host servers, it appears
that most visitors do have Flash. Hopefully, those that don't will be
understanding and, perhaps, choose to install Flash 5.0 so they, too,
can view the site for what it is meant to look like. Other than some general
cosmetic changes and a top-Flash menu linking system that works more to
my liking, this update merely marks the change of attitude and styling
of the pages in iSoaker.com. A lot of new developments are planned for
the summer of 2001, but only time will tell how these plans unfold.
Tech
Stats: Total Site: (754)
9.52 Mb
Still Image Files: JPG (262) 4.01 Mb, GIF (23) 146 kb, Flash (94) 3.07
Mb
History: The Aquatechnology Era
About iSoaker | SuperSoaker History | News Archive | Conversions | Glossary
