Now for those who occasionally check the site, you may recall a very, very important day in my life... the day I experienced time travel and got to see my dream car, the one car I would sell everything I have to own... a Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine replica! If you missed out on this, click here. A few weeks after meeting the Shea's, I was asked a question that I didn't even have to think about the answer, "Would you build a website for the DeLorean Time Machine?" Of course, my answer was a BIG yes! I do not consider myself a professional web designer, but I get by and learn new things all the time. I don't want to make a living doing it, as I just want to dabble with it here and there and maintain the sites I physically use. 88mphTimeMachine.com, however, was the exception to this rule.
What it means to me... my history in web design
First, let me take you back to my early web making days. It all began when I got bored one day and decided to make a website using Microsoft FrontPage, a program that no one in the family used, but received with the package of Microsoft Office that was purchased. I had no one to make a website for, so I made one for my church I was attending at the time. It was nothing special, but it was a website none-the-less. Just a few months later, I decided to make a personal website. I didn't have a reason to have one, so I decided to make one featuring content about things I just thought were cool. I wanted the website itself to be cool, so I had to think long and hard about what I wanted to do. First thing that came to mind was a website where you sit in the BTTF DeLorean and navigate around the site using the keypad. After many tutorials and help from friends, I accomplished what I wanted. It was really easy for anyone who actually knew what they were doing, which I wasn't one of them! Time goes on and I eventually changed the theme of my site completely. I'm not going to lie... that was my favorite site because it defined my interests using content and graphics... until now of course!
A few personal sites later, I landed on the one I have today, 5pt0Joe.com. Yes, it is a mix of everything and is not 100% organized at times, but I don't spend every day adding new things. My life simply isn't that interesting! This site is a showcase of what I've done in the past, what I'm doing now, and not much about "the future." This is where 88mphTimeMachine.com fills the gap. I have nothing boldly showing my love for the trilogy because I have no content to support it. I'm not going to have a DeLorean Time Machine site theme when I have a ton of Mustangs. It just wouldn't make sense! So here I am now, FINALLY being able to relive my old web site days and do something I've wanted to do again, but now with a purpose behind it and this time much, MUCH bigger and better!
Ok, back on track with the Time Machine website...
I must say, the Shea's are definitely a gift from God for me, as I'm able to share in the joys of their DeLorean Time Machine with them. Building a website for them benefited us both. Obviously, it is a fun marketing tool for them, but it was my excuse to build another DeLorean website. When we first bounced some ideas around, we realized that with a site about a DeLorean Time Machine, there were just so many things we could do. Among the hundreds of possibilities, we couldn't narrow it down past a couple of dozen themes! With high excitement levels, we wanted to allow guests to experience everything, but there comes a time when too many ideas lead to no progress! As I built some custom coding for the site to have it fit a general layout we wanted, we finally thought up the fact that we wanted two stages. Stage one would be a focus on content with a basic theme. Stage two (or "Part II"), would be very user involved, sucking them in for hours on end. Just like the restoration and conversion of their DeLorean, it will always be a never ending project! We devised a way to make this happen... to follow the Back to the Future storyline. Just as the movie unfolds, so will the site!
The build...
Originally this site was predicted to take me six weeks to build. As we continually talked about "Part II", I realized it was easier (and in the long run quicker) to do some custom coding for Part II while I was working on getting it up and going. This lead to a labor intensive three months or so before the first release of the site. Building this site is nothing short of a challenge. I personally like to kick things off with a bang, so if we were going to release a website to the public, I wanted to make sure that the site, not just the content, would intrigue them. This is where the intro came in.
Just some of the unique "parts" we integrated...
One of the many unique interior parts in the car is the overhead console. As you leave the intro and enter the site, you are viewing the side of the car. To make it a little more interactive, we decided to use the overhead console for links. We thought that after "Part II" was built, being that you'd be able to sit "in" the DeLorean, the overhead console would fit in rather well.
Being that we knew that we were going to make time travel possible on the site, we wanted to integrate the Flux Capacitor as well. Although there were many avenues we could have went with this, we thought it was a cool idea to feature a large and highly detailed "fluxing" Flux Capacitor in the form of click-able links.
In the intro, you'll also see some of the accessories featured as well, such as the remote control, being the most obvious one. As you'll soon see in the future, we are constantly coming up with new ideas to make as many accessories part of the site as well.
The intro...
The intro is comprised of all still images, not 3D objects. Using photos of their DeLorean taken by me, the Shea's, and their professional photographer, I managed to make something semi-realistic. For many, myself included, one of the best parts of the movie is the initial scene where the DeLorean is introduced and Einstein becomes the world's first time traveler. It leaves you astonished and engages you into what could possibly happen in the movie. This is what we wanted to accomplish with the website! Plus, who wouldn't think a car being controlled by a remote control is cool? So, why not use that iconic scene for the intro!
It doesn't stop there...
After I went all out with a lot of graphic design, image editing, and audio editing, I worked on the next "web design wow"... DRIVING the DeLorean and traveling into time! The dash image alone is made up of approximately 250-300 image parts. Although for the initial release of the time travel experience it is rather automated, very soon you'll be able to control a lot of things in the cockpit.
Since the scene of the intro takes place on October 26, 1985, we agreed to release the actual time travel on November 5th, as that is the day he would be arriving in 1955. Like in the movie, Marty is stuck in 1955 for a week. Naturally, you are "stuck" on the 1955 theme of the website for one week as well. On November 12th, we will be releasing another "time travel experience" that will allow you to, appropriately, return to 1985. Shortly after, we will also be releasing more time travel experiences as well on the dates we see fit (maybe a week or two after, to give you an approximation). The Shea's like people to keep coming back to their site, so in order to "follow the storyline of the site", you'll need to check back regularly to see what "the future" has to offer!
Since it is November 5th today, I'm going to stop here for now and will add a new article on November 12th! See you in 1955!