Caught in the Streamline
By Ice
One thing that has always been a hallmark of IZC is its ability to evolve. When the community, or any other external circumstance calls for it, the Central has been able to mold itself into what it needs to be. Looking back on the site's history, it has had several such moments. This is one of those moments.
It's been five years since IZC last came up for air. Less than a month ago, that old FTP program sounded the chime, and IZC was back online. It was a grand reception; neat to see an old face in a new world.
The past month has shown that IZC is still a good idea. It's nice to have around. It's nice to be building the site up again. And it's nice to be evolving again.
The experience of the past few days can be likened to what Link went through in Zelda V. When he laid down for his afternoon nap, he was 10 years old. He woke up, and the entire world had changed. Not only that, but he had grown and become stronger. He had aged seven years as well.
Even without being online, IZC has matured. I have strengths that I'm bringing to the table now that we never even dreamed of. I've got concepts, old and new, that are springing forth that are the sure sign that IZC never for one day died. Surely not; IZC has been incubating in my mind for all of these years.
Link explored his new world. He saw some old faces, as have I. Many of them are exactly how I remembered them. It's comforting. Many of them are happy to tell me that there is a place for IZC in their lives. I'm glad I could bring that back for you.
The bottom line is this. The old design, as much as I loved it, didn't work for me. I basically streamlined it. I streamlined the entire site. Here, with this set-up and with our host, Generation17, I have enough room for all of the ideas I could ever possibly think of.
The whole reason for this was to change focus. IZC simply isn't a site that concerns itself with how to beat the Zelda games. You can do that on your own. Most of you have. This isn't a site that concerns itself with bringig you the latest news. Most of it is bogus, anyways. IZC is a site that was created by a huge Zelda fan, and its a site for others like myself. I love those games, and I know most of you do, too. I like to think about them, and to talk about them. And this is a great place for all of us to do that.
IZC's focus isn't on giving you the best strategy guide available. We're here to do things that you can't really get at the other sites; to give you content and material that is uniquely "IZC". We have editorials that bring up all sorts of interesting things. People write in Letters, and the staff and I respond to them, and we have discussions. We poll you for your opinions; we bring you special features. Most of all, we bring you the best Zelda music information and files that we can. We're everything we used to be, and we're evolving into even more.
Now, let me mention one last thing. We've been online less than a month, and we've made an effort to start essentially from scratch, content-wise. Some old editorials and information will be integrated, but for the most part, this is the same IZC, with new stuff to say. Our sections are fairly barren right now. We're rebuilding.
It's been a great process building this site up again. Thank you, everyone who read this, and has taken the time to e-mail me. So far, we've had some great letters come in, and I've had some great discussions with people. I've also gotten a chance to meet some members of the community to run their own sites, such as The Missing Link, TSA, and Fury Three.
Running IZC again has been a fantastic journey. Thanks for sticking with me, and I look forward to many more letters, discussions, features, and submissions!
Your webmaster,
Ice
