ABOUT DINO'S ULTIMA PAGE AND FAQ

What is the aim of this website?

Dino's Ultima Page offers up to date news of the active Ultima websites. Rather than checking ten or more websites each day, you can leave that work to me and just read my news, from where you can go to the updated websites.
Also, Dino's Ultima Page gives useful links for each Ultima. The Ultima Information is a major part of the site, and is very useful if you seek something. All links, both external and internal, in the Ultima Information are classified, so if for example you want maps of Ultima 3, you just go to the Ultima 3 page and look for the subtitle "Maps and Places". Subtitles are in alphabetical order, so you cannot get confused.

Basically, Dino's Ultima Page offers:

Up to date news from the Ultima scene
Lots of links to specific Ultima Information
Some fanfiction

What is Ultima?

The Ultima series is a series of about 15 games, a series that has lived since the earliest of the 1980s. First made by Origin Systems Inc. (OSI), Electronic Arts (EA) bought the company in 1992 and ended the series in 1999. Although many say that EA killed Ultima, it is only partially true, because fans are remaking the old Ultimas and producing new ones free of charge, using modern game engines and graphics. The only necessity to play them would be the game engine being used, though some of the remakes use their own engine so they are totally free. Most projects should be ready by about the end of 2003.
The Ultima series has always offered something special that no other game could replace. Apart from offering a whole world to explore freely since Ultima 1, Ultima 4 introduced ethics, comprising a system of eight virtues deriving from the various combinations of three principles.
Since Ultima 1, you were summoned to the land of Sosaria by Lord British (who is actually Richard Garriott, the father of Ultima) to set things right and save the land from evil, going beyond the simple "kill the powerful villain" plot from Ultima 4 onwards. As the hero of the land, known as the Stranger from another world, you kept saving the land even until Ultima 4 when the land was renamed 'Britannia' and united under the rule of Lord British. Ultima 4 is all about mastering the eight virtues and becoming their embodiment, or the Avatar, a title that remained all the way until the end.

Why is there no front page other than the news page?

If you are a frequent visitor of my site, you want information quickly, rather than winding around a front page to read the latest news. My site is all about providing information, and I provide it quickly and efficiently.
While having a description of the site as a front page would help new visitors, it really is not worth making frequent visitors have to skip a front page to get the information they want, since new visitors can find exactly what they want in this same page. An information site should strive to give information quickly and efficiently, and that is the aim of my site.

Why do the fanfictions have a different design?

First of all, the fanfictions are a minor part of this site. Secondly, a story should take up the whole width of the page for the visitor to read, not be squished by the tables. Thirdly, the Lost Vale is not even mine. I started this site to host the Lost Vale in its original form, with original backgrounds and pictures, since the Dragon Press could not, due to the amount of space that the backgrounds and pictures took. The Lost Vale was made by Amazing Dragon, not me, so I am not responsible for the invalid HTML in it, although I have corrected quite a bit of it.

How is the website structured?

I have built my site over some principles.
I made sure to use tables and not frames, as frames hinder navigation and hide the real page address you are seeing.
I have coded the site myself rather than using a program to do it for me. Besides the fact that knowing web design derives from knowing how to code even with Notepad, most programs appear to make loads of invalid HTML.
The main principles on which I built this website are the following.
I based all of it on content, because mine is an information site, not a fancy showoff site made to impress the visitor with its fancy graphics.
I also based it on navigability - the navigation tables are all over the primary parts of the site, and it's easy to get around the fanfictions due to the links provided.
One of the most important principles of my website is compatibility - my website works in all browsers and screen resolutions, even in text browsers such as Lynx, as well as other browsers such as Mozilla. The reason why my internal links are text is the same - if you cannot get through a website with images disabled, then it's worth very little.
One last thing worth mentioning is with what I made my site. Dino's Ultima Page is built thoroughly with HTML and CSS. I have built it without the use of anything like Flash, as I really don't see any use in the fancy, useless Flash movies and graphics, and besides, this is an information site, not a carnival exhibition.

Well, who are these 'Dragons'?

Many Dragons are mentioned in this site. I, like the other Dragons, am a member of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter (UDIC), and that is where the Dragon name comes from. When joining UDIC, you choose a nickname, and 'Dragon' is automatically added to it.
The Ultima Dragons come from many countries over the world, and are of various ages. They have been around since 1992.

Why do you use grey scrolls?

The dark background is intentional. There is a big difference between having black text on a white background and white text on a black background. White is a very bright colour, and hurts your eyes. I want the best for my visitors, so I have made a dark background that does not harm your eyes.

Why don't you use a cool fancy font?

Not everyone has cool fonts installed on his system. I do, but my site is for the public, not for me. In places like important titles, I use images with a nice font, but the main text uses basic fonts, such that everyone has one or the other.

These ads are really annoying!

While I know the Geocities advertisements (ads) are a pain, I cannot do otherwise. I am grateful that I found webspace with them, and I am grateful that the advertisements are not worse, such as popup windows.
If you like visiting my site yet hate the ads, I suggest you get the Mozilla browser. You can set it to block the ads, and it's much better than Internet Explorer (IE).

Unlike the Geocities advertisements attached to it, this site uses valid HTML and CSS.

Of which sites does Dino's Ultima Page bring news?

Dino's Ultima Page offers news of the most up to date and active Ultima sites. Among these are many of the remakes. Here is a complete list:

What has the site achieved so far?

First of all, this website is all valid HTML (except for the Geocities ads obviously) and valid CSS:

Dino's Ultima Page has also won the Ultima Fantasy Award on 30th September 2002:

And this site has also been the website of the week on the Adventures of Blackthorn website between Monday 23rd September and Sunday 6th October 2002.

Here are the comments received about my site until now:

"Hi there!! I like your page, lots of helpful information/links :)"
– TomMage in his email where he sent me his award
"Dino's Ultima Site offers upto date information on Ultima projects and remakes. The site also offers history, culture, items and other things from past Ultimas."
– Adventures of Blackthorn describing my site as site of the week
"Constantly updated Ultima related site, good one if you want updates related to the Ultima community."
– Adventures of Blackthorn's link
"One of the members of this projects has made a website. It currently hosts "The Lost Vale" fanfic and is very up to date with Ultima news."
– Ultima 8 – Exile's link
"Another fan page, Dino focuses on other aspects as well such as fan fiction." – Enilno's link
"Lots of information about all Ultimas, comprehensive link lists, latest news." – Hacki's Ultima Page link