Download it today!
After a couple-of-year hiatus, due to things like employment, relocation, parenthood, & graduate school, WildcatWeb.com is back online.
WildcatWeb.com was launched in 1997, but really started in 1995 with the launch of Windows 95. One of the things that Windows 95 brought to PC users was the concept of a "desktop." What this meant from an aesthetic perspective was that one could use an image as your desktop wallpaper, instead of using a solid color or one of the default tiled patterns included with Windows.
At the time, there were a few companies who were trying to mass-market desktop wallpapers for every NCAA school. While this offered options, like the one to the left, they were often designed for the lowest common denominator.
That means that they were created using a palette of only 256 colors. But, by 1995, computers were able to display many more colors, with full-color JPG images available for download.
So, what's a geeky UK fan to do? Create his own wallpapers, of course!
I set about learning how to use different graphic programs to create new, high-color images to use as desktop wallpapers. My dad is also a UK grad, so I shared the wallpapers with him. My mom worked at UK so, obviously, she got a copy too. Word spread and so did the questions about how someone could get a copy.
Initially, I hosted the wallpapers on server space where I was in grad school. Eventually, I registered the WildcatWeb.com domain name and put them up for everyone to have. Eventually, I even got an email from someone at the IBM plant in Lexington (this was pre-Lexmark). Apparently, an unofficial hobby at the plant was putting my wallpapers up on their computers. I never imagined!
These wallpapers, really, my only "artistic" hobby. I do them for fun and learning, as many of the skills I figured out in the process have helped me professionally. I've never charged for the wallpapers, and I don't plan to start. All I ask is that you respect the time I've put into the wallpapers and not hack them up to decorate your own web site.
Please feel free to download any wallpapers for your own use, and to share the URL.
God Bless, and GO CATS!