Wildcatweb is the product of a two-diploma UK alum. This "project" came into being when I discovered HTML and web pages in graduate school. The University of Minnesota (Go Gophers! ) provided students with an allotment of web server space, in addition to our email accounts.

Early versions of Wildcatweb were nothing more than lists of links. While it seems silly now, thanks to the success of Google, it wasn't then. The mid-1990s were a time when much of the Internet was not indexed by search engines yet. So if you found a link, you held onto it because you might not find it again.

This was also when I got my first Windows-based PC and when Windows 95 was launched. Windows 95 introduced the "Desktop" concept to millions of users. But desktop wallpapers were often of low quality.

I have bought several UK desktop wallpapers online, but was never happy with the result. They were the product of mass-marketing companies who did wallpapers for EVERY school. And they aimed for the lowest common denominator, using 256 colors or less even though many new machines could handle 16-bit (high color) or 24-bit (true color) images.

So I sat about making my own desktop wallpapers. On this site, you can now see the transition of both quantity and quality of my wallpapers. It's been an obvious learning experience.

My wallpapers remained "private", shared only with family and friends, for several months. But then, I started getting emails from people who'd seen a wallpaper and wanted to download it. This led to me post the wallpapers online. Apparently they were quite popular, especially in Lexington.

Along the way, I toyed with and abandoned PLUS! packs, and then learned how to make screensavers. Like the wallpapers before, most screensavers I bought (and I have purchased several) just didn't thrill me. They were "OK", but I thought I could do better for what I wanted. Those, too, ended up on the site.

In the early 2000s, for a variety of reasons including parenthood and changes in employment, WildcatWeb went dormant. I simply didn't have time to manage it like I wanted, and I really wanted to stop using Microsoft Frontpage. So I shut down the site.

Over the last year, however, I've been getting repeated inquiries about previous wallpapers and screen savers. Oddly enough, my parents have been getting requests about them and passing them along to me, too.

So, it's with some sense of pride and a great love of my alma mater that WildcatWeb returns to active duty.

God bless, and GO CATS!

P.S. A "pictorial history" of the appearance of this web site is available here .