About the zuggsoft.com Web Site

This web site was originally designed and constructed by Zugg and Darker. The site has evolved tremendously over the years, moving from a simple set of pages on a shared server, to the current database-driven site running on a dedicated linux machine with PHP and MySQL.

Site Design

In designing the Zuggsoft web site, Zugg used the following principles:

  1. Easy to read
  2. Easy to navigate
  3. Focused on supporting Zuggsoft products
  4. Reflect a professional, yet fun, view of the Zugg Software company
  5. Customizable for advanced users
  6. Easier to maintain and update information on the site
  7. Viewable in all modern web browsers

These principles were used to develop the standard "look and feel" of the pages, develop the layout, and design the link hierarchy between web pages. 

On our original Windows NT server, we had chosen the Snitz Forum software to replace to old, custom-designed Discussion Forums.  This forum software was much more versatile than the previous code, and was based upon ASP and SQL Server rather than Cold Fusion and MS Access.  The improved stability of this technology, the ease of use, the price (free), and the tremendous support for these forums were the main reasons for choosing Snitz.

The new forums had a new look and feel.  It was time to redesign the rest of the site to fit with this new scheme.  The fonts and colors from the forums were incorporated throughout the rest of the site, providing improved consistency and readability.

When we moved to the new linux server, we replaced the Snitz forums with the phpBB forums, written using PHP. At about the same time we also started using the MX Portal software that is based around phpBB. This portal software has been heavily customized, including the Knowledge Base module for online documentation. This database-driven approach allows the content of the site to be directly edited from any browser for users with the proper permissions.

The Zugg Software logo was designed by André von Chrzanowski, winner of the Zuggsoft logo design contest in June 1998.  André was responsible for the caricature of Zugg, and Zugg himself designed the "Zugg Software" portion of the logo. The main image of Pike's Peak reflects the location of Zugg Software in Colorado Springs, CO.

The site is hosted by Wolfpaw.net