This is the official changelog for the site! I may eventually move my Petz Update Feed pinger here, but nothing yet.
This page also acts as my site history, and a catalogue of all my site updates, no matter how minor.
Just want to see the changes? Click here to skip to the changelog!
For completeness in this site history, let's talk about versions of the site from before it was on Neocities!
Old graphic from the Tumblr blog.
I decided to make my Petz blog on Tumblr after seeing several other Petz blogs while looking for Petz-related content, most notably the blogs of Thor@Thor's Petz (thorplayspetz), Mazz@Mazzlabs (petz4), and Shade@NightShade's Petz (shadensp), though far from the only ones (yourvirtualpetzpalz comes to mind as well).
My mainblog on Tumblr is Owlkhemy, so originally, my Petz blog was called Owlkhemy's Creturs (more on that term here). It had a webcore theme, because of the lovely Windows 95 graphic from Meta Mapper that I used for my header. I've never used 95, but I have used 98, so I thought that was close enough. Crucially, I colour-shifted the original pink and blue "vapourwave" colour scheme to teal, blue, and purple, which you'll notice have remained accent colours for a while!
It stayed that way until I planned a breeding project, and decided to make a kennel name for myself punning off of my username Owlkhemy and the term "alchemy", and deciding to use mercury, also called quicksilver or "hydrargyrum", as a basis for the logo). Surely no problems would ever come from the convoluted-ass name of Hydrargyry Kennelz!
Hydrargyry Kennelz was originally hosted on WordPress, using the "Blue Screen of Joy" theme, due to my many... memories of my old Windows XP computer bluescreening at me *eye twitch*. I thought it was a pretty unique theme, for being one of the free ones, and thought it suited my previous "webcore" theme on my Tumblr.
It was around here that I decided to make Hydrargyry the actual name of the site, though I continued to use Owlkhemy's Creturs branding occasionally.
Click image to open bigger...
VRSN: ☿x01xxxxxx has so far been characterized by still resembling the Windows XP Blue Screen of Death, with its navy blue background and white console-font text. I still used the teal, blue, and purple from the Owlkhemy's Creturs days as accents.
☿x0100xxxx {DePressing} — ☿x0101xxxx {Mascotism} — ☿x0102xxxx {Aeroification}
Went live on: 2025-04-09 (according to Neocities)
Click images to open bigger...
While it wasn't called that at the time, VRSN: ☿x0100xxxx was the very first version of the site. I made the switch due to my hatred of WordPress's management, according to my blog post. Amusingly, I also vaguely remember being annoyed that WordPress did not allow free users to put custom HTML on their pages, meaning I couldn't put the utterly adorable Petz Park on my site. The new site was originally going to be hosted on GitLab, only for technical issues to prompt the move to Neocities, and I've never looked back since.
Looking back, all the basics of Hydrargyry's design were there, including the blue background and white text that were my way of porting over the BSoJ theme. Uniquely, the header links were included in the white area of the header. And, of course, Petz Park is proudly displayed on the front page.
Eventually, I would change the font of the header links, add a marquee, and change the layout. Most of these changes would remain until later versions.
Went live on: 2026-02-?? (based on the Wayback Machine's archives of the site)
VRSN: ☿x0101xxxx marked the introduction of the site mascot, Bluescreen the BirdWorm, who scratches the marquee as a fun bit of visual interest. There's not much else to say about this version, except for the layout reverting to having Petz Park below the marquee again, the splitting of the site name and the navigation links into two separate blocks, and the site logo changing partway through in April 2026 (which neither I nor the Wayback Machine have pictures of).
Click image to open bigger...
Click image to open bigger...
VRSN: ☿x0102xxxx marked the introduction of the Frutiger Aero-inspired button header, the new dividers, and a variety of "consolidated" pages to make updating my navigation easier on myself.
Went live on: 2026-06-26
Corresponding blog post: N/A
Went live on: 2026-05-25
Corresponding blog post: "I've fixed a palette!"
Went live on: 2026-05-23
Corresponding blog post: "My 'Album Art Petz' project is done!"
Went live on: 2026-05-14
Corresponding blog post: "Site history update!"
Went live on: 2026-05-11
Corresponding blog post: N/A
Went live on: 2026-05-10
Corresponding blog post: "'Making a "Starter Form"' is up! (and other things...)"
Went live on: 2026-05-08
Corresponding blog post: N/A
Went live on: 2026-05-07
Corresponding blog post: "'Petz Genetics: A (Slightly) More Up-to-Date Guide' is up!"
Went live on: 2026-05-06
Corresponding blog post: N/A
Went live on: 2026-05-05
Corresponding blog post: "Buttons are live!"
Let's use the first-ever changelog update, ☿x01020000, as an example!
The version numbers consist of a mercury symbol, an "x", and eight digits.
The first two digits (e.g. 01) are the major update. These are full site theme overhauls. I like my theme, so these will probably never happen!
The next two digits (e.g. 02) are the minor update. These are smaller overhauls, like menu changes, new styling, etc. Aeroification marks the introduction of menu buttons, so it is a minor update.
Finally, the next four digits (e.g. 0000) are the patch update. These are tiny fixes, like changed links, new pictures, new pages, or just spelling mistakes. I usually don't ping the Petz Update Feed for these kinds of updates.
(Basically, in less error-code-styled terms, VRSN: ☿x01020000 is layout 1.2.0.)