Oh wow 😀 That's a nice find. I think I've screenshots from the past. A bit more about those screenshots -


1> The first screenshot shows CE's primary design. Back then, it was a simple phpBB based board running and all we had on CE was the forum on /forum. There was no VoiCE, no Small Talk and in fact; I had put up a small JS slideshow that quickly introduced CE and redirected users to /forum from the main domain.

2> phpBB was a good software (and it still is); but I figured out that it won't be an excellent choice in the longer run. vBulletin 3.x was out and it was an excellent forum software. It made perfect sense to move the site to vB. I studied a hell lot about the software and then finally made a switch. It was one of the best decisions I took in the history of CE. We witnessed lot of growth for the next few years.

3> The site's been through several design changes over the period. Our oldies know about it and have adopted it faster and still shower their love. It was towards the end of Feb 2010; we had a hacking attempt and major part of the site was compromised. Fortunately, user data remained intact. However, I made a decision that I regret - and that was migrating the forum to vBulletin 4.x. It looked like a correct step to take at that time but it looked more or less like a disaster. Although you see a nice design on the front; it's a pain in the ass to handle all the troubles it generates inside. I'd not say we didn't grow (in fact, the growth has been fantastic in the past few months). However, there are several issues that we must handle on regular basis.

4> We're already working on preparing ourselves for the next step and I'm super excited about it. More details, when the right time comes 😀

@Rupam: Thanks a ton for sharing this.

Having seen the growth closely from the beginning, this trip down the memory lane was awesome!

I am a

very Good Rupam. That was a nice Gift to CE 😀

By the way, we'll celebrate our 6[sup]th[/sup] anniversary.

The_Big_K

By the way, we'll celebrate our 6[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary.

Yeah....... I always manage to be stupid with my typos and quickies!...... Rectifying that.

BTW, Integrated Ideas will celebrate it's 8th Anniversary on 11th November. I think all great thing started in the month of November! 😀

Dear K, I am unable to edit any post of mine!!!!!! Is it a technical hitch? Like there is no edit option in the posts.......................... OMG

Rupam Das

Yeah....... I always manage to be stupid with my typos and quickies!...... Rectifying that.

BTW, Integrated Ideas will celebrate it's 8th Anniversary on 11th November. I think all great thing started in the month of November! 😀

Typo corrected Rupam. 😀