WINX CLUB ONLINE
26 March 2025
I am the creator, developer, and publisher of the website Winx Club Online, an ambitious digital project that aims to faithfully recreate in HTML, CSS, and PHP the official portal of the fourth season of the “Winx Club” series, which existed between April 2011 and August 2012 in Adobe Flash. This work represents a major effort in cultural preservation and technological innovation, aimed at nostalgic fans as well as new audiences who can now enjoy this recreation. From planning to implementation, all phases of the project were entirely led and executed by me.
The recreation involved detailed analysis of old files that I and other fans had from that time, such as screenshots, videos, and use of the Wayback Machine of the original site.
Infrastructure and Early Challenges
Even before starting the technical reconstruction of the site, one of the first major challenges was ensuring a solid and accessible infrastructure for the project. The Winx Club Online website is currently hosted on a dedicated server running Ubuntu, acquired through OVH, one of the leading hosting services in Europe. The annual cost of maintaining the server is 109€, and this was one of the first financial commitments made to ensure the project could remain online in a stable and continuous way.
Another major initial obstacle was finding a domain name that closely resembled the original and conveyed the same nostalgic identity. The choice of onlinewinxclub.com was strategic, simple, direct, easy to remember, and very similar to the original “online.winxclub.com”. With the domain registered and the server configured, I carried out all necessary preparations to host the site, using PHP, MySQL, and Apache/Nginx, ensuring security, speed, and flexibility for future improvements or expansions.
Once the technical foundation was ready, the greatest visual challenge of the project quickly became replacing all the elements originally made in Adobe Flash Player, including all the minigames, the logo, the minigames menu (slide), the login system, the news system, interactive buttons, custom ads, and even the old video player.
Each of these components had to be carefully rebuilt using modern technologies such as JavaScript, HTML5, PHP, and CSS3. The goal was always to maintain a visually identical look to the original while ensuring compatibility with modern browsers, superior performance, and responsiveness for different screen resolutions. Custom solutions were implemented to replicate the interactivity of the Flash games and animations, providing an experience as magical as the original. This process involved not only advanced technical knowledge, but also a great deal of creativity and dedication to preserve the nostalgia in every detail.
The site includes a user registration system, avatar creation and customization (through Web Avatar), real-time online social games (Winx Adventure), and a collection of minigames with reward-based mechanics using virtual coins (Winx Coins). The backend was developed with a focus on scalability and security, ensuring a continuous experience for an active community of users. The interface was entirely redesigned to guarantee accessibility and fluidity, without compromising aesthetic fidelity.
Recovery and Modernization of the Minigames
Much of the essence of the original official website lay in its interactive minigames. Fortunately, I had the foresight to locally save all available Flash files (.swf) back in the day, predicting that one day they might no longer be accessible. These .swf files became a central piece in reconstructing the content of Winx Club Online.
To reuse and enhance these contents, I used Flash Decompiler, a tool that allows the extraction of all internal resources from a Flash file, such as sprites, sounds, and ActionScript code. Through this process, I manually extracted the sprites from each game, recreated them in high quality, and significantly improved the sound effects. The entire scoring/classification system was also rebuilt, now establishing a direct connection between the minigames and a custom PHP script that interacts with the site's database, storing results in the highscores table.
To ensure the games continued functioning in modern browsers, as Adobe Flash Player has been discontinued, I integrated Ruffle, a Flash emulator written in Rust that allows Flash games to run directly in the browser, without additional plugins and in a 100% secure way.
Thanks to this integration, the minigames became available again directly on the site, now functioning even better than on the original platform. User scores are recorded in real time, avatars are shown alongside the games, and Winx Coins are automatically awarded after each session, all with much smoother and more responsive performance.
Web Avatar – Full Customization and Integration
The Web Avatar system was completely rebuilt. Originally developed in Flash, it has now been reconstructed from scratch using HTML5, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP scripts, with constant connection to multiple database tables. The recreation was quite time-consuming and demanding, beginning in June 2024 and completed in October 2024, due to the level of complexity and customization involved. The result allows users to create their own unique avatars, just like before, customizing them with dozens of clothes, accessories, hairstyles, and transformations.
Each avatar is automatically generated when a user creates an account, starting with a default avatar assigned to the user. In addition to distinguishing whether the user is a fairy, witch, or specialist (girl or boy), the system also creates a suitable body based on the user's choice. When the user takes a "photo", the avatar is saved uniquely to their user ID, and an anti-cache system ensures the avatar updates correctly, allowing it to be displayed in multiple parts of the site, from the personal profile, to the minigame pages, and even next to forum posts.
To support the continuous expansion of the game, I developed an external admin panel with a secure form that allows me to quickly upload new items (in .png format) directly to the server. This panel enables the addition of clothes and visual elements swiftly, making updates simple yet effective and frequent.
The Web Avatar is directly connected to the phpBB platform, which serves as the community’s multilingual online forum. In this space, fans from various countries can chat, share ideas, have fun, and interact with one another. Personalized avatars are displayed next to each forum post, reinforcing each member’s visual identity. Additionally, the avatars are shown alongside every minigame, and in some cases, even integrated directly into the minigames themselves.
Each user also has access to a personalized profile page, where they can showcase their avatar, add friends, send private messages, create personal trivia lists, and much more. This system was designed to foster a sense of community and belonging, which was so characteristic of the original Winx Club website experience.
Localization and International Community
The site supports the same languages that were available back in 2010: English (en), Italian (it), French (fr), Spanish (es), German (de), Dutch (du), Russian (ru), European Portuguese (pt), Brazilian Portuguese (br), and Turkish (tr). Each of these versions features its own localized website, translated games, and a dedicated forum on the phpBB platform, allowing users from different countries to feel welcomed and engage in their native language.
To ensure faithful and culturally appropriate translations, I quickly assembled a small volunteer team with whom I work closely. This team assists me with translating and localizing the content into languages such as Italian, French, Russian, and Dutch. I lead this group by scheduling weekly content calendars with announcements and updates. All materials are submitted to me for review and integration into the site, always ensuring visual and functional consistency across the platform.
The entire site is programmed to automatically detect the user’s browser language. If the language is not supported, the content is displayed in English by default. All texts, images, news, and visual elements have been precisely localized, and language switching can be easily done through the ?lang= parameter in the URL.
The Winx Club Online was developed with respect for the intellectual property rights of the Winx Club brand. It is an unofficial, non-profit recreation built as an educational and cultural tribute to the original work. This project not only demonstrates my technical skills — including full-stack web development, UX/UI, and performance optimization — but also my ability to lead complex projects independently, with attention to detail and cultural sensitivity.
Back to Projects
The recreation involved detailed analysis of old files that I and other fans had from that time, such as screenshots, videos, and use of the Wayback Machine of the original site.
Infrastructure and Early Challenges
Even before starting the technical reconstruction of the site, one of the first major challenges was ensuring a solid and accessible infrastructure for the project. The Winx Club Online website is currently hosted on a dedicated server running Ubuntu, acquired through OVH, one of the leading hosting services in Europe. The annual cost of maintaining the server is 109€, and this was one of the first financial commitments made to ensure the project could remain online in a stable and continuous way.
Another major initial obstacle was finding a domain name that closely resembled the original and conveyed the same nostalgic identity. The choice of onlinewinxclub.com was strategic, simple, direct, easy to remember, and very similar to the original “online.winxclub.com”. With the domain registered and the server configured, I carried out all necessary preparations to host the site, using PHP, MySQL, and Apache/Nginx, ensuring security, speed, and flexibility for future improvements or expansions.
Once the technical foundation was ready, the greatest visual challenge of the project quickly became replacing all the elements originally made in Adobe Flash Player, including all the minigames, the logo, the minigames menu (slide), the login system, the news system, interactive buttons, custom ads, and even the old video player.
Each of these components had to be carefully rebuilt using modern technologies such as JavaScript, HTML5, PHP, and CSS3. The goal was always to maintain a visually identical look to the original while ensuring compatibility with modern browsers, superior performance, and responsiveness for different screen resolutions. Custom solutions were implemented to replicate the interactivity of the Flash games and animations, providing an experience as magical as the original. This process involved not only advanced technical knowledge, but also a great deal of creativity and dedication to preserve the nostalgia in every detail.
The site includes a user registration system, avatar creation and customization (through Web Avatar), real-time online social games (Winx Adventure), and a collection of minigames with reward-based mechanics using virtual coins (Winx Coins). The backend was developed with a focus on scalability and security, ensuring a continuous experience for an active community of users. The interface was entirely redesigned to guarantee accessibility and fluidity, without compromising aesthetic fidelity.
Recovery and Modernization of the Minigames
Much of the essence of the original official website lay in its interactive minigames. Fortunately, I had the foresight to locally save all available Flash files (.swf) back in the day, predicting that one day they might no longer be accessible. These .swf files became a central piece in reconstructing the content of Winx Club Online.
To reuse and enhance these contents, I used Flash Decompiler, a tool that allows the extraction of all internal resources from a Flash file, such as sprites, sounds, and ActionScript code. Through this process, I manually extracted the sprites from each game, recreated them in high quality, and significantly improved the sound effects. The entire scoring/classification system was also rebuilt, now establishing a direct connection between the minigames and a custom PHP script that interacts with the site's database, storing results in the highscores table.
To ensure the games continued functioning in modern browsers, as Adobe Flash Player has been discontinued, I integrated Ruffle, a Flash emulator written in Rust that allows Flash games to run directly in the browser, without additional plugins and in a 100% secure way.
Thanks to this integration, the minigames became available again directly on the site, now functioning even better than on the original platform. User scores are recorded in real time, avatars are shown alongside the games, and Winx Coins are automatically awarded after each session, all with much smoother and more responsive performance.
Web Avatar – Full Customization and Integration
The Web Avatar system was completely rebuilt. Originally developed in Flash, it has now been reconstructed from scratch using HTML5, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP scripts, with constant connection to multiple database tables. The recreation was quite time-consuming and demanding, beginning in June 2024 and completed in October 2024, due to the level of complexity and customization involved. The result allows users to create their own unique avatars, just like before, customizing them with dozens of clothes, accessories, hairstyles, and transformations.
Each avatar is automatically generated when a user creates an account, starting with a default avatar assigned to the user. In addition to distinguishing whether the user is a fairy, witch, or specialist (girl or boy), the system also creates a suitable body based on the user's choice. When the user takes a "photo", the avatar is saved uniquely to their user ID, and an anti-cache system ensures the avatar updates correctly, allowing it to be displayed in multiple parts of the site, from the personal profile, to the minigame pages, and even next to forum posts.
To support the continuous expansion of the game, I developed an external admin panel with a secure form that allows me to quickly upload new items (in .png format) directly to the server. This panel enables the addition of clothes and visual elements swiftly, making updates simple yet effective and frequent.
The Web Avatar is directly connected to the phpBB platform, which serves as the community’s multilingual online forum. In this space, fans from various countries can chat, share ideas, have fun, and interact with one another. Personalized avatars are displayed next to each forum post, reinforcing each member’s visual identity. Additionally, the avatars are shown alongside every minigame, and in some cases, even integrated directly into the minigames themselves.
Each user also has access to a personalized profile page, where they can showcase their avatar, add friends, send private messages, create personal trivia lists, and much more. This system was designed to foster a sense of community and belonging, which was so characteristic of the original Winx Club website experience.
Localization and International Community
The site supports the same languages that were available back in 2010: English (en), Italian (it), French (fr), Spanish (es), German (de), Dutch (du), Russian (ru), European Portuguese (pt), Brazilian Portuguese (br), and Turkish (tr). Each of these versions features its own localized website, translated games, and a dedicated forum on the phpBB platform, allowing users from different countries to feel welcomed and engage in their native language.
To ensure faithful and culturally appropriate translations, I quickly assembled a small volunteer team with whom I work closely. This team assists me with translating and localizing the content into languages such as Italian, French, Russian, and Dutch. I lead this group by scheduling weekly content calendars with announcements and updates. All materials are submitted to me for review and integration into the site, always ensuring visual and functional consistency across the platform.
The entire site is programmed to automatically detect the user’s browser language. If the language is not supported, the content is displayed in English by default. All texts, images, news, and visual elements have been precisely localized, and language switching can be easily done through the ?lang= parameter in the URL.
The Winx Club Online was developed with respect for the intellectual property rights of the Winx Club brand. It is an unofficial, non-profit recreation built as an educational and cultural tribute to the original work. This project not only demonstrates my technical skills — including full-stack web development, UX/UI, and performance optimization — but also my ability to lead complex projects independently, with attention to detail and cultural sensitivity.