Yes, that wonderful code that real Web Masters use
to author their pages. I don't (read can't and too lazy to learn)
write "Pure" HTML although most of my good friends do. In paticular
Daniel Wilson (who is
helping me with my site) writes HTML in DiDa (I think) a Shareware HTML
Code Editor. Another of my friend's Ravenite,
Writes his code by hand, in Notepad, DiDa, and whatever else is handy.
Now I'm not a computer specialist (they are). Nor am I a Computer
Programmer (they are). So I know litttle/none about source code,
Java, Dynamic HTML, Frames (which I personnally dislike). That is
why Daniel (and to a lesser extent, Ravenite) is helping my page look better
and better. Personally, I'm just an FNG using the Netscape Editors/Composer.
I like it but I'm always on the lookout for a free, legal, graphic HTML
editor with more auto buttons ("Click here, type link, apply" type of stuff).
Now I think in layers and menus. My mother
programmed our first computer (a monocrome 8086) with a basic menu system
that layered programs much like this site layers documents. As far
as intermeshed documents go, HTML is the best thing i've ever seen.
I write HTML comparing it against the layers of documents in my head.
In some cases I want to menchion something in a document that is posted
in a diffrent spot. Other times I just want to put, techinical data,
lists, statisics and definitions out of the way because It breaks up the
flow of my thoughts. I guess I'm a little link happy but I don't
like having to scroll through the targets. I guess I set up my page
the way it's comfortable for me (Although managing all these files can
be annoying).
Two Nifty HTML Song parodies
As I said eariler I think in layers. I also
think in connections, like the show with James Burke. When I write
a page, I think to myself "What section should this go under?" and "What
should it be linked to?" On several occasions I have created whole new
sections or subsections because I found that a document didn't fit into
any of my other catorgoies (KAOS and TFOS
are good examples of this.) So you may have to click through several
menus to get to the actual document. To make life just a little easier
I try and make sure the documents are always white on black documents and
the the pages that are nothing but menus have backgrounds, nifty colors
and huge headings that clearly define them as menus.
I make a lot of links (which is why all pages have
the Back to... stuff) and divide my page into major sections that are divided
into subsections (many of which are not written yet, but they will be),
that in some cases are divied into subsections again! If this seems
a little over the top, let me explain two of the situations. In my
Arcology Netbook I have a menu, on the menu
is a list of Reccomended Reading, eventually
each book in the reccomended reading will be linked to a brief description,
why it is appropiate for the Arcopolis setting and a review. Some
of those book reviews will be linked to the Gaming
Review Index, under the Various Rolepaying
Page. By making them seperate files I can web them any way I
want, and someone reading Reviews
of Palladium Books, won't have to scroll past why The Prince
is appropiate for the GM to study.
I like Graphics, and in most of my pages I use a
fair amount of them. I don't like graphic interface pages beacuse
I believe that he loading time, creation time, absortion of disk space,
and (in my case) probablity of screwup outweighs the supercoolness of custom
graphics and menus made exclusively with cool logos and graphics.
Now in a few months I may flipflop on this as put graphics as the links
on my main page.
You'll probably note that some pages are much better
edited, laid out, have neater Gif's, ect. than others. There
are a few reasons for that. Number 1 is that my good friend Daniel
is "Enhancing" my site, the way that can only be done in HTML/Java. 2,
Some pages I wrote early on and haven't updated them yet. 3, With the sheer
number of individual documents, let alone all the ones I want to write,
some just slip through my fingers.
Last but certainly not least, I have to menchion
Geocities. They are very kind
and generious in giving anyone who asks 3MB of web space. Now I know
that they pay for this with advertising, and that they have to advertise
on the thousands of members pages. But I don't like the console that
pops up or that my page is sometimes inaccessible (but nothing is truly
free). Of the free providers they are the largest with the most stuff.
And until I can help coordidnate a server, I'll be here.