05/01/1997 -
The Construction Project is almost complete. Here are the latest updates.
User's Home
Pages
The User's Home Pages have been updated. The page
has a new look and all of the links have been
verified. Links that are currently being updated
include an under construction graphic. I have
also added more snippets of information for each
link to provide user's with more info on each
link. Where available, each link also has an
email link so that you can email the webmaster.
This page is now completely updated and generated
by the DP app. (See the News Room articles on
the DP Web Authoring
application.)
Error
Messages
The Error Messages page also has a new look and is
easier to read. This page does not contain any
new information on DataPerfect errors. This
information will likely not change. The page was
simply given a face lift!! New links to other
areas of the web site were added at the end of the
page!
FTP Sites
The FTP Sites page has also been updated. The
page includes the new locations of all the files
in the Download Library. As I have mentioned
inthe past, America Online does not allow for more
than 2MB of FTP space were screen name. The large
number of files on the web site take up approx 5
1/4MB of disk space and therefore are divided into
three different FTP sites. The FTP Sites page
lists the files located at each site and also
includes a link so that you can visit the FTP
site.
During this construction project, I have paid very close attention to graphics. You will notice that the new pages no longer include graphics that are specific to that page. Rather, I have used a two column table at the top of each page and have included the same graphic on each page... which is the web site's new logo. The graphic is located on one column and the other column includes the page title in large letters.
The new design allows the pages to load much more quickly on your web browser. Once your browser loads the small logo the first time, it keeps it in memory and does not need to load it again when it is called by the next web page. Without loading a graphic, the page loads much more quickly since it is only loading text from the new page.
The News Room does not use a Table. It uses a three part Frame. When you load the Frame the first time, all of the graphics will load. When you click on an article, only a smaller version of the web site logo is loaded and the remainder is the text of the article. The large graphic in the left frame (links to other pages of the web site) does not reload each time you click an article. This means a faster loading News Room article.
As I learn more about the HTML language, I will use those features which will enhance the look and feel of the web site and increase browser speed. This week I learned how to make fonts larger and give them color while using less text in the page. You can see this new feature in the DP Error's page as well as at the beginning of this article. The Error numbers and their definition contain only code and no graphics. Again, fewer and smaller graphics means a faster web site.
That's all for now. It's time to get back to work. I hope you like the new site!