Building a Website with a KISS.
Keep It Simple, Stupid.
A web designer who wanted to
redesign my website told me that It reads like an encyclopedia. I'm sure he
didn't intend this as a complement but I took it as one. I suppose he wanted to
change my site into one that has eye popping graphics and dizzying animation
and no intellectual content. And all this for a fee that I couldn't afford. NO
THANK YOU! I have traveled my own path, done my own thing, and this site is
the result. Those who find it boring have already moved on to other sites where
they won't have to read any words longer than 3 syllables. For those who have
stuck with me over the years I thank you and hope I can continue to provide you
with useful information.
How I Got
Started.
I bought a copy of HTML For
dummies and started studying it. It's a real slow mover. I was up to page
numbers in the 80s and I still hadn't found any information on how to begin
coding a webpage. To this day I haven't plowed any farther into it. It does
have some useful tables such as html commands and codes for printing special
characters. I keep it for these. I still have no idea what the class command is
supposed to do. And frankly, I don't give a dam.
I was able to comprehend HTML syntax just enough to figure
out the command tables in dummies. I didn't try to learn a command until I
needed to use it. If I didn't understand something I placed it on a local page
and played with it until I got it to do what I wanted.
Site
building software.
There was, and I suppose there
still is, a lot of site building software around on the web. I picked out one
that someone told me was the most popular and downloaded the trial version. I
found to my dismay that there was no way to import an existing site. Since I
didn't want to start typing my site from scratch I abandon this approach.
If you have MS word you might be tempted to use the web
page maker which is included in the cost of word. Don't even think about it. In
time you will see why.
Simple HTML.
As it turns out you can type a lot
of text with only three commands. Combine that with a file I have created named
Library_Page_Starter.txt and you can create page after page of text.
Page
Appearance.
While I earlier disparaged over
emphasis on the appearance of a page I do believe that appearance is important.
When someone visits your page you only get one chance to make a first
impression. It should be neat and uncluttered with pleasing to the eye margins
. on all four sides.
Pet Peeve
#1, text going all the way to the edge of the page.
How many websites have you seen
where the text starts hard against the left edge of the screen and ends at the
right edge of the screen? Many I'll bet. How many printed books have you seen
where the text begins right at the left edge of the page and ends at the right
edge? None I'll bet. Has it ever occurred to you that there might be a good
reason for that? Real estate on a book page is more expensive than on a web
hosting service. There must be some very good reasons why book pages have
margins. Web pages should also have them.
A command is
a command is a command.
There are probably some
professional web page designers shouting at their screens that the word for the
character strings that affect what you see on your screen is not command. Well,
I don't give a damn about that either. I was programming computers when they
employed vacuum tubes. As far as I am concerned any character string that tells
the computer to do something is a command. If you don't like that, no one is
holding a gun to your head and forcing you to continue to read this page.
Some stuff
other than text.
In order to illustrate the
difference between doing it the old fashioned way and letting a robot do it for
you, I need to add two things that I use extensively on my site. They are a
picture and a table. The picture could be one taken using my camera, A scan of
some document, a screen shot of a windows program, a screen shot of an
oscilloscope, or a line drawing (schematic diagram). A table could be any set
of values that describe the performance of a given circuit. The photo below was
something that Sue contrived to present me with a father's day card. The table
is totally made up. But none of that matters. It's the principle that tells the
story.
Don't get sidetracked trying to understand how the various
commands work. I will be explaining that as we go along. Right now what I want
to show you is how robot webpage designers waste precious server space
repeating the same commands over and over even though the parameter is always
the same.
Teddybear Adventures.
Part of Our Teddybear
Collection.
It includes a few other stuffed animals.
Table Title. |
|||
Ownership |
Location 1 |
Location 2. |
Location 3 |
My Bears |
2 |
5 |
7 |
Her Bears |
5 |
17 |
45 |
Shared Bears |
3 |
1 |
2 |
How To View
What I Want You To See.
In Firefox click Tools on the menu
bar and then hover over or click Browser Tools. This opens a submenu. From this
submenu select Page Source. The screen will change and is now showing the HTML
commands along with the text they are modifying.
To get back to the web page click the X in the right most
tab at the top of the screen.
This page last updated Thursday, June 24, 2021.