search  current discussion  categories  technology - internet 

website development]

updated wed 5 mar 03

 

Vince Pitelka on tue 4 mar 03


Bob -=20
Regarding your comments below about Bob Coogan's website, that is the =
most recent one I completed, but quite a few people have checked it out =
for me, and none reported hangups in loading images. So I am not sure =
what the problem might be. =20

The "go back" commands at the bottom of all the full image pages are my =
own inclusion. The FrontPage templates I used all seem to have the "up" =
button to return to the immediate parent level in the navigation =
structure. That is one of the important things - to design the =
navigation structure for maximum accessiblity and minimum confusion - no =
more layers than you need, but enough layers for the most effective and =
practical proritization of subject and access. I don't believe there =
are more than a few places on any of my websites where there are more =
than three layers. The top layer is of course the "index" page. =20

I took a three-hour FrontPage course at the University last fall to get =
started on this. Friends provided a lot of tricks as well - such as =
shift/enter instead of just "enter" to moved down a single line, use of =
tables to place images, etc. When you use tables for this purpose, you =
don't want them visible. Just create a table and then right click =
anywhere in the table, click "table properties," and then reduce the =
border width to "0." While I am at it I always increase the cell =
spacing to "5". =20

If you are going to have gallery pages with thumbnail images, go into =
"page properties," then click "auto thumbnail" and set the thumbnails =
for 100 pixels on the longest side. That way you will get the most =
consistent images, whether they are longer in height or width. =20

In preparing to make a thumbnail page, just create a table with lots of =
cells. Before adding any thumbnails, place your cursor in the upper =
left cell, left click and drag the cursor across the tables to the lower =
right cell, highlighting all of them. Then click the "center =
justification" icon in the toolbar. That way every thumbnail will be =
centered in its cell. =20

For all of my large image pages I remove all the shared borders. I =
think they are just a distraction when you are trying to view an image =
of someone's artwork. That's why the "go back" command is there, since =
there are no navigation buttons on those pages. Right click in the text =
area of a new page, and then click "shared borders. At the upper left, =
click "single page," and then unclick all the borders. It will leave =
you a blank page. Before you click the "insert photograph" icon at the =
lower left, go up to the upper toolbar and click the "center =
justification" icon, so that the image will be centered on the page. =20

There are so many other tricks. Feel free to email me any questions =
that come to mind. I am certainly no expert, but I sort of jumped into =
this thing full speed ahead, with a very fast learning curve, and I am =
having fun with it. We need to get all the publicity we can for the =
Craft Center and our programs, and the web has become so important for =
that, and the price is certainly right. So I took the initiative to =
learn FrontPage and build these websites. Two more to go for my other =
two colleagues, and one way or another I'll have them done before the =
end of the semester. =20
- Vince

Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/

----- Original Message -----=20
From: Bob Santerre=20
To: vpitelka@DTCCOM.NET=20
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 9:57 AM
Subject: [Fwd: Re: website development]


Vince, I sent this to Clayart by mistake - fingers quicker than the =
brain.

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: website development=20
Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2003 10:45:34 -0500=20
From: Bob Santerre =20
To: Clayart =20
References: <17c.17e235fa.2b93f382@aol.com> =
<000501c2e1e0$5360ec60$78f66b0c@DHBQ1B21>=20



Hi Vince,

I'm just going through the Step-by-Step Frontpage tutorial in=20
preparation for putting up my own web site as well. In viewing your web =

sites (which I liked very much - and while I could recognize the=20
'Frontpage' style it was not off-putting at all and I found the sites=20
very professional looking and quite logical in navigation - in contrast=20
to some of the more 'esoteric' sites I've seen that require some fancier =

navigation or catching flashing thumbnails to find what you want to=20
see). I do have one question and a comment:

1. You've used 2 types of internal links, a 'back' button and an 'up'=20
link. I don't recall reading about an 'up' link feature and am=20
wondering how it differs from the 'back' button. In Frontpage where did =

you find this 'up' link feature?

2. Your own site and the Curtis site work perfectly for me (Netscape=20
6.2 browser, sloooow telephone modem), but the Coogan site seems to=20
hang-up on some of the image retrieves. The image=20
(some, not all) comes=20
up for about 1/3 of it, then it hangs up and finally the retrieve just=20
quits (with no error message, phone modem connection has not been lost). =

Don't know if the problem is on your end or mine - just thought you'd=20
like to know.