I just discovered five free megabytes with my new Internet account and, having no idea what to do with it, I'm seeking some advice. I'd like to do something that would be somewhat low maintenance but which would augment the work I am doing at The Daily Journal, as well as augment the SF & F writing which I love to do. But, I am woefully inexperienced! I'd like to hear from other writers about what goes into a first-rate web page. Any thoughts you guys have would be much appreciated. Thanks.
| Yup - fixed. Thanks!!! |
| I'm also Ryslind.
Hey Jim - I think there's a typo on question #10 in the response fire, fire burning bright... |
| I'm Ryslind, whoever that is:
You wear creepy robes. You enchant small animals for fun. You are the very model of a modern mystic-sorcerer. You're clearly the brains of your little band. Heck, you're the only one here who really understands what it is you're looking for. And once you get your hands on the prize, you'll have the power to take over the world! Let's see who gets the girls then, eh Barius? Having not read any of those books (that book?) I'm clueless, but it was a fun quiz. |
| I don't think the images will copy over to the Mill. Nice to know the text and link translates okay, though!
Heh...Riana's a fun character :-) She gets one of the coolest rewards at the end! |
| See how much of this code works. SueO2, who took the goblin quest challenge and is someone named Riana.
Sure, you're an elf, but you're not one of those pretty-boy archer types, always prancing around on snowbanks and checking their bleach job. You were born in the city, educated on the streets, and grew up doing whatever it took to stay alive. You're tough, resourceful, and sneaky. Sure, you're having a bad run of luck, but you'll be out of here the next time one of these clowns turns his back on you. What GoblinQuest character are you? |
| I've just gone "live" with my online quiz, What GoblinQuest character are you?
Posting here so that people can try it out and report bugs, and also just 'cause it's nifty, and hopefully people will get a laugh or a smile... |
| Cool! Thanks to Kent and Tippi, I am finally getting links down. Now I'm on to the next chapitre, Illustration, Decoration and Navigation. reneejean |
| Ah, good, it worked. If you want to show what HTML tags look like in these messages, you need to put in ampersand-ell-tee-semicolon instead of the less-than sign. |
| To link to a page that's not on your server you want the magic "http://" prefix, Renee. <a href="myfile.dat">My File</a> will link to myfile.dat, as long as it's right there in the same subdirectory as the page that calls it. If you want to jump out to Yahoo! and open up theirfile.dat, you need this: <a href="http://www.yahoo.com">Their File</a>.(Please, God, let that HTML source code work....) |
| I have yet to uncover the secret of making external links work. The phrase I'm trying to establish as a link works, but it won't open up the document it's supposed to. The destination code must be wrong, but darned if I can figure out what I'm doing wrong. Does anyone have any idea? reneejean |
| I have yet to uncover the secret of making external links work. The phrase I'm trying to establish as a link works, but it won't open up the document it's supposed to. The destination code must be wrong, but darned if I can figure out what I'm doing wrong. Does anyone have any idea? reneejean |
| Found a plethora of books at the store on web pages. I'm trying out the one called "How to Publish on the Internet" which covers the nuts and bolts of HTML, but also covers things like Internet etiquette, creative expression and design elements. It's by Andrew Fry and David Paul and also has some software that comes with the book. There are several important links in the book. I'll post them as I visit, with a brief description of what's there. reneejean@mail.socket.net |
| The web authoring software I recommend is Symantec VisualPage. I think it's the best of the WYSIWYG programs. I was very pleased with its ease, efficiency, and the clean code it produces. But--and this is a big but--I would definitely not recommend using any web authoring software without knowing at least basic HTML. You really need to understand what your software is doing to use it effectively--and if you want to do something later on, like add webrings, you have to know how to work with HTML. I'm going to be posting a web resource page on my website within the next couple of weeks, which will provide a lot of links to HTML tutorials, free webspace, free graphics, tips for publicizing your site, etc. Free free to stop by and check it out--my URL is http://www.sff.net/people/victoriastrauss. Victoria |
| Found a page with 85 tips for writers of web pages, plus links to several downloads, various reviews of software, with e-mails to ask the reviewer questions and much more than I had time to review tonight. The sight is http://www.cmpnet.com. In their menu, click on the web page news. (Don't recall the actual headline, but it'll stand out when you get there.) At this time, due to my clueless status, I am seriously considering a user-friendly program that will at least help me get started. Everyone here has been very helpful and I appreciate it very much! reneejean |
| I learned HTML code before I ever even looked at a web authoring program. In some ways it helped, in some ways it hurt. On the one hand, I knew basically what was going on in a WYSIWYG program (where you see the graphics as you write your page), but on the other hand I often got frustrated trying to get the programs to do what I wanted. I've had very good luck with the WYSIWYG set up in Netscape Communicator though. I'm doing a page now for Prisoners of the Night and it's going much better than I'd expected. |
| Found some good web resources on line, thanks to all of you for pointing me in the right direction. Thought I'd share a couple of the better ones I found. http://www.znet.com/~amexpo/andre/html -- a web designer's virtual library. It's a page of links collected by a sophomore in high school in California who designed a rather cute page. One of the links takes you to: http://www.stars.com/ -- a tutorial on web designing that's considered a three-day course. It's supported by blatant and shameless advertising, plastered at the top of the page, but the informtation I've read so far was accurate and complete. Happy web designing to all! reneejean |
| I think HotMetal is pretty good, Renee. Searching on Yahoo or AltaVista you can find all the web pages and download publishers, etc. And clip art and so-forth. Go to my web page at http://members.aol.com/asterling/amypage.htm which reflects my attitude pretty fairly right now, though I need to update it . . . again! I used AOL's AOLPRESS and it works fine - there's nothing wrong with it. All of these visual publishers are quite similar. But, as Kent says, learning how HTML works is good because they'll all do something screwy on you, also and it helps to know what it's supposed to be like for real in HTML. :) Amy |
| Ok, I'm game to learn that, but is that from some sort of program? Where do I get the program and which is best to use? Or is it somehow part of my browser and I just don't realize it? I'm totally clueless! A friend told me to search for HTML on the net, so I guest that's my next stop. But considering the number of hits I'm likely to get, could anyone suggest a really good site that I should visit? reneejean |
| Ron: Ok, I'm game to learn that, but is that from some sort of program? Where do I get the program and which is best to use? Or is it somehow part of my browser and I just don't realize it? I'm totally clueless! A friend told me to search for HTML on the net, so I guest that's my next stop. But considering the number of hits I'm likely to get, could anyone suggest a really good site that I should visit? reneejean |
| To me, you're better off learning html and hand-coding. I've yet to run into an auto-coder that I can understand when i need to get into the guts of things. Notepad, and a keyboard is all you really need. Note -- I've learned all my html on the streets, so it's not really very difficult to pick up. Ron Collins |
| To me, you're better off learning html and hand-coding. I've yet to run into an auto-coder that I can understand when i need to get into the guts of things. Notepad, and a keyboard is all you really need. Note -- I've learned all my html on the streets, so it's not really very difficult to pick up. Ron Collins |
| That's all!!?? What do you mean that's all? :) Just kidding. Really, that's a whole lot more than I knew before, Matthew. Thank you, thank you, thank you! reneejean |
| Hot Metal Pro is a good software package, come's with /great/ online help. Right now, I'm webmastering Jackhammer E-zine with HomeSite 1.2 Freeware and a small program called Body Builder. I don't know how much programming experience you have, but if you can handle all the <> codes, then go with Homesite. If you want something that can get a homepage up fast, and drag and drop functionality, go with HotMetal Pro. As far as books go, Que has this jumbo economy book that cover's HTML, CGI, and Java. Quite honestly though, I've learned most of my coding from the internet. Just go to Yahoo and do a search for HTML, or Computers and Internet: Information and Documentation: Data Formats: HTML. There are several great primers and pages concerning every part of HTML, including Browser specific tags (some even include Web TV -- still workin on why). Another program worth looking into (because there's a free demo to download) is Frontpage 98. It handles everything from page templates to web site management. The only real gripe is that it's biased towards Internet Explorer (gee, go figure--Bill Gates' master plan). Well, this is all I have right now in this small, derailed train of thought. Hope it helps. Matthew Moon |
| Thanks for the advice, guys. Very good points. I too hate slow sites and I like the idea of a kind of universal look, one that doesn't hang if you use the wrong browser or look funky. Can anyone recommend some good books/software packages for writing web pages? I'm woefully illiterate in this area. Thanks. reneejean |
| Thanks for the advice, guys. Very good points. I too hate slow sites and I like the idea of a kind of universal look, one that doesn't hang or look funky if you use the wrong browser. Can anyone recommend some good books/software packages for writing web pages? I'm woefully illiterate in this area. Thanks. reneejean |
| What Roach Said. It's got to load fast and look the same on everybody's browser, from Lynx to Netscape to (ack) AOL or Internet Explorer; people--and this goes double for writers, if you're aiming at that market--purely hate feeling like they're missing something because they don't have the latest cool toys and all the bandwidth in the world. Oh, and then there's the content bear trap. You've got to keep up with your content; if you can't offer something vital that they can only get at our site, offering something new every minute of every day is the only way to truly hold their interest. Hence the Rumor Mill, hereabouts. |
| A fast loading site always gets my attention. I hate sitting around waiting for nifty graphics and animated .gifs and the like to load. Java just annoys the hell out of me (even if it allows for some really cool programs). I find myself hanging around sites that load fast more often than sites that have alot of glitz. |