The best laid plans!

Yup! I was in the webpage creation home stretch, when my "Got Viggo Mortensen" bit the dust.

That's the name of my last computer. I do not normally name inanimate objects, but my Master's Daughter got me this neat sticker last year at Christmas, and, since I spend the most time with my laptop, I put the "Got Viggo Mortensen" sticker on the lid. We won't go there!

It was a beloved Hewlett Packard, write on swivel screen with styllis, dream machine. Now it is history, and I am stuck with a few pages to correct and create for my web site, and no way to get there.

Our house has many computers in it, from an ancient first generation laptop with no back up way to reinstall anything, to the three that supposedly work. I keep looking for a donation spot and just discovered that Good Will takes them.

I have three printers and three accesible computers. The newest computer is, of course, a VISTA. Drat!! The reason I am now using it is that no one else wants to and I am the resident computer person. So, now it is do or die to make the blasted thing work.

Out of three printers, one finally installed on it. I was able to put Word on it and then the story gets depressing. I could not install Coffee Cup HTML (which I need to fix the pages of my website that are not loading their pictures). I even spent eight hours on dialup, yesterday, uploading it from their website and it's nowhere to be found this morning. It is really difficult to find where things are on VISTA.

Jasc Paint Shop Pro installed just fine. The older desktop that takes all of these programs, is not wanting to view the graphics in PNG, which is what most of mine are. Other than that, this computer has nothing on it. What a sad waste of money and what frustration as I sit here waiting until the 22nd for my new Dell.

Anyone know where I can get another "Got Viggo Mortensen" sticker?

My webpage week

This is the umpteenth version of this webpage and I like the look but, what torture putting it together.

I spent Monday starting the page, all the search words, title, etc, the background and the banner up and centered. Then, moved onto the line of links that will be next.

I wanted to draw them myself and not use anything borrowed from a free site on the web. Geez, I painted portraits for a living for fifteen years, I should be able to do a colorful enough drawing to pass. Ya think????

I started a new sketchbook for this book and have pages of sketches I have started and discarded. That is nothing new. I have a reasonable set of sketches for the links, used Jasc Paint Shop to eliminate the background and put them up and guess what, the background showed. Did it again two more times and finally gave up and just blacked out the background.

I tried a little CSS again, went back to HTML. I tried using a template from HTML Editor, Flash & Web Design Software CoffeeCup Software, which I own, and have gone to using a table with two rows. I know there has to be a better way. I have always put the link list down the left hand side. My last version of Coffee Cup had a whole bunch of templates too, but I had to reformat and lost it all and, while I have upgraded, I have yet to find the long list of templates.

So, now I have a background, a banner, and a row of hand drawn icons to dress up the link buttons. As in all things with this webpage, it is all trial and error. Right now the buttons do not link. So, that is next.

In the meantime, I have entered the first 1,000 words of my novel in Miss Snark's First Victim critique. I could not find the complete rules, so here is hoping I did it right.

Deaf Resource Library link for creating Accessible pages

This is just a quick post. I am taking the tree down, moving the weight bench inside (it has been on a screened in porch, so not getting used by me), and working on my web page.

Since I needed to type up information for my new web site, I decided to use those pages as my accessibility pages. I wanted to check on an HTML tag, so I went onto Google and found a page I just have to share with you.

Creating Accessible HTML is from the Deaf Resource Library and by Karen Nakamura. It really puts it in concise form.

Topics include hearing impairment, visual impairment, mobility impairment, economic accessibility, and educational accessibility. These are short paragraphs, explaining the whys in simple terms.

Web Page Creation for writers - part 5- Physical vs Logical Markup -

HuH? You say if you are new to web making or even if you, like me, use a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) web page program. I use CoffeeCup and when I started, I did not know anything. But, I always search for the whys and as I designed my site, I wanted to know 'why it did that' and 'how it did this.' I also was forever wanting it to do something different than it was doing, so I had to learn why it was doing what it was and how to change it.



I learned a lot about HTML that way. In redoing my page and wanting to make it accessible to as many as I can, I have learned that there is a Physical markup and a Logical Markup. I found my first definition here Dan's Web Tips: Physical vs. Logical Markup.



Physical tags affect the physical look of the words: italic & bold & underline, etc. (The carrots surround the initial that tells what you want done: i for italic, b for bold, u for underline, etc. The slash in front of the end set of carrots is the 'not' or 'end', as in end the italics here.)



Logical tags refer to the "structure and meaning of a document" and only suggest their appearance. Examples: (This is tough because the editor here is putting these into action. But, at least you get to see what some of them do.)

= emphasized text
= strong emphasis

Your best bet here is to go to a couple of sites to become more familiar:

Site one is: html guide - online HTML guide - logical tags in HTML - free html guide - online beginners html guide free Who states that there are actually nine logical codes:

There are 9 logical tags each requiring a closing tag:
Strong: I am strong = STRONG in carrots and a closing carrot
Emphasis: I am emphasized = EM in carrots and with a closing carrot
Abbreviation: I am abbreviated = ABBR
Citation: Citation = CITE
Code: I am programming code = CODE
Definition: Definition = DFN
Keyboard: Quite like keyboard strokes = KBD
Sample: Sample = SAMP
Programming Variable: Programming Variable = VAR

If I am understanding this right, then these are it and anything else that needs doing you go to the physical code.

Then, go to: HTML Logical Tags - HTML Code Tutorial And I'm recommending you go there and learn it from an expert. He also has lists of Logical Tags. But, don't let this scare you from using a WYSIWYG web page creator. It's just something to be aware of and occasionally, as you get more familiar with HTML, you will find yourself changing out tags to bring them into compliance.

There are no police out there saying you have to do it now, it is just that you will want to do the best for your viewers you can; including the 20% disabled.