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BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Nemesis Date: 23 Apr 01 - 09:06 PM Well, glad I gave into mudcat temptation tonight at 1.45am . Really liked the Website, Morticia - hope to see more and enjoyed the jokes.. Guest was obviously having a bad day - still, he was comprehensively sorted by mudcatters (kind of reminds me of the same deal Marilyn Manson got when he waded into the Gothic Gardening forum and berated Goths for gardening!) I also envisaged you as wearing a lot of eye liner! Great picture though All the buried vests - let us know when you have a gig as we live in the Southernmost of England and, subject to Yugo, travel Hille |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: KingBrilliant Date: 24 Apr 01 - 05:08 AM Liz - surely that's Bdttthhhhhp. OK - maybe you're right after all. Kris |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: alison Date: 24 Apr 01 - 05:12 AM loved the site Morty slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Geoff the Duck Date: 24 Apr 01 - 10:38 AM Don't let the "Knockers" of this world get to you! When I happen across the self-styled "experts" my response is "you may think you know a lot about ******** (insert topic), but what do you know about identifying mushrooms (or embroidery, or designing and building a banjo from scratch, or juggling custard, or running a mass spectrometer?). The answer in most cases wil be (to quote our American friends) "zilch"! In this case, since when was the Internet a professional organisation - most of the web sites worth visiting are created by weirdos, monomaniac obsessives and nutters who do not give a hoot about what somebody claims to be "MA website design". I used to work at a university as a technician and I know only too well the junk which passes for reasoned argument. The academic world is full of shysters talking bollocks, so when someone starts claiming their degree as a reason to listen to them, that is when I start to reach for the salt cellar, so I can take what is said with a pinch of salt! I have a degree in Biology - so what! I didn't start to understand mushroom collecting until years later when I started to do it for the fun and excitement of cooking them (and the looks of horror on the faces of other people)! I loved the horoscopes. If you like what you have done, don't let anyone tell you it's rubbish. Just a couple of constuctive comments. Try to make the blue clickies short. Only highlight a few words, not the whole sentence, especially when it wraps to several lines of text. It is a bit confusing. One of your pages contains a "Heading" which is underlined. On my screen it looks like a blue clicky, so I wasted some time trying to click on it and get it to do something. Have fun with it! Quack!!!!! GtD
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Jon Freeman Date: 24 Apr 01 - 10:47 AM Having read all the comments here, I thought maybe I had been a little harsh or that perhaps those that said things don't matter were right. I asked my mother's opinion which I did by opening the main page and asking her to browse through. My mother has no idea about rules of web design and had no idea who's site it was. It has further convinced me that contary to what many people have said here, certain things are important even with personal pages. I'm not saying "rules" can't be broken or people should not be themselves but if in doubt, I would certainly get some basics right. Here is some of what happened: From home, she clicked on the band page, and exclaimed "O my god, this is horrible" when she saw the black/orange split background. She then went back and went to the first art page which produced another yelp as she discovered yet another color scheme. Next visit was the second art page where she said "do I really have to wait for this to load", I asked "what would you normally do" and she said "go back". In fairness, the fastest connection speed of 28.8k here but a subsequent inspection of the page revealed that the images (which I happen to think are superb) are far to large for the display size - much faster download times could easily be achieved without altering the appearence of the page. I then asked my mother to navigate using the links rather than the back button. The comments I recieved were along the lines of "this is a jumble/ this is a mess". Finally, I asked her whether she would have visited the whole site and she said "no, I'd have left after the 3rd page". I do acknowledge this was just one visitor but it may well be relevant that this person was not visiting as a friend of Morticia's. Please do not get me wrong, I am not trying to bash Morticia (I am in fact pleased that she is giving it a go and wish the site well) but to try to illustrate the fact that people like me do pass comments in an attempt to be constructive and to help make the site more attractive to others. You'll never please everyone but a few simple steps, even with personal pages can help to widen the number of people who will stop by and give the site a proper look when surfing through. Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: GUEST,Karen Date: 24 Apr 01 - 11:05 AM Morticia, thank you for being the "new website guinea pig". I have read some great comments and considerations in this thread and plan to take them to heart when the spouse and I make the effort to put together our own website. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: dick greenhaus Date: 24 Apr 01 - 12:01 PM Omigod! Last night there were four Marys, and now look what's happened! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 24 Apr 01 - 01:56 PM ...there was Mary_____, Mary_____,Mary_____ and ME! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Geoff the Duck Date: 24 Apr 01 - 02:25 PM Jon - sure things can be improved. I suspect that Morty is already considering how they might be. That said, the starting point of a web site is to get something on screen. We have the rest of our lives to learn the finer points of web design - what works - what adds to a site - what makes things more difficult to read - and all the rest. I have not made use of these new "here is a template, drop your text and pictures here" forms of web creation. I have done all of mine with a text editor and sheets of paper with arrows reminding me which page links to where. Morticia - I would mention that I found HTML pretty easy to learn from scratch, and there are some excellent online tutorial sites to help you learn. Knowing HTML means that you can make your web pages do what YOU want them to do rather than what the template allows. That said, there are too many websites out there which are just boring. The layout may be exemplary, but the content is tedious, ill thought out and of no interest to anyone except the site's owner and perhaps their pet cat.
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Jon Freeman Date: 24 Apr 01 - 02:42 PM I hope she does and I suspect that the end result will be good. BTW, I'm no good at Web design. I can put stuff together that works, is easy to read and navigate, etc. but I lack the imagination and artistic touches that when used well can really make a site stand out. Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: catspaw49 Date: 24 Apr 01 - 03:07 PM Jon, I don't find anything wrong with what you said and nothing wrong with what I said either. It's honest on your part and honest on mine. I wasn't as bothered by some of the things, but I think all the good computer folks have also given her good info and she'll take it, much as Geoff said. I still also believe that reflecting Terri is a key element......I learn more about folks that way. Now if you want a bizarre site to critique folks................Try this one!!! I have no idea what this reflects............. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Jon Freeman Date: 24 Apr 01 - 03:17 PM Spaw, I thought you were having a bit of a go at those who had tried to offer advice but I accept and believe what you say. I'm sorry that I took things the wrong way. Also, I agree that reflecting Terri is an important element. As for that site, I've got to say I like it - what else can one say... Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Liz the Squeak Date: 24 Apr 01 - 03:51 PM Spaw... that site is truly surreal!!!!.... where on earth do people find these things?? LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Hawker Date: 24 Apr 01 - 07:38 PM Hi Morty, I still have no idea where to start making a website, so I am not going to criticise! Love the Horoscopes, my sense of humour there! Nice to put faces to names Lucy |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: GUEST Date: 30 Aug 01 - 07:04 PM Morticia, I can't get your site to work. Has the address changed since you posted this thread? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Gareth Date: 30 Aug 01 - 07:25 PM Precisley - ( Note Typo) But general rules which might help. 1/. Keep download times short if possible. 2/. Tables format text for you. 3/. 10% of the Male population suffer fron colour blindness to some degree so keep you colour v text schemes basic and simple - and use larger or bold text. 4/. Use a WYSIWYG - I find "Hot Metal" simple and easy to use, and with a bit of knowledge of HTML, very good. NB The earlier and very satisfactory editions of "Hot Metal" are frequently given away with PC magazines. Gareth |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: hesperis Date: 30 Aug 01 - 07:54 PM Well, guess what I found... "Sorry, Homepages are currently down. As you may or may not know, Bolt uses another company to provide homepages to our members. Despite our best efforts, this other company has decided to not maintain this aspect of their business for Bolt, and unfortunately, has quite suddenly turned off your ability to access your pages. We are doing everything in our power to get access to the pages you have created, and we hope to have the contents of them back to you soon. You will get another email from us as soon as we know more details about what's going to happen. We're sorry for any inconvenience this might cause you...we'll have this all sorted out as soon as possible. Thanks for being patient! If you have any questions or comments, you can email us at homepages@boltstaff.com. Thanks! Bolt Staff" Morty - I hope you had that backed up somewhere! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: alison Date: 30 Aug 01 - 08:17 PM yeah I tried to link it to mine yesterday when I was updating... but got the same messages.... Morty.... have you moved somewhere else? slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: GUEST Date: 16 May 02 - 06:53 PM Terri, Is your site available anywhere now? It was hilariously bad, and I'd like to see it again |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 16 May 02 - 07:17 PM A very frustrating thread because I couldn't open the website, to see what people were discussing - and it sounded fun. (Incidentally anyone with critical comments worth taking any notice of in this context will have provided a link to their own website, by PM or in the thread.)
Let us know when you've got it back up. There is still no shortage of free webspace without ads. So long as you keep a copy of the webssite on your computer or on a disk, it easy as pie to start up a replacement. (The only hassle is the address changing - and even there it's easy enough to get a forwarding address type URL which stays constant even if you change the actual address.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Hrothgar Date: 17 May 02 - 04:46 AM I can't get in either. Usually I'd say it was my lack of computer skills, so I'm glad to see it's happening to others. Is there something we're all doing wrongly? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: kendall Date: 17 May 02 - 10:31 AM I can't get into your site either, so, I can't say if it's good or bad, but, a word to Guest; TACT IS ONLY NOTICED WHEN IT IS MISSING. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Roger in Sheffield Date: 17 May 02 - 10:59 AM Guest is bored - let it go |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: DMcG Date: 17 May 02 - 11:16 AM As someone who has been involved with the Internet for more years than I care to remember it is interesting to see how people attitutes to Web sites have changed. Including my own attitude. After several rehosts and reworkings I have gradually dropped all of the things I couldn't really be bothered to maintain and ended up with things that are essentially static. As a result, all there is left now is my family tree which is endlessly fascinating to a few hundred people in the world and 100% boring to all the rest. But the point is it serves a purpose that couldn't really be addressed any other way. If you want to see the end result of something that is extremely complex in terms of linking but extremely simple in terms of HTML, try here. But if I were you, I wouldn't bother! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: DMcG Date: 17 May 02 - 11:20 AM By the way this is me! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Morticia Date: 17 May 02 - 12:00 PM Why thank you for your interest, Guest....and I'm glad you enjoyed the site LOL.Truth is I experimented with all sorts of ideas and had fun playing with HTML and learned...eventually ...and with help and advice from lots of people here what might work and what did not.The hosts went out of the hosting business so my past indiscretions are now thankfully buried :)I do host another, very succesful site if you count a lot of traffic as success and have even been asked for my advice from people wanting to do something similar so I guess my early experiments provided some experience as well as amusement.Clearly you are an expert on such matters and became one instantly without any need to learn or experiment so I don't expect you to understand but many people such as myself learn through trial and error and the kindness of friends...I don't suppose you know too much about that either. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: DMcG Date: 17 May 02 - 12:04 PM Well said, Mort. I think every site needs a purpose, and learning something new is better than most! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 17 May 02 - 12:16 PM So are we going to be invited to visit? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: katlaughing Date: 17 May 02 - 12:58 PM DeeMcGee (*bg*) thanks for posting your link! As one who is hot on the ancestors' trail, I am appreciative of the simplicity of your design and know enough about html to realise the amount of work that must have taken to create all of those pages and links, as well as NOT get the info for each mixed up! Very impressive. Morteedarlin'...It is unworthy of your attention, sweetie, and none of the rest of us care about its opinion. luvyakat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: GUEST Date: 17 May 02 - 01:48 PM Morticia As Kevin said, can you provide a link to your new site please. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Morticia Date: 17 May 02 - 02:45 PM It isn't a general interest site in that it is there to showcase one of my other interests, designing stuff for The Sims which is a computer game.I design clothes, furniture and so on and put them up so other Sim's players can download and use them in their game.It's been up about 3/4 weeks now and has had about 1,800 visitors so I guess people like what I do.If you want to go look it's at blickie And Katadarlin', I work for Social Services, it would take a lot more than a charmless guest to upset me *BG*. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: GUEST Date: 17 May 02 - 03:04 PM Thank you, Terri I've never quite got The Sims, but that's probably my problem.
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Jon Freeman Date: 17 May 02 - 05:23 PM Nice site. I had horrors first time I viewed it though. Everything was just set over to the left and navigation would have been impossible (I mean the arrows didn't line up with any text). I have since found out that I can not view the site properly using Netscape 4.78 with JavaScript turned off. I'm not sure if this is just a pecularity of the Java version I use but it maybe worth checking to see if the same problem occurs using the Windows version of Netscape 4.78 as I think Netscape 4.7x browers are quite common. Mozilla and a couple of others I've tried seem quite happy with Javascript turned off. I assume IE is OK - I'm not sure which way I had it set and haven't time to re-boot to Windows to try. Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: GUEST Date: 17 May 02 - 06:31 PM Jon, I think that Terri used a "cookie cutter" design. In other words, as long as it works with IE, that'll do me |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Jon Freeman Date: 17 May 02 - 06:59 PM I'm not sure Guest. My own feeling is that Terri has probably just hit on one that "doesent work when a less common specific version of browser "x" is configured with "y" paramaters. Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 17 May 02 - 07:32 PM Terri, just a quick look at it from here...quite impressive with the number of visitors in such a short time! If you're interested in traffic to your site, you might put the word "SIMS" (or likely search words) on each page. Put it in the URL for some search engines, and get people to link to you if you're interested in a Google listing. On the women-clothing page there is a typo, "skn" should be "skin." I'm also a little confused by the arrow buttons. Perhaps the word should be links or the buttons should be immediately to the left of the words. All in all - GOOD SHOW! I'm learning about SIMS! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: SINSULL Date: 17 May 02 - 09:01 PM In 1971, I took a job with a placement agency and was asked to create a name for myself using my own first name and a four letter last name beginning with the first letter of my actual last name. Desperate for work, I offered Mary Sims rather than Mary Shit. Thirty years later, I am once again confronted with that hated name but haven't a clue. What is or are SIMS? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 May 02 - 09:13 PM My daughter plays the Sims, I'll have to ask her if she has seen your site. I haven't seen it since right now it gives the message The web site you are trying to access has exceeded its allocated data transfer. Visit our help area for more information. It also says it will be available again within the hour. I have lots of web pages, and they have been a real job to create and I am sure I need to go back and thoroughly check out links for expired connections. Keeping them up to date is probably the most tedious part of the job. I'll check back later to look at your pages. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Liz the Squeak Date: 18 May 02 - 04:01 AM Hey, more genealogists - DMcG - any chance you could give me some tips on setting up my own? Yeah, I know, interesting to about 0.0001% of people, but it's my family, I know they spread over the world and many of them have been kind enough to contact me about them. The eternal question for you now; How far you got back then? LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Morticia Date: 18 May 02 - 04:26 AM Sins, it's a computer game in which you design and create houses and gardens, furnish them,then create people who will live in them and you run their lives i.e. you send them to work,have them climb the corporate ladder, make friends, marry, have children, divorce.....whatever you want really.It sounds rather dull I know but I can promise you it is highly addictive and very enjoyable.I've been playing for about a year and recently got into designing items for the game which adds a whole other dimension.Get it, you will love it but don't blame me if your real life gets put on hold in the process. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: DMcG Date: 18 May 02 - 05:36 AM Thanks for your comments on my family tree. As usual, I cheated! I keep all the information in one of the specialist programs - in my own case Family Tree Maker, but there is no particular reason to favour this one. Most genealogy programs can make create a file in a standard format called 'GEDCOM'. I wrote a Visual Basic program to read the GEDCOM and create the Web pages from it. How far back? In the UK getting back to 1834(ish) is moderately easy because that's when records were centralised. Earlier involves visiting local churches etc so is much more difficult. So I have the tree pretty well complete for the main family strands after that date and then occasional branches back to mid 1700's. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: Mrs.Duck Date: 18 May 02 - 02:25 PM Sadly your site is temporarily unobtainable so I'll have to look later, Terri. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Web site fever strikes Morticia From: C-flat Date: 18 May 02 - 05:17 PM I've tried a couple of times today to access your site but no luck. DMcG I like your site and as a "Boro" lad recognised a few family names there. |