B.J.'s WoD page FAQ
(Last modification: 2/12/00)
Contact Information
- What is your e-mail address?
- What is the World of Darkness and where can I find out more about it?
- What is the correct address for your World of Darkness page?
- Do you have an ICQ number?
- How do I send my creations to you?
- May I link to your page or use stuff from it?
- Would you mind if I mirrored your site?
- If I have a question or comment for White Wolf, are you the one to ask?
- How do I find out about LARPs in my area?
Technical Questions
- How do I subscribe and unsubscribe from your mailing lists?
- If I'm having trouble printing, what should I do?
- I like seeing the URLs of pages! How do I turn those stupid status messages off?
- I hate frames! Get rid of them!
- Why aren't the "Go Back" buttons working for me?"
- Is there any way to access your site from gopher or FTP?
- How do I download entries from your archive?
- Is there any way to download your entire archive all at once?
Site Appearance
- Why did you change the look of your site?
- Why isn't there more color on your site?
- Why don't you have more images on your pages?
- Why did you get rid of the marquee at the bottom of the screen?
- Why is there a banner page on your Guestbook?
- What's with the counter on your page?
Site Content
- Why don't you have a ratings system or have a higher standard for the entries in your archive?
- Why don't you have anything here from the White Wolf books?
- Will you stop accepting new submissions for game lines White Wolf retires?
- Why don't you have more of
[insert category here]? - Why won't you post
[insert category here]? - Will you please stop posting new
[insert category here]? I'm getting really sick of them. - Why didn't you post that article I sent to the mailing lists, newsgroups or similar forum?
- Do you have any character sheets?
- Do you have any of the fonts used in the White Wolf rule books and character sheets?
- Can I send a submission to you that was written by somebody else?
- Why do you insist on editing every submission instead of just posting them as is?
- Why is it taking so long for you to add my submission to your archive?!
- How long does it take to archive entries and how do you do it?
- Lately, why have I been finding more Web sites that have entries you don't?
- Hey, what's with the surveys?!
- Isn't this game just a front for Satanic and/or Occult groups?
Personal Questions
- Where did you get the name "B.J. Zanzibar?"
- Where did the quote on your signature come from and what does it mean?
- So, what are you like in real life?
- Any pet peeves?
- Are you...*ahem*...available?
- Just what is it with you and Macintoshes?
- Why haven't I seen you at any of the cons? Do you really exist?
- Are you a goth or into goth stuff?
- What's your PGP public key?
- What kind of music do you listen to?
- What do you do for a living?
- So, which one of the games is your favorite?
- What kind of World of Darkness creature would you be?
- So, do you believe any of this stuff is real?
HTML and Web Authoring
- What Web editor do you use?
- Do you have any advice about how to build a nice Web page?
- How do I make frames?
- How do I make tables without using the <pre> tag?
- How do I make image maps?
- How do I put marquees or link information in the bottom of my browser window?
The World of Darkness is a setting shared by the role-playing games Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Wraith: The Oblivion and Changeling: The Dreaming, all produced by White Wolf Game Studios. Unlike AD&D and related fantasy games, the World of Darkness is very similar to our own world, except that it's a shade or two darker and the supernatural, though hidden, is very real. The series also includes four period games (Vampire: The Dark Ages, Werewolf: The Wild West, Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade and Wraith: The Great War), live-action role-playing rules for Vampire, Werewolf and Wraith, as well as novels. The short-lived "Kindred: The Embraced" television series was loosely based on Vampire.For more information, consult White Wolf Game Studios home page at: http://www.white-wolf.com/. World of Darkness products are available from most book stores and hobby shops that carry gaming supplies.
As some of you may know, the address for my page has changed a few times over the years as IU has decommissioned old machines and brought new ones online. The current address is:http://php.indiana.edu/~adashiel/wod/
Yes, it is 63546316. I don't use it too often, though.
Yes and yes. Link away; you don't even need to ask. My only request is that you don't link to the images on my page directly. You may copy and use as much or as little as you like, including the entries, images, formats, etc. Please don't be a plagiarist though. They are the worst kind of scum. In other words, never, ever, claim you did something when it was really the work of someone else. There are few absolutes in this universe, but that's one of the biggies.
If you have the resources to set up a mirror, feel free!
As my disclaimers note, I don't have anything to do with White Wolf Game Studios other than being a dedicated gamer and an admirer of the work they do. What this means is that anything I say represents my views alone and not those of White Wolf or any of its employees. Therefore, if you are looking for an official opinion, I'm definitely not the person to ask. White Wolf does have a Web page at http://www.white-wolf.com/ and WW reps do post on the mailing lists as well as the newsgroups alt.games.whitewolf and rec.games.frp.storyteller occasionally.
I get this question because a long time ago I maintained Camarilla stuff for the IU chapter. However, that page is no longer around and I'm not in the Camarilla anymore. (No hard feelings, I just don't have the dough!) I would suggest you take a look at my links page and check out the LARP and Camarilla information pages. They would have more information for you than I would.
I have eight mailing lists, each with a different focus or format:| bjz-all: | New and revised entries from all of the games.
|
| bjz-vampire: | Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Dark Ages, and MET: Masquerade entries.
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| bjz-werewolf: | Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Werewolf: The Wild West, MET: Apocalypse and MET: Laws of the Wild entries.
|
| bjz-mage: | Mage: The Ascension and Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade entries.
|
| bjz-wraith: | Wraith: The Oblivion and MET: Oblivion entries.
|
| bjz-changeling: | Changeling: The Dreaming entries.
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| bjz-potpourri: | Miscellaneous entries that fall outside the domains of the five main games.
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| bjz-html: | HTML source files for new and revised submissions.
|
None of these lists are for discussion; there are already mailing lists for that. Instead, whenever I receive a new submission or a substantial revision of an old one, I will forward text and HTML copies of it to the appropriate lists. For example, whenever I enter a new Mage talisman, I send a text version to bjz-all and bjz-mage and an HTML version to bjz-html.
They are all Majordomo mailing lists so to subscribe to them, send mail to majordomo@indiana.edu. In body of the message (i.e., where you actually write your message as opposed to the subject line), type:
subscribe <list name>
Replace <list name> with the name of the list (e.g., bjz-all, bjz-potpourri, bjz-vampire, etc.) you want to subscribe to. Be ABSOLUTELY certain when you do this you are not only sending mail from a valid address, but that this address is the one you want to be subscribed from. If this confuses you in any way, do NOT attempt to subscribe. Send me e-mail (adashiel@indiana.edu) and ask for help.
Conversely, to unsubscribe, it's the same procedure, but you enter:
unsubscribe <list name>
Again, if you have trouble, send me e-mail.
Do NOT try to subscribe or unsubscribe by sending mail to the mailing lists themselves (again, bjz-all, bjz-potpourri, bjz-vampire, etc.). In fact, under NO circumstances should you send email to the lists.
Set your color preferences (i.e., text, link, background color/pattern) so they override the document's. Exactly how you do this depends on the browser, but nearly all of them give you this option in their preferences. If that doesn't work, empty your cache file, turn off your browser, then try printing the page again. If that doesn't work then reinstall your printing software. I'm also assuming you are using a recent Web browser; if you aren't and you can upgrade, do it. Newer versions of Netscape and Explorer are pretty good and they're a lot more stable than previous releases.
You can turn those off by disabling JavaScript. How you do that depends on exactly what browser you are using and what version it is. Look in your browser's preferences, possibly under languages or security.
In general, I agree with you. Frames are usually abused, serving as ad space or otherwise being a nuisance. However, frames, if implemented correctly, can help site navigation immensely and personally, I think I've done a good job with them. Since most of the input I've gotten from people is positive, I'm sticking with the present format. If you really can't stand frames though, I've designed the site so it will work without them. If you use an older browser (but not too old) or one that lets you turn them off (e.g., Internet Explorer for the Mac), you can peruse the site without frames.
Your browser must support JavaScript to use the "Go Back" buttons. If you've turned JavaScript off, are using an older program or one with a slim feature set, you'll just have to make due with your browser's Back button. Sorry!
Unfortunately there isn't. But if anyone would like to set up a ftp-able mirror I'll help you in any way I can!
That depends on what browser you are using. If you are using Lynx, when you have the link to the document highlighted, press d (short for download). You will then be prompted to download the entry. If you are looking at the page, press p (short for print, but you can save the file rather than print it). On most graphical browsers, go the the page you want to save. There will be a Save or Save As... in the File menu that you can use to save the page. In Netscape 2.0+, click on the frame you want to save and then Select "Save Frame As..." or "Save As..." from the File menu.
Yes, but only if you are computer literate enough to know how to decompress and explode a very large archive file. Send me personal e-mail to let me know you want a copy and whether you would prefer a GZiped tarball or a plain zip file. Everything is in HTML and you'll need to know how to decompress and dearchive it. Even gziped, it's nearly 8.5 megabytes. The zip file is almost 10 megs. It expands to more than 25 megabytes.
Mainly because I was getting bored with it. I remember when I first made it I thought it looked really neat, but after a year and a half it started grating on my nerves. Right now I like the look of the new site, but I imagine that I'll start getting sick of the current incarnation after a while. In any case, if you have any comments, criticisms or kudos, I'm happy to hear 'em.
Er, because I have all the color sense of a mole during the new moon. When revising the site I tried to make a colorized Changeling page, but ye gods, everything I tried looked positively awful. Call me banal, but I'm just better with shades of grey. Besides, it saves on bandwidth.
I try to keep my site as lean as possible so that it doesn't take forever to load. Because I'm already using frames, adding lots of pictures would really put a strain on many people's browsers, especially those with modems (like me). So, most of my images are greyscale and fairly simple. Maybe when everyone has a T3 connection, I'll add lots of neat-o pictures. Until then, I'm taking it easy on the images.
Those marquees have been gone for a long time, but people still comment on them on occasion. I got rid of them because they were really starting to bug me. They slowed the browser down and the scrolling action bugged me almost as much as blinking text does. The newer versions of Navigator and Explorer handle JavaScript marquees better, but they're still annoying. Presently I'm using JavaScript to put link descriptions in the browser status line. They're similar to the marquee but not nearly as irritating.
The guestbook is hosted on GuestWorld's server. As the service they provide is free, I guess they have to use advertising to make up the expense. I find it mildly irritating, especially when they advertise Windows-only products, but there's nothing I can really do about it.
It's a free Web Counter from TheCounter.com. It records unique hits to the site's introductory page and has been running since June 16, 1999. For more information about getting your own counter, visit http://www.thecounter.com/.
What I like and what you like are not necessarily the same. For that reason, I'm not in the position to act as "quality control." Sure, I have opinions about what constitutes a good entry and what makes a bad one -- see the Submissions Guide for some of them -- but those are just personal beefs. Perhaps in some future incarnation of the archive visitors will be able to vote on the quality of an entry. However, don't expect anything like that in the near future.
Because that would violate copyright laws and White Wolf would quite rightfully sue me or at the very least force me to remove the offending material.
I will gladly continue to accept submissions for Wraith, Wild West and any other game line White Wolf discontinues.
I can only post what people send me. If you want to see more dooms, tribes, arcanoi, spheres or whatever, then how about you think of something and send it to me? I'd be glad to post it!
I've decided not to post chronicles, NPCs or fiction, mainly because I have both limited time and space available. Though I wish I could broaden my scope, I'd like to point out there are many other sites out there that more than compensate for mine's weaknesses.
Sorry, but no can do. As long as they fall in the description of what I allow in my archive, I will post whatever people send me. Unfortunately, that includes concepts that have been done to death.
There are four possible reasons:- I didn't see it. Though I'm subscribed to most of the mailing lists and newsgroups, I only skim through the postings. I usually read through maybe one or two articles out of every hundred. The end result is I overlook a lot of stuff. To improve the chance I receive it, send your creation to me directly.
- You posted it to a mailing list or other forum that either has a closed subscription policy or is otherwise not in the public domain. I will not re-post submissions sent to these forums unless given specific permission to do so. I do not classify other Web sites as being in the public domain.
- It doesn't fit in one of the categories I list in the "Yes" section of my Submissions Guide. I do tend to hold on to the entries I don't have a place for though. I'm always hoping I'll find time to open new sections to the site.
- I'm going to include it, but I haven't gotten to it yet.
There are a few documents in the archive that have character sheets included, but beyond that, no. It's mainly because I very rarely use character sheets. I've always been satisfied with just scribbling my characters' stats on whatever sheets of paper are handy. If you are looking for character sheets, my personal suggestion is to check out White Wolf's site (http://www.white-wolf.com/).
No, and I'm pretty clueless about where you can find them, too. I wouldn't have anything but the Mac versions on hand, anyway. I'd suggest posting a question to the mailing lists, newsgroups or White Wolf Forums. Enough people collect fonts that I'm sure somebody will be able to help you.
If you found it on a newsgroup or a mailing list that has an open subscription policy, then yes, go ahead and send it to me. If you found the creation by other means, such as on a Web site, a closed-subscription mailing list, personal e-mail or from any other source that doesn't qualify as "public domain" then you must have the author's permission before passing it on to me or anyone else. You must always (no exceptions) correctly attribute the author(s).
because I"m really anol about punchuashun, grammer ,and speling; that's why !I am very serious when I say I've seen sentences worse than that in some of the submissions I've received. Still, I've been accused of compromising the "artistic visions" of authors when I edit their creations. I do my best to avoid making content changes, but I'll be damned if I post anything that reads like it was written by a dyslexic chimp! Yeah, I know that sounds elitist (and insensitive to the plight of dyslexic chimps, to boot). Be comforted though, because I've also been criticized for not editing the submissions well enough! People who think that are actually quite correct. I don't and boy do I wish that I had the time and patience to address their concerns.
First, my standard disclaimer: I maintain this site by myself, with no compensation. I'm a working joe, so as much as I'd like to have it, I don't have unlimited amounts of time to devote to the archive. Therefore, I can't guarantee you a quick turnaround. Having said that, if you do have concerns, I don't mind if you ask me about them. An unfortunate consequence to the large amount of e-mail I receive is that I sometimes lose or misplace messages. So, do feel free to check in with me on occasion. Just keep in mind that it can take months to get to your submission.
Well, I'm the kind of person who has an extremely messy desk and no idea where anything is. I enter submissions in approximately the order I receive them, though I put aside those that aren't in text format until I have time to work with them. I can convert a text document to html very quickly, but because I also do some proofreading, it takes me longer than if I were doing a simple conversion. I've gotten documents done in less than five minutes, while long or poorly edited documents can take me hours or even days. I don't set aside a schedule to edit either, so I post when in the mood and time allows.
I have two answers. The first is an excuse: The presence of WoD folks on the Internet is increasing, so it's harder to keep track of it all. The second is a change in my behavior: I am no longer grabbing entries from other Web sites unless they are submitted to me directly or to another medium like the newsgroups or mailing lists. The first answer is obvious. The second probably needs some explaining.I view my archive as a public resource. Anyone who wants to copy anything from it is free to. That doesn't mean you can run roughshod over the intellectual property of the contributors, but as long as you give credit where it's due, I'm cool with it. However, a few have pointed out to me that some folks don't have the same views as I do. They feel, and rightly so, that they should have a say over what people do with the stuff they publish on their Web pages. In other words, don't filch things from other pages and put them on your own without asking first! I realize now that this is a really obvious, should-have-learned-in-Kindergarten kind of thing. Therefore, I'm not including entries I've seen on other Web sites unless I receive specific permission first from either the authors or site administrators.
Unfortunately, the results of the survey will never see the light of day. It's been several years since the survey ended and a great deal has happened with the Storyteller games. Therefore I doubt they have a whole lot of meaning anymore. I know a lot more about scripting now than I did then so perhaps in the future I may have the opportunity to build a cgi-bin version that will tally up the results in a prompt manner.
No, it has nothing to do with Satanism, the occult, aliens, world wide conspiracies, etc. In fact, if you ever thought it did, then the chances are you really don't know much about the game. So, before shooting off your mouth, do some research first, okay? It's a game and a hobby. Yes, there will be nuts who incorporate the World of Darkness into their delusions, but the thing is they were crazy to begin with! Charles Manson blamed the Beatles. Ted Bundy blamed pornography. The Son of Sam blamed his neighbor's dog. An intelligent person knows that they were just off their bloody rockers. There are millions of gamers and though I wouldn't go so far to call us typical, we are mostly harmless. Unfortunately, because our lives don't revolve around the football season, television and beer, whenever a gamer turns out to have a few screws loose, the entire hobby gets smeared as Satanic and dangerous. We are no more prone to psychopathic behavior than anyone else. We are just easier targets, especially when it makes good copy. So, if you are looking for a scapegoat, why don't you dig up something that actually poses a threat to someone.
B.J. Zanzibar was originally a character in Indy's Bar & Grille, which was part of a now-defunct BBS at Indiana University. The B&G was an interdimensional hotspot patronized by a wide array of beings. It was kinda like the IC posts on the White Wolf forums, newsgroups and mailing lists, but a bit more structured and not limited to the World of Darkness. When I got onto the net a short time later, I used B.J. Zanzibar as my handle and eight years later, it's still with me.I came up with the name itself rather spontaneously, being inspired by my favorite musician, Billy Joel. The "B.J." is obvious enough; "Zanzibar" is the name of one of his songs.
FYI, the quote is: "Sanity is relative. For some of us, it's just a distant cousin."The part about the relativity of sanity is a paraphrase of Charles Manson, of all people. I made the second part up -- well, at least I think I did. It's possible I heard it somewhere else, filed it away in the deep recesses of my brain, then unwittingly retrieved it again, mistaking it for an original thought. Who knows. In any case, because I thought it was mildly humorous, I put it in my signature, thinking that I'd find something wittier to replace it. That was back in 1992 or thereabouts and I haven't changed it since. Personally, I blame inertia.
I suppose it's a bit ironic that I'm using this particular sig, considering most people think I'm the most rock solidly sane person they know. I tend to agree with them (;->), but isn't that a sign of mental instability in and of itself?
Erm, well, sadly, my Geek Code pretty much describes it all:
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Well, just one, really: I have zero tolerance for loutish behavior, especially over e-mail. There are a lot of people who think that the anonymity provided by the Internet is a license to behave badly. They're wrong. If you can't conduct yourself in a civil manner, then you shouldn't be online. Period. Not that I condemn informality or blunt honesty: just show a little respect and don't be an ass.
I've been separated from my wife for about a year, and she's since found somebody new. I guess that makes me available, but I've been out of the dating scene for a long time and am thoroughly out of practice!
How to put this in a way that won't offend people.... Well, to be blunt, I hate Wintel. That is just my personal opinion, but I have had considerable cross-platform experience. I've used just about every Wintel OS and OS/2, and with the exceptions of Linux and *BSD, I've been thoroughly underwhelmed by their performance. The Macintosh is not a toy, as so many (most of whom know absolutely nothing about them) claim. Mac OS is powerful, stable, elegant, versatile, efficient, user-friendly and not prone to obsolescence. The hardware is durable and all but the oldest models can run modern software. The applications, despite frequently being smaller in size than their Windows counterparts, are every bit as effective. Even if the number of apps available for the Mac is smaller than for Windows, I have had no problem finding programs that do everything I need. Admittedly, there are fewer games available, but in my opinion, if you bought a PC to play video games, you wasted your money big time. I mean, get a Sega, Playstation, Nintendo or something like that if you want to get your money's worth.I don't have a beef with Un*x. In fact, I'm ecstatic that Linux has been ported to the PowerPC -- both as a monolithic release and running on the Open Group's Mach-derived microkernel. I'm running Red Hat on my HP at work and will be installing OpenBSD on my Power Macintosh 8600 soon. I am very much aware that Unix is capable of doing stuff no other platform (including NT!) can do.
Yes, I exist! At least, I think I do.... Well, anyway, the reason you haven't seen me at any of the cons is because I don't go to cons. The main obstacles are the perennial ones: time and money. Also, I'm just not one for sleeping in a hotel room with 20 other people (or even worse, the lobby). If anyone wants to hold one in Bloomington, I'll show up though!
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Yes, I am aware that I shouldn't be using the international version. Call the FBI if it really bugs you.Billy Joel and Enya stand out as my two favorite artists. I'm also into classic 60s, 70s and early 80s rock: The Doors, The Eagles, Bad Company, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonnie Raitt, etc. As a rule, I can't stand dance music and show tunes are right out. I do like movie soundtracks though; I don't care what anyone says, John Williams rules! I like some New Age music, but a lot of it might as well be elevator music, as far as I'm concerned. Yanni must die! I have the standard complaints against rap and country: my whiteness factor is just too high for the former and too low for the latter.
I really prefer well-orchestrated cross-overs (very tricky), so I can't say that any one of the games is my favorite or least favorite. I believe the World of Darkness is a lot more than its component parts.
Well, not really. Here's my goth code though:
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GoHu++Bio++CS$** TYe c5+ P! M a28 n- b-:- H5'8" g--T m--- w+ r--- D--! h-- s10 k R-- Sen LusIN-
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I confess that I just filled it out one day for the hell of it. I do have few black t-shirts, but they all have Star Wars characters on them. There's no way in Hell I'd ever wear make-up, either. I'm more of the slightly disheveled "what-the-hell-do-you-mean-paisley-and-plaid-don't-match" sort I guess. I'm probably too anti-social to make a good Goth anyway. I find them to be an interesting bunch though -- a bit odd, but I guess we all have our eccentricities.
A couple of people have asked me this personally and I see this question posed on the newsgroups and the mailing lists all the time. I'm not going to write up stats for myself (too depressing!) but if you were to translate me directly into the WoD as a critter, then here's what I'd be:If we're talking Vampire, I'd undoubtedly end up a staunchly Camarilla Nosferatu, though with far more loyalty to the clan than to the sect. What can I say? I've got the Nosferatu mindset and I personally think that after Gehenna, despite all the chest puffing of the Sabbat and True Hand, the only vampiric organization that has any chance of surviving is the Camarilla. Practicality and sneakiness beat fanaticism every day. That's how it works in the real world, anyway.
Werewolf is a bit tougher. I'd probably be a Philodox Homid Glasswalker, and one who makes no bones about his admiration of the Weaver. Sure, she needs pruning, but without her, there wouldn't be a CyberRealm! Your average Red Talon or Get of Fenris would want me dead, dead, dead.
In Mage, I'd be a Technomancer with a Pattern essence. In fact, I see myself falling in with the Technocracy and hunting down "reality deviants" with an atheistic fury. It's not a self-image I find particularly appealing, but I recognize in myself characteristics that make it a definite likelihood. I consider myself a free-thinker, but I also possess a contempt for religion and irrational thought that I can't shake no matter how hard I try. Given those weaknesses, I'd probably turn into an autocrat pretty quickly were I a mage.
For Wraith, well, if forced to join a legion, I would hope it would be Iron! Otherwise, I'd probably side with the Hierarchy, mainly because death as a Renegade would be a bit too dangerous for my tastes and I'm too much of an atheist to join the Heretics. Mostly, I'd just try to avoid being sold to slavers or dragged into the Labyrinth by spectres. I might moonlight as an Artificer though I don't think I could stomach the soulforging aspect of the guild. Surfing the net as only a wraith can would be fun though.
For Changeling, I'd probably end up a Winter Fae or Dauntain. Like any gamer, I'm imaginative, but lets face it, I'm more at home with silicon and science than I am with pixie dust and magic.
No, I'm afraid not. I'm a really big fan of the Amazing Randi, if that's any clue. The realities of the universe we live in are far more incredible, majestic and well, weird, than anything any society -- or, for that matter, White Wolf -- has ever imagined. The idea that science has drained all the imagination from our lives is pure and unadulterated guff. The scientific community approaches the level of stagnation and corruption demonstrated by the Technocracy only when it forgets the foundations upon which its studies are based, and instead retreats to sloth, pride and dogma. These are universal human failings, however, and certainly have nothing to do with science itself. Skepticism is not in the least bit banal; in fact, it's absolutely essential. Unquestioning faith is not a virtue. It is a bolthole for the weak-minded. There's a "back in the good old days" kind of nostalgia present in all of the White Wolf games that I'd find very objectionable if applied to real life. Therefore I don't. Within the confines of the realm of make believe we create when we game, the universe of the World of Darkness shines. Even an unrepentant atheist like myself needs a little escapism from time to time.
The two editors I use most of the time are Emacs and Alpha. I occasionally use vi and BBEdit. Emacs is, among many other things, a powerful text editor available primarily on Unix. Alpha is a Macintosh text editor that incorporates some of Emacs' functionality (even if the guts are completely different). Vi is a much maligned, but very functional Unix text editor (THE text editor if you ask most Unix purists). BBEdit, like Alpha, is a Macintosh text editor and is probably the most popular among Mac Web designers. I've been using Alpha more and more lately, mainly because it's faster than using Emacs over a telnet connection when all you have is a modem. I do all my coding by hand. Yep, no wimpy WYSIWYG crap for me! I do make use of a lot of macros though. I'll admit that my coding isn't pretty and flunks all the HTML validators, but it seems to work most of the time.
These are the rules I try to live by:- Carefully choose your text, link and background colors. Be even more careful when choosing background images and always set a background color for people who don't auto-load their images. Otherwise, your page might end up completely illegible.
- You don't need an "Under Construction" sign. Because the Web is a dynamic place, it is understood that all pages are works in progress. It would actually be more useful to put a grave marker or something like that on your page to indicate that it isn't being revised any longer. I probably need one of those for my links, page, actually.
- Avoid large images, especially if they are animated. People won't visit your site at all if it takes five minutes to load. If you add too many images it also tends to make your site look tacky -- and not in a good way.
- Don't design your page with just one browser in mind. Expecting people to have the newest browsers and the best hardware is self-defeating, unless of course you like not getting any hits. Include a text-only version or otherwise make it available to as many browsers as possible.
- Never use blink tags. NEVER! I don't care if you are protesting non-standard HTML extensions. They're just too obnoxious.
- While frames can be useful tools for site navigation, they are often abused. Don't use them for ad-space or site layout; that's not what they were designed for. Unless your site is large and multi-tiered, their drawbacks greatly overwhelm any benefit they may provide.
- Don't get too gimmicky with Java, JavaScript, plug-ins and the like. They tend to slow load time and reduce the number of people who can "correctly" view your page. You needn't swear them off completely, but you don't want the content of your site drowned out by a bunch of whiz-bang clutter.
- Once you've developed your page, try looking at it with multiple browsers on several different kinds of computers. Compare how fast it loads via a modem vs. a faster connection.
- The saddest thing in the world is an abandoned Web page. Try to keep them up to date. Beware of link rot. Web pages change addresses more frequently than Saddam Hussein did during the Gulf War. Again, my links page is a regrettable example of a neglected Web page.
Netscape has specifications at the following URL:http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/htmlguid/tags11.htm
Remember, frames don't work on older or less fully featured browsers. When designing your pages, you should take other browsers into account. Don't use them at all unless you really think they'll add something to your site.
There are two kinds of image map: server-side image maps and client-side image maps. To make server side image maps, you have to have to have the right software on your server. NCSA has a nice tutorial at:http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/docs-1.5/tutorials/imagemapping.html
Note that these instructions don't work with all servers.
I don't use image maps anymore, but previous versions of the site did. If you want to use them, I recommend client-side image maps, mainly because they are faster and a bit easier to configure. The problem with client-side maps is that older and less fully featured browsers don't support them. On the other hand, Lynx only supports client-side image maps. Anyway, here's Netscape's documentation on images and image maps:
http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/htmlguid/tags8.htm