transfering the templateRe: [Helpers] FST links - Round 1

Sat May 7 11:35:57 PDT 2005

At 04:54 PM 5/5/2005, you wrote:
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Mystress Angelique Serpent" 
><Mystress at fire-serpent.com>
>To: "FST Helpers list." <Helpers at fire-serpent.org>
>Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 1:47 PM
>Subject: Re: transfering the templateRe: [Helpers] FST links - Round 1
>
>
>>   I meant, making the nav images smaller,  100x16 or 105 instead of
>>118x26. I dunno how it would look... or how much it would mess up
>>the tables.
>
>You can type in width and height of the images to whatever you like to
>just see how it looks. once you get the actual size you like and then
>you can shrink them.

   Oh yeah! LOL!! silly of me to forget...

>>   I know, the option to convert them to CSS remains... but I really
>>like the calligrapher font, and it is not standard.
>
>There is a way of doing it in Flash. But, all the link will be inside
>the flash, so in a future when it needs to be altered the minimum
>very basic flash knowlage (like,,,,create movie file like
>"filename.swf") will be required.
>
>Changing the link will be really really easy though.... You just have
>to find the link it needs to be altered and type in the new one.

  Cool.. or use a meta redirect page, or redirect via htaccess. I learned 
about them last time I reorganized domin8rex.com.

>>   I think I'm going to have to spend some $$ on dreamweaver and
>>photoshop upgrades...
>
>Which version of the Photoshop do you currently have?

5.0.2

>>  Please convert experience.jpg .. The larger experiences box
>>http://www.fire-serpent.org/fscnew/tabexpl.html
>>http://www.fire-serpent.org/fscnew/tabexpl1.html
>>was missing from the form I gave you, but can be added to each page
>>as experiences are found. I already converted the extension on the
>>other images in it. Have not uploaded the changed version yet.
>
>I have converted "experience.jpg" into "experience.gif" and uploaded
>in http://www.fire-serpent.org/fscnew/titles/
>
>you can see it here.
>http://www.fire-serpent.org/fscnew/titles/experience.gif

   Thank you.

Could you redo
http://www.fire-serpent.org/fscnew/titltable.html
make sure all its bits are now gifs and convert any files as needed.
While you are at it, can you expand it to the same size as the essays 
table, and make a second version for the tantra subdirectory?
   It is a nice simple little blank table for me to plug extra stuff I 
might find, into... like the email form. I think most of its gifs were 
already converted for the quotesbox.

  Also... I need a template file for the popup windows.
   Can you copy the tiny lesson links box into a new file, and resize it to 
fit neatly into the popup windows we will make for them? Make an off site 
links popup page template...
   Make one of the quotes box, too... the too-long song from the matriarchy 
lesson, and the long quote from K and genetics can go into a quote popup.
   Decide yourself, if you want the popups to have their own folder and 
what to call it.  We will name them to match the lessons.

>>Two mitigating factors are:
>>1. They can begin to read the page content before the images are
>>loaded, and the page doesn't jump around while loading, because the
>>sizes are all specified. I find a heavy page only annoys me when I
>>have to wait for it before I can read... but that is just me.
>>
>>2. They only have to wait longer, once... then the images are cached
>>and the next page should load instantly.
>
>When the viewer add the page into favorite, you can advise them to
>check the check box for "Make this page available off line". They
>still have to setup username and password for the each page.
>
>This can be done like this....
>
>Step 1. Add page to your favorite. Don't forget to check the check
>box for "Make this page available off line".
>
>You will probably receive some error message about username
>and password, unless they are already setup, But Don't worry!
>
>
>Step 2. Open the favorite contents by clicking on the favorite button
>on top of the browser menu . OR whatever way you normaly open.
>
>Step 3. Right click on the URL that you just saved in step1 and select
>properties. This will open the property window.
>
>Step4. Make sure the check box for "Make this page available off
>line" is checked uder "Web document". If not then check it.
>
>Step5.Click on the tab said "Download".
>
>Step6. All the way at the bottom, you'll find
>"If the site requires a user name and password:"
>and a button said "login.." right next to it. Click on the button.
>
>
>Step7. Enter your FST username and password here.
>
>Step8. Click ok.
>
>Step9. Click OK again to close the properties window.
>
>You may have to repeat this step every time you add the FST page
>into your favorite.

   I think... it might take longer for them to figure out how to do that, 
than it takes for the page to load... but I will add the info to the new 
lesson #1. Thanks for writing it.

>>   I have been wondering if it would be cool to create some kind of
>>"front door", maybe a little flash or something for people to look
>>at while the page images are being cached, behind the scenes. Of
>>course, if they have to wait 10 minutes for the flash to load, there
>>is no gain!
>
>Animation is a such an big project. Depends on the contents though,
>in animation, 10 second animation sounds good size project and it
>could be pretty big depends on how complex animation is.
>
>I haven't worked with flash for a while and I just starting to work
>some animation for my site. Action scpipt has changed a lot again.
>It's killing me...... no...... not really. ; )
>
>I don't remember having flash loading sequence for html or any images
>files outside flash. Usually flash loading sequence is for flash movie
>itself. In order to play flash animation smoothly without any unwanted
>pause that ruin the whole 15 secnonds of great enjoinment! : )

   How do you get to the flash, though? It must have a doorway page...

   o well, sounds like too much trouble. We have enough on the plate 
already, I'd rather use flash for something more directly useful, like a 
new grounding animation.
   Rich is familiar with flash, as well...

>>>Since you have preview page where people can experience the
>>>loading time, maybe you can put some information about CD somewhere
>>>close to the front where people don't have to click
>>>to jump around too much. I think this is the best way to solve the
>>>problem.
>>
>>   There is an FST CD link in the navtable, but it could also be
>>mentioned on the index page. I just don't want people assuming they
>>can get the course for the cost of the CD, without becoming a
>>member.
>
>Option one,
>you can have a become a member page (registration page) or the
>link to that page somewhere noticeable within a CD.

   The CD is only available to members... I don't understand what you mean.

>Option two,
>you can have a become a member page (registration page) or the
>link to that page before finalize the CD purchase.
>
>Option three,
>just incase you can have both option one and two!! : )

   Well.. it mentions the CD in the nav list already, and on the 
registration page, and again in the purchasing option after they 
register.  It will be in the FAQ... we could put a note about it into the 
sample lessons, too.

   honestly, I feel the loading time is an issue for the preview, but not 
the lessons.  Waiting for the page is a good opportunity to clear your mind 
and get grounded to better absorb the content. Have to wait for the vid 
anyway... and there is a CD link in every lesson, for the day when 
members  get impatient.

>>  I also deleted a lot of spaces, and made sure all attributes were
>>quoted.  I'm just proofing the form to begin the search and replace
>>to change the preview... some of which will have to be done by hand
>>because the design morphed as pages were created. The header and
>>foot used to have green boxes.

   done, now.. busy converting the remaining pages which were not moved 
into the form I made,  to the new format.

>I've been thinking about the space......
>
>Only time that I had problem with space was when I used to type html
>by hand with notepad. I remember after I have tied a few (or several
>I don't remeber....)different web edditing software Dreamweaver was
>the cleanest one and I've never had space problem since...
>
>I'm thinking, it might be the software that you are using, how it
>converts code including spaces. It's just doesn't seem right that you
>have to convert all the code without any indent or space when you
>are only using html....

   This second template had far fewer extra spaces than the first one... 
mostly between tr and table.

   In any case, I sorted out how to resolve it in batches with unindent.. 
then I just had to take out the line breaks.

  I like the code spread out when I am working with it, but once it is 
done, I like to compress it as much as possible, into solid blocks to get 
it out of the way so I can focus on the content.  I leave whitespace to 
indicate the content areas so they are easier for everyone to find.

   Homesite and arachnophilia both colour code the html code to make the 
different tags easier to find. For me, the comment tags and table tags 
really stand out so it is easy to navigate.

>I'll think about this little more and let you know if I get any good
>idea...

   I think it is OK... the few remaining spaces in the last template were 
easy to remove. I'm not that obsessive about it. No worries...

    I do prefer all attributes to be quoted, but many were not in the form 
I gave you... homesite does it automatically for tables, but sporadically 
for images and I  hadn't gotten around to fixing them yet, in the template 
I sent you originally.
   They were not your doing. I only mentioned it, to ask you to fix them as 
you find them, in future.

   Thanks for the great work! 