About Dr. J's Website@Chico ...
Work and maintenance on Dr. J's Web pages first started in the summer of 1995. They were originally housed at the Department of Computer Science's (CS) web server at The Florida State University (FSU). Next, they were transferred to Coastal Carolina University's (CCU) web server by the summer of 1996 and the counter was added later that year. These pages have been on the College of Engineering, Computer Science, & Technology's (ECST) web server here at California State University, Chico since July 9, 1998.
Here are some answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding Dr. J's Website.
I began with Gnu Emacs writing straight HTML code based on sample source code I had chanced upon. This occured while I was visiting at The Florida State University (FSU) the summer of 1995. In fact, I got Coastal Carolina University's (CCU) Department of Computer Science (CSCI) web pages up and running at FSU's web server that summer, establishing CCU's first presence on the Web!
Next, I played around a little bit with Novell's Internet Publisher for WordPerfect 6.1 (WPIP) early Fall 1995 while at CCU. It did a decent job, but it lacked flexibility. So I tried playing around with a few shareware Web editors like Internet Software Technologies' HTMLed, Kris Nosack's HTML Writer, SoftQuad's HoTMetaL PRO, and Ken Nesbitt's WebEdit (now known as Luckman Software Corporation's WebEdit Pro). Still not satisfied with the result, I reverted back to straight HTML coding via the old, reliable, highly sophisticated, user friendly WYTIWYG (What You Type Is What You Get) HTML editor called Gnu Emacs (okay you Microsoft Windows fans, I'll admit that from time to time I do use Microsoft Notepad).
Some of the page designs I adopted are modifications of those I have seen on the Web and liked. (Just to try it out, I created this page using Netscape Navigator 3.0 Gold's Edit feature. I like the added functionality of Netscape Communicator's Edit feature as well, albeit the limitations.)
The counter I use on all my Web pages is called LiveCounter Classic. It is available for free from Chami's Place.
Most of the graphics I created were done using Microsoft Corporation's Powerpoint. These were captured and manipulated using JASC's Paint Shop Pro and then saved as GIF files. Some of the animated GIFs were created using Andover Advanced Technologies' VideoCraft GIF Animator. Of course, all other graphics are derived from numerous sources in the Web with the sources credited whenever appropriate.
Initially, Web page creation can take a lot of time. I have pretty much adopted a system I am comfortable with (e.g. using a common page format for Web Pages of courses I teach; it also pays to be consistent). It also motivates me to know that these pages will eventually make my life easier (as if they have not done so already!). Listening to some jazz music also helps (Smooth Jazz 94.9 - The Surf in Myrtle Beach is great ... thanks, Earl Taylor!) specially on those late nights when I am just typing away at the keyboard.
Most of the information one would need to start creating their Web pages are available on-line on the Web. My recommendation would be not to buy any book at first and check out what's available on the Web before doing anything else. In buying Unix- or Web-related books, one will never go wrong with anything by O'Reilly & Associates. O'Reilly has two Deluxe editions (CD-ROM and book combo) that I would consider "must have"s for Web-programming
This should do for now. If you have any other questions, please e-mail
them to me at Juliano@ecst.csuChico.edu