About CyberPursuits
This web site grew out of a research project at the end of 1993. We were experimenting with cutting edge techniques and assembled numerous web sites of various topics, applying techniques and new web breakthroughs as they were released on what was a fairly small web community at the time. With interest, we watched the exponential growth of web usage. We watched new applications come along to help new web users navigate the plethora of material. We watched the debates, the battles, and the general strife that new economies can present.
My experience with the internet began long before there was any notion of a web. The web "overlays" the internet and uses its "backbone" to give people all over the world opportunities to interact and share knowledge. It has taken on a culture all its own. My experiences with the web have led me through a multitude of changes. The site has had many faces and many topics, all of them making up a portion of my history and my personality.
I prefer to use Interent Explorer for a number of reasons: it uses the Document Object Model. It is free. It plays fair with all other applications on my system. It is easy on the developer and gives the user a better web experience. If you use Netscape with this web site, try it once with Internet Explorer. You will suddenly discover a new face to the pages, new navigational cues, and new visual enhancements that just are not possible with Netscape except through graphics (which consume your download bandwidth) and through extensive coding to compensate for Netscape's many WWW shortcomings.
The Technology
I like to adopt technologies and keep abreast of changes, but I don't "do cool technology" just for the sake of doing it because, quite often, it just doesn't fit the purpose, or the tried-and-true method is the least convoluted and more easily maintained. The tools, technologies, and components I use are appropriate for the purpose.
This particular collection of web pages uses Dynamic HTML (DHTML), Active Server Pages (ASP), VB Scripting, JavaScripting, Index Server functions, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), plus the common web interface technologies such as HTML and forms.
I like DHTML. In fact, some of the dynamic elements as well as static elements that you see on this site may appear to be simple graphics, but they are not. I built those elements using DHTML to dramatically reduce your load time and bandwidth, and to conserve my disk space. I often pre-load common repeated graphics elements so they are in place and ready for script events as you start using the web page.
The Tools
I use Visual InterDev to build and maintain this site. I like its development interface and special toolboxes for features such as Design Time Controls, Server Objects, and HTML fragments that I build myself. I use WS-FTP to publish the site to the server.
The Back-End and Interfaces
I make extensive use of CSS to give each section of the site its own character. I use CSS with client-side JavaScript to give you visual cues about the position of your cursor or particular selections you have made. I use ASP plus server-side objects and server-side VB Script to establish information about your session, such as the section you are currently using and your browser. I use ASP with server-side file includes to present elements to you and build the web page on the fly, giving you consistent navigation bars, footers, and other elements common to all pages. I can also build the page elements according to your browser. The site will appear one way to Netscape users and another to Internet Explorer users.
The Multimedia
With the exception of a few images, video, and audio files, I created all the images, sound bites, and video clips on this site. I use various programs to capture screen shots, video, and audio. (I haven't found one single program that has all the functions I want.) I use Paint Shop Pro to build and save the images. I use Amorphium to create animations. I use Image Composer to build the montages. For audio compression, I use MPG3. For video compression, I use Intel Indeo 5. I use GIFs when I need transparency and animation. Most of the images are JPG because of its compression and its rendering of photo-quality images.
Genealogy | ||
| My family history has always been important to me. I created the genealogy web site to provide categorized links for people who explore their roots. | ||
Archeology | ||
| One of my degrees is in anthropology, and I had hoped to make archeology a career, but I gave up the calling after a severe back injury proved too mentally distracting during my graduate studies and physically painful. I created the archeology web site to provide categorized links for people who study the roots of civilization and humankind. | ||
Anthropology | ||
| Anthropology was my primary study in my undergraduate work. I created the anthropology web site to provide categorized links for people who study human culture, physical human evolution, human language, and the social aspects of society. | ||
Space Science and Development | ||
| The path from "cradles of civilization" through the modern urban environment leads directly to the human exploration of space and its eventual colonization. I created the space information web site to provide categorized links for people who want to pursue their interests in space science and space development. | ||
Heckifiknow | ||
| The Heckifiknow web site contains links, information, images, and sound clips related to things that entertain me, with "things" being television shows, calendars, and Taco Bell dogs. It's hard to explain. | ||
For a more interesting and stable visit, download the free Internet Explorer and use it.
