B Vaughan<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Here is the way I used to create the accented characters.
    >The general form is &<letter><accent code>;
    >"Letter" is replaced by a lower-case or capital letter and the main
    >accent codes are: acute, grave, circ, and uml.
    >So &Eacute; would be a capital E with an acute accent.
    >Note that some browsers may not display all special characters
    >correctly, but &Eacute; is perhaps better than a little box. (In fact,
    >every browser should display the normal accented vowels, and other
    >common characters.)
    >Here is a website that explains is all and has a more complete list of
    >accents and other special characters.
    >http://www.chaos.org.uk/~eddy/bits/chars.html

Thanks, Barbara. I have had a number of people point me in this
direction, both on r.t.e. and in email.

That seems to be the way for HTML users to go. I use a program that is
supposed to do it for me -- in effect, it generates HTML, which I have
not learned to use. The problem really seems to be that the program
does not achieve what it is supposed to achieve, with the exception of
the accent in the banner on the home page. It might be a setting I got
wrong, or it might be a glitch in the program.

Putting all the accents and special characters into HTML pages looks
to me like punishment.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED
My travel writing: http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/

On Thu, 25 May 2006 18:36:47 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Martin <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>Feedback welcome. Especially flattery.
    >>Brilliant! :-)
    >That's the kind of feedback I like. Thank you.
    >>Can you make it say something like "Padraig Breathnach" instead of
    >>"home", when the URL is saved?
    >Done. "Padraig's Pages" (I think).

Thanks!
--

Martin

On Thu, 25 May 2006 18:36:46 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >The word count averages almost 1,000 per page. That's about 2.5 to 3
    >times as much as you get in most continuous-text books.

HCI studies I've been around have shown people are just as happy to
scroll down a page, as click a link to the next page - Even the amount
of words you have there and the massive suggested font causes
readability issues for me.

    >>Being friendly to search engines is being friendly to users, that's
    >>how they find you.
    >That's an interesting question: who am I writing for? Of course I
    >don't mind if Clem in Adelaide or Renata in Munich find my site and
    >enjoy reading it, but I really developed it to share with two groups
    >-- the denizens of r.t.e. and my real-life friends and acquaintances.

I'm not sure why to limit to those - why not limit to everyone who's
interested in hearing about a trip report to some interesting places?
Random visitors may well outnumber the ones you're aiming for, good
content tends to attract it after all.

    >Of course there is an element of indulging my own ego, but my ego is
    >easily satisfied.

Just wait until you're checking out where you are for "Padraig" on
google.com every month, that's when website ego gets a little out of
hand.[*]

    >I am still thinking about the character-display problem. Can HTML be
    >platform-dependent? In other words, might there be incompatibility
    >between HTML generated and successfully handled in my setup, and the
    >configuration of my ISP's setup? Or is that a stupid question?

Yes, you need to advertise the character encoding correctly, it's
likely you're not in some way, we can see what's going on once there's
a page with the squares on.

Jim.
[*] I'm okay, I only do it every other, honest.

On Thu, 25 May 2006 18:46:49 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Putting all the accents and special characters into HTML pages looks
    >to me like punishment.

It is, it shouldn't be necessary.

Jim.

"Padraig Breathnach" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Don Wiss <donwiss@no_spam.com> wrote:
    >>On Thu, 25 May 2006, Padraig Breathnach <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>I suppose I should tell you where it is. The address is
    >>>http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/index.htm (in case you wonder, "draoi" is the
    >>You can simplify that to http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/. You never need to
    >>include the index.htm. This includes in your code when you go from page to
    >>page.
    > Yep. I knew that but I was in usenet mode, and simply cut & pasted the
    > address from my browser.
    >>My comments: Text takes up so little bandwidth, compared to images, that I
    >>would put all of each trip report on a single page.
    > My reason for splitting was to be reader-friendly. To my eyes, long
    > pages are a turn-off. And text pages load respectably fast.

I find reading off the screen difficult.

So I prefer to print things off to read,

Having a short report split up into separate pages is a
real drag to print.

tim

On Thu, 25 May 2006 18:46:49 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >B Vaughan<[email protected]> wrote:
    >>Here is a website that explains is all and has a more complete list of
    >>accents and other special characters.
    >>http://www.chaos.org.uk/~eddy/bits/chars.html
    >Thanks, Barbara. I have had a number of people point me in this
    >direction, both on r.t.e. and in email.
    >That seems to be the way for HTML users to go. I use a program that is
    >supposed to do it for me -- in effect, it generates HTML, which I have
    >not learned to use. The problem really seems to be that the program
    >does not achieve what it is supposed to achieve, with the exception of
    >the accent in the banner on the home page. It might be a setting I got
    >wrong, or it might be a glitch in the program.
    >Putting all the accents and special characters into HTML pages looks
    >to me like punishment.

Some web design programs will do it for you, I believe. I looked at
your html source and see that the one accent that came through
correctly doesn't use any html codes. It's just an accented a in the
source. I also noticed that the charset is defined only once, before
that accented a appears, so it's a mystery to me why other subsequent
accented a's would be presented differently. I had originally assumed
that the one accented a was embedded in a graphic.

Here's a suggestion: create the page with accents, using the web
design program you already have (which seems to have done a nice job
in other respects). Then use Word or notepad or similar to edit the
html source code and do a search and replace. That wouldn't take long.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

Padraig Breathnach <[email protected]> wrote:

[]
    > I suppose I should tell you where it is. The address is
    > http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/index.htm (in case you wonder, "draoi" is the
    > Gaelic word for either "enchanter" or "druid"; take whichever meaning
    > you prefer).
    >
    > Feedback welcome. Especially flattery.

I like it. Nice and simple- to the point. I think the glass needs a
top-up though!

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org

Dave Frightens Me <deepfreudmoors@eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu> wrote:

    >On Thu, 25 May 2006 12:55:17 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
    ><[email protected]> wrote:
    >>Nobody seems to have noticed (or, at least, commented on) the banner
    >>on the home page where the accent got through unscathed. It's all a
    >>mystery and my ISP's help desk is a fiction: I'm waiting for a
    >>call-back, and I'm waiting for a reply to an email enquiry.
    >Usually help desks assume you will either fix it yourself, or give up
    >and stop bothering them. It can take a few contact attempts to get a
    >decent answer!
I have a simpler view: my ISP does not employ enough staff to provide
a proper service. Yet the price I pay is supposed to include a help
desk.

Training helpline staff goes like this: "blame the telephone service
for connection problems; blame the customer's software for anything
else; if the customer is persistent, suggest a simple solution, say
try that, and if you still have problems, call me back; log the phone
number and enter it on the list of numbers not to be answered for at
least six months."

The problem is that just about all ISPs behave the same way.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED
My travel writing: http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/

On Thu, 25 May 2006 12:55:17 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Don Wiss <donwiss@no_spam.com> wrote:
    >>On Thu, 25 May 2006, Padraig Breathnach <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>>As for the accented characters. You want to use these:
    >>>>http://www.ramsch.org/martin/uni/fmi-hp/iso8859-1.html
    >>>>There are many web pages like that one that have more or less of them, and
    >>>>organize them differently. And better to use the text and not the number
    >>>>versions.
    >>>It looks like a lot of work to get them in. I would have thought that
    >>>NetObject Fusion would have dealt with it for me. Do I have to get
    >>>into the HTML code?
    >>Not at all. Simply copy-and-paste the &xxx; string into your text where the
    >>accented character goes (or other special character).
    >>I don't know anything about NetObject Fusion. I simply hand code all my
    >>pages, as I type it in. That's why they are so simple.
    >I experimented a little, and it doesn't seem to work when I paste the
    >codes into my package in design mode.
    >I think the problem is a bit more obscure than that. NOF manages to
    >convert extended ASCII into the proper codes for publishing locally
    >(to my own HD). I got permission to test a page on somebody else's
    >server, and it worked ok (it had to be taken down immediately). So
    >there is a problem along the line between me and my host.
    >Nobody seems to have noticed (or, at least, commented on) the banner
    >on the home page where the accent got through unscathed. It's all a
    >mystery and my ISP's help desk is a fiction: I'm waiting for a
    >call-back, and I'm waiting for a reply to an email enquiry.

Usually help desks assume you will either fix it yourself, or give up
and stop bothering them. It can take a few contact attempts to get a
decent answer!
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Thu, 25 May 2006 01:12:40 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Well, I founded it, and it's not really for me to say if it is great.
    >My trip reports to this group all brought together in one place. No
    >pictures yet.
    >It has been a bit of a struggle for me, and there are web design
    >problems that I have not yet overcome; there is an invitation for help
    >on the home page.
    >My free hit counter exaggerates. It counts every visit to every page
    >as a separate hit. In the background, however, it reports on the
    >number of unique visitors, so my head won't be turned by somebody
    >to-ing and fro-ing through various pages.
    >I suppose I should tell you where it is. The address is
    >http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/index.htm (in case you wonder, "draoi" is the
    >Gaelic word for either "enchanter" or "druid"; take whichever meaning
    >you prefer).
    >Feedback welcome. Especially flattery.

It's about time! You look more handsome than my mental image of you.
Perhaps it's the glass of wine aside you, and the had-a-couple look in
your eye.

It's good, but could use a little character. How about adding a small
background tile? White seems a bit plain. Also, the default font is a
bit plain. I don't know exactly what NetObjects is, but don't be too
afraid of looking under the bonnet from time to time. HTML is not
rocket science!

As for the à character, sadly you are going out on a limb with 'funny'
characters. It renders just fine in Firefox.

Apart from that, I like it a lot. It's simple in structure and devoid
of bullshit. I might get around to reading all your tales if it ever
rains for a day here.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

congokid <[email protected]> wrote:

    > In article <[email protected]>, Padraig
    > Breathnach <[email protected]> writes
    > >Don Wiss <donwiss@no_spam.com> wrote:
    >
    > >>Unless you plan to
    > >>intersperse the pictures into the text.
    >
    > >It is not going to be a picture site.
    >
    > Since we're talking about personal travel/picture sites, I just went for
    > photos with short captions on mine:
    >
    > <http://www.congokid.demon.co.uk>

Hey- get your own thread! :)

    > I made a version with complete CSS, but it failed miserably in IE for
    > Mac and I've not tried it with Firefox.

It's fine on Firefox on Mac FWIW. The only thing is that it doesn't seem
immediately obvious to the viewer (or didn't to this one!) to click on
the < or > to move around the photos.

I recommend an enlargement of:

http://www.congokid.demon.co.uk/gall...sa05/index.htm

    :)

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org

On Thu, 25 May 2006, The Reid <[email protected]> wrote:

    > <title>Padraig's Perigrinations</title>

While Padraig has posted that he doesn't care about search engines, that
title tag is the second most important thing for getting picked up by the
search engines. (The URL itself is first.) So that title tag should have
words that people are going to search on, and it is unlikely that people
will be searching on Perigrinations.

Don <www.donwiss.com> (e-mail link at home page bottom).

In article <1hfx70r.1gahowoiy70n7N%this_address_is_for_spam@y ahoo.com>,
"David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco 24h offy" <[email protected]> writes
    >congokid <[email protected]> wrote:

    >> <http://www.congokid.demon.co.uk>
    >Hey- get your own thread! :)

Hee hee.

    >> I made a version with complete CSS, but it failed miserably in IE for
    >> Mac and I've not tried it with Firefox.
    >It's fine on Firefox on Mac FWIW.

It should be - the current version is vanilla HTML with very little in
the way of CSS. I originally wanted to eliminate all tables, but the
various browsers wouldn't support a complete CSS layout.

    >The only thing is that it doesn't seem
    >immediately obvious to the viewer (or didn't to this one!) to click on
    >the < or > to move around the photos.

I wanted to keep the design minimal - there's not much else there to
click on.

    >I recommend an enlargement of:
    >http://www.congokid.demon.co.uk/gall...sa05/index.htm

That's as big as it needs to be! Apparently the person who took the
photo arranged us in order of depth of tan.

Just spotted a glitch - I've got the view of San Francisco labelled as
being in Canada. Must fix.

--
congokid
Eating out in London? Read my tips...
http://congokid.com

On Fri, 26 May 2006 08:55:09 +0100, congokid <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >In article <1hfx70r.1gahowoiy70n7N%this_address_is_for_spam@y ahoo.com>,
    >"David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
    >prestwich tesco 24h offy" <[email protected]> writes
    >>congokid <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>> <http://www.congokid.demon.co.uk>
    >>Hey- get your own thread! :)
    >Hee hee.
    >>> I made a version with complete CSS, but it failed miserably in IE for
    >>> Mac and I've not tried it with Firefox.
    >>It's fine on Firefox on Mac FWIW.

and with Firefox and WinXP

    >It should be - the current version is vanilla HTML with very little in
    >the way of CSS. I originally wanted to eliminate all tables, but the
    >various browsers wouldn't support a complete CSS layout.
    >>The only thing is that it doesn't seem
    >>immediately obvious to the viewer (or didn't to this one!) to click on
    >>the < or > to move around the photos.
    >I wanted to keep the design minimal - there's not much else there to
    >click on.

Even so it's not obvious.
--

Martin

Following up to Dave Frightens Me

    >It's good, but could use a little character. How about adding a small
    >background tile? White seems a bit plain.

it has one, perhaps didnt load for you? IMHO plain and simple are
good things, text needs a quiet background and photos a quieter
one (yes, I know you dont agree!).
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap