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Episode 3

5th September 2000

Today is the last day of Summer 2000. It still doesn't seem real that I'm going to be getting up before 11 tomorrow morning. I can't wait for the shock.
Nothing special going on today, because I didn't have much time for the site. I checked on my logs again (which is an interesting and, more unexpectedly, exciting new hobby), and found someone reading again! Huzzah! I know it's only one person, but that's not what's important. I am only starting to promote the site, and I'm putting the pieces in place. Hey, it's starting to sound like I have some sort of plan here.

9th September 2000

School is running smoothly so far. Everything seems really relaxed. Wait till you see it in 3 months though. I've been hard at work for the last two days finishing the My First Site section. Three more articles added, and a bit of an edit on the rest, with extra stuff being included. I'm going to test them soon; as soon as my brother agrees to be strapped down in front of the screen and learn 'til it hurts anyway. I think they are quite good though, I've been reading over them a lot. If you're only starting HTML, you should check 'em out now. >>
The Full Index has been given an overhaul, with headings added and the links updated. Nice one.

14th September 2000

Oh man! I now have a possible maximum of just 1½ hours a day to spend on the site. I've signed up for 'night study' at school, which basically means staying there all day until 9. The nerdy thing to do? Well, if you talk to any of my friends, they will confirm that I'm a lazy ass, and so wouldn't get much work done without someone making me do it.
Sadly this means that HTMLSource's progress may take a bit of a hit. It's a necessary evil really. It is my last year after all.
But there's still that 1½ hours you say? Well, yeah, but most of that is taken up playing » StarCraft. Hey, there's always the weekends...

17th September 2000

I replaced my favicon with one that should have worked better (from this: to this: ). It's sort of hard to see, but that's Albert from the front page. I like it more anyway. Sadly, it still refuses to work, so I sent a stern letter to FreeServers to get it sorted out. We'll see what they have to say.

19th September 2000

I've decided to give promotion of the site a miss for the next two weeks, because last time it was all a bit of a mess, and not all search engines registered me and stuff. I'll give them some time to cool off, then resubmit, and do it properly, making sure of success. Even with the limited exposure HTMLSource has had for the last while, I'd say it has done surprisingly well. Well done.

22nd September 2000

Incredibly, someone was searching on a search engine for 'HTMLSource latest update'. What the hell? It wasn't even me! Whoever this excellent person was, please get in touch so I can get some outside opinion on the site. It also maybe highlights the fact that people must like the site, if they care about the updates. Maybe it was one of those guys who visited a couple of weeks ago and didn't find what they wanted....

25th September 2000

A sort-of-big cosmetic change on the navigation bars on the left of the screen today. I made the headings stand-out white instead of dull-impossible-to-see black. I also added some excellent bullet point things, which make the links stand out more. Go up to the Top of the page and check out the improvements.
I also fixed some cussed up links, and intercepted an annoying Netscape bug. It's betterness all round!

29th September 2000

I spent the whole day fixing up good old » EarthSource, bringing all my new found HTML knowledge to it and adding all the Source traditions. Spanky!

2nd October 2000

Yet more aesthetic improvements! You can't have failed to see the new coloured scrollbars, which are quite obviously the best things ever. Besides them, the link colours have been tweaked to a nicer shade of blue, and a new Source Network graphic has been added to the left navigation bar, which adds a bit of class.

14th October 2000

Every second person who has come to the site so far has clicked into the JavaScript section. That can't be good, seeing as how I have no idea how JavaScript works. Oh well, it can't make them happy to get a coming soon list and nothing else, so I put a time and date script in to keep 'em happy while I learn it. And on that note, I just realised what time it is. Goodnight.

26th October 2000

Huzzah! Mid Term! A week and a half of sleep-ins, lazy days, and crazy nights. Oh and some 'study' too, but I think that can be overlooked. Man, I have one bitch of a headache. Nothing like typing with a load of alcohol still in your system. Ahhh. And again: ahhh. Did a load of work yesterday, general maintenance again. A Browser Support chart was finally made, and it looks marvellous. The colours! Oh yeah, where are all my readers gone?

28th October 2000

Got my brother to learn basic HTML today and despite his inability to remember stuff he had read 5 seconds earlier, he managed a simple page in about ten minutes, which, taking his denseness and disinterest into account, bodes well for the My First Site lessons.

30th October 2000

Hahaha! Look what I won! Man, that was far too easy, so I'm not going to bother boasting about this.
Go to » www.goldenwebawards.com if you need the meagre ego-boost that this endows. Actually, it's not even worthy of a Huzzah, so I'll leave it out.
Check out the new article too: 10 ways to promote your website.

2nd November 2000

Found one of the first draughts of HTMLSource in the depths of my computer today, so I decided to make sort of 'progress reports'. The site's been going for around 4½ months after all, so to commemorate this utterly meaningless date, you can look back at this ugly crap. It's nice to see the improvements that have been made in such a short time, subtle as they are. Actually I'd say it's an excellent lesson in the power of colour. The old one was dull, with nasty black-on-darkblue text and yes, I hadn't planned on using a background tile until I miraculously made the bubbly one which we sport now.
Check out the old front page and compare it to the new one

6th November

I just got a preview version of Netscape 6. It's surprisingly good (although I don't ever think I can trust a company who skips version numbers to make their browser seem new), with the biggest mess ups in 4.7 gone, and support put in for some of my favourite features that have thus far been IE only. The interface is thankfully, much improved, and everything seems quite finished. Sadly, the rendering engine is a bit buggy, but I presume this will be sorted before the final release. » 'Scape up!

8th November 2000

And on the day that my sister saw Michael Jackson on the telly and asked "Is he dead?", I've been off fiddling with my code, seeing how I can make use of those stylesheets to better the site. The CSS-ified page is smaller and more efficient, and there's the benefit of all the changeability and power I have over it all afterwards. Only problem is, this is only true in the best browsers available (including Netscape 6), I just looked at it in Navigator 4.7 and it looked like absolute crap. So, as usual, Netscape are holding me back. My God. The sooner everyone gets either IE or NN6, the bloody better. » Go!

15th November 2000

Instead of just sharpening the original design, I've changed my attention to completely overhauling the site. I practised this form of website management over at » EarthSource. The improvements were definitely made, but the workload almost killed me. As I'm under enough pressure at school at the moment, I think I'll wait until the Christmas break before trying anything smart. For now, check out what I've managed to work up so far.

20th November 2000

Well, I asked for some constructive criticism between the old and new layouts and the response swung overwhelmingly in favour of the new one. So I guess I'll be redesigning then. Sigh. Although, it has to be said, it is much better. Here are the responses:

Peter Rothery: The second one is a lot easier to read. Better navigation, but it might look better on the left, rather than the right.
the.burt: Definately the second one. It is easier to read and without the background bubble things looks even better. I had a quick read of the page and it makes a lot of sense. But the main thing that slows down images is the speed of the server that they reside on. Yours is a bit laggy.
webmaster@n-planet.co.uk: Second one, definitely. The first one looked a bit more striking, but was a little bit hard to read with those bubbles.
Cheers lads.

Further to this, the new site will be completely stylesheet-run, which hopefully will make minor adjustments to colours etc. easier than they have been in the past. Also, when burt pointed it out to me there, I suddenly decided that FreeServers are a bit crappy. Their banner ads aren't appreciated either, so I'll be making a change soon. Probably to » Freedom2Surf, as I've seen people give them great reviews.

style="border-top: 1px dashed #99c; padding-top: 0.5em">But wait, there's more: Episode 4.