VIEWING TIPS

This Web site is best viewed with Internet Explorer 5.5 or later, with Favourites switched off. Viewable screen depth can be increased by pressing F11 (and returned to normal view by pressing F11 again.) In Internet Explorer, the overall display size can be changed to one of the 5 options available from the Size icon on the toolbar. Remember to add the Home Page to Favourites (ticking 'Make available off-line') in Internet Explorer, or to Bookmarks in Netscape Navigator, in order that you can quickly return to the site when on-line and also browse it off-line.  

You can navigate easily between the pages, using the quick links bar at the top and bottom of all the main pages. Photographs reached by links from the main pages carry a link back to the respective originating page (and in some cases also to the Home Page). Please note that all the images except the 9 train photos produce pop-up tags if the cursor is left on them for a second or two. These tags contain additional comments and information. Please also look for additional comments in the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen. If this bar is not visible, please switch it on via the View menu.

TECHNICAL NOTES

This Web site was originally built with nothing more fancy than Word 97 (and Windows Notepad for HTML editing) but was later converted in Macromedia Dreamweaver to make it more interesting and versatile. It uses certain features which older Web browser programmes (versions 3.0 and earlier) will definitely not be able to interpret correctly. If this is a problem, I would recommend downloading a more recent version of your Browser, since you are probably encountering the same problem when visiting other sites. Please, however, in any case if there is such a problem or indeed any display problem.

To download an updated Browser go to

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com (and click the 'Scan for updates' link.)

I regret that some of the photos may be a little slow to load (which is why I have made many of them optional viewing via links). I have compressed most of them for quicker loading but unfortunately that necessarily degrades image quality. I have shown many picture sizes in Kb, so you can decide whether to wait for them to download (typically 5Kb/second if you have a 56K V.90 modem but it can be much slower at times of heavy Internet traffic, particularly in the early evening).

Page lay-out has been designed such that no horizontal scrolling should be necessary. However, on very small monitors or ones with an unusually small resolution setting (e.g. 640 x 480), some horizontal scrolling may unfortunately be required, especially if you prefer to work with Favorites switched on. With Internet Explorer, you may be able to avoid this by reducing the viewing size (by clicking the down arrow to the right of the Size icon on the toolbar). If the Size icon is not visible, right click anywhere on the Toolbar, left click Customize and select 'Size' from the Available Toolbar Buttons). I will be interested to hear of any such viewing problems.

Comments on the site and suggestions for improvements are welcome. I am also particularly keen to know if any of the links fail to work - this is potentially a problem with older Browsers (software, not people!) which are apparently not as tolerant of file nomenclature as the latest versions of the main Web browsers.

YOUR OWN SITE ?

NOTE: If you see an empty frame and no animation to the left of the small Web site picture above, it's because your PC does not have the Macromedia Flash Player installed. In order to download the small plug-in which is necessary to get the full benefit of sites using Flash animations and "movies", go to: http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer
The plug-in is a short download and installs itself automatically, immediately after downloading; it is not normally necessary to reboot. Flash movies can then be viewed without any further action being needed.

If you like this site and want me to design and build your own, please with your requirements so that I can consider them and make a proposal. I have the full Macromedia "Web Design Studio" package which gives me the capability to design my own animations and create all sorts of other fancy effects. To get the most out of the software, I took courses in the "Dreamweaver", "Fireworks" and "Flash" programmes which are part of this package. In June 2004 I completed an HNC in Computing and Internet Development which extended this knowledge and also introduced me to more advanced and interactive Web applications, including bespoke programming. Visit my business Web site for more details on what I can offer.

Download a 4-page Word document (45 Kb) or zipped version (13 Kb) describing my commercial Web site design services.

If you want to see the site I built for Aiken's Drum, a West Yorkshire folk music band, please visit www.aikensdrum.com. The band released a CD some years ago and clips from all tracks and 2 full tracks can be downloaded. The CD can be ordered via the site.

The most complex projects I have undertaken are a 6-language Web site for a Dutch manufacturer of rubber and thermoplastic compounds (www.wittenburgbv.nl) and a bespoke Calendars site with an on-line ordering facility (www.jtallet.co.uk/calendars).