Why is your HTML so lame?

Mostly because Navigator and Explorer are so different and because Macs and Windoze machines are so different.

When I first started the site, I stuck to very basic HTML. My default target screen was a 640x480 screen on a Mac running Navigator 3.0. I chose not to stack my HTML with "Font Face" tags to try and control all the browsers in use on the Net. This basic philosophy has stayed with me and my site; thus, if you have Navigator running on a Mac with Times 12 as the default variable width font, you'll see my site exactly as I have meant for it to be seen (probably.)

Typically, Explorer users have the default font size set to 14 or 18 (particularly on a PC), thus they see text at my site bigger than I would like them to see it. This is largely offset by my attempt to cater to the 640x480 crowd (though I admit I rarely check my site at anything other than 800x600 these days.)

Navigator 5.0 was released for the Mac in 11/00, and it is my understanding that the default font size for this version of Navigator is supposed to be 18 point (in an attempt to be more compatible with Explorer...BAH!) I haven't verified this, but if so, then my site will be catering to the lowest common denominator of small default-size font users...hmmm.

Also of note is the difference between Individuals' profiles and Company profiles. This results in Explorer users and Navigator users getting different results. You can read more about this in my Notes from 10/21/99.

What else affects the appearance of your site?

Mac users see my background as a beautiful bright pink; my PC brethren using (uggghhhh) Windoze boxes generally will see a weird purple/pink combo. This is because the default white point on a Mac is 9300 degrees Kelvin (cool white) while the default white point for Windows is 6500 degrees Kelvin (daylight.) Of course, monitor quality varies, but this white point difference is huge in that PC users see my site darker than Mac users! (If you have Photoshop, you can set up two windows side by side and compare/contrast the difference.)

I've decided that almost anything I do is a losing battle, and thus I will continue with my lame HTML for the time being.

Why don't you use a Back button?

Mostly because I didn't have one when I started the site, and I am loathe to change my site (and...I don't think it would really help much anyway, due to my frame setup.) Actually, I do use a Back link on the stalled TS Directory pages. If you'd like to go back, and you are Javascript-enabled, you can click here now.

How often do you update?

I dunno. Mostly every day? Hmmm...yeh, we'll go with the every day answer.

I've been updating basically every day for most of the lifetime of my site, but I'm not required to do so. For more details, see my Notes from 6/10/00.

Why don't you change your banner more often?

I first put my page online on 7/16/97. I stuck with a very simple design (which my site still is, I think) and tried to stay away from graphics as much as possible. Of course, everybody has to have a banner of some sort, so that was a slight consideration of mine.

Problem: designing banners is not one of my strengths! I kept thinking to myself that it was about high time I did something about a banner, but I never actually got around to doing anything about it (just like that cabinet of mine in the kitchen that I need to get on a chair to reach...one day I need to find out what I've hidden back there!)

One day Lisa and Jay (Lisa has since left the Net) made several banners for me, and I used two of them (each one stayed up for many months.) So...I had a banner!

Then on 2/2/00, Pantyhose Playgirl (now offline) sent me another banner that I really liked, and it blended in perfectly with my site. However, time went by, and...

On 7/4/01, along came another banner into my mailbox. This one came from the webmaster at Bodysheen's. I immediately decided that I would use it, as there are several things about it that I really like.

Sometime soon, I will put all the aforementioned banners online and link to them, but I'm too busy at this moment.

Can I do a banner for you?

You can, but the problem is that I don't know if I'll like it enough to use it (sorry...) My basic rules are: less than 10K in size, must be 400 pixels wide, no nudity allowed, and my URL must show. If you send me a banner...thanks! If I don't use it, that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the effort!

Why are there logos at the bottom of your Welcome Page?

I am tremendously conscious of bandwidth issues, from both the server and client end. For this reason, I abhor extraneous logos, particularly spinning e's (for Explorer) and other such gratuitous nonsense.

The logos you see at the bottom of my Welcome Page are for programs I started using long before I first created this site in 1997 (I know...Daily Updates only go back to 2/98.) They are tremendous programs that make this site possible. Note that they are not paid ads! I've also got an Apple logo (I feel bad for poor Windoze users), and my web host as of 2/01 has been tremendously helpful to me for about the last year.

What if email to you bounces?

When I first put my site at Geocities in 1997, I used a Geocities email address as my primary email address. Yahoo (which bought Geocities) eventually turned that email service to crap, thus I now receive mail at winnie-cooper.com. Should you encounter difficulty, an alternate address you can use is winnie (my name) at tworoosters. Add the part about ".com" after tworoosters.

How do you label Discontinued Sites?

On 10/8/99, I invoked a system whereby clicking a link to a Discontinued Site would bring up a generic page explaining that the site was no longer online, and the profile could be reached via a list of Discontinued Sites. For reasons that defy explanation, the page is still online, and you can look at it here.

On 7/8/01, I switched to a different system. The driving force behind the change was that the Discontinued Sites list had grown to 49K; thus, I broke the list into smaller lists, and, rather than pointing to a generic "Out of Date" page, I'm indicating a Discontinued Site by enclosing the link in parentheses. Thus, (Don't Bother Clicking Here) would indicate that the site entitled Don't Bother Clicking Here is no longer online, even though the profile is still at my site.

The initial upload on 7/8/01 fixed approximately 90% of the links to the Discontinued Sites (links at my site had to be redirected.) The intent was to get 90% of the re-linking done on upload day, 5% the next day, and (because of the weird logistics and lack of time), the other 5% would get done...sometime. Also, minor HTML changes would be done in the first week following the initial upload.