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Fortunately or
unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, this is a Microsoft
world. This elite sect of geniuses, with others, has advanced the
technology far in advance of what anybody could have expected. Those
that have worked with them, such as Intel, Symantec and Adobe, have
benefited themselves and us
enormously. Those that have worked against them, such as AOL, Sun and
Netscape(now
owned by AOL), have
cost
themselves with loss of business, quality and respect - and done so at
our expense. Microsoft is dominant in
the market because they generally make a better product (with
the exception of Windows ME). Where some
individuals may be arrogant and annoying, the company and its
products tend to be accommodating and helpful. Contrast that with AOL
who dominates their market through intrusive, devious and controlling
techniques; the AOL program is by definition a virus. Netscape(NS) was
once the leader of its domain but its managemant team dropped the ball
through its own bungling and then tried to blame Microsoft. However, there
are still a few out there who are using Netscape. For them I have
redesigned
my pages. It is not easy; NS version 4.0 is temperamental, buggy and
inconsistent. That is why many developers don’t even bother
– it is way too frustrating. Microsoft allows some of
its better
enhancements to be turned off, for this reason. Netscape does not return
the
favor. I have
discovered various tricks that allow me to retain the integrity of my
creations and that also work in NS4 – but just barely. Some
things that work great in the Internet Explorer (IE6) do not even
appear
in NS4, no matter what I do. Keep in mind that NS is largely
incompatible by design. You would find your internet travels much more
pleasant if you switched to IE (I hear Opera is pretty good too), but
until you do so, I’ll keep working on it.
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· Lest there be any real photographers out there taking a look at my work, let me make it very clear that in no way do I consider myself a professional photographer. Also, my digital camera does not compare to a 35mm. Also, I may rattle a bit when I press that button. (I have a tripod and have recently begun lugging it around but that’s too late for many of these shots. ) |
· Though all of my photos are copyrighted and for sale, I make no claims as to their quality. Some are good, or even almost very good; some have been enhanced to the degree that they can be called “art”; but most are presented for their content, to tell a story, and that is their purpose. |
·
Most of my pages
display a collection of small images, each about one or two inches wide
- sometimes even three or four. Usually it includes a label above or
below the image. These small images are generally referred to as
"thumbnails". The thumbnail and the label are
called "links" because when you click on one of
them,
a much larger image will open to fill the screen. Links are also called
"hyperlinks" - same thing.
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· Some of my earlier thumbnails were also labeled with the byte size of the full image. This was to give you an idea of how long it might take for the full image to open if you were using a dial-up modem. An image that is less then 50K should open fairly quick; greater then 150K may take awhile. Those less then 150K were intentionally set to a low resolution, meaning a slight loss in quality. |
· On the other hand, since mid 2004, I have been less concerned about file size & time because so many of you have gone with a faster internet connection, meaning that images load faster. Hence, I can allow a higher quality resolution even though the file size will also be larger. I need to do this. Low res images bother me because they don't show the subtleties that I need for you to say, "Oh! Wow!". |
·
You
may find it
easier to open the full image in a separate browser window. If you are using
IE,
hold a Shift key down as you click on the link. In
either IE or NS, you can also right-click the link and left-click
“Open in new window”. Then you can go
about
your business in
the original while
waiting for
the image to open
in the new and
you
don’t loose your place in the original. The byte size of the
image is one factor but the main thing is the amount of memory (RAM)
your computer has. 256 Megabytes is minimally good these days but 1024M
would certainly be better. Adding RAM is easy. Do it. |
· If you absolutely postively must confine everything to one window and you are connecting through dial-up, then get a cup of coffee or tea while you wait. When you are done viewing the full image, use the back-arrow in your toolbar to return to where you were on the previous page. |
· While an image is loading, if you loose your connection to the internet and reinstate it, and the image does not reload itself, then click “View” in your toolbar and “Refresh” (IE) or “Reload” (NS). (Right-click/Refresh also works.) |
· If you cannot see the full image, or the colors don’t seem right, or an image just will not open, read this document. |
· Be sure you have Java enabled (IE6: Tools / Internet Options / Advanced – scroll down to the Java section; check the box if it is blank; Restart your system).
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· After an image opens, if you are using IE, press the F11 key to get a full screen. Press it again to return to the normal window. (Try it now.) |
When
you are done reading this page, you can use an icon on the left to
return to the top of where you came from, or you can use the back-arrow
in your toolbar (works better). |