Built with SimpleText
Yes, I am doing things the hard way. (For you non-Mac folks, "Built with SimpleText" means I'm using the equivalent of WinWrite to build my web pages.)
Recently, I just added a database containing information about my med school classmates. Unfortunately, SimpleText wasn't up to the task of handling the massive database. So, I had to resort to using ClarisWorks and WordPerfect to automate a lot of the HTML coding. It was tough because each program could only do a portion of everything that I wanted to do. However, I still use SimpleText for most of my pages because it runs so damned fast !
There is a saying in Web Publishing: "Content is King." That is one big reason for not using page layout programs yet. Fancy bells and whistles are meaningless until I put some substance into these pages. That begins with recognizing who my target audience is.
I've tried very hard to make the HTML coding of these pages compatible with all browsers. I found a wonderful tool called Weblint which verifies HTML coding. If anything on these pages still causes problems with your web browser, please send me a message so I can fix it.
Graphics
Here is where I get to show off my creativity. All of the neat graphics on my web pages (except the SimpleText icon and Kevin's painting) were originally drawn on my U.S. Robotics Pilot.
I'm usually not a very artistic person, but a little freeware program called QPaint unleashed my talents. The Pilot's portability was key to getting the unique look that I wanted. I drafted black & white pictures using QPaint whenever an idea came to me. Throughout the day, I revised the drawings during my free time.
Besides portability, the other great strength of the Pilot is the intuitive user interface. Drawing with a stylus on the Pilot's screen is almost as easy as using pencil and paper. It's much easier than using a mouse to draw something on a desktop computer.
The limited resolution of the Pilot's screen actually became an advantage for me. It helped me overcome my obssession about making projects too neat. Instead, I deliberately used a "rough hewn" style for the graphics. This style matches the content of my web pages better than immaculate computer generated graphics.
Techniques
At the end of each day, I uploaded the QPaint files to my Mac and extracted the draft sketches in PICT format with QPaintReader. I used ClarisWorks to add color and do some touch-up. I limited my color palette to 256 colors to save space. But I also made sure to use eye-catching colors liberally. The finished painting was exported in PICT format and converted to GIF format using Clip2GIF. I chose to use GIF instead of JPEG format because my computer is slow at decoding JPEGs.
Kudos
Qpaint and Clip2GIF are fantastic freeware programs. They have no peers in the Windoze/Intel World, even among commercial software. These great tools give me a better chance to do a good job.
The whole process is time-consuming, but it's very rewarding to develop my personal graphics for this web site.
