A "TImeline and Why" History of a WebNet HomePage

History of an InterNet WebSite
Why?
(build a webpage in the first place?)
Not Quite the Beginning
I had been visiting the Internet since 1995. A friend encouraged me to sign up for one of the many Free e-mail services available on the Internet. About a year before College Club had begun leaving flyers in the TCJC's NWC computer lab promoting their Free e-mail and homepage services.

He also encouraged me to sign up for a free web page, but that comes later. At the time I could not think of a good reason to do so. However, by the end of 1999 I found that the college's Comp Labs did deleted all Favorite BookMarks from one semester to the next. So I figured the best way to keep up with my favorite web sites was to link to them from my own WebPage. Little did I realize then what a monumental task it would be to create and maintain links to ALL my favorite sites or pages...not to mention creating and maintaining my own pages.

But what did I have to offer in return for the privelege of being "provided" a Free Website. That's when I decided to convert some of my PageMaker, MS-Word, and MS-Excel Charts and Documents into the HTML format. Accordingly, I have marked the links to my own "Homemade From Scratch"(well, almost...^@) HTML's with double (**) asterisks. The links to pages I created using the templates provided by my Web Hosts are marked with a single (*) asterisk.

"But Why (you may or may not ask) go to the trouble of designing and maintaining your own web pages instead of using someone else's template?" I started designing my own web pages so that I could consolidate my "GuestBooks" under just 3-5 pages instead of each of the individual (20, now 40+) pages. Also, it is easier to organize my links Alphabetically in Notepad^© or Wordpad^© than in TalkCity's webpage editor. However, now I have to figure out how to obtain 2-7 FREE "GuestBook" and "Counter" services. Until then, any comments will just have to be sent to my e-mail address.

TimeLine:

May 1998 – Signed up with Collegeclub.com's FREE e-mail service. Later tried to create webpage there but finally gave up when I found out that my homepage built with their webnet homepage builder, HomeStead, was incompatible when viewed with the browser, Netscape Communicator 4.7.

Since then Collegeclub.com has changed hands several times. In College Club's latest incarnation(May or June? 2003) they have dropped all of their members homepages and have just recently become a "Spam Pit." Unfortunately, each SPAM message has to be opened before it can be "Blocked..." a waist of time and energy.

"I still maintain contact with CollegeClub's OnLine Photography club but with the intrusion of all this new SPAM very few people use it anymore. I will eventually leave CollegeClub all-together after I find the time to save and clean out all of my unsaved correspondence...and after I open a new E-mail account with either Lycos or Tripod.com

June 1999 – Signed up with MSN's Free email service at Hotmail.com

December 1999 – Signed up with MSN's HomePage Building service, TalkCity.com and began building my first pages using TalkCity's templates

Mid-Winter's Eve(February 3^rd) 2000 – Launched my first website at http://msnhomepages.com/PrintersAlley/yllibnrubyar/index.html

June 2000 – Began designing my first "from scratch" Webnet HomePage with the book Create Your First Web Page in a Weekend, took me three weeks to get the fundamental page that was to later become my Site_Map.html

January 2001 – By then I had 4 pages: a site map, Life Sciences Division, Physical Sciences Division, and Miscellaneous Links Division

May 2001 – Talk City and MSN parted ways.

June 2001 – I decided to stay with Talk City because I liked their WebPage template designs better than MSN's new webpage designs. This was when I also decided to create an associated Science Website at http://www.talkcity.com/Earthteam2000/DatqamVolk/index.html.

The main thing I did not like about Talk City's webpage File Manager was that it would not save the Special Character codes correctly. Also, I have found it easier to organize my links alphabetically using HTML's Source Code in Notepad(or Wordpad if the file was larger than 48Kb).

June 2002 – By the time I was ready to launch my new DatqamVolk Science website Talk City's Webhost did a physical, real world move.

July 2002 – Unfortunately, by August 2002 Talk City had totally disappeared along with some 20 or so of my pages.

Aug. 2002 – Fortunately, when they started having problems I managed to save 15 of them plus my two WebNet Index pages. I will have to reconstruct some of these 15 pages into a format I can deal with since their Source Code was such a mess. Something to which to look forward. The rest of the links from these old pages will simply be assimmilated by one of my Science Division link pages.

Sep27-Oct.1st. 2002 – It took me 2-3 months to "settle for" Angelfire.com and Tripod.com; who, as it happens, were now owned by the former Search Engine, Lycos.com

March 2003 – Talk City came back under new ownership/management sans our webpages. All they offered was Chatroom access. I do not care for chatrooms because of the adolescent language and attitude of most of the "chatters" one finds in most of them.

Now 2003 – It has taken me 10 months to get back to where I am now ... Lauchdate Mid-Summer's Eve(remember "A Mid-Summer's Night Dream?) and 35+ pages(not including the rescued 15). Hopefully this won't become a

Mid-Summer's Nightmare.

Mid-Summer's Eve(August 6^th) 2003 – Latest Proposed Launchdate

COLOR LEGEND:
DarkCyan:
DarkCyan: Proposed item
Teal:
DarkMagenta: A removed link which I can no longer recommend
DarkGray: Non-Extant Historical Link — A link that has been lost, moved or removed at the source:
Red and Magenta represent variations on fresh blood.⁺

In the Science Duty Station Report Logs only:
Gold: represents Updates from the Future,

Notes:
^@ I have given up trying to learn JAVA and other such computer laguages because it would be even more time-consuming than HTML Source Code is already.

⁺ Brings to mind the Klingon phrase "nagH ghItlhtaH 'Iw ghItlhtaHbe'"; which roughly translates as "Stone Writing is not Blood Writing;" one permanent, the other not.

Hopefully, in English, this translates as That which is written in Blood is not written in Stone. The meaning depends entirely upon which -- Blood or Stone -- the Klingon speaker considers to be more lasting.

Dedicated to Tom(you know who you are). Thanks for the encouragement.

** Social Sciences Division

You are visitor number

Place Counter Here

E-mail :YllibYar@hotmail.com

© 1999
Fort Worth, Texas
Page last revised July 2003

Why? (build a webpage in the first place?)

Why?
(build a webpage in the first place?)