:: Halflives Journal ::

:: Thursday, February 14, 2002 ::

Didn't get around to Dublin core. Got distracted by making the Previous Screen part of the SSI script work - which it now does. The only problem is that it doesn't work if the user has accessed a screen from the navigation bar. I could remove the Previous screen tag from those screens that have a direct link from the Nav bar - this might work.

Also got rid of the clumsy exegesis on the opening screen. I have to hold the line between wanting to tell the user everything about the site and letting them find out for themselves.

Got distracted also by Greil Marcus' Lipstick Traces via Gilbert Rodman's excellent article "Making a better mystery out of history" in Meanjin, vol 2 1993.

Some quotable quotes

"The question of ancestry in history is spurious. Every new manifestation in culture rewrites the past, changes old maudits into new heroes, old heroes into those who should never have been born. New actors scavenge the past for ancestors, because ancestrry is legitimacy and novelty is doubt - but in all times forgotten actors emerge from the past not as ancestors but as familiars." p.21 Lipstick Traces

"If one can stop looking at the past and start listening to it, one might hear echoes of a new conversation; then the task of the critic would be to lead speakers and listeners unaware of each other's existence to talk to one another. The job of the critic would be to maintain the ability to be surprised at how the conversation goes, and to communicate that sense of surprise to other people, because a life infused with surprise is better than a life that is not." p.23 Lipstick Traces

"The moment of true poetry brings all the unsettled debts of history back into play" unattributed quote in Marcus p.24 taken from the Situationists (possibly All the King's Men, 1963

"Enter the ghost, exit the ghost, re-enter the ghost." Hamlet
:: Lisa Gye 1:50 PM [+] ::
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Changed all tables and backgrounds.
Tomorrow I have to update everything to Dublin core metadata standards
:: Lisa Gye 3:34 PM [+] ::
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Have updated the times on the settings for the blog - wonder if it works.

The time is out of joint - Hamlet
:: Lisa Gye 2:31 PM [+] ::
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The SSI script is now working partly - the previous screen part is not. This is probably (from a user's point of view) the most useful command so will need to be fixed.
Have redone a number of screens to make the site more consistent. The family tree screen has been changed.
Redid all of the jpegs to ensure that they load progressively.
Modified the CSS - added Vlink info to all link classes and created a p.footer class.

Not a bad idea to make sure the changes are right before you start to ftp 120 files to the server over a modem. Sigh.
:: Lisa Gye 2:19 PM [+] ::
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Jpeged all images and added 5px width white border
Redid all image screens
Updated all screens to accomodate SSI script (which isn't working!) Have to fix tomorrow
Changed all file extensions in site from .htm to .html
Revamped all indexes
Sent some changes to the server
:: Lisa Gye 4:09 PM [+] ::
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