There was no dance report for August 26, 2006, once again.
Yours truly is preparing for the next College semester, Joe wasn't there (or his laptop - back to cassette tapes)
Cris is occupied with being a new father, Larissa moved away last year and that leaves only two other people that
have ever provided a report and that would be Don or Russ - Hint Hint
This might be the last entry until I can upload this web site, www.montanafolkdance.org/ to Chris's web
site. Here is the email he sent to me and then my reply to him noted with ** (by the way, Cris builds Web sites for
a living.)
Hi Roger,
Short summary: simplicity is a virtue, and you've created a very straightforward, easy-to-use site that's also easy
on the eyes. Most importantly, it's very rich in content, and on the web, "content is king." So, nice work.
**Thank you for taking the time to REALLY have a look at the web site!! I appreciate all of your observations,
**suggestions and critiques. I have made some comments under your input a few times and my response to your "what
**do you think" at the end.
Markup (HTML)
I'm glad to see a valid Doctype (you'd be surprised how frequently that's overlooked), though you might want to
note that there's a typo in the doctype url (it says " loo0se.dtd" -- an unwanted zero snuck in there before
the s). Fortunately, even with the typo the declaration is well-formed so it doesn't send the browser into
Quirks mode.
**I have removed the offending, yet innocuous, errent zero.
You have some really welcome examples of appropriate semantic html. For instance, you use <th> for table
headers -- it's amazing how many people don't do that! You use <p> for paragraphs, and even close the
tag ( </p>), which is often neglected. I also like seeing an unordered list for navigation menus, especially
when there's a nested submenu (such as the Archives). And you have some heading tags (e.g. <h4 >) which are
very good for document structure.
**OK :-)
I'm a strong opponent of the <font> tag. It's deprecated in 4.01, it adds clutter, and its functionality is
completely superceded by CSS. Since you're using a stylesheet anyway, I suggest moving any display information
currently being used by <font>tags into the CSS.
**Yes, good point. I don't recall now why I did it that way, but I believe I was in a panic to finish the project
**before the due date. I was having a bit of trouble getting a page that did what I wanted it to. I might have
**shamlessly borrowed the font tag combiation from some web site somwhere becasue it produced the desired effect.
I like seeing real heading tags used - (such as the <h4>) Might as well continue that: the main page headings
("History," "Rules" etc) should be <h1 > or <h2>, and again, you can make them look the way you want with your
css specifications. (On a related note, there's no need for <br> breaks inside the <h4>. Just specify margin
or padding attributes for that element.)
**I was amazed (still am) at how much time I spent developing the final project. I used CSE HTML Validator
**lite (It's a free download) exclusivly to build the web pages. I know I barely scratched the surface of the
**program as well as understanding HTML and web design, I have a lot to learn.
I generally discourage the use of tables where they aren't needed. In this case, the bear logo at the top of the
inner pages doesn't really need to be in a table. All it's doing for you there is centering the content, and you
have better ways to do that. (On the archive pages, it's a different matter, but you could still achieve your
desired effect pretty easily without using the table.) Lest anyone think I'm too much of a dogmatist, though, I
have no problem with your use of tables to create the columns on the index page.
**I hated using tables, but Dawn made us!! Ha, I lived to tell the tale.
**I'll check the following typos you caught and fix them:
Stylesheet (CSS)
Couple of typos:
".h1" where you probably meant "h1" . I don't think you're using <h1>, though, so it doesn't hurt anything.
"font-wight" several times - whoops!
"font face" where you mean "font-face" (in .logohome)
"bgcolor" should be "background-color" (in p.inset)
Good overall, though. As I mentioned above, there are several things that could be moved out of the markup and into
the stylesheet. One I didn't mention yet is the "goldbar" gif: since that image is, semantically, a visual section
break, you could replace it with a simple <hr> and then have a style declaration for hr that essentially replaces
the default horizontal rule with your image.
Site Structure and Usability
Your organization is very sensible. I'm personally a fan of a global navigation element (so I don't have to
go "Back to Home" to jump from one inner page to another) but that's really a matter of taste.
Some of the longer pages (namely History) could be broken into multiple shorter pages, but for the time being
they're of manageable length.
**Yes, again it was just getting it done in the time I had.
I wasn't expecting .txt files to open in a new window, but I think it's a pretty good decision.
**I didn't have time to make a separate page for each dance report going back to 1998. Isn't there a way to
**present a text file within a formated page with some kind of script? I would have done that if I new how.
***************************************
Now, on to The Future of this Site!
First, if you are interested, I think you should copy your site over to http://www.montanafolkdance.org/flathead/ .
My plan all along has been for the sub-sections (the "region" directories) of the site to be maintainable separately.
I'll set you up with an FTP account to upload to that directory. Unfortunately, FTP isn't working correctly right now,
so I have to talk to the guy who runs my hosting. I'll let you know. (If he gets it all working like it's supposed
to, it will also be accessible via the url flathead.montanafolkdance.org . It isn't at the moment.)
I've been wanting, for quite some time, to make montanafolkdance.org much more content-rich than it is. (Ever
since Rebecca started her thesis back in Fall of '04, I haven't been able to commit anywhere near the time I
want to the site.) I know from viewing the server logs that the main way people find our site is by searching for
dance names. Without intending to duplicate the great efforts of Bob Shapiro, Dick Oakes, and many others, I think
we could provide a valuable dance resource.
In particular, I want to have a database of dances -- dance names, song names, dance instructions, albums,
artists -- that would be searchable, allow registered members to add their own notes, and allow guests to add
comments. Dances could be categorized on the fly by country, by formation, etc. If done correctly, the
database elements could also be linked from the dance report lists you post, or used to construct a "repertoire"
for any given group ("dances done by Bozeman") -- or even (ambitiously) the dance report could be constructed
using the db.
I want to make sure the db design is solid, so it's still a ways off, but if I can get this together, I would
benefit greatly from your input and (if you're up for it) your data-entry devotion. I know we have bundles of
printed information on many dances that just aren't out there on the web right now.
What do you think of the idea?
Talk to you soon. Rebecca, Dyson and I will be back at the dances again one of these days.
Cris
**************************************************
My reply to the last part:
FVCC has installed a new computer system over the summer. They were using Cisco equipment and running UNIX.
Now they are running Dell equipment and Windows server 2003. The old system, where the Kalispell Folk Dance web site
resides, will be done away with and everyone will begin using the new system. I haven't been able to make the web site
accessible from the web from the new Windows 2003 system.
So the web site will disappear in September. Your offer to integrate it within your web page is welcome and timely news!
I am well aware of the amateurishness of my web site and I welcome your assistance to make it more professional looking.
Your idea for a database oriented page is a fantastic idea. We can fill in the gaps left by the others. Sally has
an incredibly HUGE data base, maybe she would be interested to join in once we have a plan. We must address copyright
issues if you want to make PDFs or have access somehow of the syllabi we have. If that was what you had in mind? So
anyway, part of the database would be partial or complete video of a dance. Combining video, syllabus and music into
a computer program that will present them at a few clicks of a mouse.
In less than two weeks I will be back in college.
So I will be learning all about Database management and Microsoft Access. I know our web sites can only improve.
I have dropped out of folk dancing for the time being. I have been reviewing my subjects from the last two semesters
that are applicable to the next semester (everything!). Until I have a handle on the current semester I will only focus
on school.
I look forward to working with you to produce an excellent folk dance web site.
My best to Rebecca and Dyson
Roger