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[Image link to SCAdia Home Page]

Technical Web Geek Stuff

Most Recent Updates April XLII (2008)

SCAdia, I suppose, is an example of how to build a simple custom website on the cheap. Every part of SCAdia was created using free tools or free resources on the Web.


[Small stained-glass SCAdia logo]

I will of course be delighted if you wish to add a link to SCAdia to your own site. See the SCAdia FAQ for details.


SCAdia is hand-coded in standards-compliant HTML 4.01 and CSS 2.1. Each page is validated through the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C's) Markup Validation Service and CSS Validation Service. Coding was done using that infinitely-flexible editor, Windows Notepad, because I've been too lazy to install a decent editor. I've been using Notepad++ at work, but so far I've been too lazy to install it at home.

The layout for SCAdia is intended to be simple, easy to read and navigate, and adaptable to a variety of font and screen sizes. The main layout is CSS-based, with tables reserved for actual tabular data and a few situations where Internet Explorer's CSS implementation completely wets the bed.[Null image]


[Image link to HTMLGoodies, Self-portrait of Joe Burns]

Back in 2000 and 2001, I found invaluable advice on web page design at HTMLGoodies, created by Joe Burns, PhD. The site has a new owner now, much of the material is out of date, and the site has been reformatted in an utterly hideous and unreadable style, but HTMLGoodies is still a good resource for beginners in HTML and JavaScript. If you are new to HTML design or JavaScript coding, then check out Joe Burns' primers and tutorials at HTMLGoodies.

For more advanced references on HTML and CSS, visit the websites of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Web Design Group.


[Image link to GoDaddy home page]

Web hosting for SCAdia is provided by GoDaddy.com, which is not terribly expensive as a host for small sites like this and about the cheapest place around to buy a domain name (although they will deluge you with offers for other junk you don't need).

For a few years, free web hosting for SCAdia was provided by Bravenet.com, with 50MB free storage, a 50MB/day bandwidth, FTP access, and some of the most annoying ads I've ever seen. Not only did some of the inline ads talk to you, Bravenet also provided pop-up/pop-under ads as well. I am grateful to Bravenet for finally pushing me to a paid host, eliminating ads from SCAdia altogether.

Web hosting for SCAdia was originally provided by Dreamwater Free Web Space. However, they did too many annoying things in too short a time, including requiring advance payments for free hosting (through a payment service that refused to publish a privacy policy).


The PDF files available on SCAdia were created with OpenOffice.org (OOo), a free and open-source office software suite. OOo uses the ISO standard OpenDocument format and can also read and write Microsoft Office formats. OOo Writer, the word processor, is annoyingly similar to MS Word in its complete unwillingness to let the user see how his document is being processed and in its tendency to generate absolutely hideous HTML code. But OOo's free and it creates PDF files easily.


[Small blue-flame SCAdia logo]

The stained-glass and blue-fire SCAdia logos were created at FlamingText.com, where you can create attractive banner images and marvelous animated GIF files to use on your web page (or anywhere else), all for free. (Unfortunately, FlamingText.com also produces vast numbers of pop-up ads, or at least they used to.)

[An example animated GIF]

Many of the other graphics on this site were created with Paint Shop Pro from JASC, Inc. PSP was a full-featured and flexible graphics program that easily created many graphic formats, including a fairly sophisticated tool for animated GIFs. Unfortunately, JASC seems to have been engulfed by Corel, and PSP is now being marketed as photo-editing software. Bummer.


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SCAdia: Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, Seamas Mac Daibhid. All rights reserved. Except where otherwise specified, reproduction or redistribution of this material in any form is prohibited. SCAdia is written and edited by Seamas Mac Daibhid. Some material is used by permission of other authors; copyright resides with them and will be noted where appropriate.

SCAdia is not an official web site of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.. and does not delineate official Society policy. While much of the material on SCAdia is instructional or educational, much of it is provided entirely for entertainment. SCAdia makes no claim to support the Society's substantially educational purpose, and should not be considered to reflect upon the Society directly. SCAdia is also not an official web site of the Shire of Smythkepe or the Kingdom of Gleann Abhann.

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