7:30 p.m. - 2003-01-07
Epiphanies
I had several epiphanies of sorts last night, while playing around in my diary. Over time, I've included several web addresses in my text, partly because I wanted to be certain that information was saved in more than one place and partly because, if someone else does read what I write, it gives them the option of checking out the source of my information rather than relying on my perception or interpretation of same. I had wanted the links included in such a way, that they could just be clicked and the access then would be immediate, just as in many of the websites I visit. Problem was I have no background in html, so the coding was a challenge.
As early as the beginning of December, I noticed that one of my web pen pals was including the html coding for weblinks at the bottom of each of his messages. ( Thanks Bubba, www.astrofish.net) I realized that, but couldn't figure out how to transfer it into the text of my diary. Firstly, I wasn't sure if that coding would work in this diary's software.
One of my contract jobs included the development of a database that was part inventory - library listing - and part research tool. I worked closely with the programmer to set up the parameters and to fix the wobbles that are inevitable when that much data is encoded and linked in a variety of different fields to be accessed by multi-users of varying skill levels on a LAN setup, in addition to having new data encoded and linked daily. That meant he would often send patches to me by e-mail, that I would then install in the appropriate table(s), or he would call and talk me through as I went into his coding and made whatever changes were required. He was always telling me how good I was at the recoding, but I think that is what is called good marketing. Truth was, I just shut down all my critical thinking faculties and did exactly what I was told - something very rare for me. That coding was, of course, very different than html and it only worked for that software.
Because I was working on Election stuff at the beginning of December I decided to wait until the New Year to try any html coding - didn't want my attention split by two very different systems of detail. First Epiphany - I was making things a lot harder than they had to be. After New Years, I checked the help information on the Diaryland site, but couldn't find the specific instructions I wanted, although I did learn some other interesting stuff. I finally figured out, as I was using the help section that the diary was based on html, so therefore, my first concern wasn't an issue.
Secondly, I couldn't figure out how much of the text my pen pal supplied should be cut and pasted in order to work. When I decided to try the cut and paste route, I was trying to figure out what was making the coding visible in my pen pal's messages. I thought perhaps the characters on the two ends of the text might be the place holders, so I left them out. That didn't work, so I tried cutting and pasting every other imaginable combination but never the entire string. Duh! Epiphany two - trust your first instinct. I finally sat down with my youngest son last night and he told me to go to the webmaker websites www.webmonkey.com and, www.funky-chickens.com to solve my dilemma. The instructions at the webmonkey site didn't work the way I wanted them to, but I did find the colour codes I wanted to customize the appearance of my diary page. When I went to the funky chickens site (don't forget the "s" on chickens unless your technical German is sehr güt) I finally clued in to the fact the answer was indeed in my pen pal's e-mail. My son's reaction? Rapped me on the noggin "Hello, McFly!" - he wasn't even born when that movie came out.
Third, the techno-peasants' most common fear - "what if I really mess things up somehow?" - will I be consigned to diaryless purgatory?. Well, after I realized I had the coding the next question was, "Well where do I put it?". All that searching had made me look at the structure that holds together html. Third epiphany - it's just like any other discrete language. Once one can recognize the framework then one can play with the "decorations". It's no different than understanding the string of formulae that underpin quantum mechanics or the tonal qualities that make up Cantonese. Do I understand those? Nope, but it doesn't alter the premise. Once you can see the matrix or hear discrete sounds, the rest isn't any harder than reading or writng in English - practice makes perfect.
Final epiphany? You don't learn if you don't risk failing. Well ok, I already knew that one, but I was trying to teach my son that lesson by example - really!
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