Details About LaFarr's web site

Details About LaFarr's web site.
Last Up date on: 2003 November 14
Recent changes: New Web Hosting company

Until about 2003 April 6th I got my web space from G2Web Hosting. I paid them for another year in March 2003, but now I can't get any response from them. They did put up a web pate at the link above, but they have never corrected the spelling of "their" in it.

I am in the process of getting everything to work using the following companies:

PC Magic Network Inc. They are my Internet Service Provider.
- 56K V90 connection with local phone number.
- 20 Meg Bytes of web space
- Up to three POP3 email accounts
I have used them for a couple years and have no complaints. In fact I would recommend them to anyone where they have a local phone number.
Simple URL. I get the domain registration for "lafarr.com" from them. They are great. I have used their service since 2001 Jan 6, and not only are they the best to deal with they also have the best prices I have found. If you are even thinking about having your own domain name, try them first.
I just got 300 MBytes of web space from Has Web. The price is very good, but I had a bumpy start getting it set up. That was over a week of frustration. It seems to be going fine at the moment, and they claim "a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee". I hope I don't have to see if that really works.

I develope everything using Q-edit under DOS 6.2 or at the DOS prompt under Windows. My favorite text editor, now called TSE-JR, is available from SemWare Products I do all the editing for my web page using their Junior text editor, which was originally called Q-edit. It allows a lot of customizing; I like it!

The files are uploaded to the web site using the FTP program which comes with Windows 98 and ME. As far as I know it is not possible access the Internet using DOS 6.2. (In the future I may be able to use Linux and completely avoid Windows.)

Details about My own "Short Cuts"

I have been writing programs most of my life, and I have found that many things are the same in most programs. In Assembly, for example:

There are always header lines, and ending lines.
Most programs get parameters from the command lines.
Some have to convert numbers from Decimal to Binary.
Many have to convert numbers to Decimal for output.
Almost all have to have facility to output various error messages.
Almost all read an input file, and/or from the keyboard.
All have to write to a file or StdOut.
I put code in to sum check the entire program.
I put code in to allow the user to TYPE the .COM of the program.

and the list goes on. The important thing is that I have a library of tested code that is simply copied into any new program.

Years ago I wrote a program, which I call String Replace (The Actual name is SR.COM) which searches a file for a ‘ followed by a name and puts the replacement string in its place. I have simple programs that allow me to define and edit the replacement strings and their names. Incidentally, one of the replacement strings that SR is "born with" is ‘/ which puts in the current date.

Just like Assembly programs, HTML files for web pages have a lot of things in common:

All have headers and a title
Some have "Meta" phrases
All have a Heading line
All set the background color and any borders
Mine all have an "Updated line" with the date of the last update
They all have "Body" text and a standard ending
Some have tables that I like to have the same appearance on every page.

I do all this with the old SR.COM just giving it an different string replacement file.

All the calling of the Q-edit and the use of SR.COM is done in a DOS .BAT file MH.BAT which is short for Make Html. So, if for example I want to update my details.htm all I enter at the DOS prompt is:

mh details

I don't have to use the extension. MH calls Q-edit to edit the file: details.h when I exit the editor SR.com is called with the parameter file h.grp and the output is sent to the subdirectory that I use when I run FTP and it has the extension .htm and MH informs me there is a new version of details.htm I can then press Alt-Tab to get back to the browser, and press F5 to refresh and I can see the result of my edit. If I don't like it another Alt-Tab takes me back to DOS, and a up-arrow takes me to the previous command and Enter executes it; so I don't even have to type the ten characters above.

I can't resist pointing out that this is all done automatically, without my having to open several windows, drag or click a mouse even once! A mouse is great for entertainment, but it is a pain in the ass for running programs and doing production work. A few years ago there was an article in Scientific American studying why: As computers have gotten faster people are accomplishing less in the same time. The conclusion: They are frittering away time with a mouse instead of entering data.

If you are interested in seeing what I actually write for a web page look at: Some older me.h source for my Contacting Me page.

If you are interested in learning HTML to create a Home Page; that resides only on your own computer, or to put on a web page check out Dave's Site. This kid had a very good on-line HTML tutorial. I understand that he is trying to make a living from this, so he has advertising. But, there are pop-up Windows. And for me this is pushing advertising beyond the acceptable. Shortly I will check out, and find, better on-line tutorials. If you want help email me.

You will need a good HTML reference. Several are available on the internet, but I prefer a real book. I use the O'REILLY book: "Dynamic HTML, The Definitive Reference"

If you have suggestions, comments or ideas e-mail me. I would like to hear from you.

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