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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer Website

Fellow Chicago Astronomers...

In a months time, it will be one year since I started this Forum for Astronomers eager to chat and share all things astronomical. It really is quite a blessing that it has grown so much almost right away, and considering it was just intended for a very small handful of local Chicagoans, I am indeed pleased and surprised to have memberships and visitations throughout the world. I am even starting to get unsolicited nibbles on sponsorships.

Too Cool... ;D

This leads me to my next endeavor. I am in the works right now in creating a permanent website of the Chicago Astronomer. No, the Forum won't go away, I like it too much, but the new site will have permanent content and info for us to enjoy. I am in the preliminary stages right now, but I ask the membership for input.

What would you like to see on the new site? What categories, data and what would be of assistance in your astronomical pursuits? Any flash or java apps? What can I provide that will make you come back for reference and entertainment? It could be serious or for fun or anything inbetween.

I hope to have it up and running by our anniversary on the 18th of May, but we shall see. It's got to be done right, look cool and run smoothly. Thankfully I have some skills on webdesign and construction under various programs, but I would appreciate any advice and instruction tossed my way. Also, I may ask some of you to be a beta tester for the site in the beginning.

Hail the Chicago Astronomers.

Onward and upward...Excelsior!

[Maddad]

Chicago said:

What would you like to see on the new site? Any flash or java apps?

If you're going to provide a source of information, then stay away from glitz unless it contributes to the content. The one for instance I can think of off the top of my head is an annimation I saw of two galaxies colliding. You actually got to see the spray of stars as material tore loose from both. Regardless of how you talk about the effect, seeing it gives you something more.

As for the design, there is a conflict in the theory of HTML. The purists, like me, see it as a presentation of objects that the browser arranges. If you leave the browser alone to do its job, it will do a passable job of it. It won't be fancy, but it will be usable.

The other clashing theory of HTML is that it is a means of attractively laying out a page. The Font attribute, the first divergence from the purist theory, allowed you to change the color of text related items. Then background colors and images enhanced it. Supposedly. While it is certainly possible to get a bettter looking page than what the browser's choices would give you , you are also capable of degrading the readability of the page with poor contrast and color choices and busy background images that should be more in the background than many people leave them.

Different browswers allow different special effects. These are great if you're using the browser that supports them, but not everyone will be using the browser that you have. If you use these special effects on your website, they'll look great as long as your visitor is using the same browser. If you're using Microsoft Internet Exploder and your visitor uses Netscrape, then at best he will not see your special effects. At worst his browser will not display the page.

Unless you really really know what you're doing and how to test to see what browswer the visitors is using, and what version of HTML he supports, keep the coding simple and stick to standard HTML. You'll both be happier.