MACJR'S Update Notes page

for www.macjr.com
by Michael A. Crane, Jr.

MACJR - 2002 at Grandma Crane's house

— These pages progress backward from newest to oldest —

*****

June 08, 2019

This site is an archived version of macjr.com as it was from 2005-2007, and actually, all the way up to 2013. In 2013, macjr.com had not been re-worked or updated since the 2007 update/upgrade event (of the main page and supporting pages — the galleries had been left mostly untouched since 2005).

In 2013, I deleted most of the older pages of macjr.com and then created the 2013-2018 version of macjr.com, that is technically still online in 2019, but its last update was in 2018. The 2013-2018 version of macjr did have some new content added, back in 2016, but it had also had much of the old content removed, which I had intended to revise and then re-uploaded soon after, but that second update never happened.

Now, in 2019, I am planning to delete the 2013-2018 pages and replace them, in stages, with a new 2019 version of macjr.com. Only this time, I am adding archived pages of older versions of macjr.com, like this 2007 version.

This version of the 2005-2007 pages of macjr.com, tries to stay true to the original pages, as much as possible, but some changes did have to be made here and there. Newer devices have screens that are much brighter than the old CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors of back in the day, and this washed out a lot of the colors of my art and of the colors chosen for my web pages. Both the art and the pages needed to be revised to look as close as possible to how they used to look on old PCs, with old monitors, and old web browsers, which have changed a lot over the last couple of decades. In truth, the best I can do is proximate how these pages used to look back in 2005-2007.

I have also had to remove old links that no longer work, remove content that is no longer relevant today, like a page of the best web browsers... back in 2007 or so. Those browser cannot be used safely online today, and my list of preferred web browsers today is a bit different than it was back then. For example, Netscape is ancient history now, and Internet Explorer, my favorite of the time, is now all but dead, and now considered one of the worst web browsers, as is its replacement, Microsoft Edge. I now prefer Firefox, Google Chrome, and Opera.

All in all, the revisions have been small and had little to no impact on the overall design and content of these pages. The biggest change is under-the-hood, where I modernized the layout of the HTML and CSS. However, I left the markup language, and style choices, mostly the same. It just looks better, and easier to work with now. I have learned much about writing HTML and CSS since 2007.

For me, these old pages are a blast from the past. Art I created, and pages I wrote, a long time ago, and pictures of me and my grandmother when I was younger, and my grandmother (seen on an earlier page here in the Update Notes pages) back when she was still alive. I hope some of you out there will enjoy seeing these old pages too, now that I have brought them back from extinction. The look and feel of these old, primitive pages, had a certain charm, at least for some of us.

By the way, today would have been my Grandma Crane's 99th birthday.

Thanks for visiting. Feel free to write to me if you enjoy my work, or just to say hello.

[Update: In truth, I did enhance a few things here and there, just because I could. However, I did hold back on most of my temptations to improve things from the way they were. MACJR &ndash June 22, 2019]

Michael A. Crane, Jr.
Artist/Webmaster/Writer
www.macjr.com

*****

January 1, 2007

This is it; I have this site's first set of pages, for this year, updated and online. In this first site update of 2007 I converted 20 pages from outdated HTML up to XHTML and CSS, added 2 new pages, renamed 1 page, and deleted 3 obsolete pages. Although the markup/code I write is still in a transitional form, it is much closer to the W3C standards than previously.

As I stated in previous update notes, this was mostly an under the hood update. There have been some minor cosmetic changes but mostly the look and feel of the pages is much the same. The pages I focused my attention on for this update were the main administration pages and the Links to Elsewhere pages. I plant to start work on the gallery pages next.

In my next updates I will be adding some new content to my gallery pages. I am not sure how long it will take to get the first gallery updated. The Garden Gallery, for example, is a complex HTML table design that is going to be a nightmare to convert to XHTML and CSS.

For those who are interested, I have a message boardwhere I sometimes talk about what I am doing, or planning to do, concerning my web sites and other projects. Feel free to become a member and join in on the conversations. We talk about a lot of different things there, not just about my work and web sites. All friendly people are welcome, even if you just want to read the board from time to time rather than become a member.

Best regards to all and Happy New Years,

Michael A. Crane, Jr.
Artist/Webmaster/Writer
www.macjr.com

Update: I have updated the copyright information on all my www.macjr.com pages and converted all, or most, navigational file and folder names to lower case. This took a few hours. I am now done with today's site update. Next, I begin converting the markup for my gallery pages up to XHTML and CSS and see about getting some new content online.

Michael A. Crane, Jr.
AKA MACJR

*****

December 23, 2006

Today I did a minor update of the Links To Elsewhere pages. I removed a few dead links, noted a few more links to watch for a while to see if they are indeed dead or is it that their server is down for maintenance, and I redirected a link to a new URL (web address) because Anne McCaffrey changed her official site URL again. This was just prep work for the link pages, I have yet to start the real update of those pages.

My site-wide update, scheduled to be uploaded in the early hours of January 1, 2007, is progressing along well. As I finalize the updated pages, that I have worked on so far, I am already thinking of things I want to work on for future website enhancements. I did not have time to finish the two books I am reading on XHTML and CSS but I did get far enough along in them to improve my page markup and styles a bit and fuel ideas for creative web designs to come.

Most of the work I am doing for this site now is under the hood stuff, and thus, not visible on the surface of the web pages. Still, the look and functionality of my pages are being modified enough that a regular visitor to this site might notice some of the changes when I upload them.

I really wish I had started working on this site update a few months sooner so I could have worked in a few of my newer art pieces to my gallery pages. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough time to get to that for this upcoming site update. However, I do plan to continue working on these pages over the next few months, so, perhaps, I will get some fresh stuff online before the end of 2007.

Well, I better get back to work rather than just sit here talking about doing it. ;)

Michael A. Crane, Jr.
AKA MACJR

*****

December 07, 2006

It has been way too long since I updated this Update Notes page! Even worse, I have not updated this site since late 2005.

The good news is that I am working on the next website update now. The bad news is that, right now, I am mostly working on converting the old, tired, HTML to new, classy, XHTML and CSS. This means that the first updates will not include much in the way of new content, if you are a mechanic, you might say that all the work is being done "under the hood." I am beefing up the engine now but most of the body work will have to wait a while longer.

Stay tuned, I will be posting more about what I have been doing, what is to come, and getting new stuff online as soon as I can.

Best regards,

Michael A. Crane, Jr.
AKA MACJR