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s i t e h i s t o r y
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The Beginning
First published in the early part of 1997 by Chris Eve, this site was originally designed using WebExpress and later maintained with HomeSite, with some individual pages, written with CuteHTML. The images were 'grabbed' using an old JVC video camera, originally through an ATM interface, subsequently through a generic TV card, and converted, edited and heavily compressed in Paint Shop Pro. The site then comprised over 500 individual HTML pages and a similar number of images. The original indexing system was the tabulated menus, this was soon expanded to include the popular framed website, an offspin of which allowed the use of the menus from the framed pages for those with limited-capability browsers. Following feedback from some users of older equipment, this last option was revised to use traditional listed menus.
In the summer of 2000, due both to the lack of disc space on the "European Mirror Site" server and the sheer management overheads involved in maintaining three menuing systems across two servers, the original tabulated menus were discontinued completely, they were getting too cumbersome to be easily used or managed, and the listed menus were transferred to the European server only, leaving just the framed website on the popular Toptown server. At the same time the pages on the European server were all re-written and re-optimised for 640 x 480 resolution, incorporating an absolute minimum of formatting, with no tables or frames, principally for the benefit of those with lower-specification equipment, but with the bonus of making the whole site quicker and saving some of my rapidly-diminishing space allocation. Though the presentation may differ, the information offered on both websites is the same, though the pictures for some of the pages on the European server were drawn from the Toptown site.
2006
The site was taken over by Mischa Koning in January 2006 and was entirely redesigned, both in its appearance as well as the underlying software. It's currently working using PHP server sided scripting. All JavaScripts used before have been removed and the website may be easier indexed by the major search engines. The resulting HTML is very basic and works perfectly with all known browsers, including Opera, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Netscape.
The search function is powered by RiSearch PHP.
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