Exploring
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Exploring
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The purpose of this page is to explain the different ways the main
portion of the website can be displayed
and to allow you to visit the version of the website that best suits you.
This is not done to confuse you. There are reasons why someone may choose almost any one. I feel that most people will want to use my recommended displays for either large monitors or smaller monitors but if you are reading this page it may be because you want a different display.
One of the reasons that this site has so many display modes is because the site consists of data that the various browsers display. These browsers are programs that display web pages as programmed or configured by you. The HTML markup on the page suggests to the browser how it should display the data but the browser has the last word. Many bugs that show up when viewing the website may be browser bugs and not problems with the HTML markup on the page.
In the best of worlds, what you would download from a website is both the data on the pages and a program to display the data. The program could figure out what size your monitor was and allow you to configure the display from a control panel. In the future this will happen--you will download both data and programs. When this happens you will likely be running something called a Java Applet.
The poem is displayed in one frame of a window. In this frame you have the choice of seeing the poem displayed two ways:
The site looks best displayed in large table. This table consists of about 500 rows and 13 columns. Most rows contain a line from the poem in one of the cells. Your browser must determine how to display all this text and this may take awhile. This wait should not be a problem though as the poem is always displayed and so it is a one-time wait if your browser caches pages.
There is also a version of the poem written in simpler HTML. This version of the poem can be displayed quicker but unfortunately it is a bit ugly. Most browsers will display it in a fixed width font (and that is how it is intended to be shown). It is possible that your browser is configured to display fixed-width fonts in a different size than the proportional width font usually used to display web pages. If the size differences in the fonts displayed looks really bad you may wish to change the settings used by your browser.
The non-tabled version of the poem was added soon after I first attempted to download this site from my old PC. The display was still not shown after 30 minutes and when I moved my mouse at that time the system crashed. My old system is able to handle the non-tabled version of the site easily and quickly.
Probably most of the computers in use out there will handle the tabled version of the site just fine. The old system I used was a PC running Windows 3.1 with an Intel 486 chip (66 MHz) and 8 MB of RAM. I was downloading the file with a 14.4 modem. The browser was Netscape Navigator 3.0 but I'm sure that it would have crashed with any other browser also.
The main part of the website also displays the poem in one frame and always displays a navigation/help/home menu in another frame. Two other frames are used to display information about the poem. You have a choice of three configurations of frames. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of the configurations.
Note that with all frame configurations described below you are allowed to resize the frames (but not the basic configuration.)
This is my favorite display. It is a good display to use if you have a large monitor (19 or 21 inches) or a 17 inch monitor with a small font size. The display is two frames side-by-side where the left frame is broken up into three sub-frames (1 over 2).
My other recommended frame configuration, best for 14 or 15 inch monitors and 17 inch monitors with moderate to large font sizes, is a window broken into 4 frames with the poem displayed in the top frame, a frame to display long notes directly underneath that and then under that two frames side by side (1 over 1 over 2).
Another frame configuration is a window broken into 4 frames with the poem and the notes frame displayed side-by-side at the top and then directly underneath them another two frames side by side (2 over 2).
The last frame configuration consists of two windows. One window is broken into 3 frames with the poem at the top and then directly underneath it will be another two frames side by side (1 over 2). The long notes for the poem will appear in another browser window. This window will appear when the first note is to be displayed. Leave this browser window up as it will be used constantly.
This display configuration can be a real nusance to maintain on a small to moderate sized monitor. The reason the option exists is to allow a useful display for people who need to use large fonts to see clearly. If a large font is used and 4 frames are displayed in one window there is too much scrolling needed and the window is too cluttered.
If you have a very large monitor this (1 over 2 plus 1) configuration may be useful. I have not tried it.
If you use the (1 over 2 plus 1) configuration on a small monitor may I recommend doing the following:
If you use this configuration I expect you to complain a lot. It leaves a lot to be desired. I provide this configuration to be used as a last resort.
There are six versions of this site. All present the same information but in different ways, you get to select the one you want. There are reasons for each.
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Pick display to
enter framed site. |
4 frames in one window |
4 frames in one window |
4 frames in one window |
3 frames in one window |
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Lines of poem are |
(BEST FOR BIG DISPLAYS)
ENTER! |
(MY OTHER FAVORITE)
ENTER! |
Enter! |
Enter! |
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Lines of poem are |
Not recommended!
Do not enter! |
Enter! |
Not recommended!
Do not enter! |
Enter! |
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