This site is hand-coded and deliberately made safe for Netscape, IE, and Lynx. We believe that content is more critical than bells and whistles- though we do have some layout design. If your browser has problems with any page in our site, please email us with your browser name and version, the page you had a problem with, and what the problem was. If you have any suggestions for fixing it, those would be especially welcome.
This site is a Frame-Free Zone. Spread the word- friends don't let friends do frames.
Except for certain pages (The index page, the webrings page, and the link to us page), most pages on this site have 1 unique image of less than 4 K, plus a re-used line image. The thing that takes the most loading time is the banner that Fortunecity puts on the pages. Using a 14.4 modem, it takes between 15 and 25 seconds to load the main page, depending on the time of day, etc. Turning off the images speeds up loading time and does not reduce the usefulness of the site.
I have absolutely no idea what might help or hurt when it comes to accessibility software for the handicapped. If you have any information, please email me at [email protected]. Thank you.
If you have your window open to its widest capacity, this page looks fine at 640x480 resolution. 620 pixels is the minimum width that doesn't mess up the tables. Conversely, the pages also look pretty good on much higher resolutions (I've tested up to 1024x768), as long as you set your browser's text sizes large enough to read. I have no idea what these width changes do to browsers without table capacity- probably not much.
All of the images should have an "alt" tag. I've kept images to a minimum- the longest loading time is from the Fortunecity ads at the top of the page. An image-capable browser is not at all necessary for enjoying this site. If you notice images without alt tags, or something else that bothers you, just holler.
Yes, this is my weak point. I love tables. Except for author pages themselves (some of which have a small menu table), the site's full of them. I've tried to include breaks between cells to make them easier to view. I recommend turning the images off if you can't read tables, since the background star image will show through and make things hard to read. This also goes for anyone who can read tables but can't read changes in the colors of individual cells.
There are four forms on the site. The first is used by the Search Engine. To search without forms, click on the "Search Raven's Reviews" link.
The second is the poll. If you really really want to vote and can't, send me a quick email with the book you want to vote for, and I'll put it in. You should still be able to see the results, though I can't guarentee that it's working.
The Submit for Review and Request a Review pages use forms. If you can't use them or don't like them, send me a quick email with the information requested by the forms.
There are two programs that uses Javascript 1.2 in the site. The first is the "Random Author" program on the main page. I'm sorry, but I can't write an HTML script that does that. To imitate the effect, go to the Authors page and click on a name at random.
Second, all the links from the main page and the site map have little comments that show up in the bar at the bottom of the page. These are completely unnecessary and are only there to amuse you. If they don't work, who cares?
The Search Engine provided by Freefind uses cgi scripts. If you can't use those, please search via the Author or Titles or Categories pages instead.
The Webrings use some interesting server-side programs which I do not understand at all. If you can't click on the links, either ignore the rings, or go to the Webring homepage and following the links to the webring in question.
Above 256 colors is best, but not necessary. 256 colors will look okay on the entire site except for the "link to" banners. 16 colors is hard to read, since the purple background becomes a laticework of black and purple. Also, 16 colors makes it impossible to tell which links have been visited and which have not. I strongly recommend using more than 16 colors if at all possible.
Yes, the site is slightly more interesting if your browser understands the <font> tag, but it's not really necessary.
If you cannot view color specifications inside table cells, you may get some star-background (i.e. difficult to read) text. To solve this problem, just turn off your images. You can do that in Netscape by going to "Edit", then "Preferences", then "Advanced". Uncheck the box that says "Automatically Load Images". Then reload the page. If you don't have Netscape, use your "Help" function.
This page owned by: Raven
Questions? Comments? Smart Remarks?
Email me at
[email protected]
Last Updated: November 8, 1999
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