Producing HTML entities: The text of the pages on this site was first typed normally under Word 5 for MS-DOS, then accented letters (coded according to the IBM-DOS character set) were converted to HTML entities, using the automatic character replacement function of this word processor. The latter is more convenient in this respect than the various versions of Word for Windows (or other text editors available in this environment), because of the possibility to create macros independent of the document, and therefore usable with non-formatted text files (such as HTML pages) for automating such replacements on a full character set. Text files are also handled in a simpler way by Word for DOS than by Word for Windows.Otherwise, page indexing by the spiders of some search engines may be hampered by a few seemingly ordinary characters. The latter are transcribed here as HTML entities, such as ? for the question mark (?). [back] |
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Character set declaration: It is normally unnecessary to declare the character set ISO-8859-1, since the latter is generally the one used by default. It is also, in principle, unnecessary to declare any character set if entities are being used, since the latter are normally recognised in all cases. Using either entities or ISO-8859-1 character codes should thus be sufficient to ensure multi-browser compatibility, without declaring a particular set in the header. The precautions taken here are therefore admittedly redundant. Precaution redundancy, however, is a classical means of minimizing risks. [back] |
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Lay-out codes: The page bottom blank is obtained by adding two line feed codes (<br> tag) after the last significant HTML command. All pages on this site thus end with the following code: <br><br></body></HTML> Side margins are obtained by inserting the page contents into tables defined by a code such as: <center><table width="95%" border=0> [...] </table></center> where [...] stands for the contents, properly distributed between the tags <tr>...</tr> (defining a row within the table) and <td>...</td> (defining a cell within the row). The inter-column space is obtained, if necessary, by creating an empty cell with the code <td width="1%"> </td>. The width of the two cells used by the columns is then adjusted in such a way (here "47%") that the total width of the row matches the width chosen for the table (here "95%", i.e. 95% of the screen width, irrespective of the resolution). Centering the table is of course intended for obtaining equal margins on each side. For more detail, you may examine and/or save the source code of a page in which you are interested. You will perhaps find there the tag <object>...</object> in places where it does not seem of any use. I initially added it where requested by the W3C validation process, but the W3C robot seems to have been corrected in this respect. I have since tried to remove this tag from any place where it was not requested. [back] |
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Compromise between screen resolutions: Most pages on this site will be displayed in a more pleasant way on a 800×600 pixel screen, while still retaining an acceptable presentation at a resolution of 640×400 pixels. Some items, however, such as clickable thumbnails, might be better viewed at the latter resolution. At resolutions of 1024×768 pixels and higher, many items will probably appear too small, and the text lines too long (except with a two-column lay-out) for easy reading. This, however, is a general drawback of such resolutions, which should be avoided unless a very large screen (at least 17") is being used for restoring ergonomic viewing conditions. The difficulty in reaching a satisfactory compromise is exemplified here by the index page dedicated to Brest 2000, the only one whose width is set in absolute values (in order to position the text with respect to a page background with a border). This page is perfectly displayed on a 800×600pixel screen, but exceeds the width of a 640×400 pixel screen. Horizontal scrolling is therefore necessary in this one case, but only to select the full display of either the French-language text column or the English-language text column. At the higher resolutions, the right margin appears somewhat too wide, but the page can still be read, more comfortably on a larger-sized screen. [back]
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Frames: Apart from problems in compatibility between various resolutions, one major drawback of frame-set sites is that only the address of the main frame of such a site is displayed on the address line of the browser, and accessible to the add bookmark function of the latter. It is thus impossible to individually bookmark the pages of a frame-set site, as well as external locations accessed by following its links. [back]
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Javascript errors: The most benign consequence of a Javascript programming error consists in the display, in the place of the intended effect, of the Javascript code itself in text form, superimposed on a page which otherwise downloads nearly normally and whose links remain functional. The second stage consists of a warning window popping up, displaying a message such as: Javascript error on line 56: http://this_site is not a number You then have to click an OK button to close the window, and things go on more or less as they should do. At the third stage, no link works on the displayed page, not even the browers's back button, and the only escape way available is closing the browser. At the fourth stage, the latter function itself is unavailable, and there is nothing else to do than shutting down and/or rebooting the computer. Some variations with respect to this range of effects may occur, such as, for instance, the freezing of the system while only the Javascript code is displayed, to the exclusion of any other page contents. A particularly frequent occurrence is the case where the browser finds itself confronted with a .js file without knowing how to handle it. A Javascript code set has then been called from an external source file by a code such as: <script src="source_file.js"></script> Some browsers do not implicitly recognise the Javascript code or the .js suffix. For them to behave as expected, the above code should have been written as prescribed by the HTML norm, i.e.: <script type="text/javascript" src="source_file.js"></script> More generally, neither the various browsers nor their script interpretation engines react in the same way to HTML or Javascript programming errors. Netscape 3 for instance tolerates errors in the opening/closing scheme of HTML tags that would be disastrous with other browsers and accepts that non strictly numerical parameters (such as the relative width "95%") be written without quotation marks, which is prohibited by HTML norms. The Javascript engine of the same Netscape 3, by contrast, seems to be much less tolerant of similar errors than the engine of other browsers. In order not to display the above-mentioned alarm window, it would probably have required that http://this_site be written "http://this_site". Testing a Javascript code set with a single browser, especially with the latest version, in which new specific functions may have been implemented, is therefore not enough to ensure that the code is correct. Whereas the full conformity of an HTML code set to the relevant norms can be tested, independently of any browser, through the W3C validation service (or other similar services), I unfortunately do not know of equivalent services for Javascript code. In the absence of such a validation, the wisest choice consists of abstaining from using the code, all the more so because many internauts disable Javascript on their browser as a security measure. [back] |
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Overloaded sites: These sites have probably been designed by people from the advertising industry, used to produce those lavishly illustrated flyers that choke our letter boxes and end up in the rubbish bin without a prior look at them. It does not cost much, however, to throw a piece of paper into the basket, or even to first have a glance at it just in case. It may be enough that perhaps 2 or 3% of recipients have this kind of second thought to make avertising investment (waste) profitable. The situation, however, is very different for a web site. It is totally unacceptable to wait for 10 minutes or more for a page to download, just because advertising dominates over its contents, even more so if you are paying for your phone connexion. And after a site has frozen your computer several times because of javascript errors, you blacklist the location and avoid connecting there again. The many agencies that have granted themselves overnight the title of on-line communication specialists regularly fall into such traps and are obviously unaware of Internet specificities. The "startup" graveyard is there to bear testimony. [back]
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Dunce's cap: Deserved by the site of a daily newspaper published in Brittany and by its satellite sites, for their download sluggishness. One of these sites is dedicated to sailing and sail boats, and I should have included a relevant link in my Brest 2000 pages. I abstained from doing so, however, because I never could access the site within a reasonable time span and check its contents. Dunce's cap deserved by the music site of the same press group, because it requires the specific installation of an uncommon plug-in, in addition to the various Real-Audio or Quick-Time that may have already been imposed on you. There was also a time when the home page of the on-line edition of the same newspaper would display only in part with some browsers, thus making inaccessible the links to the rest of the site. [back]
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Dunce's cap (bis): Deserved by the main site of one of the component institutions of the French public broadcasting service. In my software environment, that I cannot afford, and have no time and no will to change for the sole purpose of accessing this site, the click buttons of the right-side menu on the various pages are hopelessly masked by the vertical scrolling bar. Even using a lower resolution to force the appearance of a horizontal scrolling bar will still leave the buttons out of reach. The mail-sending form on the home page does not work, and the site does not offer an e-mail address directory listing the persons or services you might like to write to. In September 2000, the sound files downloaded from the site were no longer recognised by the plug-in I had installed only a few months earlier just to listen to this site. This very plug-in was nevertheless still being recommended on some pages of the site, concurrently with another one I also have but that does not work either (a version problem?). Some pages include a Javascript error which freezes my computer. This prevented me from discovering the other errors, if any. [back]
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Cookies: In my particular case, those sites resorting to avalanches of cookies are wasting the effort of their programmers, because I have set up my configuration in such a way that the cookies, together with the connexion history and other potentially embarassing tracks, are automatically erased when quitting each session. A routine of this kind might unfortunately be more difficult to build up in some other software environments, especially the most recent ones intended for the general public. This is probably not a haphazard occurrence. [back]
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"...caused no environmental damage..." This whole paragraph is of course mainly intended to deride both censorship and a certain form of politically correct activism, especially common in Anglo-Saxon countries. The statement that no animals were harmed (nor in fact seriously disturbed) is, however, not so trivial in the case of a site displaying, among other things, original wild life pictures. Some very well-known authors of commercial documentaries on wild life, especially marine life, have not always paid as much attention to the need for such care as to their hunger for marketable pictures. It is, in addition, not quite true that no environmental damage was caused. Even though some of the places where I shot my pictures need a long walk to be reached, I first had to use cars, planes and motor ships to get near there. And photographic chemistry is not always perfectly innocuous. In the present state of techniques, no human activity is in fact totally environment friendly. We may have to pay the price for this sooner than we expect. [back]
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Site address(es): The domain-name address of the present site can also be written http://www.merle-blanc.net, http://www.merle-blanc.org or http://www.merle-blanc.com. The direct addresses used for this site at free.fr during a few months (http://jlf0.free.fr, http://jlf0.online.fr, http://merle.blanc.free.fr, http://merle.blanc.online.fr) now provide access to redirection pages. The original version of the site was found at http://altern.org/jlf or http://www.altern.org/jlf and the corresponding e-mail address is still in use. [back]
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