| MorningGloryArt | ||
| WebSite Information | |
MorningGloryArt Decorative Painting - Marcia's Art Studio - Butler PA
(Western Pennsylvania area - near Pittsburgh PA)
-- Past - Present - Future --
Welcome to the MorningGloryArt website. This website rests solidly upon this basic design philosophy: Ease of Navigation + Meaningful Content + Pleasing to the Eye. The MorningGloryArt website has been totally rebuilt, but adheres to the same design philosophy of its predecessor - and the URL is now www.morninggloryart.com. Those familiar with the previous site will hopefully find themselves navigating about this much larger site with the same ease as before. It is anticipated that changes in the future will be more evolutionary in nature, and will not require the rapid expansion in size and content as has been the modus operandi of the website to date.
-- WebSite Organization --
The MorningGloryArt website has a total of 100 HTML files, all 100% hand-coded, of which 92 are viewable pages. (There are also .js, .css, .php, .txt files, a GuestBook consisting of a multitude of files, and a Search Engine consisting of multiple files - these are not discussed here.) Of the 100 HTML files, the first core group of seven are identifiable by their grey background tiling. This core group of seven pages consists of the three "main pages" plus four informational pages: the page you are now reading (WebSite Info) + Technical Info + Copyright Info + WebSite Map. The three "main pages", bulleted below, are linked to each other, and comprise a triplet from which most of the rest of the web pages emanate:
The second group of 61 files are those comprising the six Frameset Albums - 55 of these files are viewable pages - the other six are merely the "frameset" files (scroll bars, etcetera) for the albums. These albums provide a general overview of the MorningGloryArt Studio and include an Acrylic Classes Sampler, Holiday / Christmas Projects Sampler, Commissioned Artwork (2), Art Class Photos, and Art Studio Photos. All six Frameset Albums are linked to the MorningGloryArt 'HomePage'. These album pages have the same grey background tiling as the previous group of seven pages.
The third group of files consists of "templates" for 9 pages. These pages (2 Acrylic Classes + 1 Oil Classes + 6 miscellaneous) are easily identified by the subtle by the subtle 'Marcia image' background in the bottom left corner of all 9 pages. The Acrylic Classes pages (2) and Oil Classes pages (1) are linked to the Decorative Painting Classes page. The 6 miscellaneous pages, which include additional Art Class Photos, additional Commissioned Artwork, Hand-Painted Art For Sale, and Art Potpourri, are linked to the Artist, Art & Studio page. Marcia / MorningGloryArt modifies these 9 pages on an ongoing basis, contrasting with the rather stable nature of most of the other files.
The final group of 23 files is a miscellaneous collection consisting of (a) Nine pages with large Java applets linked to a 10th page with a collection of small Java 'Lake Effect' applets - this 10th page is linked near the bottom of the Artist, Art & Studio page; (b) Two Slide Shows implemented as framesets with a heavy dose of Javascript, (c) Class Registration Form implemented as an inline frame on the Decorative Painting Classes page; (d) What's New page implemented as a scrolling inline frame on the MorningGloryArt 'HomePage'; and (e) multiple Art Project Archive pages. Sixteen of the 21 viewable pages have a black background color; the exceptions are the What's New page which is light gray, the Artists Paints & Brushes page and the Art Project Archive pages which have the same background as used on the 9 "template" pages.
-- WebSite Map & Navigation --
Extensive arrays of navigation links and navigation menus have been provided throughout the website. An extensive WebSite Map is available by clicking on the links provided on most of the web pages. Most pages in this website are accessible from the WebSite Map (and vice-versa) except the interior pages of the Frameset Albums and Slide Shows, the Java applet pages, the Class Registration Form, and the What's New page. These links to the Website Map are located at the bottom of the left-side navigation menu, and on some pages are in the form of distinctive "rotating" silver bullets 
which generally appear near the top of these pages. This method of website navigation also provides an alternative overview of the organization of the 92 viewable pages in the MorningGloryArt website.
-- Best Viewing --
This website is best viewed on a video monitor with a horizontal resolution of 1024 pixels (usually 1024x768) - the most common monitor resolution. Monitors with a lower resolution (typically 800x600) will require modest horizontal scrolling. The browser window should be maximized. Monitors with a higher resolution (for example - 1280x960 or 1280x1024) have the distinct advantage of requiring less vertical scrolling, but also have the disadvantages of increasing the amount of "empty space" and decreasing text sizes small enough to often require one to use the browser to increase the text size to compensate. Text Size: Microsoft Internet Explorer web browsers should be set to medium (default); Netscape Communicator / Navigator web browsers should be set to 100% (default); Opera Web browsers should have Zoom set to 100% (default) -- and other browsers set similarly. Frames: This WebSite uses Frames for the six Frameset Albums and two Slide Shows - Frames should be enabled. Inline frames are also used and should be enabled; note that older browsers such as Netscape 4.x cannot display inline frames. JavaScript: This WebSite uses Javascript to perform many very useful functions: Javascript should be enabled for best viewing, although effort was expended to ensure the website is reasonably functional even if JavaScript is disabled. Opera: The Opera browser (for example 7.x) may default to "Refuse pop-ups" - this should be changed to "Open requested pop-ups only" - this is necessary, for example, to open up a window construct ('Big Picture Window') which contains a large image when the user clicks on an image "thumbnail". Other browsers or add-on software may require similar adjustment. Java: Java (or the 'equivalent' Microsoft VM) needs to be installed and enabled to view the "Lake Effect" and other Java applets. [Please Note: The rendering of these applets with Internet Explorer 6.0 (using the Microsoft VM with JIT compiler instead of Sun Java) is generally superior to that of Netscape 7.x / Mozilla browsers, and Opera 7.x , especially with the large "Pool Effect" applet.]
-- AOL Members --
AOL Members should set Web Graphics compression to "never compress graphics". Most graphics on the World Wide Web (the word "graphics" as used here is interpreted as any image or "picture") are stored and transmitted in a compressed format - usually JPEG or GIF. AOL members may not be aware that AOL imposes an additional compression on these graphics, primarily to decrease the download times for members on a dial-up modem link. The result, however, is a deterioration in the quality of the graphics displayed on the video monitor. This additional AOL compression is the AOL default mode, but it can be changed. Typically, this is done with the following sequence of clicks in the AOL main window: Settings; Preferences; Internet Properties; Web Graphics: Never compress graphics; OK. ( This can be done off-line.) Please note that after changing this AOL setting, the browser cache needs to be cleared - some Windows PCs have an icon called "Disc Cleanup" to do this; alternatively in AOL/IE the typical sequence of clicks is Settings; Preferences; Internet Properties; Temporary Internet files: Delete Files; OK - and the web pages with graphics reloaded - otherwise the same AOL compressed images previously stored will most likely be displayed again on the video monitor. For more details on graphics and AOL compression (plus other AOL information), please reference the following AOL website:
AOL Webmaster Info . Microsoft also has a web page dedicated to Internet Explorer: How and Why to Clear Your Cache .
AOL Members may experience difficulty in getting the most recent version of web pages from the AOL 'proxy servers' - a problem often cured by checking browser settings, clearing the browser cache, and using a "hard refresh" - hold the Control key down while clicking the reload/refresh button, or equivalently, Ctrl+F5.
AOL Members may wish to simply minimize the AOL browser, and use the real Internet Explorer browser in their PC - the AOL browser (a modification of Internet Explorer) has several undesirable characteristics.
-- Testing & Validation --
Much effort has been expended to ensure that this website is rendered in an acceptable fashion in a wide variety of browsers -- within the limitations of those browsers. All HTML pages on this website were created on a Windows platform and tested using the following web browsers: Internet Explorer 6.0 ; Netscape (Navigator) 7.2 ; Mozilla 1.7.5 ; Mozilla Firefox 1.0 ; and Opera 7.54 . [Please Note: Netscape 4.x is an obsolete browser that cannot render portions of this website.] Generally, the best rendition is that of Internet Explorer, followed closely by the Gecko based browsers (Mozilla / Firefox / Netscape). Additionally, all pages have passed multiple HTML code validation tests and a CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) validation test by the World Wide Web Consortium on-line validators as evidenced, for example, by the W3C HTML 4.01 Icon and the W3C CSS Icon at the bottom of this page. Although every file was validated, for practical and esthetic reasons, the W3C HTML 4.01 and W3C CSS Icons have only been placed on 13 pages - the core group of seven pages and the "contents" pages of the six frameset albums. Despite the effort expended, and the W3C validation of the website pages, all browsers have their rendering quirks and bugs and limitations - errors of omission and co-mission - and this is particularly evident with older browsers.
Addendum: A Holiday Calendar page was added to the website in late 2006, and this section was expanded to 15 pages in early 2007.
A WordPress blog (Art & Decorative Painting) was added to the web site in early 2008.
This website has also been tested using the following web browsers: Internet Explorer 7 ; Firefox 1.5 ; and Firefox 2.0 .
-- Original: November 2002 -- -- Last Revision: December 2006 --
WebSite Design, HTML Source Code, Javascript, CSS © Robaviax Design Studio - Madison, Wisconsin USA.
 |  |