That long-awaited update on my illness/move, and things. - Page 3

viscousmemories · #51 07-02-2005, 06:53 PM

Works for me in MSIE, too. :hm:

davidm · #52 07-02-2005, 06:56 PM

Well, for me, it is pointing at:

http://www.freethought-forum.com/for...tachmentid=596

But takes me to the log-in page. :argh:

viscousmemories · #53 07-02-2005, 06:58 PM

Here, let me attach it and see if that helps:

davidm · #54 07-02-2005, 07:00 PM

That does indeed work. Thank you. :yup:

Anyone viewing it, please remember to select Actual Size from the Adobe reader view menu. It looks as if Acrobat defaults to make it fill the resolution size of the monitor, which is a serious distortion.

livius drusus · #55 07-02-2005, 07:20 PM

I think it's outstanding, davidm: eye-catching but not maddening visuals, excellent encapsulation of the story. :appl:

viscousmemories · #56 07-02-2005, 07:21 PM

Incidentally, I added links to the blog homepage, forum and site homepage in the blog footer. I also added links to the site homepage and blog in the forum header. :yup:

WinAce · #57 07-02-2005, 07:22 PM

I love it! :yup:

Outstanding, indeed. Now I just need to dig up a good photo (I have one of myself in a cowboy hat that I really like, so...)

viscousmemories · #58 07-02-2005, 07:43 PM

Incidentally, there are many free styles and graphic themes for phpbb (the forum software) and Wordpress (the blog software) out there. I'm not sure if we need to worry about making sure there's synchronicity between them and the homepage or not. On the one hand it might be more visually appealing if we try to do that, but on the other hand it might be more... I don't know, personal (as opposed to professional) looking if we leave the default skins.

davidm · #59 07-02-2005, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

Incidentally, there are many free styles and graphic themes for phpbb (the forum software) and Wordpress (the blog software) out there. I'm not sure if we need to worry about making sure there's synchronicity between them and the homepage or not. On the one hand it might be more visually appealing if we try to do that, but on the other hand it might be more... I don't know, personal (as opposed to professional) looking if we leave the default skins.

Yeah, I was thinking about that too. Generally I would opt for visual consistency, but I'm not sure it's absolutely necessary in this case.

Tomorrow I will turn this into a functioning Web page and send it over!(But I will need that photo, WinAce.)I suppose the link to "the rest of the story" should point to the existing tale here at FF. Also, someone will need to set up the "Click Here to Donate" functionality.

Hoping nothing goes wrong :break:

and we can have this up by Monday.

WinAce · #60 07-02-2005, 09:08 PM

Would it be possible, rather than linking to my post here at FF, of making a framed website with stuff like "My story" and other links? (The blog and forum link could be among those)

viscousmemories · #61 07-02-2005, 09:18 PM

It should be possible, yes. The Wordpress software allows you to create custom pages so it should be easy to do, too. I haven't played with it yet so I'm not sure how easy, but I'll do that today.

viscousmemories · #62 07-02-2005, 10:18 PM

Actually I think I misread you the first time, but anyway what do you think about having the "click here to read my story" on the homepage davidm is making be a link to the "My Story" page I just added to your blog? We can do separate pages too, if you want. But I just thought I'd let you give this a look first.

viscousmemories · #63 07-03-2005, 02:24 AM

Hmm... y'know the more I think about this, the more I wonder if we shouldn't just keep it simple. ie. stick with the front page davidm is making and the Wordpress blog software and built-in page and comments system, and scrap the forum. What do you think?

WinAce · #64 07-03-2005, 02:25 AM

Great idea on the "My Story" link hosted at the blog, vm. The easier this site is to manage, the better (advantage: blog), and I like the "homegrown" and homogenous feeling having all the pages hosted on it (as opposed to scattered on static webpages) will provide.

I like this photo of myself at Applebees, taken in March in Oregon. You can find more pics from that vacation here, davidm. (I don't have a working scanner at the moment, so I guess we're stuck with those and newer ones on Jess' digital camera.) Feel free to crop or resize it as needed to fit there.

I'd actually rather keep the forum for when it can be used to orchestrate letter-writing campaigns, and the like, that are currently scattered across several boards (here, II, HH, etc.). But we'll see. No use in deleting it just after you set it up, for the time being.

beyelzu · #65 07-03-2005, 02:51 AM

winace, I am sorry your are ill,

I dont know what I can really do to help, I have like zero web skills and kind of limited funs right now.

do you need someone to harvest some lungs for you :tmgrin:

?

I am amazed by your will.

viscousmemories · #66 07-03-2005, 05:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WinAce

Great idea on the "My Story" link hosted at the blog, vm. The easier this site is to manage, the better (advantage: blog), and I like the "homegrown" and homogenous feeling having all the pages hosted on it (as opposed to scattered on static webpages) will provide.

Okay, cool.

Quote:

I'd actually rather keep the forum for when it can be used to orchestrate letter-writing campaigns, and the like, that are currently scattered across several boards (here, II, HH, etc.). But we'll see. No use in deleting it just after you set it up, for the time being.

Groovy. I just didn't want you to feel overwhelmed with things to manage. I'll handle all the forum administration if you want, just let me know what forum names and descriptions you want and I'll set them up. I don't know how much (if any) experience you have with administrating a forum.

davidm · #67 07-03-2005, 03:42 PM

Those are great pix, Allan, I'll just grab the one of you in the cowboy hat, crop it and put it in.

I'm going to tinker with the home page some more today. I might try fiddling with the type faces a little and maybe making that heart-shaped stethoscope a bit darker. When finished it might be possible to just upload it to a web page as a single gif graphic, as I've already experimented and it optimizes to just 45k. (Although it will be a big bigger with the photo) We'll see.

viscousmemories · #68 07-03-2005, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidm

When finished it might be possible to just upload it to a web page as a single gif graphic [...]

I think (though I'm not positive) that it's a bad idea to make the homepage an image since it doesn't provide a lot of content for search engines to slurp up and hence impacts Google pagerank (and other search engine placements) adversely.

davidm · #69 07-03-2005, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidm

When finished it might be possible to just upload it to a web page as a single gif graphic [...]

I think (though I'm not positive) that it's a bad idea to make the homepage an image since it doesn't provide a lot of content for search engines to slurp up and hence impacts Google pagerank (and other search engine placements) adversely.

I think, though, we can get around that by stuffing a lot of key words in the source code that don't appear on the page.

The problem in making this part html and part image is the type. Normally I make any type html type, but in this case, that's going to be very, very hard to do (though not impossible) if we want to keep that type wrapping around the curve of the background stethoscope image.

davidm · #70 07-03-2005, 05:04 PM

I am enclosing mockup version two. This one has Allan's picture, and I've changed to type from Optima to a more standard Times. I've also made the background stethoscope slightly darker and tinkered with a couple of other things. Again, make sure to view this at actual size, as Acrobat Reader will by default blow it up to fill the screen, which is a distortion.

livius drusus · #71 07-03-2005, 05:24 PM

It looks excellent. The stethoscope is all around much clearer in outlines and shading, which makes it look both more like a stethoscope and more like a heart. Great job, davidm.

viscousmemories · #72 07-03-2005, 05:24 PM

That looks excellent, davidm. :1thumbup:

davidm · #73 07-03-2005, 05:27 PM

If Allan likes it, we'll run with it, then! :yup:

Never · #74 07-03-2005, 08:06 PM

Great job davidm. I may have missed a memo or two somewhere, but I'm curious what you mean when you say "run with it".

Is the page being set up but not enabled for donations until Allan is ready to take them, or is he ready?
Am I correct that if he does start a campaign for donations, that any money received will mess with his eligibility for Medicaid? I see this as a bad Catch 22 myself.

Medicaid refuses to cover, they *could* change their mind on appeal, or not, and meanwhile he is dependent on Medicaid to sustain his healthcare unless enough donations are made to cover the waiting period also. If you don't get the donations and Medicaid doesn't come through, he never gets his lifesaving operation. If you do go after donations and don't get enough, then ruining Medicaid eligibility would be a very bad thing.

I ask simply because I fear that "going live" needs to be thought through very carefully even though there is no time to waste.

viscousmemories · #75 07-03-2005, 08:10 PM

That's an excellent point, Never. He just meant "upload it to the site" though. How and when donations are going to be collected is still entirely up to Allan at this juncture. Though I think it's probably a good thing that you've mentioned the possibility of a conflict here, in case he didn't think of it. :1thumbup: