Colophon, noun [Latin, from Greek κολοφων, meaning
summit, finishing touch, perhaps akin to Latin culmen top]
An inscription placed at the end of a book or manuscript usually with facts
relative to its production (from Webster's 11th ed.)
"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire,
you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will"
George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)
In the beginning, I used Composer, included with Netscape to create all
pages of my site. It has all the basic functions to create HTML pages easily
and without a painful learning curve. And, it was all free! Currently,
I use the excellent IBM WebSphere Studio Homepage Builder for Windows and Microsoft's Front Page. To upload the files to my site server, I use WS_FTP Limited Edition by
Ipswitch. To download it, click here.
Custom Code
Programação personalizada
When I decided to improve the loading of my Translation Links pages (the
heaviest of my website) I turned to Jesse Skinner, a Canadian graduate
in Mathematics in Computer Science from University of Waterloo, and a Certified
Java Programmer, Certified Flash MX Developer, and Advanced Certified ColdFusion
MX Developer and author of The Future of the Web. Jesse took care of my requests in a swift and professional manner. So,
if you ned to improve your site, give Jesse a call. It will be worth it!
Web Standards
Normalização Web
I support the Web Standards Project (WaSP). For more information, click on the link above or on the logo on the left.
I am a proud member of the Project Honey Pot, and my site is now a true
minefield for spammers and mailbots...
Webmasters who want to help fight spam can download Project Honeypot's
software, which is designed to turn their website into a magnet for harvesters.
If the site detects that a crawler is visiting it the software generates
a fake e-mail address for the crawler to grab, and records the address
of the crawler and the time and date. The fake address then vanishes from
the site, but remains valid as a mailbox. Because it is a fake, no one
will send it legitimate mail. If any mail arrives it can only have come
from the spammer who grabbed it off the Honeypot site, and this fingers
the computer that crawled the site as belonging to the spammer. Detectives
can then begin building their evidence".
Celeste Biever, New Scientist
Internal and External Links Validation
Controlo de hiperligações
Please, note that I can only ensure the correctness of the internal links
of my page. Due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, links on my page
pointing to external URLs can become broken, either because their webmasters
changed their location within their site or because they just evaporated
in thin air (i.e., the link was just deleted or the page, and its URL ceased
to exist). So, even with all this, will my Links pages ever be free from
dead links? I wish...
Image Processing
Processamento de imagens
Most images posted on my site were processed with Corel Photo Paint 12.
This processing includes resampling (i.e., resizing), converting (to JPEG
or GIF), sharpening (to generate sharper images for web viewing) and compressing
(for faster loading). Also, some lettering was first created with Corel
Draw Graphics Suite 12 and, then, post processed with Corel Photo Paint.
For information about Corel's software click here.
Color Processing and Screen Resolution
Processamento de cores e resolução de ecrã
I tried to include colors as much browser friendly as I could. For that,
I use Colorist® from Pantone and Color Picker II, an excellent color tool from PageTutor.com. You may also visit the excellent Web Color. For an accurate rendering of the colors used in my site, set your screen
for 1024x768 pixels and TrueColor (32 bit).
A Matter of Style...
Uma questão de estilo...
Cary Grant, that most stylish of British gentlemen, warned: “It takes
five hundred small details to make one favorable impression.” And
so, all pages of my site have been set with Arial®, and, in some instances,
with Microsoft's Verdana. You should already have these fonts installed
in your computer; if not, you may download them from my Downloads Library. I've also tried to follow the good old rules of good typography.
Browser Compatibility
Compatibilidade de browsers
Internet Explorer, you're fired! As a die-hard Netscape user (and now a Firefox user more and more...),
I have to make sure that the 86% of visitors of my site who use Internet
Explorer can view my site as well as I view it with Firefox. You may download
the latest version of Firefox. For the same reason, I also use Opera, and Firefox.
Javatm Applets and Animated Images
Applets Javatm e imagens animadas
All Java applets and animated gifs included on my page are either made
by me with IBM WebSphere Studio Homepage Builder for Windows, public domain or the property of their respective owners
(which I indicate, as far as I could identify them).
Site Statistics and Site Search Engines
Estatísticas e motores de busca internos
I use Google Analytics and StatCounter to keep track of the number of visitors to my site. I do not get any personal
information about individual visitors, but only general demographic info,
as explained in my Privacy Statement and Legal Notice. And, to allow my visitors to perform an easy search within my site, I
use Google Custom Search (for site and glossaries search).
Downloads Counter
Contador de importações de ficheiros
I use Download Tracker from DStats.net to keep track of the number of downloads from my Downloads Page. I do not get any personal information about any individual visitors,
and only a numerical, anonymous count is available to me.
My first website was hosted for free for about a year by Netscape. I have
no complaints! When I needed more disk space and a faster loading speed,
and after a lot of shopping around, my site got hosted by PTisp - Internet Services (Portugal) in a data center located in Lisbon, Portugal.
Internet Connection Speed Test
Teste de velocidade da ligação à Internet
Click on the image at left to run a highly accurate speed test of your
Internet connection.
Website and Web Server Monitoring
Monitorização do sítio e do servidor
SiteUptime is a website monitoring service that watches my website (or yours) 24/7/365
and notifies me (or you) if it becomes unavailable.
So, you want your own website, too!
Então, também quer ter um sítio Web?
First, and before anything else, think about what you want to say to the
future visitors of your site.
Write your thoughts down and test them mentally (or with your friends...)
before you start posting pages on the Web.
Nature Abhors a Vacuum. The Web, too!
If a page isn't ready to be published, don't put it on your website with
an "Under Construction" sign.
and just about everything you can find about websites,
including those you like to visit the most!
All product names and logos mentioned in this page are used for identification
purposes only, and may be trademarks or registered trademarks
or service marks of their respective companies, and the exclusive property
of their respective owners.
