Site has a New Face!
Just in case you hadn't noticed, the Arcade Restoration Workshop has gone through a major over haul. I decided to change the way the site worked in order to provide better content with more ways to access it.
The new features of the site are:
Searchable:
The entire site is now searchable! This means that you can type in keywords or partial keywords in the search box above and the site will return a list of all News, Articles, Tutorials, and Links that match your criteria. The search will be available from any page at any time.
NOTE: This feature is currently off-line as it is in development!
Built from a Database:
The entire site is now built from a database. No more static pages. This will give the site a consistent look and is one of the reasons its searchable. This also means that I will no longer need to edit HTML pages by hand. Now all I do is change the data, and the site changes automagically. All items will have a date last updated in the database and categories that have new information in them will have a by it.
More Compact:
The information on the left has been compressed, by clicking on buttons, it will open that section to reveal its contents. This allows you to only see the information that you need at that time.
Consistent:
Since all the pages will be built by a CGI application, every page will have the same look and feel as the rest of the pages. All pages now have a Fixed Width of 780. This means that if you are at 640x480, its time to move up to 800x600 or higher. By switching to a fixed size it gives me more control over the way the pages look. Links that you have visited already are in Purple, links you have yet to visit are in Green, and change to Cyan when the mouse is over them.
Interactive:
Over time this site will be more interactive. You will be able to contribute you own ideas to the Articles, Tutorials, etc.. Similar to the way Slash Dot works except more limited (read: I will be moderating and controlling content).
Relational:
Items on the site that are related to other items will have direct links to those items. For example, an Article refers to a Tutorial, and a Link, those items will be listed under "Related Information" on the right side of the page.
Printer Friendly:
One of the top items on my list of improvements was to make the site more Printer Friendly. With the new layout and text colors, I hope to achieve this. This has been tested on a HP Laser Jet 5P, if you run into problems printing on other printers, please email me and tell me what the problems are. If its fixable, I will do it, otherwise you might be SOL. Currently the printing on my printer chops off the Right Column with the related links. Say Thanks to Microsoft for that one.
You should also see a lot of other subtle things on the site (With IE4 and IE5) such as Popup Hints on Links, etc.. As I find other little ways to help you find the information you are looking for, I will incorporate those ideas into the site.
The site has been tested under IE4 and IE5. If you have another browser and are having problems, please drop me an @EMAIL@. If you are using a browser older than version 4 of either Netscape or IE, you should consider upgrading.
I decided to put the new site on-line since it is very close to being done. You will notice more options showing up on the left over the next few weeks and a few things may change as I tweak the code to get everything just the way I want it. If you run into a problem, please let me know by sending me an @EMAIL@. Formatting of Articles and other information will be changing as I start to go back and add the new formatting commands I have coded in the CGI application.
I realize that this site does not look that good under Netscape yet, however, I will be working on making the appropriate tweaks to get it to look right. Please bear with me for the next few weeks.