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History
Release 1
Lightstations.com was
initially launched in 1999 as a database-driven site using Microsoft Active
Server Pages technology. The entire site was authored using Drumbeat
2000, a visual ASP development tool. The heart and soul of the site, the
photo archive, resided in a Microsoft Access database. As requested based upon
a search query or browse command, the site dynamically assembled the pages and
placed them in a template for delivery to the user. There were also several
static pages, mostly in what was to become the 'Song & Verse' and 'Site
Guide' sections of the current site.
Release 2
In 2001, the Keeper decided to
extensively renovate Lightstations.com. The site was converted to all static
pages, to achieve several objectives:
- More design flexibility. Having only one template layout for
over 300 different photo pages proved restrictive. For example, it would have
been difficult to offer varying numbers of thumbnail photos on a single page,
with links to larger photos, as is done on the redesigned site.
- Ability to comprehend full scope of site content, especially
the photo archive. The previous site design relied upon the user's ability,
using the search function, to successfully find desired content. Even if the
query was successful, all the user would see would be links to a limited number
of pages matching the search criteria. If unsuccessful, the only alternative
was to do a laborious one-by-one browse through the entire archive, from
beginning to end. This made it difficult to understand or appreciate the full
scope of the content.
- Desire to use Java-based navigation. The advent of powerful,
easy-to-use Java applets heavily influenced the decision to redesign the site.
The Java-based navigation scheme built into Release 2 goes a long way toward
solving the problem described in the previous paragraph.
- Retirement of authoring software. In 2000, Elemental
Software, the innovative company that created Drumbeat 2000, sold out to
Macromedia, Inc. Macromedia quickly gutted Drumbeat, migrating only portions of
its powerful feature set into a new Macromedia product named UltraDev. As a
result, Drumbeat soon became a has-been product with no maintenance upgrades or
technical support available. The option existed to completely rebuild the site
in UltraDev, but that would have been a time-consuming chore, using what in my
opinion is a much less-capable product than Drumbeat 2000.
- Search Engines. I wanted to make all of the content of
Lightstations.com more accessible to search engine spiders. Much of my best
content was buried in a database, invisible to the search engines. To remedy
that, I made sure that all content is directly linked to the top page,
index.html. In fact, I even placed an invisible link at the bottom of
that page (view source to see it) to guarantee that search engines could find
their way into all of my content.
- Simplified maintenance. By moving away from ASP technology
and removing dependence on Drumbeat 2000, the site can now be authored more
expeditiously using virtually any HTML editor. It was recreated using my old
favorite, Hotmetal Pro,
from Softquad. Also, it's now possible to modify individual pages without
having to upload the entire database after every change. After all, this is a
hobby site, and I want it to be as easy as possible to maintain
it.
- Cost reduction. By removing the requirement for a database,
the cost of hosting the site can be lowered.
Release 3
In 2004, the Keeper closed
down Lightstations.com as a standalone site. The content was merged into
BlockPhotos.com, his new photography website.
Release 4
In 2005, the Keeper decided to
simplify the navigation of Lightstations.com by eliminating the fly-out Java
navigation applet. Plain hyperlinked navigation was installed, and HTML menu
pages were added as necessary. This decision was made to make the navigation
less prone to failure when user firewalls and/or browser settings prevent the
use of Java applets. Navigation also became faster and the site became more
browser-neutral. In my own case, I was having trouble getting the Java applet
to appear in the Firefox browser, and I assumed that others might have this
problem, as well. This was another reason I removed the Java-based
navigation. |
History