Site Notes

What's New!

New host, new layout, some subtle new features and a continued obstinance when it comes to significantly updating the content. As you no doubt notice, I've once again revamped the appearance to a slightly blog-like format. This is for a few reasons: first, foremost, I think it's better. More compact, more readable, easier to navigate. Second, the content lends itself to this format. Third, I am a huge fan of RSS (Really Simple Syndication), so I am incorporating it into the site. Moving to a blog format simplifies that process.

Already, the bookmarks are now managed by one of my favorite web sites, del.icio.us. When I find (or hear about) a site relevant to Herriman and/or Krazy, I simply save it to my del.icio.us bookmarks with a few well-defined tags, and use RSS to update the Bookmarks page nightly. I plan to start updating the news and trivia page directly from my personal blog. Both of these changes are geared toward making updating much easier, so I will do it more often. After more than ten years (the site debuted in January, 1995), I have to admit that updating it via HTML doesn't work for me. Whenever I want to add anything small to the site, I think of all of the big things I'd like to do (but don't have time to do), and I procrastinate.

Future RSS plans include making the news page available as a subscription page and then looking at the bibliography and Tiger Tearoom.

Motivation

There are a number of reasons why I put up this web site. First and foremost is my admiration for and appreciation of George Herriman - his work has enchanted me since I first came accross it over 20 years ago. Secondly, because I wanted to put up a web site that was about more than my kid and my pets, and the other Krazy Kat pages up at the time (1985) were pretty thin on details. Finally, because my work and family keep me busy, and I don't want a site that requires constant updating. This subject matter is largely referential, and the site is valuable even if it sits unmodified for a year at a time.

One of my main motivations in putting up a site at all is that web development is my hobby. I do enough of it professionally to keep my skills up, but that work is largely using web programming to design forms and reports. This Krazy Kat site is a labor of love.

Privacy

Excepting the Tiger Tea Room, the Coconino County web site collects no information other than typical stats (how many hits and megabytes downloaded, what type of browsers were used - no names or personal info attached). The Tiger Tea Room is an online Bulletin Board, and, if you post there, your post might be visible to the world for some time. If your post is offensive or completely irrelevant to the site, I'll likely delete it. If you want it deleted or modified, you can email me, and I will respond as my time permits. If you email me, I will likely save your message, but I will never share it or sell any information to anyone. If you're famous, I might brag about it.

Technology

Since web design is both my hobby and something that I do professionally (among other things), I like to keep my skills current and keep to, as best as possible, current standards. Anyone who does web design knows that this is a constant battle. Following standards in web design is like trying to walk a stright line through an earthquake - you can try, but you might be walking straight into a chasm. With so many browsers, operating systems, computers and personal preferences out there, there is no wayto know what this site looks like for each of you. I can only test in the browsers available to me and make the best compromises.

This site is coded strictly in XHTML and PHP. No javascript, no frames, no dhtml, no Microsoft proprietary tags, no compromising for Netscape 4 (the worst browser ever designed). It will not be as consistent accross all platforms as my last revision was, but it looks much better than it ever did in current browsers. Upgrades to browsers are free - if you are not limited by your hardware or circumstances, you should get the latest version of your browser and give it a try.

Technology used: All pages are coded in XHTML, PHP and MySQL for a LAMP (Linuz, Apache, MySQL and PHP) server. All coding is done in EditPlus, a $30 shareware text editor that beats all GUI web development tools hands down. I believe that this revision has finally eradicated all of the garbage code put in by Frontpage three years ago.

Ancient History

Before there was krazy.com and the Coconino County Homepage, there was the Coconino County BBS, a computer Bulletin Board that I ran in San Francisco from 1988 until 1991. The same "Joe Stork" quote that loads this site loaded the BBS, which, being text-based, didn't really involve Krazy much otherwise. But it was an active discussion board, linked to Fidonet and Usenet, and a fun project. I met some great people through it, many of whom I'd love to hear from.

The Krazy Kat web page went up in January of 1995. A year or two into things, I got an email from LiveRight, the company that owns the copyright for the works of e. e. cummings, whose essay on Krazy Kat is contained here. The email justly accused me of copyright violations. I had a friendly interchange with them, and they granted me a royalty free license to use the portion of the essay on the site. Not wanting to be a copyright thief, I dutifully contacted King Features, who own the copyright to most of what's printed here. They were not willing to give me a free ride at first, and their standard charges were far beyond my means, so I took down the site for about nine months. After a while, King Features contacted me again and we came to a friendly agreement that allowed me to republish the site royalty-free.