About These Resource Pages
Their Nature and History
Site History | Legacy Resources | Contact Guidelines
The pages on this site are NOT a blog.
To understand why, you need to consider the history of these pages and the different approach a blog takes.
Site History
The resources on this site were created over a long period of time, beginning in an era when people were just becoming aware of the Internet.
Launched Before Windows 95
When I first created this site, few businesses and even fewer individuals had a website.
- Facebook and Twitter didn't yet exist.
- Most people were running Windows 3.1 and accessing the Internet using dial-up modems (if they were connected at all).
- To most people being online meant AOL, CompuServe or BBSs.
- Windows 95 was nearly a year away from release.
OS/2 Warp 3 gave me the tools to get online without purchasing Internet access software for Windows 3.1 (over $150 at that time for browser and email software).
Help for Clients
I first created a series of related pages on topics that would help my clients understand concepts like proper email address etiquette.
My “Start Page”
Initially, there was no complete listing except on a separate “Start Page” maintained for myself and clients. Links were not intended for public use.
Hosted on Computer
This Start Page was hosted on my clients' computers — updated via floppy disk when I was onsite or by downloading the “update” from the website via dial-up.
High-speed Internet Arrives
When high-speed Internet emerged, I linked people directly to the online “update” page rather than updating their off-line copy.
Shortcomings
At that time, the shortcomings of a site with unorganized resources soon became apparent.
While clients had a directory via the Start Page, it wasn't public.
The Resources Index Arrives
I made the decision to create a resource index page to support the rapidly emerging Internet-connected public.
- The pages were now publicly indexed and their relationship between each other was being established.
- The site content became more interactive.
- I could build upon existing content and link to related content without repeatedly explaining basics.
- It allowed me to begin to build a consistent layout.
The OS/2 Sub-site
I mentioned that I was running IBM OS/2 Warp when I launched this website. At the time, very little Windows content was included even though the majority of my clients were running some version of Windows.
OS/2 was not as well documented as Windows and over time I developed a sub-site devoted entirely to OS/2.
This was not a site meant to help my clients, but the first time this site was purposely dedicated to providing a resource to the public. It was an independent site that contained the knowledge I obtained attending sessions with much more skilled users in government and industry as well as by researching content online.I began to incorporate helpful resources that were being abandoned by other users such as the documentation about using Creative AWE64 sound cards with OS/2 including a self-hosted newsgroup. Eventually the newsgroup was shut down but I retained the most important details within the page itself.
Before the decline of OS/2 popularity, my site was one of the authority sites used world-wide.
Today, only a fraction of the content remains with less detailed references to OS/2's replacements.
Site Maintenance
Unlike blogs which contain one-off posts, the various pages on this site are regularly maintained.
- I updated the references to software and techniques to current standards as technologies changed.
- I added pages and content as needed.
- Changed content was re-indexed on the resource index.
- Obsolete content eventually had its status changed to legacy status.
This allows the site to remain relevant to current technologies while retaining older content as reference for legacy users.
Rebuilding Pages
Some pages need to be reorganized over time.
The site is complex and contains so much information that continually-revised pages can lose their cohesion. Sections within the page became isolated making that page poorly organized and the information difficult to locate.
To remedy this, pages are rewritten to flow better and be more consistent. Sometimes that means moving or removing content.
When a page has too much content, it is split off into two or more pages.
An example is the Identity Theft content. It was initially broken into three pages:
- Identity Theft (the original page);
- Phone Fraud; and
- Phishing.
More recently I split the “Canadian Internet Legislation” page from the Internet at Risk page.
The site's resource index page is then updated to reflect the changing nature of the site content.
This makes the concept of “guest posts” unworkable even if I were to launch into the complexities of hosting content written by other people.
Legacy Resources
Over time, some pages are no longer suitable for updating. External reference resources are disappearing or gone. Updating is difficult or impossible.
There are two options:
- the page is removed from the site; or
- the page is labelled as a “legacy” resource.
Legacy pages remaining on the site have the following added to the top of the page:
Note: I no longer develop this page. It remains as a legacy resource.
The listing on the Self-help Resources index page now has Legacy added to its listing(s).
How Legacy is Assessed
The following issues cause me to designate pages as a legacy resource:
- The page documents obsolete software and hardware.
- External supporting documentation is either gone or disappearing rapidly.
- The content may have been replaced with a page about newer technologies.
Examples of legacy pages are:
- Windows XP (obsolete operating system);
- Java (no longer supported by current browsers); and
- OS/2 pages on the IBM OS/2, eComStation & ArcaOS subsite.
This Site is NOT a Blog
I receive ongoing requests to provide “guest posts” for my “blog.”
Not only do these folks appear to have failed to look at my site before sending their request, but they can't recognize a website.
What's Different About a Blog?
A blog is a series of one-time posts that are sorted by date.
- Each posting is independent of each other, although there is generally a theme to the blog.
- Because blogs are sorted by date, no one expects the material to be current if it was posted some time ago.
- Bloggers can use labels or categories to connect posts to each other with common themes.
Because each post is independent, it can be difficult to locate specific information other than by using the categories and labels that are provided by the blogger.
Why This Site is Different
Pages on this site are not written, then abandoned.
This Self-Help Resources section is a series of regular web pages that are routinely maintained until they are designated as legacy resources.
The site evolves over time as content is added when I came across information I feel should be included.
In most cases, this is simply added to the current content of a relevant page.
Occasional Re-writes Required
Every once in a while, I review and edit pages to remove older content and broken links. The page is rewritten to restore a rhythm to the text.
Sometimes this means that content is moved from one page to a more logical location or a new page is generated when the content justifies it.
Russ' Blog
I didn't build a blog for a long time because of the limitations imposed by blogging software.
In March 2007, I posted “My Web Design Journey” on Russ' Rants.
This blog is an experiment for me. I've been building sites by hand since 1994 and I've learned the technology as it developed.
I built Russ' Rants to learn the basics of blogging on Blogger (the most popular blogging software at the time). I've experimented with WordPress later, but this remains my only public blog even though it is pretty much abandoned.
Other experience with blogging has come as I've built and helped maintain blogs for clients. This includes working on the local chapter blog which is part of a multisite WordPress blog.
My “Sometimes” Blog
I refer to Russ' Rants as my “sometimes” blog, since I don't post to it hardly at all. Instead, it became a place to post thought processes.
One example is the 2015 post about the change from static websites to responsive sites.
While blogs should generally be much better maintained, my blog is an experiment rather than a marketing tool.
- Most of the postings are date-sensitive.
- Many do not fit within the framework of this site.
