the author...

...the authoring tools.

a web carpenter's tools…


Oh, well...  it's just the usual stuff. Computer screens are not all that exiting, but we can't do without them when we're dealing with web carpentry.

This picture was taken back in 2003, but if you look further down this page you'll see that nothing much have changed on the surface. The most important item is still the coffee cup, and a constant refill of that black stuff is a must for creativity.

Below the desk and outside this picture-frame... well that's another story. What little is seen of the PC boxes below, is working just fine, but today's main work-horses are not in the picture.

audio

The audio-capability is minimal, and used as little as possible. I create my own sounds/noises somewhere else, and I rarely ever listen to music while working or surfing the web.

I do work and test with voice-programs now and than to make sure content of my own creation comes through well. That's usually done through high quality headphones, since good speakers for computers are hard (or rather impossible) to find.

speed — where needed…

A high-speed multi-tasking dual AMD-CPU - dual (parallel) HD - 2GB RAM Opteron is running in the background – driving the essential parts. It's a pretty fast unit – and that's an understatement.

A nice little iMac is also adding its flavor to this web carpenter's little play-room. A lot yet to explore on that contraption, but apart from not being quite up to speed with the main machine mentioned above, it seems to outmaneuver most PCs. Not bad.
It just needed a proper mouse...

connected

A simple LAN-unit is keeping it all together, so I have plenty of backup storage at hand. Quite useful since I have content and stuff ready for at least 20 times more than I release onto the web at any one time. If only I remembered to use this backup capasity more often, to secure my work.

I run an internal Apache web-server, so most things can be tested and made to work well before launch. Got plenty yet to explore in the field of web-servers.

integrated

Everything is at an intermediate state as I write the year 2007. I won't redesign my work space for better integration of equipment into it, until I have found all the right units and of the right quality. What I can't buy I'll have to build myself, and I'm a demanding customer.

Matrox Parhelia screen-cards are connecting 3 screens to each of two PCs, so I can view different stages and presentations of each new web carving across no less than 9 screens – and at least that many browsers – from that one position in front of the desk.

Simulating really wide screens across this setting is also easy. 3800 pixels width for one application is the limit at the moment, and that's not what I'd call a serious limitation.

internet connection…

In short: slow to non-existent.  Not much I can do about it, as call-up connections is the best we can get around here. Around 43Kb/sec is the usual connection-speed – if I get a working connection at all, and I can only get that through a US Robotics 56K Message Modem. All other modem-types are a lot slower, no matter what they "say", and I've tested at least a dozen modems lately.

Our local connection just means that we are not constantly on-line and surfing the web ourselves. We get around most of the time.

There are days when we can't establish a working connection, no matter what. That's really frustrating – especially since we have to pay many times more for our broken connection than others pay for 1MB/s broadband in this country.

The positive effect our slow connection has on web design, is that the author pays a lot more attention to optimization of web pages and content than many who are on high-speed connection do. The around 50% of all web-surfers that are limited to such slow connections, will benefit from this optimization.

disconnected 1

The weak connection is parallelled by an even weaker, in fact; non-existing, coverage for mobile phones and other wireless solutions – including public TV. We got snail-mail though...

This is quite typical in rural Norway: low quality and low coverage – and generally higher cost and taxes the less you get. That's why we who live here become so independent, I guess, and we're only 5 kilometer (3 miles) from the nearest town.

power — mains — UPS…

Our electrical supply is at least as weak as our internet connection, so our backup system is also upgraded lately with a "real UPS". Most standard units for power-backup are far from "Uninterrupted", so we now have a UPS from APC that doesn't let us down for even a faction of a microsecond. One hour of uninterrupted supply for finishing ongoing work and ending all operations, is a real relief for this web carpenter. Maybe I'll add more time...

important

I'll stress the need for a "real UPS" for those in need of such backup: Many so called UPS-units available are fakes and/or badly constructed. They may generate switch-noise because they are not really backing up anything until the mains fails, which means that they are completely unsuited for fast computers and surrounding hardware of today. Read more about testing UPS.

disconnected 2

The electrical supply is so bad that ordinary electronic equipment becomes stressed to death quite quickly through peaks and surges when in daily use. That's one reason for having a reliable UPS-unit for computers and accessories, just to keep it from breaking within weeks. We have had some of that...

This is part of our everyday life, so we're used to it. +-10% variations and +-25% peaks and surges in supply-voltage might be acceptable in rural areas. After all; I worked in construction of power-stations for many years, and the problems with long supply-lines and variable load are well known.

We often have around +-20% variations and +300%/-80% peaks and surges on our supply lines, so the above mentioned solution is really a must. Just hope the bad supply doesn't break the UPS-unit, because then we're really lost.
The fact is that the UPS is broken right now, and that is really problematic.

paperwork…

Lots of paperwork around her, but high quality print publishing isn't prioritized so it is mostly for internal use. Printing-devices last a while, and then they either break down, or simply get replaced because we want something new and better with a low price-tag.

Our old Canon S400 is semi-retired. It is still ready for the odd job, but will probably not get more ink when local storage runs out. The replacement is a Canon PIXMA iP5200 that is working just fine since installation late november 2005.

future…

Always difficult to say anything for sure about the future. We'll add some and some will be taken out — probably. I may add some notes about it when it happens.

sincerely  georg; sign

Hageland 06.apr.2004
last rev: 23.apr.2007

Web Standards Group Member

the author...


We can get around with what we have now.
More may be added, but will it improve web design?
Molly 'the cat'


Section

  • introduction
  • Table of Content

About

  • this is PTL web-design
  • CSS sledgehammer
  • Lynx enhanced page
  • Print enhanced page
  • Projection enhanced
  • Small Screen enhanced page
  • validity of xhtml and CSS
  • html tidy
  • Opera and me
  • Firefox vs. IE
the usual
  • the author
  • more about author
  • Copyright
the unusual
  • Molly speaks up
the additional
  • Examples
  • Demo pages

Good hardware and software may not improve web design all that much...
...but good tools makes it a lot more fun...
Georg

additions:


about…
…2005 - 2007