Interview with Ron Wilson - Part 2

[Ron Wilson] Despite all of that frustration, though, I wouldn't trade those days. I learned everything from the ground up: I learned to write simple programs in BASIC, learned to compile them into executable files, made batch files to do useful little tasks for me like combine several text files into one big one. All in all, it was a good, solid background for what was to come — much like learning how to do math before calculators were invented. Sure, I want to use a calculator today to extract square root, but having done it longhand and with a slide rule in years gone by, new hardware doesn't intimidate me.

Even learning to write in BASIC (spaghetti code, as it was known then) gave me much insight that was valuable later in composing HTML pages, which I enjoy writing so much today because compared with BASIC, Pascal, Fortran or the other high-level languages of that bygone age, it's a total cakewalk. I have a deep respect for those who have carried the torch so far and made life so much easier for today's computer users.

[IB] Your Portal-Hyatt site has undertaken something not found frequently on the Web these days. It includes the entire text of the author's self-examination "The Diary of a Soldier of Fortune." How did that come about?

[RW] In late 1968 I sailed to North Africa on a Yugoslavian freighter and spent six months exploring. My fascination with Africa is similar to my fascination with the Internet, both have things in common: Africa until recently (historically speaking) was a mystery. Then a few bold explorers ventured into unchartered territory and brought back glowing reports of vast untapped resources and potential. Following the announcements, a whole host of entrepreneurs, carpetbaggers and bandits descended in mass, turning the landscape into a lawless frontier where anything went. Next came the seekers of order, civilization and honest commerce. Well, you get the analogy.

I like Stanley Portal Hyatt's window into the colonial period (Africa's version of the Wild West). He speaks his mind, never having heard of political correctness, and has quite a tale to tell. His book really impressed me when I first read it in 1990, so I thought I'd share it. Digitizing a 100,000 word book took more than the three weekends I'd planned for it, however. But now through the miracle of the Web, it's there online at Outspan for anyone who cares to have it — photographs and all. My gift.

[IB] As host of the highly rated History Site and Frontier web awards, you've had the opportunity to review many and various sites. Internet Brothers has its own award, the Helpware Plaque, recognizing sites that go out of their way to give something back to the Internet Community. We know what we like. How can beginning web developers make their sites ready for reviewers of top-notch award programs?

[RW] Like Internet Brothers, I too take web awards seriously. I have set the requirements for my two awards high because I want it to be a special honor for a site to receive one. My winner's list is short and contains few big name sites, which may lead some to conclude that I am arbitrary in whom I choose as recipients. This is not the case. I review each site submitted and judge the webmaster not only on any God-given talent such as artistic ability, but mostly on how much effort I see. Fancy does not replace good; hence, the more bells and whistles present, the more I suspect that real content may be lacking. People who construct these endless cotton candy home pages need to take a serious look at why they want a footprint on the Web in the first place. As it has been said before: A purpose is the eternal condition of success. So also with Internet sites.

And while we're on the subject, yes, I know that links are an inevitable part of the Web. But if you stop and think, the idea that "more is better" when it comes to links is ludicrous. Every link is an invitation to leave where you are and go someplace else. It's a little like inviting people over to your home and when they arrive you present them with dozens of handsome invitations to leave your home and go to someone else's. Kind of like saying, "Folks, there's really not too much for you here. I know you'll be a lot happier if you go down the street to one of these other addresses. Oh, but before you leave would you sign my guestbook and thank me for pointing them out to you?"

My advice is simple for anyone who wants to go after the worthwhile awards on the Web: scrap the animations, the MIDIs, the banners, the endless pages of links, and all the other winking-blinking bunk. Show visitors who YOU are, what interests YOU, and why they should care. Do that and you'll rise above the vast majority of tripe sites out there and easily attract the interest of reviewers, not to mention millions of mouse jockeys across the planet.

The Internet Brothers have implemented hierarchical menus for navigation. Easier done than said.

The hierarchical menus were created using Peter Belesis' © Dynomat DHTML scripting tool from Webreference. Give them a visit, you'll like what you learn.

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He would lie awake in bed every night wondering... "Is there a dog?"

"Fancy does not replace good"