I may have spoken of it before, but I finally decided to break down and pay for something web-related. I've been doing webpages for years, with my skills decreasing and getting worse every year. But years just the same. So long, in fact, that I remember the good ol' days when there was no such thing as popup advertizing. Seems like a myth now, right?

As the writing fanatic I am, I got some help (i.e. made Vince do it) in making a nice pretty website where people could access several different journals. A portal, if you would. Ideally the writers would be able to support each other, give feedback, etc., and curious readers of one person's journal might stumble into another’s and get hooked. In reality no one gives feedback on anything, posts half the time, or even really signs the guestbook...but that's not to say we don't actually utilize it for its primary function: as a portal.

In fact, if you're here now, chances are that that's how you got to this page in the first place.

Long story short, anything free on the web-hosting scene involves popups. Some places fewer than others, but they're still there. My particular page uses an 11-frame layout, and if you don't know what that means...basically it's a grid of 11 squares where a picture or text thingy or whatever goes in each square.

It’s a sturdy design, and very flexible. Vin-bin did it right when he made it. The only problem is that each frame uploads a different set of codes to display whatever goes in it, so whereas a normal webpage might load just one popup, the host or whatever tracker is opening popups reads it as 11 different pages…thus 11 times the popups.

I finally broke down and dished out the money after a couple of us tried to go to the page, only to get about twelve popups and no page at all.

First I got my domain name, which I had to set as basically just a redirect to the free webspace I already had. This accomplished nothing other than giving a neato address to the page, because it was still hosted on the free (popup inducing) webserver.

So onto the new host, where I spent more money I don’t really have (so I do, shhh). I get that all set up, and correctly even, but it’s not working.

The reason it’s not working is because I didn’t read the fine print saying that the changes I had to make in order for it to run properly would take 72 hours to come into effect. So instead of troubleshooting with fine-print-reading like someone with sense, I cry to Vince.

Viiiiiince, I wuv oooooo, I’m stoooopid, help meeee.

Which he does. Basically he told me, yes, you’re stupid, here’s what you do.

So I went back, and lo, it was all fine anyway, however he did recommend a snazzy FTP program (file transfer protocol, if you don’t know, don’t worry, and if you ever hear someone call it a fat transfer protocol, shoot him).

Feeling pretty fed up and pissed off at the whole ordeal after fighting with it for three straight days, I decided to fight with something else. It’s just what my family does. We find things to fight with.

Keeping in mind that my journal host also blew hard chunks, I had long ago tried to sign up for a snazzier, totally customizable journal.

I tried to sign up a few different times, with my last attempt being in February. Nothing would ever work, and I finally gave up on the host. A couple of my friends just signed up for it, so I decided I’d go back and give it another try. On a whim I tried my old login, and it worked.

I proceeded to make about the ugliest journal possible, using bright red with dull yellow and some grey on a black background. Ugly or not, I have to stay true to my colours. It’s inevitable.

The new page is already constructed, as I just ripped off, yet again, the 11-frame design I’ve been using the past five years. The only difference will be the lack of advertisements and I’m killing off all the graphics. Although it’ll have sections that are murder on a 56K, I want it to be less flashy and more text oriented. So as opposed to the seven graphics that grace the current page, it’ll just have one. The old page look will be archived for later use…it’s seen about five years of service already, and it’s not going to retire.

As hardcore as I used to be about doing everything by hand, I may eventually sell out/buy in and plug the page into some sort of wysiwyg editor to rework the frames. Probably not, though, I’m happy with them as they are. I’d like a little more space, but not bad enough to go through the trouble of reworking the whole index. I’m too lazy for that, and could be playing videogames instead.

Wait, I could be playing videogames right now. Screw this.