What is going on?
Tue, November 29, 2011 If my postings have been a little sparse of late there is a reason; I have been busy doing other things.
I have had to completely re-build my website www.ProdigalChild.net for a start. The site originally went live on the World Wide Web in 2002, a year before my novel Prodigal Child was published.
Since that time more and more material had been added to the site. A website expert told me at one time that the site had been added to and patched up so many times that it was like an old car that had been repaired so much that the only cure was to get a new one.
Originally for the first year or so there was no mention of bicycles on the site, or my previous involvement in once building frames. At the time I had been away from the bicycle business for nine years, and had completely lost touch.
Then people started contacting me, telling me that they still owned and rode bikes that I built. A Bicycle Section was added, and this grew and grew as people sent me more pictures.
For the last six months I have been unable to update the old website or repair broken links, etc. I had been slowly building a new site to replace the old one and it was almost finished when about a couple of weeks ago the old website died completely, and disappeared from the Internet.
I have been scrambling to get the new one up and running. The new website is up, but parts are still under construction. Pages 4 and 5 of the bicycle section are still blank. Pictures are to be added.
While all this was going on I am deeply involved in another project; making replacement decals for the various model frames I built over the years. It is not viable to have decals commercially printed, as I would have to buy them in quantities numbering in the hundreds.
A quick look through my bike registry shows me that many of the frames I built still have the original paint and do not need a re-paint. I need to be able to produce the decals myself in small numbers, in an economical fashion.
I believe what I am doing is inventing a whole new process to produce the decals; it involves a lot of experimentation and testing. I am getting close to having a finished product, for more news watch this space as they say.
Reader Comments (8)
Well, I looked at your new webpage and I have mixed feelings. While it's certainly cleaner than the old one, I take it's designed for one of those new-fangled wide screen monitors. With my perfectly serviceable 17" flat screen CRT at 1024x768 I have to scroll a bit, but not back and forth all the time. I'll get a new monitor when this one dies, which may be a while. But then my newest car is 20 years old and my newest bike 30.
I agree with John B about the size of the format. Also DAVE whats the 'E' for ? It Seems the thing to do for Brits to use the second name. My CORRECT name is ANTHONY (UGH!) JOHN WILLAM (G) CRUMP. Is the E for ELWIN or some such?
Looking at your web site I see that the "E' is for EDWARD. Your Dad? Also for the Teddy boy suit you have on in one photo. My names are all relatives as was the pratice in England in days gone by I guess.
My monitors are also 17 inch, but my resolution is set at 1440 x 900, which acording to my stat counter is within an area where the majority of browsers are set.
All one can do is set the readable text to a width where you can read it without constant back and forth sideways scroling. Scrolling up and down is pretty normal these days. The background is just for decoration.
I apreciate your input.
Dave
No problem, Dave, like you say, I don't need to scroll back and forth once I centre the text. And it's a good clean-up because the old site was a bit confusing. I'd get lost and sometimes couldn't find my way back to where I wanted to be.
Dave, Me bored? my wife is asking me that a lot of late! BUT I love to read. This is re ACCIDENTS. Cycling article 'The remedy for road accidents' this a long article and IF you are interested I will scan it and send by Email to you. Talks about Enforcement of the law etc, A van driver who recently bumped into a DOG! fined the driver five quid plus costs, BUT this caught my eye, A private car driver had struck and KILLED a cyclist, carrying his body three quarters of a mile before stopping,and then was fined TWENTY QUID! $35.00! This was all in a Cycling mag Dated 26 Jan 1950! Times had not changed HUH! By the way on your new web site some on the letters are jumbed up. Maybe I need a new pair of glasses.
I hope you can figure out how to produce replacement decals soon. I've been waiting to hear back from an online vendor who said he can make decals for a FUSO repaint I'm working on. It's been over a month without even an email reply I'm not very hopeful it will ever happen.
Keep working on the website. I enjoyed reading it.
Cheers.
Stelvio,
What model Fuso do you have? Email me davesbikeblog@gmail.com
Dave