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Boone and Computing

Right now I am in the process of learning how to do HTML code which is another reason why I decided to make my very own web page. In addition I am quite adept on the Internet and in dealing with Internet systems and components such as IE, Netscape and other browser and add-on packages as well as the standard Microsoft Office suite for business applications.

Here are a few of my favorite programs and why I like them so much:

Boone takes no responsibility for anything other than these links and cannot be held accountable for someone else's program. All I have responsibility for is these links and that may be hard enough to keep track of! To make things simpler when possible I will link the button to the download page rather than the actual file so version changes or host site directory changes won't mess things up.

Netscape Navigator:  

Netscape was the default browser throughout my college experience and I became quite comfortable with it. As Microsoft's Internet Explorer grew into a true rival, Microsoft's heavy handed approach to making me use their product only made me that much more resistant to it. Since Gates & Co. have softened their stance I have decided to do the same and I do use their browser alongside my tried and true Netscape.

NetCaptor:  

If there ever was a real reason to switch to IE this little program may be it! This program adds tabs to your IE browser engine so its very easy to page back and forth through multiple browser windows. What's really cool though is the ability to designate what they call 'captor groups': loading a series of whatever pages you select for that group. For instance, when I want to review my investments the 'investments' tab loads up E-trade, Bloomberg, CNN-fn, Wall Street Journal online, etc. The authors will be adding a Netscape version as soon as Netscape's new 'Gecko' engine has been stabilized.

ICQ Chat:  

Even though as a Netscape User I have access to the IM chat program and use it quite extensively, ICQ does have a lot of capabilities that make me keep it in my startup group. The ability to send messages to offline users is a great feature and I like the ability to send files via chat...like combining the best parts of e-mail and chat, plus the author included a few extras such as a to-do list and stuff like that.

NoteWorks:  

NoteWorks is one of the coolest programs that I have seen in a while and it is so easy to use. When I decided to learn how to write HTML code I wanted to learn the 'hard' way: instead of using one of those really cool newfangled programs to write the page I used the tried and simple windows notepad. However, working on several pages at once became a real chore until I discovered this little gem. Now I can jump between my different HTML pages in a jiffy and have them save my place automatically. It is also incredibly handy to keep all kinds of notes in a quickly accessible format. The program lets you create categories, tabs, and subtabs so finding information a snap. But wait, there's more: it can also do tables and even display .gif and .jpg files!

Pointix Scroll ++:  

When I am on the net I like to see my pages in full page mode since I only have a 15" monitor. This little gem lets me scroll up and down the page by a simple click of my mouse just like I had one of those fancy scroll mouses. In addition, this program lets me do a small rapid circular motion called a 'glick' and depending on the direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise) it will simulate pressing the [back] or [forward] buttons on your browser.

Corkboard:  

Once upon a time I had all kinds of desk space, but the slow accumulation of all kinds of computer peripherals had gobbled up most of my desk. I miss that feeling of open space when I had room for a picture, a few notes here and there, a 'to do' list, and even a real clock. Now I can regain some of that lost freedom with this cool little program...and its a screen saver too! If you can pin notes to a corkboard this is for you!

Go!Zilla:  

Way back when during the dawn of time I actually used to download files using the "Save As....." feature of my browser. Phone lines in Alabama are not very reliable though or else I needed to use the phone and had to choose between having to start a download from scratch or waiting until it completed. Along came Go!Zilla and things haven't been the same since! Go!Zilla lets you save individual files for download at a later time, do a batch download at a more convenient time (like when chatting which uses ridiculously little bandwidth by itself: its far more cost effective to use the other 95% of the available bandwidth too) or when the Internet traffic is favorable, resume a broken or paused download form sites that support it (a good number do and you'll LOVE this feature if you're going for that 50 Meg file!), and it will even search other servers to help find the FASTEST download site. It even integrates with either Netscape or IE. In fact, there are many more great features but I don't want to spoil it for you!

WinAmp:  

Without going into the whole music industry versus the .mp3 compression debate I will say that if you like music this program is simply fantastic. Now I can generate playlists for whatever I want to listen to which gives me a bit more flexibility than the ol' CD-player. While I don't want to encourage piracy (illegal is BAD!), I will say that I think that recording artists will eventually be able to reach their audience more directly and without having to give up a large portion of their earnings to recording studios, and fans benefit by being able to hear new groups and discover new choices that may never had been available otherwise.

Windows Commander:  

Being what I like to call 'from the old school' and remembering the days of DOS 2.11 I grew fond of several 'killer' applications...one of these was a program called Norton Commander. With it I could work in two different directories at once, which was real handy considering how I like to keep my files in some sort of organization. Now I can do the same thing in the modern age and there's a whole lot more capability built into it too. This program can handle a wide variety of archive formats such as .zip, .lha, .arj, and several other formats, change file associations quickly and easily, select files to move or copy somewhere else, split and combine files, encode and decode files into/from MIME, UUE, and other formats, and a whole lot more!

How I found all these great programs
One of the best and worst things about the web is that there is so much out there; its incredibly hard to find what your looking for in a morass of endless web pages and broken links. If you're looking for a specific program or a program to do a specific task, I'd say try some of the best file sites on the web:

Another great way to find great new stuff is to let someone else help you! Many good sites such as Winfiles.com , ZD Net, and Lockergnome have newsletters that you can subscribe to which will bring you up to date on the latest computer news, software, computing tips, and happenings on the web.
This goes for news sites too! Many news sites also have the option to subscribe to a daily or weekly newsletter as well as getting updates on special topics as they occur. Its a good idea to limit the number of newsletters to what you think that you can realistically read in a day or week, and only sign up with sites that are reputable or else you they may sell your e-mail address to third parties and you suddenly find yourself totally submerged in SPAM (junk e-mail).

Finally, one of the easiest and sometimes most annoying ways to find something is by the use of one of the many search engines available. Each one will give you varying degrees of accuracy in finding what you're looking for, so if you can't find it with one engine maybe another one will do the trick. For any newbies out there here's a quick list of some of the most popular search engines out there:

Yahoo!

Excite

HotBot

Lycos

AltaVista

Webcrawler

In fact I heartily recommend that you bookmark/favorite them for easy access to save time!

My theory of web page design
Well, since I just started learning how to do web pages a few weeks ago I am not the greatest expert on how to code a great web page, I am a very experienced user and I know what I do and do not like.

For those of you viewing this in my selected colors, you'll note that I don't have any fancy backgrounds or spinning logos. I didn't do this from lack of experience; coding them in would have been a snap to do and there are tons of free stuff on the web. I didn't do it because they tend to annoy me! I've seen more than a few pages with all kinds of spinners, banners, backgrounds and so many frames that the CONTENT of the website gets lost in the clutter. Special effects are great when they serve a real purpose but when abused they can guarantee that visitors flee in droves.

I've found that darker backgrounds with text and links in complementary colors is a lot easier on the eyes. I try to use space without having it too cluttered...the human eye tends to like things in discernible groups. Having a standardized way to navigate through a site lets a guest navigate easier and more intuitively. I never use the dreaded <blink> or <marquee> tags because they are just plain tacky and irritating. I feel that if you need some gimmick to 'make' your web site then maybe you have a content problem: most users don't go to a site for fancy graphics and stuff.

That's not to say that basic text is the way to go. As I get more experience I plan to start adding some javascript to make a side bar menu and things like that, but the purpose will be to aid YOU, my guest, in navigating around my site.

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