Mission Accomplished

I’m feeling pretty “up” this evening. Do you know that feeling you get when you’ve been working on a project and you keep running up against obstacles that frustrate and stifle you to a point where you just want to throw something? And then, provided you’ve kept at your task that is, it finally all comes together just the way you had originally envisioned? That happened to me today.

The non-profit company I work for needed to have its web site updated. Unfortunately, the company that has been hosting their web site doesn’t lend itself to easy updates. My boss had used a WYSIWYG web site builder to construct the site, but she had problems doing updates. So she had the company buy Microsoft Frontpage 2003. Then she quit her job to go to work elsewhere, leaving the web site still needing to be updated. She and her boss found out that I had built several personal web sites, so I was asked to try and update this company’s site.

I installed Frontpage on my computer at work after practicing at home with the older Frontpage 2000 program. I found 2003 much changed, and infinitely less user-friendly. I found myself cursing it vigorously (under my breath because of a “no swearing” edict in the office. I copied and pasted the copy from the old web site onto Frontpage 2003. It went pretty fast – a snap right? Well, firstly, even after installing the Frontpage extensions to the host, and then re-installing them when I couldn’t upload the updated material and still being unable to do the upload try after try after try, I got my first inkling that this was going to be a wee bit more difficult than I had originally thought.

My interim supervisor listened to my tale of woe and encouraged me to change web hosts. I am fairly familiar with Tripod.com, a subsidiary of Lycos, having used their free hosting services to build two personal web sites. My supervisor authorized the switch and the payment for it, so I’m ready to slap that puppy up there for all the world to see in all its updated glory. After numerous false starts, I finally got it uploaded to Tripod and started testing the links on all the pages. Funny thing – when we signed up on Tripod, we weren’t allowed to use either the .org or .com domains. The company already owns those and Tripod said we could use .net. OK, just a minor glitch we could work around. So, the new .net sight is uploaded to Tripod and I’m clicking around from page to page, and I notice that some of the old .org pages are popping up. I definitely did not want this to be happening to my freshly rebuilt and updated web site. After several days of puzzling about this strange phenomenon, it dawned on me that in copying from the old web pages and pasting into the new ones, I was including some old code, which caused the old pages to pop up.

I could only work on the web site during scarce slack time from my regular work routine, but I decided to completely re-write all the copy. While I was at it I added some impressive features that Frontpage offers. These features did not want to be added the way I wanted them to appear, but little by little, I won the battle.

After uploading the newly rewritten pages and having the management of the company review it and make their edits on paper, which I then transferred back to good ol’ Frontpage, I finally uploaded the corrected, updated and revised web site. Looks pretty damn good. Very simple and straight-forward, with minimal graphics because many of our clients are over 60, and use dial-up Internet connections if they have computers at all.

My next task was to be to contact our former host and request instructions on how to have the .org and .com searches forwarded or re-directed to the new .net URL. Just before the workday ended today I played a hunch and visited the inner workings of the former host – and VOILA! I found their page that allowed me to re-direct the cursed .org to the pure and untainted by bad code http://www.seniorliferesources.net/ .

Now, the Executive Director tells me they have two more web sites to build. Ahh – job security.