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'Frequently' asked questions about this site

You made a typo; your copyright notice says '&tc' instead of 'etc'.
Why is this site purple?
Purple? It's a white background, and it's ugly.
Why are you trying to force people to turn off JavaScript?

You made a typo; your copyright notice says '&tc' instead of 'etc'.
This would be a very difficult typo to make, since I would have to type '&' instead of 'e'. '&tc' is the archaic abbreviation for 'et cetera'. I read a fair amount of 19th-century literature and have come to prefer '&tc'.
Why is this site purple?
I am not a graphic artist, so I needed to make a simple design. At the same time, I didn't want to look as if I didn't have the slightest clue about what I was doing, so I needed something which was fairly crisp. Sticking to a simple colour scheme can accomplish that. I don't have any particular fondness for purple, but when I was playing around with Gimp and casting my pictures in different colours, I found that the purple looked best. Aside from the sepia, of course, but I've had too many failures trying to make pictures which highlight my interest in history. Here are some themes which didn't work out:

'Design'
Black-and-White 3/4 face with spirals, March 2004 Black-and-white 3/4 face base relief in stone, March 2004 Three faces superimposed, March 2004

Old photographs
Blurred 3/4 face in sepia, March 2004 An oval sepia photograph, November 1998

Gothic
Standing in a portal, with a dark green wash, November 1999 Cropped view of mouth and breasts in black and green, November 1999

Stained glass
Superimposed over a stained glass window, October 1999

Purple? It's a white background, and it's ugly.
If the site has a white background and almost no visual formatting, then you are viewing it in accessibility mode. Try adjusting your settings to the graphical view.

A less graphical version of this site was created because I object to websites which don't take in to consideration the different ways in which people access the web. The version does not, however, completely meet accessibility guidelines. It's very difficult to meet some of them when your site relies upon code and portions could vary depending upon context. There's also a limit to how much effort I'm willing to go to simply to make a statement--this is a personal website, after all, and I don't expect more than 100 people to look at it (and of the 100, I expect none of them to want the accessible mode). Remember, my primary goal is to make the site easy for me to update and to allow myself an opportunity to play around with code.

Furthermore, some guidelines--such as "Use the simplest and most straightforward language that is possible."--are are just plain stupid for a personal site. If I can't play with the language and attempt to make interesting content, there is no purpose for making a personal web site. I can see the point in government or public sites, but quite honestly, if you can't understand what I say, you can't possibly be interested in my site or me.

Why are you trying to force people to turn off JavaScript?
Please read my anti-JavaScript rationale if you would like to know what I have against JavaScript. I do not force anyone to modify browser settings; a parameter may be used to override your actual browser settings. You may wish to consider adjusting your settings.
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Copyright, rights reserved, &tc: Ann Barcomb, 2004 - 2015.
This page was last modified 2488 days ago.

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