About our Website
- Browser Requirements
- Architechture
- History
- Link and Usage Policies
- Tools used
- Endorsements, Citations, and Other Nonsense
Browser Requirements
A browser is required to view this website (i.e., tin cans and a waxed string won't work). Similarly, a monitor (or speakers with screenreader) of some type is convenient.While we didn't have any particular browser in mind, we do use the following:
- Tables, rather extensively.
- 64K-color graphics. Looks OK in 256-color mode. ALT tags are used nearly everywhere. No imagemaps.
- A 800x600 screen resolution (640x480 works, but is crowded).
- Occasionally (only when pages move) the META redirect tag.
- Java
- JavaScript
- CSS
- Any graphic format beyond GIF and JPG.
- Adobe PDF, with HTML versions also availible
- Maple Explorer content (modified TeX), again with HTML availible
- XML (in about 5 years, or whenever it becomes common)
- Aural Stylesheets, should there ever be a browser that supports them.
| Browser | Version | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Lynx | 2.8.2 for Solaris | Not pretty, but usable. Occasional table silliness |
| BrooksTALK | 1.0 beta | Usable. |
| Netscape Navigator | 2.02 | Very nice. Site Map looks a little funny. |
| Netscape Navigator | 3.04 | Perfect. |
| Netscape Navigator | 4.0x, WinNT Solaris, Macintosh | Perfect. |
| Netscape Navigator | 4.5 WinNT | As intended. |
| Microsoft Internet Explorer | 4.01 NT | As intended. |
| Microsoft Internet Explorer | 5.0 NT | As intended. |
Architechture
The basic structure of our site is the tree, with branches split by software type. The entire site strives to task-oriented - we try to place (and link) documents in ways that reflect the goals of a hypothetical user. We reinforce the structure and communicate it to the user by providing navigation bars at the top of every page, along with a standard logo. This maintains our site's look-and-feel while keeping the user informed of their location.Users may browse their way through our site by selecting links from lists. This helps associative learning by helping users recognize patterns in the structure. In addition, related documents tend to have similar URLs.
Known-goal searching is supported in three ways. First, the tree structure makes it easy to find what you are looking for by browsing. If this fails, searching is availible from every page, with user-selectable domains. Finally, the site-wide search page contains a site map, and allows highly advanced searching.
The architechure was developed after studying Information Architechure for the World Wide Web, by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville.
History
See the history of our site.- July 1999 - Math documents updated
- June 1999 - Architecture enforced
- May 1999 - Website overhaul deployed
- April 1999 - Website overhaul planned
Link and Usage Policies
Links to our site should meet the following guidelines:- The link text should be "Center for Statistical and Mathematical Computing" or "Stat/Math Center" if linking to our homepage, or the title of the page otherwise.
- Please don't make our site appear in a subframe of yours.
- Please don't imply that you created, owned, or contributed to any of our content, unless you really did.
- If you have a moment, drop us an email at statmath@indiana.edu to let us know you're linking, so we can let you know if/when we move our pages.
- Don't expect pages to stay where they are forever.
- We'll try to let you know that we're linking by email.
- If you don't like the link text or credit, let us know and we'll change it to suit you.
- We will not make your link higher on a list unless there's a really good reason. Nor will we include slogans, marketing info, product endorsements, etc., unless we have a good reason to.
- We will remove the link at your request, or if:
- The URL moves and we can't find it
- A new site with similar content appears that is (cheaper, better organized, more applicable, more permanent) than yours by a significant factor.
- You link to us, and aren't "polite" (see above).
- If you are an academic institution or maintain "links" pages, we ask that you link to us if appropriate.
Usage
Please remember that the entire site is © 1995-1999 The Trustees of Indiana University, All Rights Reserved. Permission to use
content for non-commercial purposes is hereby granted, so long as credit is given to the original author and this copyright statment is included.
Tools Used
The following tools were used in the creation of this website:- Dana, the world's greatest text editor, in the history of text editors.
- Matlab - used to create the trees for the site map and the connectivity matrix above.
- Adobe Photoshop 5.0 - logo, buttons, and icon creation
- Paint Shop Pro 5 - the "other" graphics program
- PostgreSQL - a free database for the link checking engine
- Microsoft Access 97 - non-free front-end to database
- Perl 5 - the duct-tape of the internet, used to make a link checking robot and maintainence suite.
