These notes are primarily for the WEB MASTER. However,
they will give an idea of what went into - and "how" this site was (or
is being) produced.
One large challenge was in producing a composite and "complete"
class roster. A second (minor technical) challenge was coming
up with an individual page template file that would be consistent and
used for creating a page for each of hundreds of individual classmates.
The first attempt at ROSTER BUILDING was by building a "draft"
web page roster from the photos included in our 4th Class yearbook.
Unfortunately over 4 (or 5 actually) years of yearbooks it was
seen that the yearbook photos for our Class were frequently incomplete
for "whatever reason" i.e. photos of classmates were left out. Also,
the photos were frequently incorrectly alphabetized and name captions
listed for 4th class men were just last names and initials.
I was provided 3 "Excel" spread sheets (in various forms and formats)
presented as being "class roster/mailing/email" lists from our REUNION
committee, and also a "Word" document - which appears to be a "Class Directory"
produced from our 35th Reunion attendee registration forms, as well as
several other forms and documents that were used for organizing and promoting
prior reunions.
From this review we had (for our class) -
559 photos in the 64 yearbook
413 photos in the 65 yearbook
376 photos in the 66 yearbook
396 photos in the 67 yearbook
and, at that point, an undetermined number of our classmates who
had "slipped" to '68 (or beyond) for graduation
397 names (on 2-"Excel" spreadsheets, in two different formats
or sort sequences)
360 names on another "Excel" spreadsheet
and
121 names included in the "Word" document produced (apparently)
from our 35th Class Reunion registrations.
To resolve this dilemma, and arrive at our "final" / composite
class roster ... we took one of the 397 name "Excel" spreadsheets,
added fields for First name and middle initial, it had a field for
last name (this for correct sorting sequence) and also added 5 fields
as "flag fields" to indicate that a photo existed (OR DID NOT EXIST)
in the 64, 65, 66, 67, or 68 yearbooks and proceeded to inventory photo's
in each. Later, I added a "years attended" field to aid in analysis.
When the '64 through '67 photo inventory (and 1967 Activities listion
for our Seniors) was completed and the list edited, and added to, for missing
names, that then gave a source list to compare with photos in the 68 yearbook
to identify our classmates whose graduation year slipped to '68. This
review also identified those who "joined" the class of '67 from prior classes,
i.e. a new name and photo appearing in '66 or '67 who was not previously
included in class photos in '64 or '65. In addition 4 classmates were
added based on activities listings as Seniors in the '67 yearbook - who never
in 4 years had a photo included with our Class photos. Names, as listed
in the senior class yearbook, are the names used in the Web Site's - Class
Roster Pages.
From all of this review, and analysis, we finally arrived
at a properly alphabetized list containing
639 names of
people considered to be "members" of the Class of 1967 and included as
our CLASS ROSTER (obviously it does not include those who dropped out prior
to :knob photos being made, but it most likely does include some who did
drop out prior to knob year ending)..... and the CLASS ROSTER WEB PAGE was
rebuilt.
This "Excel" worksheet/composite list also includes 4 "friends of
the Class of 1967" and DONORS to the Class of 1967 SCHOLARSHIP FUND
who are not listed in the CLASS ROSTER PAGE, but who will (hopefully) be
honored as DONORS (or recipients) in a future web page..
PRODUCTION APPLICATIONS USED
EXCEL - To produce a composite / working class roster
PAINT SHOP PRO - for scanning and saving yearbook photo pages
and activities pages. These page scans were always saved in the
loss less PSP file format.
Class photo pages were scanned at 96 dpi
and the activity pages at 150 dpi
PAINT SHOP PRO - was again used to "cut" senior photo caption
images (to be used on the roster page), senior activities listing images,
and each of the 4 or 5 years (or less) of the photos from each class year
from the PSP format page scans and saved in a sub sub directory for each
of the
641 classmates from the roster in a 25% reduced
JPG format for publishing on individual web pages. The file naming
convention used was the individuals name with initials preceded with
the yearbook year for photos or followed with either "caption" or "activities"
for those images. Prior to saving, each of the photo images were
resized to height = 200 pixels for consistency i.e. cut, paste as new
image, resize (as necessary), then save.
NETSCAPE COMMUNICATOR - was used for authoring all web pages
WS FTP95 LE - was used for all remote to host file maintenance
PRODUCTION PROCESS FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL CLASSMATE'S
WEB PAGE
Web site organization -
The Root directory - contains the Index page, Roster page, several
other "one time" pages, and all common or repetitively used image files
First level sub
directories - are alphabetic place holders for individual classmate
pages, they are also the location for the the individual alphabetic class
rosters.
This avoids having to scroll through 643
SD's to find the correct place to put individual page images. Firlst
level subdirectories are also used for other special
event pages (or sections) such as the section
devoted to our Class of 1967 Memorial Scholarship Fund, reunion planning
/ reunion news & photos for those
who were unable to attend.
Second level sub directories - (within the alpha directories) are used
for each individual classmate page and it's related image files
First, several "place holding images" were created in the root
directory to be included in a Template page for all individual classmate
pages. These included place holding images for - the senior photo
caption (if available), and two photo / place hold images - one
for photos and one to always be pulled from the root to fill a "missing"
photo. Also, two other common images were placed in the root -
a masthead image and a "typical/blank" contact information image.
Second, an individual classmate "Template Page" was created,
within my 2nd level sub directory - so relative addressing could be
used for common images. This was then copied to the root as a master
for creating each subsequent individual's page.
Third, this master individual's Template Page File was copied
from the root to each individual's sub directory, loaded from there,
the correct images added/or replaced (all of which had been placed here
previously, or drawn from the common root ), the page title modified,
that template file "saved as" a page file using the individuals name as
the page file name.