My photography web pages are (re)designed in a minimalistic style. The consideration is based on the fact that many photography-related pages are naturally graphic- heavy; and I sympathize those who access web via modems.
- Styling is entirely done by HTML using Netscape for proofing. No Java applet; no Javascript; no fancy graphics; no background images; no multi-media.
- During recent redesigning, the directory structure remains basically unchanged thus the links and bookmarks saved by my loyal frequent visitors are still valid.
- Gray shades are chosen as the primary color elements to enhance the real colors of my photographs. For visual integrity, shooting data of individual photos become almost hidden (see "Navigation Tips" for details).
- Computer display characteristics vary enormously. Images are tuned for best viewing effects on Silicon Graphics workstations at their default setting. For other computers, go to a photo page and adjust the monitor’s brightness and contrast such that the background is not totally black and the shooting data are barely visible.
- For the best viewing effect, adjust the browser window to its maximum height, and to a width such that the 3 lines at the bottom of my main photography page are of the same length. Also, adjust the browser's font size according to the instruction there. (For an 800x640 or smaller screen, maximize the browser window and close all toolbars of the browser.)
Navigation Tips
About Servers
- The upward pointing icon (
) is always used to move up one level.
- Two other icons are used to navigate in the same level within a photo series: backward (
) and forward (
). Fainted icons (
and
) are not anchors but space savers to preserve the visual continuity to some extend.
- Icons in all photo pages are placed at the same positions. No need to move the mouse while continuously proceeding in one direction.
- Every photo series contains one index page where all photos are shown in thumbnails. There are two ways to start: using the icons at the top of the index page, or directly clicking on a particular thumbnail image.
- The index page could take a while to load when the server gets too slow. In such case, as soon as the icons appear, click the forward icon (
- Technical data are provided for every photo for those who really want to see them, but they are barely visible. To view, place the mouse at a bottom corner of a photo page, drag the mouse upward while pressing the left button. The shooting data will then become visible.
MIT has two web servers that can serve up the entire school-wide AFS (Andrew File System) documents. That is, one single copy of a file (not mirrored) can be served by different servers. (There are numerous other servers around MIT campus that only serve files that reside in particular computers or LANs. In fact I can run a server if I have the energy to keep it up.) Both servers are reliable and fast in their native speeds. (MIT campus-wide Ethernet is 10BaseT.) But they get slowed down too.Happy Surfing!
- In general, the official server, http://web.mit.edu/ (alises: http://mit.edu/ and http://w3.mit.edu/), is the fastest. But it could bog down during peak hours between 2pm and 5pm EST.
- When the official server bogs down, usually the student-run SIPB (Student Inoformation Processing Board) server is also heavily loaded by still a magnitude faster. This server is http://www.mit.edu/.
- My web addresses on these two servers are listed and linked at the bottom of my home page (read the fine prints).
- If you are on MIT's Athena system, the fastest way to access my web page is to by-pass the server completely. Under athena% prompt, attach my locker (attach cai) and then load the file /mit/cai/www/home.html.