Rome wasn't built in a day, or so the saying goes. And neither are multi-page websites. Especially ones which you can only work on as a hobby. *ahem*. The original version of TRB took me some time to produce, even though a few reviews were originally taken from my other, now very defunct, website (Michael's World of Interactive Entertainment).

TRB version 2 (abbreviated to TRBv2) has taken me longer still. This is because I have planned the site from scratch on paper and I have re-written a lot of the reviews and re-taken the screen-grabs. (I've also had "little" things like work, eating, visiting my family, doing other things, etc).

Here's a page of what tools I used to construct The Rubber Beermat and a few thoughts about them.

Either just scroll down the page or click on a section that interests you...

Program used:
WebDesign

WebDesign by Rage Software is the html editor I use. I found this program purely by chance, late (very) late one Friday night. It's not a WYSIWYG editor like DreamWeaver is, but it doesn't cost hundreds of pounds either.

WebDesign has a variety of built-in tools to enable you to build your HTML or XHTML page. In addition, you can also create plug-ins for it so that you don't need to type in the same HTML code time after time; for that you need to download the free Plugin Creator. I have created several plug-ins for TRB using that program.

Programs used:
PhotoShop Elements v2

The graphical output for TRBv2 is managed using Photoshop Elements. This includes any scanning, image manipulation and anything 'fancy'. So far, I have composed all the graphics myself, although I have not necessarily created every image from scratch.

The 'save for web' function is especially useful. Depending on the type of image (ie GIF, JPEG etc), it can reduce the size (and therefore loading time) of a picture quite dramatically. The menu icons and site logo have been redesigned for TRBv2 and are generally improved from the first versions.

As I emulate the Speccy on three different hardware platforms, I need to use a screen-grabbing utility on each of those machines. QuickGrab is used on my Amiga and it is a rather useful utility. Image Capture is only used on my iBook for when I'm using ZXSP, as Fuse has a built-in screengrabber.

MBMView is used on my Psion. It has a file-conversion tool built in, so I can convert the images from the Psions' proprietory MBM format to GIF or JPEG.

TRB is created by hand, so occasionally errors in the code appear. To counter this, I use the w3c.org's free HTML validator service. All of TRBv2's pages has now been through the validator service. Any new pages are scanned by the w3c.org's validator before being uploaded. This means that all web browsers that follow the HTML 4.0.1 Transitional standard will display TRBv2 as I intended it. Barring screen size of course.

In addition, since all the pages have been successfully validated, I have added the customary W3c.org "tick" button to the front page of this site (which you might have seen).

TRBv2 is routinely tested on a variety of web browsers, covering four different hardware platforms. Don't say I don't try...

My main browser (when surfing, that is) is Apple's Safari application. As such, that's the one that I initially try out the layout and JavaScript routines. If it looks fine in that, I'm generally confident that it will render the same in most of the other Mac browsers. Not withstanding screen resolution or browser window size, naturally.

Just to be certain, I'll give the site a quick spin using Mozilla Firefox. Less frequently I'll test TRBv2 using Amiga AWeb and iBrowse, Psion Opera and PC Internet Explorer. Rather tellingly, Internet Explorer is usually the fussiest browser out of the lot when it comes page layouts and JavaScript.

I try to take into consideration what TRBv2 will look like and function on the Amiga browsers. There is no real reason for this other than the fact that I am a long-time Amiga user (an 'Amigan'). Currently, the three main Amiga browsers - A-Web II, Voyager and iBrowse will handle the site layout.

As TRB doesn't use CSS [in this version 2 interpretation], this means that the site now looks a bit uglier than it could do if I simply ignored Amiga browsers. This is compared to professional websites built with expensive website creators. However, as it is occasionally quoted in journalistic circles, "the medium is not the message. The message is the message"

Admittedly, TRB's layout is a bit basic. This is due to my HTML expertise and which browsers I want TRB viewable on. However, the layout does its' job and I do refine it every now and again.

As I am a Mac and Amiga user, my reliance on PCs is minimal. I have access to a shared PC in my house so I just do not simply ignore the machine that the masses use. It's annoying that I 'have' to check the layout on IE at all, but whilst IE still has the lions' share of the browser audience (thankfully decreasing), I want my site to be accurately viewed on as many platforms as possible.

And there you have it!