q & a
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Who are you?
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My name is Michael S. Ellars.
I am 24 years old.
I was a college student at the University of Southern California where I studied architecture.
On May 12, 2000, I graduated top of my class with a Bachelor of Architecture, a five-year professional degree.
More information about me can be found in the personal section of this website.
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What is this site for?
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This site is primarily intended to be a personal forum for the display of my portfolio of work and the presentation of ideas. It also serves as a convenient place to experiment with the web as a graphic design and presentation medium.
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What do all of the sections mean / what is in each section?
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First off is Q-and-A, the page you are reading right now, which answers questions about this site. The next section, news, posts updates to this site and/or my personal life. Next is portfolio, where I post work I have done as a student, a professional, or just kicking around one Saturday afternoon. Right below that is experimental, a subsite dedicated to exploring the possibilities of the internet through graphic design and advanced programming. Personal includes information about me such as top-ten lists and the like. Lastly, whatever is just as its name implies: whatever was left over that I wanted to include but didn't really fit into any of the other sections. In addition to the six primary sections, there is also a linkage page to some of the best stuff on the 'net.
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Why isn't this called a "FAQ"?
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Because I don't anticipate many of these questions to be all that frequent, though I suppose this one might be asked more often than others. Rather, I see this as a chance for me to interact with you, the visitor, in a down-to-earth kind of way.
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So I send you a question, and you reply to it here?
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Yup. Of course, I might not post your question here, instead opting to reply through email. Or I could do both. Or I could do neither.
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I sent you an email and you never replied to it. What gives?
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Three things could have happened: 1)The email gremlins ate it; 2)I'm so busy I haven't had a chance to respond yet; or 3)It was a stupid question and I have cursed you for wasting my valuable time reading it. Hint: Chances are it's #2.
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I was trying to view your site and my web browser crashed; why?
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ellars.com uses lots of the latest and greatest web technologies, such as server-side includes, advanced JavaScript functions, and occasional plugins and Java applets. Some browsers, especially older ones (numbered 3-something or lower) simply can't handle this stuff. Another thing to watch out for is my experimental section -- it's loaded with advanced scripting that oftentimes has not been thoroughly tested for cross-platform and cross-browser stability.
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I noticed that you are a Trojan... so what's with all the blue, buddy?!
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Okay, look. I'm putting this down here so I don't have to answer each moron independently: USC's colors are cardinal and gold. Do you have any idea how incredibly difficult it is to a web page using such harsh colors?! Trust me, I know: I tried it once, and let's just say that no one I showed it to could look at it for more than a few seconds. But red is still my favorite color. (I suppose the color scheme is roughly based on WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS -- the word processor on my first real computer and what I used almost exclusively until about 1997 when I broke down and started using Word. <shudder>)
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Is there I guest book of some kind that I can sign?
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Well, there used to be. But over the course of several months, only one person bothered to post a comment to it. I removed it when in a fit of boredom one afternoon. Sorry.
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I really like this web site. Will you design a site for me?
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That depends, and it depends on a lot of things. First and foremost, what is the purpose and/or scope of the site? You must have clear vision of your goals. Is it a personal web site? I'd love to work with you on it. Is it for a company? Big? Small? Start-up? I don't do "e-commerce." Next big question: what is your timespan? I tend to work slowly (in my free time), unless you want to pay me to work for you full time. (My Resume is here.) Lastly, how much money are you willing to spend? A small personal site might run you $100-$500, but a company website could cost $5000 or more. It's difficult to be more exact than this without more information.
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Can I "deep link" to a page on your site?
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I'll preface my response with the fact that due to legal and technological issues, I can't really stop you from linking to a page beyond my entry page. That being said, I would strongly encourage you to link to the home page unless the link specifically deals with a small part of my site. (For example, if it is just a link to my site, put it at http://ellars.com. If it is a link to a news item, go ahead and link to http://ellars.com/news.shtml.)
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How can I link to a specific news item?
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In my stunning forsight, I included an anchor tag for every news item equivalent to the date format. For example, to link to the news item for March 4, 2000 you would link to http://ellars.com/news.shtml#2000.0304.
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You use pico? Why not vi / emacs / etc?
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I use pico because it does everything I really need a text editor to do with simple, straightforward commands.
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Is this your only web site, or do you have others?
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That is correct -- this is my only web site. Rumors to the contrary are unconfirmed at best. <grin>
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Will there be more questions and answers?
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When I get around to it, yes.
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