1997 Update Notes
— From Newest to Oldest —
As always, This Site is Still Under Construction. From time to time, little and sometimes BIG, bugs show up. If you find any, please report them to me so I can get rid of them as soon as possible. Your help is always welcome! :)
I started teaching myself HTML May 28, 1997. I started making my first Web Sites (this one) May 30, 1997. Although it is a little slow going figuring this code out by myself, I am learning.
This is Site 1. It looks much the same as Site 2. Only this one has ActiveX, VBScript and Java Script added to make it a little more interesting.
I use this Site to experiment with new techniques. If you are experiencing problems at this Site, try Site 2, it should work better for you.
I wilI be doing a compleat overhall of the Icon Art Pages soon! I will be updating many of my 16 color icons to 256 colors. I have an excellent icon making program - Icon Make It 95 - on order, but I have no idea how long it will be before it arrives. I will also start working on animated GIF buttons, and animated cursors, sometime in the near future.
If you would like me to do some custom work for you, just let me know. I can aslo make changes to my current works to conform to whatever your needs may be.
I love to hear from people. Especially if they like my art!
Thank you for visiting.
MACJR'S Mini-Verse²
Michael A. Crane, Jr. (aka MACJR)
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Afterword:
This was the last Update Notes posted at my first website, while it was still located at my first web site host’s site. However, the file date is from when I downloaded a copy of my site back to my computer, not from when I originally made the post (using FTP to download, or upload, files always loses the original file dates at the copied-to location).
Unfortunately, I did not always remember to date my Update Notes when I posted them, and this was one of those undated posts. Some of the dates for the earlier Update Notes, on this page, were also taken from the archived file’s date because a date was missing from the actual Update Notes post. This means that some of the Update Notes posted on these pages may be off by a few days, or weeks, from when they were originally posted, because file dates, on Windows computers, are not always accurate (thanks a lot, Microsoft).
FTP is not the only cause of original file date loss. Years ago, burning a CD or DVD often caused date and time shifts. Even making backups to floppy disk could get the dates wrong by a smidgen or two. Even today, Microsoft’s OneDrive is terrible about losing original, older, graphics file dates.
I know that the date for this Update Note is not correct, because August 21, 1997 is the day that I moved the MACJR’S Mini-Verse² website to a new online hosting service. I know that this Update Note was posted after August 10, 1997, though, because there is a file of that date, that contains a very similar, but slightly different, Update Notes post. In fact, because those two August 97 Update Notes posts are so similar, I chose to only re-posted the better of the two.
My original website was hosted by GTE (now called Verizon). That first site was hosted, free, as part of my GTE Internet Service package deal, but my site was quickly running out of growing space there, and GTE did not offer any alternate web site hosting package deals, so I found a hosting service that could meet my needs.
Oh, and that Icon Make-It 95 program that I was waiting for, as mentioned above, that turned out to be a huge disappointment. It was almost no better than an earlier version of the program, that I already had. The web site had left me with the false impression that the new version of their program could be used to make high color icons, but it turned out that it could not. I would later buy a copy of Microangelo, that could indeed be used to make true color icons.
Michael A. Crane, Jr.
Artist/Webmaster/Writer
All Page Counters were set back to Zero July 14, 1997.
As always, This Site is Still Under Construction, so please forgive any odd things that may happen to you while you are here. I recomend refreshing the pages you have visited if you think I may have changed something since your last visit. There may still be bugs that I have not yet worked out. If you find any, please report them to me, so I can fix them as soon as possible. Your help is always welcome! :)
This is my Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 4.0 Site. It looks much the same as my other Site. Only this one has ActiveX and Java Script added to make it a little more interesting. :)
I use Internet Explorer® 4.0 PP2 and ActiveX Control Panel® 1.0 to build, and maintain, this Site. I use this Web Site to experiment with new technics, if you do not wish to wade through my experiments, you may find the "Netscape® and Others" Site to be more to your liking.
Click here for my - (Link Removed) - Home Page.
I hope to be updating many of my 16 color icons to 256 color icons soon. I also hope to start working on animated GIF buttons, and animated cursors, sometime in the near future. I have a really cool, animated Star Trek® icon that I made. I will need to convert (redo) it to GIF format before I can display it here though.
Very soon now, if no one starts donating for my work, I will have to consider building, or working on, Web Sites for other people. I am interested in doing some custom art work. I am also considering looking for a paying sponcer or sponsers. If I get a paying sponser, the icons will be free (unless otherwise stated).
I started teaching myself HTML May 28, 1997. I started making my first Web Sites (this one) May 30, 1997. I did cheat at first, I used Microsoft® Front Pad® (now defunct) which wrote the code for me. Then I learned how sloppy it was, and that if I wanted it to look, my way, I was going to have to learn the raw HTML code and type it by hand. It was a nightmare at first, but not to bad once I got used to it.
I am thinking about getting some professional training. It is slow going figuring this code out by myself.
If you have any questions or comments, just click!
If you would like to send a donation for my art, or any other correspondence, write to me at this address:
Michael A. Crane, Jr.
(Street Address Removed)
Everett, WA.
Thank you for visiting.
MACJR'S Mini-Verse²
Michael A. Crane, Jr. (aka MACJR)
All Page Counters have were set back to Zero July 14, 1997.
I am willing to give copies of my art to those who cannot afford to pay for it. All I ask is that you tell people who the Artist is, where you got it and that you do not give it to anyone else. If you have your own Web Site, you must, at least, make a link to my Site. Better still, I have a cool looking Ad that you can place, anywhere you choose, on your Site. For more information, just e-mail me!
Michael A. Crane, Jr. (aka MACJR)
This Site is still under construction, so please forgive any odd things that may happen to you while you are here. I recomend refreshing the pages you have visited if you think I may have changed something since your last visit.
Michael A. Crane, Jr. (aka MACJR)
I have added pop up windows, with information about my art, next to the links to my works. Unfortunately, they do not work for everyone. Many browsers, especially older ones, do not recognize some of the new features I have built into my Web Site. Currently, if they do not work for you, there is no easy way for you to see the information contained in the pop up windows. I am working on the problem and should have something worked out sometime soon. I am trying to make this Site as accessible as possible. I apologize for the inconvenience to those affected.
Sometime soon, I will start updating many of my 16 color icons to 256 color icons. I also hope to start working on animated GIF buttons, and animated cursors, sometime in the near future.
I need people who like my work enough to download copies for themselves, to send me donations (I could really use some new programs and computer equipment). It would be nice if people liked my work enough to pay for it! It would also encourage me to display more of my works in the future. :)
Michael A. Crane, Jr. (aka MACJR)
If you would like to get in touch with me, just click! macjr@__.__
First Update Notes:
Some friendly comments sent my way about my Web Site.
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WOW! It is exciting to see the changes everyday at your site. I found the shades of darkness 2 interesting, it kind of reminded me of mica …
Karen Horn
Great Site you have here! Some really nice JPEG space type backgrounds.
Jim Herzman
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I actually don't make changes every day, but I have made many, and I have much more work yet to do. (I am teaching myself how to make Web Sites as I make this one.)
Sometime soon, I will be getting my icon art on-line. Most are only in 16 colors but I will be updating many of them to 256 colors.
I will also be adding pop up windows with information about some, or all, of my individual works.
I have one space scene I have been working on, for some time now, that I need a graphics program capable of layering to finish. If I ever finish it, it will be my best work yet! (Galaxy 4 is a small part of it that was enlarged and made into a separate image.)
I will be working on animations at a later time. I need for people who like my work, enough to download a copy for themselves, to send me donations so I can buy better programs. It would be nice if people like my work enough to pay for it! :)
Michael A. Crane, Jr. (aka MACJR)
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Afterword:
The above Update Notes post is the oldest one I have saved. As far as I can tell, it was the very first one. I found this Update Notes in the June 16, 1997 archive of my web site, but the Update Note file, itself, is dated June 15, 1997. My first web site was less than a month old at that time.
Of the two people quoted above, Karen Horn was one of my earliest online friends. Unfortunately, we eventually lost touch with each other, but I still consider her a friend to this day, and I often wonder what happened to her.
Jim Herzman was someone who wrote to me out of the blue, as they say. We talked a few times, but then went our separate ways. He seemed like a nice enough fellow though. He used to have a web site called, Jim Herzman’s CyberWorlds of Trains
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Back in those early days of my online life, I found people, in general, to be much friendlier than they are today. People seemed far more willing to talk with an unknown artist they found at some random web site they came across in their web wanderings. Over the years since 1997, contact with new people has become an increasingly rare event. Perhaps, I have changed over the years, as well, though. Maybe I am not as friendly as I used to be, and maybe my modern web sites reflect a colder, more aloof, personality than they used to. If so, I need to work on that. I do not want to chase people away. I actually do like having friends and hearing from new people who visit my sites.
However, it is a struggle for me, and it always has been, to be sociable. I do try though.
Addition notes: several of the above archived Update Notes, on this web page, have had some content edited out, usually because of the repetitive nature of my early Update Notes entries, but also for content that is no longer valid, like old links, discontinued e-mail addresses, and an old PO Box addresses that, literally, no longer exists. Back then, I updated the content of a single Update Notes page, rather than add additional entries, as I do now.
Also, I did not stay completely true to the font colors and size choices I made back in 1997, although I did try to capture some of the look and feel of those old pages, here on these updated pages. I also chose not to use any of those old background images on these pages.
The written text in these old Update Notes are unedited, although it was hard not to reword, or fix, at least some of those old words.
Michael A. Crane, Jr.
Artist/Webmaster/Writer
