Why do most of your pages have black backgrounds?

I agree that the majority are black or very close to it ... more noticeable is the fact that there are no white ones. I'm sorry if you don't like them but I have good reasons for using them and hope you will find them valid ... I'm not going to change from this method though I am finding ways to mediate and achieve a more 'halfway house'.

The reasons for this are twofold:

Colour Vision Deficiency - often wrongly known as Colour Blindness:

The key to the enterprise is CONTRAST.

Many people suffer from CVD to varying degrees and the best way to ensure that they can navigate a site is to provide good colour contrast - I agree that a white page with black writing is high contrast but it is both boring and can cause too much strain on the viewers eyes ... even those without CVD!

Black offers a less bright surface to white and there are very few colours that won't work with black to create good contrast. Also, using pastels should be done with care ... the pale red links may fit nicely with your pale green background but it is quite possible that the visitor will not be able to see the links and therefore will be unable to navigate.

I can personally vouch for the painful aspect of white pages and cannot view more than 1 or 2 without having to move on ... my CVD is in the area of pale reds and greens and is the reason I don't use pastels ... I can't tell some of them apart!!

Graphic Clarity:

Graphics are easier to view and have an apparent increased clarity when displayed against a darker background - this effect is further enhanced by some form of pattern. Black is a simple solution and was my original choice but I am trying to introduce less darkness by using patterns within the background to lighten the effect whilst retaining the effect ... and keeping CVD in mind.

Why is your spelling so bad?

It isn't - I am English and therefore read, talk and write in English ...

Perhaps there is a connection between the country's name and the language ... perhaps it really isn't so important and the meaning or intent is what matters.

I'm used to all the variants of English and don't see any problem with the alternative spellings as long as I can understand what's being said ... I certainly don't write to the authors of American pages to complain that they've got COLOUR wrong again!

Why is all this stuff free and what's the catch?

Mainly because I like to play with ideas and packages - this often results in pleasing effects that I cannot use directly but may be appealing or useful to someone else.

The website templates and graphics have already been used and/or made whatever money they could - I figured it would be nice for other people to get more use from them rather than simply discarding them.

How many of you are there really and who does what?

There is really only one of me and I don't have multiple personalities.

I do all of the bits myself ... nothing is borrowed, purloined or otherwise copied from anywhere else. I have found items that are similar and some graphics or tutorials are likely to be almost them same on other sites ... this is to be expected given the number of people using the Internet and software packages.

I act honestly and hope others will act similarly ... those that don't are merely cheating themselves of the pleasures of achievement and creativity.

Why do you save the Wallpapers as JPEGs rather than BMPs?

The answers are very easy

• JPEG requires a fraction of the storage space when compared with BMPs - even when they're zipped. You can expect to have 880Kb for an 800x600 or 1.4Mb for a 1024x768 ... the jpg equivalents vary from 80Kb to 200Kb.
• Compare the file sizes and you'll see that I'd get about 100 online before I ran out of space - there are in excess of 200 online and I've still space for another 400+.
• JPEG is pretty universal and therefore keeps the graphics open to differing machines and operating systems.
• Everyone has some form of graphics package even if it's only the basic one that came with the system - even these low end packages can do the conversion without requiring special knowledge.

That's all for now

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