Practical Airsoft Recommends:
28 Days Later (VHS/PAL UK Video)
28 Days Later (Soundtrack CD)
28 Days Later (Book)
Fuji Finepix A204 digital camera
Cobra Microtalk 110 PMR446 2-way radio
About this site
Content stuff
Over the nine or ten years I've been playing and marshalling (mostly playing!) the game of Airsoft Skirmishing, I've noticed a severe lack of basic advice on the 'net, intended for beginners and experienced alike; sites that I've seen cater mostly for the experienced player, instead.
Now, while this isn't a bad thing, it's not a good thing, either. With this in mind, I decided that it was high time that a site, dealing with the practical issues that concern both new and experienced player alike (mostly, it has to be said, intended for the newbies amongst us!), was designed and published; so I set about it myself.
If, however, there's something that you think I've missed, or that someone else has not covered in detail great enough for you to understand, drop me a line, and I'll try to fill in the gaps for you!
Technical bits
This website was designed using Macromedia HomeSite, Top Style Pro, and Macromedia Fireworks. Photos were manipulated using Paintshop Pro.
It was designed to comply as much as possible with the last update of HTML that the World Wide Web Consortium approved, HTML 4.01 (transitional).
ß2(ASP)Final
The beta stage is complete, and has been transferred to the Alpha site. All major bugs have now been solved, and only minor ones, that can be easily updated when solutions appear, remain. These bugs are non-critical, and relate to appearance and layout under certain browsers, operating systems, and combinations of the two.
Comments regarding this site, the layout, colour scheme, the self-resizing masthead graphic, etcetera, may be addressed to one of four places (or all of them, if you're feeling generous!):
- The site owner, Roger Stenning (a.k.a. 'Redcap')
- The UK Airsoft Forums (General Discussion » Airsoft Web Sites)
- The Evrsoft Developers Forums (Design & Build » Web Page Authoring).
- This site's 'Talkback' forums
Topics on this page:
A list of the stages of this project...
Here's the intended schedule of progress for this project. Note that I have not set a timescale. The last time I did, I overran horrendously, and since this is a hobby site, I prefer the steady 'do it right' approach! 
.
So, here's the list, in no particular order...
- Masthead Graphics development - Done.
- XHTML/CSS2 masthead box positioning and layering - Done.
- XHTML/CSS2 footer box positioning and layering - Done.
- Javascripted or DHTML Menubar development and CSS2 box placement - Done.
- Favicon design and installation (with meta persistence tag) - Done.
- Body box development and positioning Done.
- Affiliate marketing box positioning (right of page, floating box) - Done.
- Cross-browser testing - Done.
- Content migration - Done.
- Extensive beta testing - Done.
- Go publicly live - Done.
- Added rotating Amazon Associate recommended books, CDs, DVDs, Tools, Videos, etc. - Done.
Thanks and credits thus far...
At this time, I'd like to thank everyone who has helped thus far with logo and imagery generation, HTML, and CSS - the latter of which had me completely up a gum tree (figuratively speaking), with almost terminal brain-ache!
The following people (in alphabetical order) had a massive input into the problem, and are all resident on the EVRsoft developers forums, at http://developers.evrsoft.com/forum/
- Animgirl - HTML and CSS and CSS-P guru, with graphical genius as a close second;
- DCElliott - HTML, XHTML, CSS, CSS-P, and Graphical genius in equal measure;
- Zero Angel - For the initial masthead graphic logo idea.
- Everyone not specifically mentioned, who responded to the thread on the EVRsoft Developers Forums.
- Richard - my Brother-in-law (a Programmer by trade), for fixing the scripting that rotates the Amazon bar on the right of these pages!
Folks, thank you very much for your ideas, patience, and help - without it, the development stages of the new-look of Practical Airsoft would have probably taken a hell of a lot longer, and not nearly been as user freindly to visitors of the site!
You can follow the trains of thought (and whatever logic was involved!) in the development of this site, at the following threads on the EVRsoft Developers Forums:
- Development of the masthead graphics
- Development of the HTML and CSS.
- Development of the script for rotating the Amazon recommended links on the right of these pages.
Notes on the background image on this site...
In developing the look and fel of this site, I cast around for something slightly different (and somewhat forward-looking) for use as a background image; I found that the new MARPAT (US Marine Camouflage Pattern) and CADPAT (Canadian Forces Camouflage Pattern) were getting a lot of interest on the UKAN forums, so went in search of something that I could use, and found Richard McAroy's website, which held some truly remarkable imagery of both MARPAT and CADPAT.
Following this discovery, I incorporated a modified version of the CADPAT photo on his site as the background to this page. Please note that the original, and this modified version, are both © Richard McAroy, DVM; he has graciously allowed me to use the modified version for use as a background image. His website can be found at http://www.mcaroy.com/. It's well worth a good look!
Finally, a quick note - as at 28th August 2003, this site was officially rated with SafeSurf as a general site (provided adult supervision is sought for teenagers - it's a guns thing, unfortunately, and I firmly believe that parents must be fully involved in such matters - even when it's only Airsoft!).
