Several New Albums have been added to our gallery:

Stonebrook Men’s Golf Outing.

September Rock Photos.

Shreveport trip photos. (No shots of the shelter we worked at, we weren’t allowed to take pics without special permission, and we were too busy to take pics anyway.)

I was recently asked why exactly it is that one should not use a frameset for a Web site. A frames based page is something I’ve always sort of recognized as a bad thing, but have never had to verbalize or support objectively before; until now.

<p>The answer:  Frames aren&#8217;t inherently bad, however, when you use a Frameset as a way of managing a Web site THAT is inherently bad.</p>
<p>I came up with five primary reasons.</p>
<p><strong>0. Frames based Web sites do not fit the fundamental conceptual model of the Web! </strong></p>
<p>Every problem with frames flows from this problem.  The fundamental conceptual model of the Web is this: <strong>Every page corresponds to a single <acronymn title="Uniform Resource Locator">URL</acronymn></strong>.   <em>One URL = one page. </em> A site that is stuck in a frameset is referenced from one address, but contains many pages.  This presents problems with linking to, and book marking a specific article in a frames-based page.  (The ability for someone to link to your articles and bookmark them is a huge part of how traffic to your site is generated).</p>
<p><strong>1. Using frames for an entire site is an improper use of a frameset page.</strong></p>
<p>Framesets are a fairly ingenious and very useful method for helping someone navigate through a single, very large document, much <em>like Adobe Acrobat&#8217;s navigation pane</em>.  However, most Web sites are a collection of documents on a particular topic (business, organization, etc&#8230;).</p>
<p><strong>2. Search engines have a hard time indexing a Web site that is stuck in a frameset.</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html#a1">Google itself mentions</a> that while it does crawl frameset pages, it has a difficult time knowing how to categorize documents in a frame set.</p>
<p><strong>3. Some screen readers/assistive technology do not (or have a difficult time) handling frames based pages.</strong></p>
<p>Those using screen readers cannot quickly scan the contents of multiple pages. All of the content is experienced in a linear fashion, one frame at a time. Frames are not inaccessible to modern screen readers, but they can be disorienting.  Different screen readers handle framesets differently, with the more expensive software having better handling of frames.  However, to the more common screen readers and assistive technologies, the frames are not an insurmountable obstacle, but are an unnecessary impedance.  <em>Much like having only one handicap accessible entrance to a building.</em></p>
<p><strong>4. A site that is stuck in a frameset adds an unnecessarily high level of difficulty/headache to development/maintenance (especially maintenance).</strong></p>
<p>Most users or clients won&#8217;t care about this (unless the developer charges by the hour) but it is very easy for an extensive frames-based site to get disorganized.  Broken links and missed &#8220;target&#8221; attributes abound, making the behavior of the site erratic.  A way I look at it is that <em>entropy applies at a much greater rate to a frames-based site than a non-frames site</em>.  Ironically, frames are often (naively) chosen as a way to more effectively manage a site.  If the site is small-scale enough to have only one developer, and the site never changes hands, this MIGHT be true.  However, most often I find that when a developer inherits a frames-based page, the first thing they do is redesign it from the ground up.  It is simply too difficult to ascertain what a different developer had in mind with their site model.</p>
<p><strong>Further</strong>: A web site that is entirely encapsulated in frames is an unprofessional method of Web site development that was popular as a novelty in the nineties (almost a decade ago) but was quickly abandoned by pros after realizing the above fivereasons.</p>
<p><strong>So why do frames-based sites exist??</strong></p>
<p>If you look around, you will notice that there are frames based pages out there.  But if you pay attention, you will notice that there are very few large corporation sites that use frames.  I suspect that the reason frames-based pages exist at all is due to a self-styled Web designer (or an administrative assistant of some sort to whom the task of creating a Web site has fallen) utilizing a WYSIWYG Web development tool (such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver) and realizing that if they use frames, they only need to update a navigation page once anytime they want to make an update.  This is a very astute observation, however, a professional will recognize that the use of server side includes, or even Dreamweaver&#8217;s template system is a much better solution on all levels.</p>
<p><strong>References:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.webaim.org/techniques/frames/">http://www.webaim.org/techniques/frames/</a>

Well, in a completely different vein than my previous two entries, I thought I would share about the “tragedy” that happened the other night in my kitchen. dramatic pause I discovered a large crack in my Crock Pot.

It seems my CrockPot and I really bonded this last year…I found out that you can make a whole lotta stuff in a CrockPot (and that when you’re out of the house all day, you can make stuff the night before and your sweet husband can plug it in on his lunch break and voila, it’s supper!). My CrockPot has been on a lot of field trips, too…it went to MoJazz in the days when the Rock met there (now how many Crock Pots have been to a bar?) and Curtiss with nacho cheese. But I must say that although I saddened by the crack (which I think if repaired with Crazy Glue or other adhesive that it may be a fire hazard :( )I have been very impressed with how well it’s kept up!

Does anyone else have fond memories of their favorite kitchen appliance?

(btw…don’t anyone despair here…I think I might be able to find a replacement “Pot” it :)) sigh of relief

Our Nissan has needed a pretty significant repair (idler pulley needed replacing) for the last several months. This repair was quoted at around $360 (mostly labor). I prayed about it and decided to put it off as we are trying to complete our pledge to The Ezekiel Project.

Yesterday, the engine noise was getting so obnoxious, and I was worried that it was affecting other parts, that I decided it could not wait any longer. So (after a quick prayer asking for help, as we didn’t really have the cash to spare for it) I decided to make an appointment to get it fixed. Figuring that good stewardship meant at this point taking care of a smaller problem before it turned into a larger one.

I took the car in, fully bracing for the call telling me I now had $500ish in repairs coming due to the postponed maintenance.

The call finally came at about 11am.

Auto-shop: “Hi, we just took a look at your Altima. Turns out the noise is only a few loose belts. We tightened them, no charge. Your (something something) was leaking oil. The part is $25, and then $35 for the labor to install it. Is that okay?”

Me: “Sounds great! Go for it!”

Thanks God.

From my Aunt and Uncle who live in Texas, in reply to an inquiry about their well being.

Yes, unfortunately, we are going to have some consequences of this storm. They are predicting for us to have 125 mph SUSTAINED winds for hours and ~ 25 inches of rain. Mark has been in California all week and just got back last night so we have spent the day securing the house and putting plants and yard stuff away. We just filled about 30 sandbags and that’s about all we can do. A spokesperson for our electric company has said everyone will be without power for at least 2 weeks and possibly longer. We, at some point, will leave to go to Austin and stay with Rachelle and family, but the freeways are absolutely gridlocked and that trip would take us about 20 hours, no exaggeration. The worst thing we can do is to try to leave and be stranded on the freeways. There is no gas, no supplies anywhere and all stores all closed. So, what we have, we have. We’ll be fine and will check back with you when we can. We’re getting lots of phone calls and people are having a very difficult time getting through, so I predict by tomorrow, we won’t be able to call out or receive calls, and our ISP will go out at some point. And then of course, we’ll have no power. They are saying we will start getting winds about 3:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon and it’s all downhill from there. Not a good place to be, huh? Thanks very much for checking; I know we’ll be all right. Again, as soon as we can, Mark will give you all a call and let you know, okay? Galveston is going to take such a hit; everyone sure is in our prayers. Whenever we think of fun times in Galveston, we think of the fun time we had with you all a couple of years ago. We’ll have to do that again, right? Stucco-man and all! Hope all is well with all of you. Our love to each of you and all sweet family members.