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Start your own Nike Web Site

Table of Contents

Why more than one Nike Web Site?

In two words - too much - there is far more information, activities, organizations, lists of people than can be handled by one person - or a small staff.

Kinds of existing sites

There are a number of Nike Web Sites.
See Nike, Military related and other favorite WWW sites

Each seems unique and useful.
Some are unit specific such as

What Nike subject areas seem needed?

I think that Rolf Görigk and I have pretty well covered the IFC area. There seems to be several technical or administrative areas that are not adequately addressed. It would be wonderful to have sites:

  1. better describing the launcher area, launching equipment, launcher operations.

  2. describing the various equipment and administrative control of local Nike sites, Birdie, Missile Mentor, etc. The command and control.

  3. describing the NORAD operations, procedures, equipment.

  4. describing in better detail the design and manufacture of Nike. The Army Manuals such as
    HERCULES Historical Monograph
    are a great start, but are limited in personalities and day-to-day life.
  5. ...

Also there is a need for many more Nike Oriented sites to:

  1. better describe local/regional site conditions and provide local/regional photos

  2. describe military units and histories

  3. save a site or two (or at least place markers)

  4. ...

How do I pick a site theme or topic(s)?

Suggestions:
  • Find a topic that interests you and that you can contribute to. Were you in the launcher area? Did you handle the guard dogs? Did you command a battery? Did you teach others? Were you involved in the tactical/strategic command structure? SAGE? BIRDIE? Are the Nike sites near you adequately pictured/described?

  • Look around - Are one or two other folks actively involved with your favorite topic? (Probably not) If there are -
    1. Ask to join forces, ask to help, ---
    2. Consider another theme/topic

  • Jump in, have fun. There are no forms to fill out. No permissions to plead for. No special use taxes. Who knows - maybe the final frontier.

How do I get some web space for my web site?

I have been with "GoDaddy for over a year, (as of 2007) and except for some very specialized services, seem capable and most reasonable.

How do I start a web site?

It is not hard to start a web site (I did it before "HTML for Dummies" came out). Just go out and "borrow" some HTML files (use your browser, "source", and "save as" and modify them to create your own thing. (Actually, that is the way recommended and done by most people.) And I did buy an HTML book from the local book store.

$50/year (2016) seems to be a popular price for 10 or more megabytes and basically unlimited data transfer. Many provide automated ftp (file transfer to and from your machine to the ISP. All tell you how to do it - to encourage new business and to keep you with them.

What is this HTML?

I started using an automated web page maker, got frustrated with it because it could not do some basic sounding things, learned enough HTML in a day to find out why I was having trouble with the automated web page maker, and stayed with HTML.

In 2000 I took an HTML class to find out what I should have known at the start. Interesting - and you can indeed get very fancy. BUT - BUT - the instructor points out that while the automated web page makers are nice and fast (when you finally master them) most do not let you change a page you just made - even a little bit.
By 2016, the change problem was long gone, but I am still happy with doing straight HTML, I use a minimal subset of about 7 "tags", with a limited number of modifiers.
(2016) - I got talked into learning about "Cascading Style Sheets". abbrev CSS - GADS, How can folks make simple so (*&^&*(** complicated ??
My recommendation - stay away from CSS unless you are a lot smarter than me !!
I think I have an IQ greater than 100 - CSS strains my brain -
Great for people who love complexity :-)) or really have to get fancy :-))

OK - If you want a big web site with consistant style - maybe consider the complexities of CSS
but if you just want to pour content (me), I don't see any reason to go with CSS.

The site and format don't have to be fancy. (I deliberately avoided fancy frames because they require thinking, tend to confuse me, and may eat up valuable screen space with fancy borders that do nothing for me.) I put the 7 commands that I use on a piece of paper and taped it to my printer for easy reference (my short, mid, and long term memory failed a long time ago. :-( :-)

Now - some other things to remember !!

  1. File names
    • - some Internet servers use UNIX file conventions - capitalization is important.
      file AA.txt is not Aa.txt is not aa.txt !! they point to different files
    • - Microsoft Internet servers ignore capitalization.
      file names AA.txt, Aa.txt and aa.txt all point to the same file
  2. I'm tired, as the Mexicans are reputed to say "Tomorrow" ;-))

YOU can indeed have fun, meet new friends, (and did the recruiting poster say "See the World"?)

If worse comes to worse, you can e-mail me for suggestions and moderate technical aid (a guru I ain't) until you get rolling.

There is a tendency in modern programming, (including HTML) to keep experimenting until it seems to work, very unscientific, but formal descriptions of software and languages are so complicated, and life so short, that "trial and error" is often the "name of the game". And this actually works with the personal computers and highly interactive systems we have.

Basically you work to get it looking good on your machine (local files) with your browser(s). Many people have the two major ones (Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer) to assure that the page looks good with both browsers. It is good to remember that many people in the world do NOT have the latest copies - so some of the new fancy techniques will look strange to many people. Then "up load" your local files to your ISP.

Pictures

As an impoverished youth, I needed to be very thrift (tight).
In 2000, I took a class on "PhotoShop" - way too complicated for me - gads - what a poor GUI !!!
So I looked for free picture software - when "GIMP" came out I gave it a try,
     It was smarter than me, so I quit.
Microsoft "PAINT" and Apple what-ever do not let me change the size of the picture (number of pixels high and wide) to fit the usual moniter well and download fast.
I tend to make pictures 900 pixels high and thumbnails 100 pixels high.
I use thumbnails to speed the downloads, if you want the "Big Picture", click on the thumbnail and get the about 70 KByte larger version.
Also, free software often does not have a "sharpen" function.

So I paid about $80 for ArcSoft Photo Studio 5.5, and am very happy - seemed easier and sufficient - well, the "Stitch" of two photos is poor - so I use the free Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor)

"Upload" - is it magic?

No - your ISP (Internet Service Provider) will give you full details and likely a free up/down loader

I got to use a non-free program "FTP Voyager" from http://www.solarwinds.com, maybe $30, and like it - I'm afraid of most "free" software. Even I can run it.

Check your upload

I noted that some pictures on a web site didn't work,
and the owner noted that the pictured look just fine when he is looking at his web site on his own hard drive. What could be wrong? 
Ah - a trick for you   ;-))
To help verify that you
    - actually up loaded all the needed stuff
    - and linked to it correctly
You should access your web site, 
    - using the same URL as "the rest of us"
and check it out.
This would have shown that you had a problem "the rest of us" saw.  

By the way, life is MUCH simpler if you use the 
relative mode of accessing - not referring to
specific directories/folders if the file you
are linking to is in the same directory/file
  so instead of using 
       A HREF="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Web%20Site/KL-HM-40PayDay69.jpg
    you could have used
       A HREF="KL-HM-40PayDay69.jpg
    which is so much simpler  :-)))

There can also be some weird  problems, such as
    - if you are using Microsoft windows at home,
         Windows is very tolerant of capitalization
            like   A HREF="CAt.jpg"    ....
         will work just fine if the file name is really
                   cat.jpg
     - however, if your host is using a UNIX based server,
          like LINUX/APACHE
       the above example will not work as UNIX based
       stuff is VEry case sensitive.  ;-))

I have learned by sad experience to check out each upload by going to 
       http://www.ed-thelen.org/
  and checking out the new stuff I upload.
  And when I don't,   ...  :-((

Enjoy:-))
    --Ed Thelen

"Typical" encouragement letter

I sent this to Rich Wood 
	Yes, New England certainly needs someone to keep 
	us up to date.  A site is so inexpensive and easy.
	I think it is a hell of a lot of fun,
	   but then I like to talk too much anyway.

	Also, no Hercules MTR or TTR operator has really said
	what they do.  I kind of fake it in a general (overview)
	way - but do not get into the heart of the matter.
	   - who says what to who
	   - fighting jamming
	   - auto, aided, manual
	   - If the TRR is completely jammed, 
	         can you range track with TTR (X band)?
	   - you mentioned  "B" team, organization??
	   - ...

	And who knows what went on in the Launcher area?
	(Made "home brew" for all I know.)

	My site is so overgrown (overblown?) that I would
	love to point to other sites to provide 
	   - up to date Nike site info & pictures (like New England)
	   - better details on interesting things
	     (heck, I worked on part of the previous (AJAX) generation
	     and am in real trouble with details of the Herc generation)

Guidelines for English usage :-)

(All in fun of course :-)
From J.P. Moore
With thanx to J. Eckles:
Rules For Better Writing
  1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
  2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
  3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
  4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
  5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat)
  6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
  7. Be more or less specific.
  8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
  9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
  10. No sentence fragments.
  11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
  12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
  13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
  14. One should NEVER generalize.
  15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
  16. Don't use no double negatives.
  17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
  18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
  19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
  20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
  21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
  22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
  23. Kill all exclamation points!!!
  24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
  25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
  26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
  27. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
  28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
  29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
  30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
  31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
  32. Who needs rhetorical questions?
  33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement

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If you have comments or suggestions, Send e-mail to Ed Thelen

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Updated March 27, 2007