new Visit! site

Added Hazelwood House to 'Visit!'.

sometimes it rains

I discovered that Trinity Journal had rearranged their website, moving the Recreation Guide, thereby invalidating what i'd done to make it easy to view. So i fixed that and made some other repairs as well.
I've been making daily improvements and updates to Weaverville Fire Dept's site, and Trinity County Chamber of Commerce, and helping Trinity County Arts Council towards a new look.

Douglas City Fire Belles Bazaar

maint

Added a bunch of news & photos to Weaverville Fire Dept site. Changed the photo and ads on the Trinity Chamber site.

Last nite i showed someone Weaverville FD's online photo gallery on her computer: the main pictures are tiny, postage-stamp size! Come to find out she's still using Internet Explorer 6. OK, i already a special version of the HTML code for IE7 & 8, in addition to the standard version for everything-else; now i need a version for IE6 too?

and another saturday nite

The Art Cruise...

...followed by live music at an undisclosed location...

a festive place

LaGrange Restaurant...

The Bandstand...

Rec Guide

The Trinity Journal publishes the Trinity County Recreation Guide, but their online version isn't very usable. So i made an improved version.
Also, i noticed when i got my new computer [which still doesn't have a working Verizon wireless modem, after 4 long contacts with their Techs - computers are so complicated that the Techs can't possibly know everything either, they're reduced to dumbly following thru diagnostic trees on their own computer screens, same as us ignorant folks] that the main photo on Gallery pages (example: Weaverville Fire Dept) didn't display right in Internet Explorer. (It was fine in Firefox.) Checking, i found that when i'd originally done the code, i couldn't get IE and Firefox to both display the main photo the same way, so i wrote 2 versions of the code, 1 for IE, 1 for everything else. I hate that! That was for IE version 7. But my new computer has IE 8: apparently Microsoft fixed the problem in version 8, but my code treats the IE browser as if it's still broke! OK, so take out the exception, right?. But version 7 is still out there! So now i have to consider not only the browser, but the version of the browser. Arghhh!

just another friday eve

at the LaGrange cafe'...

windows7

I hate new operating systems, cuz they change the look and function of so many things. To do the simplest thing, i must re-discover the means to do it. Today i complete transfer of all the files from the old computer. I add many beautiful photos by Carol Fall to the Visit! Gallery (which, you may recall, doesn't yet work with the Internet Explorer browser). And i find that under Windows7: 1) the menu bar folds around on itself (easily fixed on mine by making the page a little wider, but how does it look to others?), 2) the main photo on www.wfdca.org 'Gallery' pages no longer shows.

Old Modem, New 'Puter

Struggled all day trying to get the Verizon Wireless modem working on the new computer, no success.

Visit! Gallery

Started a photo 'Gallery' for 'Visit!'. So far: works well on Firefox browser, but some issues with Internet Explorer. Working on it. So far: the photos are just some i took today. Eventually: i want the Gallery to be a place anyone can upload their own to.

New computer

My present computer, new in 2005, is physically falling apart. Reluctantly i got a new one, knowing it would be a nitemare transferring everything over and making it actually work in a new operating system (Windows7). Sure enough, my Verizon wireless modem (which i depend on for internet access everywhere beyond coffee shops and WFD) doesnt work. I spend hours on it, including long time on phone with a Verizon tech, who in desperation finally tries to blame it on Dell. Regardless, i'm the one screwed.

TEDC website

Talked to the Trinity Economic Development Corp board about re-doing their website. Seems they need a plan first. We'll talk again next month.

My 2nd Place

I go back & forth between Covington Mill (see the blog, 'Cumftably Numb') and this place in Weaverville. It's less of a struggle that way, especially come winter.

The view:

Saturday

A history talk at Trinity Center. Lyn Scott, life-long resident, showed excellent-quality photos from 1955 of what Trinity Center, Stringtown, and the productive ranch- and forest-lands of the Trinity River valley were like, before (in hind-sight) stupidity transformed it to the present vast tragic mud-flat.

i love the photos i took this day (and this place)...








Evening, more fine music at that undisclosed location.

Real Estate

Added Real Estate to 'Visit!', per TEDC request.
Likewise added Textile Traditions, which somehow i hadn't noticed before.

That eve, world class music at an undisclosed location.

News

Updated the Weaverville Fire Dept news with photo of today's emergency response...

Places

The present 'Visit!' site is all individual-business-oriented. I realized it needs to tell more about Trinity in general. Hence: Worked all day on a 'Places' concept, work in progress...

1 Less

Fixed the text-color bug. Fiddled with misc.

Getting Here

Spent all day working on Google maps to show folks the various approaches into Trinity County, see...

Added a zoom-control to the 'Virtual Tour' map, this because there are so many business sites concentrated together that it's hard to view them separately unless you zoom way in. In that process, discovered a bug that makes text yellow on the pop-ups if there are multiple paragraphs in the descriptions; still working on it.

The other day i discovered something i've been hearing about: Google's 'Street-Level View'. Incredible! Check this for Weaverville... Using your arrow keys, you can actually 'fly' down the street, looking freely left, right, behind, and it's not just the main highways but many Trinity side streets as well. (I described this free techno-miracle to some local folks; they were merely bored, and criticized that Google addresses are often wrong. I don't think people appreciate how incredibly difficult actually DOing anything is.) My plan is to add this feature to a mapping of the 'Towns of Trinity' (a 'town', i've decided, being any place with a Post Office, ie: Weaverville, Douglas City, Lewiston, Trinity Center, Junction City, Big Bar, Burnt Ranch, Salyer, Hayfork, Wildwood (which is accepted by USPS, even tho technically the place is considered Platina, of Shasta County), Hyampom, Mad River, Ruth, and finally Zenia (even tho Zenia is now ONLY a post office, plus the vacant old store)).


Also discovered Panoramio.com, which allows folks to upload/download photos by latitude/longitude, so my plan is to add links from the Towns of Trinity to Panoramio. For example: photos of Weaverville. (Its only fault is that those folks uploading aren't always very exact in specifying the photo location. Hence at Big Bar, we see folks driving thru a hollow giant redwood.)

Talked to Geoffrey Beebe again re his plan for a 'Virtual Tour' of Weaverville which includes entering each store and looking around. He wants me to do it. Well, i can, as long as it's a series of separate photos, but he's imagining it as the Google Street Level View taken INSIDE, and i don't know how to do THAT.

Weaverville Saturday Nite

The Art Cruise, first saturday of every month:
Folks at the Chamber of Commerce...

Main Street Gallery...

Highland Art Center...

4 of the '5 Windows'...

A new venue, Hawk Photography...

And fine live music at an undisclosed location...

It's a great town! I am so lucky.

Worked all day today fiddling with the Trinity Chamber website.

A Lovely Site for TCAC

Earlier this week I spent two volunteer half-days with Jill Richards, Trinity County Arts Council Admin Asst, writing specs for their new website; [this ironic, as i'd submitted a proposal to do the site for them, including content, for free last December(!), but was turned down! (Embarrassing or what?)] Then another half day on my own finalizing the document and sending it off to Matthew Brady of Sage Website Designs, a talented web designer who likewise will be doing the work gratis; his proposal, and a revised homepage header.

Spent last half of the day re-doing the location map and contact info for TrinityCounty.com/Visit. The map's especially cool: i figured out how to draw the county boundary on a Google Map.

Compost Toilets

I was introduced to a dedicated fellow who does international development work in Uganda; he was very interested in the compost toilets i did in Fiji; so i put a bunch of photos and narrative online to maybe help him (& others?) out.

Halloween Graveyard

Bridget Carson, costumed, led us on a history tour of the Catholic Church cemetery.

Autumn's Awesome

Weaverville, looking south...

Swift Creek, Trinity Center...

Ycatapom Inn, Trinity Center...

Highway 3 near Hayward Flat...

Mill Street, Weaverville...


Crushed. i wasn't chosen to develop the Historic Weaverville website. On the other hand, i will be doing updates to FirePreventionOfficers.org... gratis.

Another Big Autumn Weekend

Trinity can be a Happnin' Place. Live music at an undisclosed location...

And the One Maple Winery Crush Party...

Payday

Attended TEDC's meeting. They paid me for the 'Visit!' work, and seemed pleased. Thank goodness! (I will of course continue working to improve the site.)

Per discussion at that meeting, and later at the Trinity County Chamber meeting, i should add a way for folks-out-there to get on a mailing list, so they may periodically receive info about Trinity County events and happenings. Also, there should be a 'Gallery' where folks can submit their Trinity County photos.

My little brother Scott's a Fire Prevention Officer in the Bay Area; the California Fire Prevention Officer's Association needs someone to maintain their site. I sent him my information.

Weaverville History

Submitted proposal for new Weaverville History website. Will hear back next week.

site map, fixing 'search', and so on

To 'Visit!': Added a user-accessible site map, plus worked on a special site map for Google Search. (Unknown if i did any good, it takes a while for it to take effect.)

Also, with much frustration, i managed to limit the vertical size of the 'boxes' each site gets listed in. Before, if there was a long description, there was a long box. Now all boxes are uniform height; if you want to read the whole long description, just click on it. This somehow also magically fixed a bug: before, IF there were multiple paragraphs in a description, the last line of the first paragraph had a greater space above it than other lines; unknown why!

Voice

What should be the 'rules' for the description on each business's 'Visit!' page? So far, i've either just made up a short line or 2, often based on their sign out front, eg for an RV Park, something like: "Full hookups. Tent sites. Pool. Store. Propane." I like it because it's short and hits the highlights. For more details, folks can go to the actual business's website, the link is right there, or they can call the place, etc.

In a few cases, instead of he very brief description, i more-or-less copied paragraphs out of their website homepage. Later, as I thought more about this, i came to the conclusion that the 'voice' of the 'Visit!' site should be different from that of the typical business site: The style of the Chamber's 'Visit!' should be 3rd person, impartial, informative, like how one would write a 'review'; whereas the 'person' of the typical biz site is 1st person, the tone: often gushy. That hypothetical RV Park cited above might want their page to say: "Everything for every visitor to beautiful Trinity County. With 40 years of experience at this location, we stand ready to attend to your every need. Camping, hiking, bird-watching, wildlife, swimming, rafting, and the Trinity Alps Wilderness lie within a short lovely walk. Just let us know what we can do to make your vacation here one that you and your family will remember for a lifetime." Now i'm not saying there's anything wrong with that statement or its sentiment, and it's surely fine on the enterprise's own site; i just wonder if it's appropriate on TrinityCounty.com.

On the other hand: i had the idea a while ago that i would set this all up so that businesses could write their own descriptions, and in fact CHANGE the info as often as they cared to (for example, changing business hours, prices, the weekly dinner special, whatever). But if i let them do that, am I to review every change for tone and proper '3rd person' voice? Yuk, that's more than i can realistically handle! And i'd be arguing with folks constantly - creating hard feelings. It's a real dilemma.

Moving on, small changes to:
Aven Estate
Trinity River B&B
Six Rivers Lodge

Attended the Dutch Oven Cook-Off at the Jake Jackson Museum...

...and the Salmon Festival...

And added Google Search to 'Visit!'. Thought briefly about programming a Search feature myself, but there's too much to do, and i knew Google's reliable. Purchased ($100) and installed now, isn't working as expected. Dang.

another post

Lately, regularly updating Weaverville Fire's site with news & new photos.

Chamber-'Visit!'-site-wise, added Aven Estate.

i'm making it up as go along. Today I realize that the info at the 'Trinity: Visit!' site is almost of solely individual businesses; it says VERY little about Trinity attractions In GENERAL, eg little about Trinity River fishing or Weaverville history. But Trinity's GENERAL ENVIRONMENT is truly a critical element that will attract folks here. Must do more on that.

More uploads

Added/changed sites re: uploads, for example: Trinity Treasures & Treats, Butter Creek Ranch.

Misc Minor

Misc minor additions & changes to TrinityCounty.com/Visit. Then added a big link to it at the Chamber homepage. I'll change that picture occasionally, for variety.

Plenty to do in Weaverville

A Disaster Drill, very colorful!...


Quilts!...




Visited Weaverville Antiques, lovely!...


and Highland Arts Center Meadow...


Art Cruise...


And evening live music at an undisclosed location...