Last Days Visions

I first started delving into web designing 20 years ago. The year was 1998.   I was totally fascinated by questions such as, "How did this get to there?  ...from that site to this site?   ...how did they do that? How did they get that on the internet?"   Once my curiosity really kicked in I knew I HAD to find out the answers to the hundreds of questions that I suddenly had!  I needed to know!  I wanted to know!  I wanted to know, "Where did they get those images?   How did they get them on their page?   WHAT is an FTP? HTML? What???  Flash animations!  Oh!  My!  Goodness!!!!!"  The initial curiosity of how it ALL came together literally turned into an unquenchable thirst. One that would not be quenched until I had the answers.  

In my spare time, I tried to figure out the answer to these questions on my own.  The library had books and more information than what was available on the internet at that time.  Keep in mind, the internet did not take on a more recognizable presence until 1990, a mere 8 years earlier. So it was not flooded with information like it is today.  Online information was VERY scarce  ...back then.    

It took me 2 weeks to learn how to put a background on a webpage.  ....that is after I discovered "hotlinking".   I didn't know you weren't supposed to hotlink!   All I knew was it worked!   ...until one day when I went to my website and my images didn't appear.  ????   Duh!   That's when I learned how to do it the right way. (FYI, Hotlinking is where you use the url to the exact location of where the image/file is instead of uploading the actual image/file into your own server.  Hotlinking uses someone else's bandwidth which at that time could increase their hosting cost or even make their site go down due to exceeding the allocated bandwidth.  It's kind of like using someone else's gas at their expense)   After I learned the basics then I wanted a guest counter for my website.   Why not!  The thought that someone MIGHT go to my website was a thrill.    So, I found a website that had various counters.   I picked the one I wanted and did the only thing I knew to do - I printed out the code and started typing all the coding for the counter into my webpage's HTML. I did that with all the elements and scripts that I wanted to use on my website. Today,  I sit here and shake my head.   Had it not been for the simpleness of my mind in doing the only thing I knew to do then I never would have learned HTML.    I had absolutely no clue that all I had to do was "copy and paste" the code.  It's kind of hard to sit and laugh about it because that is exactly how I learned about coding and HTML.  If it was broke... I could fix it.   

The more I learned about web designing the more I wanted to learn.  I had no time to go to school.  My experience was literally by being taught by God. He would show me what to do.

As the years rolled by I got into "Flash Animations" which today is totally obsolete because Apple devices are no longer support flash.   Hopefully one day they'll resolve that.   But during the time it came out, flash was HOT!   Everyyyybody wanted flash on their website!  For those of you who do not know what flash is, the only thing I can compare it to is making a movie.   Flash has sound and animations just like a movie and you could literally make anything you wanted!   People wanted them on their website as landing pages, (which were also hot back in the day).    Yeah, a one-page flash entrance.  Hot!  Totally hot!     

On one particular day, I was making a flash intro page. Everything has to be timed and coordinated to the exact cell/second so that everything is in rhythm and makes sense.  If not, all you see are a bunch of images zinging around your page to music.    The music had to be exactly choreographed perfectly to the letter.  Sometimes, getting it precise and all the frames in order and timed right wasn't easy.  For some reason, I could not get this particular intro timed correctly!  It was off by just a hair!  I sat there for hours, moving frames, replaying, adjusting, going back, moving it to the next frame, replaying that scene, going back.  Giving up was not an option and never at any time was it even a thought.  If I had to sit there and work on this for a week I would have done it.    "I can't" is just not in my vocabulary.    After hours of sitting there working on this, I had no plans on walking away from it. I reached for my mouse, again,  pressed the mouse button down and clicked on the flame's frame cell, the second I did that is when I suddenly felt a hand on my right elbow and a forceful nudge that moved my elbow up on the same arm where my hand on the mouse, (that I still had pressed down on the flash frame).  It happened in an instant.  I felt the hand on my elbow, my elbow nudged up...and that was it.    When my elbow went up so did my mouse which moved the flash frame!!! My first thought was, "Ohhh nooooo. How much worse have I made it?"    So, I went back, played the flash and it ...was ...perfect!  It was perfect!!!!  The timing, graphics, and animation were perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt where that help came from.    There is no question.    God knew that I would have stuck with it no matter how long it took. I would have finished that intro.   

God is good.  He sees it all.   And He helps us when we need it.