Encyclopaedia Philatelica
The Encyclopaedia Philatelica is an interesting research tool for thematic collectors and philatelists in general.
Multilingual encyclopedia composed around four sections: Personages, Fauna, Flora & Geographia. Image gallery about Iconography, Genealogy, History, Art & Taxonomy.
Let’s Get Visual!
Albert W. Starkweather, Philatelic Communicator
In addition to traditional publishing methods — essentially printed words and illustrations on paper, there are several other ways of presenting information. These include traditional video / film, slides and overhead projections, and the more contemporary on-screen presentations (including CD-ROM), and Internet / intranet sites. Participation by viewers may range from passive to interactive.
Planning
Care equal to that required for a printed publication is necessary for visual output. In additional to style sheets and dummy pages, flow charts may be necessary planning elements. While slides, overhead presentations, and videos and films follow a linear flow, on-screen presentations and Internet / intranet sites usually offer the user different viewing options through hypertext links.
To ensure that a project meets its designed goals, rough sketches of sample screens are needed, along with templates, style sheets, and flow charts to define the flow of information. When developing Internet / intranet sites, the key is links to related information as well as links to return to decision points where the viewer is presented with alternative destinations.
Another major consideration is color, which can be a powerful ally in presenting information or a hindrance. It should complement the message harmoniously without detracting from it. In general, a very limited palette should be employed. “In your face” color, typography, and graphics overwhelm many audiences, particularly when new or unfamiliar information is being presented.
There are five general considerations in planning a visual presentation: (1) overall appearance, (2) typography, (3) graphics / images, (4) audio, and (5) writing, and two issues specific to Internet / intranet and CD-ROM; (6) navigation and (7) interactivity. Special attention must be given to material that will be presented both online and in print to ensure consistency. Although Web sites do not support the same degree of typographical flexibility as print, certain styles should be established — information hierarchy, font styles, color.
Considerations
(1) Overall appearance is determined by the theme of the presentation and the intended audience. Consistency is achieved by adopted a master design and color scheme — usually no more than two or three hues. Slides and overheads usually carry one thought each. Formats — always landscape — must match the projection-screen or monitor. Internet / intranet and CD-ROM pages should seldom scroll horizontally and vertical scrolling should be kept to a minimum.
The simple rules for (2) typography are: Use no more than two or three fonts set in an easy-to-read point size that complements the subject matter. Hyperlinked text should be underlined to indicate that it is a link. To attain maximum readability, use bold and italic for emphasis only, not as body copy.
(3) Graphics / images should have a common design and have colors compatible with the overall scheme. They always should be of the highest quality for the medium, with the added consideration that Web graphics and images should download quickly. Inclusion of animated GIFs and film clips also should follow these rules.
(4) Audio sound bites and music can enhance a presentation and, like graphics, should download quickly if they are included on Web pages. Be sure that music does not mask the spoken word.
To ensure that the message is delivered, (5) writing must be concise, friendly, and easy to understand. Faulty spelling and grammar can ruin a presentation by implying that the facts are also faulty. Be sure information is up to date and correct, including e-mail and snail mail addresses, telephone numbers, and personnel rosters. Remember: Read, revise, rewrite.
(6) Navigation aids are an absolute necessity for Internet / intranet sites and CD-ROMs. These include navigation buttons, word links, drop-down menus, site maps, and image maps. Points to remember include the number of main, sub, and sub-sub screens that spin off the home page. How many mouse clicks does it take to reach them? There should be ample opportunity to return to a given point, escape from a screen, and to move through long text blocks.
Levels of (7) interactivity can range from a button that summons the user’s e-mail or an e-mail form to response and order forms (which may be printed out and mailed or faxed in the case of CD-ROMs), customization or appearance and/or user preferences, and search engines.
A further consideration for Web site design is that it should be appealing and easy to navigate. Pages should download quickly so viewers do not became impatient and leave the site. 
Would You Put Your Exhibit on CD?
Defining Graphic Image Terms (2)
(continuation of the article Defining Graphic Image Terms Part 1)
The second set of terms for graphics involves focus, color and optimization.
- Focus
Focus is perhaps the most important factor in obtaining good images for a digital philatelic study. If the image is not in focus to begin with, the viewer has difficulty determining what is being illustrated and automatically questions the image’s accuracy and then the author’s credibility.
Image focus is not an item that can be fixed with software
When using a camera to obtain images, ensure the item is in sharp focus, less of an issue these days with autofocus cameras.
Camera ’shake’ when taking a shot will contribute to bad focus and again, digital camera manufacturers have developed an anti-shake feature which should limit the number of bad shots due to this reason. That’s no reason not to use a tripod however.
Scanning images is less problematic in that the item being scanned is on a flat surface and the focus distance is predetermined. However, ensure the item is placed flat against the glass of the scanning table or focus issues may develop.
The software sharpening function is sometimes used to help focus. It is a very limited software tool to work with. Image focus is a function of the care taken when obtaining the original image and not an after-the-fact option.
- Color
Displaying color on a computer monitor has become less of an issue as modern monitors display millions of colors. The human eye cannot distinguish the millions of shades modern monitors can display and reducing the number of colors in the image may help to reduce the overall file size of the image. Color may also vary depending on the age and/or calibration of the monitor, scanner or printer. - Color Optimizaton
Correctly optimizing the color of an image provides a more vibrant display on a computer screen. Optimization is setting the black and white points of the image – adjusting what’s referred to as ‘Levels’. Essentially, it’s how black is black and how white is white. It’s simpler than it sounds and helps to reduce image file size as well as making images more vibrant on computer displays.
A few more terms may come up, but these are the main things to understand.
Juarez, Maximilian and the Guadalajara Provisionals stamps
Exhibiting Digitally (1)
Wobbe Vegter, South African Philatelist
When I started exhibiting more than 10 years ago, I soon got in contact with a number of other philatelists and exhibitors worldwide addicted to the same subject. Having been in IT since the mid sixties – when it was still called Data Processing – it won’t come as a surprise that my theme or topic is “computers”. After my first national exhibit “From Abacus to Internet” was awarded a Silver medal (2001) I started receiving a number of requests from my fellow computer-collectors like “Can you send me a copy?” Rather than copying 75 pages in disappointing B&W and spending large amounts on postage to overseas friends, I quickly realized all of this would be solved if I put the complete exhibit on the web with free access to everyone interested. It seemed an interesting and challenging project.
What would I need?
I already had a PC, a color printer and a scanner. What I didn’t know was how to put an exhibit on the web. Where would I host it? Would I be able to build and maintain the site myself? The last program I wrote was in Cobol in the sixties and seventies and since then I had been involved in management within IT. Could I adapt my dormant programming skills easily to whatever language I needed to maintain my own website?
Working as a manager in a 300+ strong IT department had some advantages and I started talking to a few colleagues. I was advised to find a suitable hosting site which would not charge me an arm and a leg. Using some other contacts I managed to find a hosting site which allowed me to do my own maintenance. I also needed the FTP software to upload the contents of my site. At the moment I use FileZilla for that purpose as it’s easy to use and it’s free. It goes without saying that I rather spent my money on stamps than on running a personal website – so far I’ve spent a minimum of funds on the whole project.
I started looking at many philatelic sites in order to get a good idea of what I liked and what I disliked. What format should my site have? Having already years of experience on the web I knew that user-friendliness and response times were important.
I bought a few CDs containing a “Teach Yourself html” course. I found it surprisingly easy to pick it up. I realized I needed to define a style sheet in order to give all the pages the same look & feel. Having access to some programmers ensured the necessary advice to get started. Although I’m not a fundi on html, today I know enough to maintain my own website and to add new elements if and when necessary. Having retired in 2006 I now simply google for the answers if I get stuck.
Computers and the Internet on Stamps
Before building my website, I prepared one page where I experimented with scans with different resolution, with the physical size of the pictures varying from a single stamp to a complete A4-page. I also needed to structure the layout of my site and I needed to define what I wanted to show on my home-page. Having done all that, I started to write the html for the home-page and the first two pages of my exhibit. I scanned these two pages (I had decided to upload full A4-pages scanned at 96 dpi with reduced size thumbnails). After that I tested the results and made the necessary adjustments.
When I was satisfied with the whole set-up I wrote the html for all sections in my exhibit showing thumbnails for the individual pages which would enlarge when clicked upon. I scanned all pages at 96 dpi and reduced them to fixed size thumbnails. The thumbnail pictures of the individual pages are about 20Kb in size and load fairly rapidly. The larger full-size pages are about 200Kb and take a few seconds to download. This ensured that the full-size page was readable and printable. I’ve had very few complaints about download times so apparently this was satisfactorily. I would advise every would-be digital exhibitor to follow a similar process – start with one or two pages and test everything thoroughly before you expand.
The Post Office and British Broadcasting
The British Postal Museum & Archive has a an interesting post on electronic mail historically – The Post Office and British Broadcasting.
Not many people would associate the Post Office with broadcasting, but until 1922 it held a monopoly on electronic mass communication. When telegraphy, and later, the telephone were developed, the Post Office argued that it controlled anything which involved delivery from a sender to a receiver. Telegraph and telephone switching stations were defined as electrical post offices, with the messages or calls regarded as electronic letters.
Resource Page Update
The Resources Page has received a major update. Many new book recommendations for Online Publishing, Social Media and Web 2.0 are provided as well as books for new software programs.
Get Your Feet Wet with Web Pages!
Thomas Fortunato, Philatelic Communicator
Get Yourself a Web Page! Here are the steps anyone can do.
Step 1 — Find a Host : Find out if your own ISP (Internet service provider) offers free server space for hosting your pages. The code that displays a Web page resides on a computer hard drive somewhere in the world. When you type a Web address, otherwise known as a URL (uniform resource locator), you are actually hunting for the code on that computer. All code is written in a computer language called HTML (hypertext markup language). Most ISPs host Web pages, typically 10–25 megabytes in size — more than enough for your needs. If yours doesn’t, check such hosting sites as yahoo.com, tripod.lycos.com, or fortunecity.com. You have the option of signing up for their free ad-supported service (ads will pop up when viewing pages) or ad-free paid service starting at roughly $5 per month.
Step 2 — Decide How to Build Your Pages: To keep it simple, see if your ISP or web host offers free Web tools or site builders that make creating pages a snap. These programs typically are point-and-click and will step you through the process of selecting a layout style, background color or image, adding text and pictures, etc. from a selection of each that they offer. More advanced Web tools allow you to select these from your own computer, along with other elements such as music and video clips.
An alternative is to use a Web creation program on your own computer. You can create a page in recent versions of Microsoft Word and automatically convert it to HTML with the click of the mouse. Check out the File — Save as Web Page option or click on Help for directions. Otherwise, buy an HTML authoring program such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver, which can be expensive.
Web tools may not offer the flexibility in customizing the look and feel desire for your Web page, although today’s tools are much more flexible than before. To get the ultimate design in your mind’s eye, you may need to learn and write HTML code. Back in the dark ages (around 1997) this was my only option. This approach is not for the faint of heart, but if you’re game, check out such sites as htmlgoodies.com and arachnoid.com (HTML for the Conceptually Challenged).
Step 3 — Get at It!: Now the fun begins as you design your site. A few pointers. Remember that the “wilder” the background you choose, the harder it might be to actually read. Use complementary colors with enough contrast. Keep text to one or two styles at most, and in a font size that is easily read. The best advice is to scout out other web pages and use ideas you like.
Step 4 — Add Ons: OK, so you want to fancy things up? Consider adding a Web counter to tell how many people have visited your page. Some include other statistics detailing where viewers reside, when they visited, how long they stayed, etc. Want your own URL so that you look like a player, such as http://www.yourname.com? They’re as cheap as $5 per year if you look for them. So go ahead.
What are you waiting for? Get your feet wet with Web pages!
