Palmerization

From: sohamgen@hotmail.com To: john.palmer@wirksworth.org.uk, Subject: RE: census Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 08:51:05 +0000 Hi John I wonder if you could help me, I run a site (One-Place-Study) at www.sohamroots.bravepages.com [warning, since 2003 the content of this URL has changed radically] and I am trying to put the records ie marriages for Soham online. But I am having problems with the large amount of information, and the time it takes to load a page, I notice on your census pages a lot of information, which takes very little time to load, I wonder if it would be possible if you could tell me how you achieved this, I have all the records on a database, but they do not line up correctly when I paste the information across to my web editing programme without the table showing, as showing the table makes the loading time too great. Best wishes Tim Webb Soham Roots Hello Tim, You have put your finger on the problem everyone runs into eventually. The solution is simple, but not easy to describe. Brett Payne (another OPSer) has called the method "Palmerization"! Here's how it works. 1 Use the HTML tag <PRE> This tag overules the normal treatment of white space. Text written inside <PRE>...</PRE> is displayed with the spaces, tabs, and new lines exactly as they were written in the code. Use it where carefully spaced layout is required. Other formatting tags can be written within <PRE>...</PRE> but remember that the space they occupy in the code will disappear on screen. 2 Avoid using the HTML tag <TABLE> This tag is the normal way of controlling layout on the screen, especially when requiring columns of data that look easy on the eye. The snag is that the code memory "overhead" is very high, and files quickly get above the 70k which is a good "rule of thumb" for maximum file size for fast downloading from the Internet. Another snag is that all the "Wizards" that write code for you automatically choose <TABLE> instead of <PRE> as far as I know. Thats why I write all code by hand, not difficult after a few months learning time. 3 Divide files into 70k maximum size This is wearisome to do, but is necessary. My 1891 Census was sized 2.2 Mb, and I divided it up into 38 files of average size 58k containing about 500 entries. Of course, each file then needs a link to the previous/next file. Big files must have an index, and the index must know which of the 38 files each entry appears. With 18,000 entries, this must be done automatically ie by the database. So the database must produce the HTML code needed to make the links between Index and List. This can be done using DPL (database processing language), most databases have them its just a matter of learning and using. 4 Use a Word Processor Use a word processor for several vital steps in the whole business: A: Transcribe into the WP from fiche reader screen.Then you can use a pre-prepared blank format which greatly helps transcribing. B: Export from WP to database and so get the data into the database. C: After indexing and coding, re-import from database to WP D: In the WP, change from text-with-tabs to text-with-spaces. This needs an "Exchange" facility which most good WPs have. E: Export a page-image in ASCII format. This step is vital, it produces a file which has the data lined up in nice columns which is needed before adding the <PRE> tag. And it also produces a file which can be renamed with a .htm ending before uploading to your ISP and understood by the Internet and every visitors browser. And thats about it, apart from the boring detail! Use your browser "view source" facility to examine the coding of my Census files. Find the <PRE> and </PRE> tags, and see how the data in between is preformatted with just the right number of white spaces to do the job. Also see the <A HREF= and <A NAME= codes on each line which link Index to List and make the Census Index on my website so easy to use. Hey, I need to have my breakfast now. Get back to me if you have any questions. Best wishes, John Palmer, Dorset, England Hi John, Thanks for the information, its going to help me a lot, I've tried everything else, and just about gave up. You deserve an extra shreddy after all that. Thanks once again, Tim Webb.

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