AFTE Website Redesign

Welcome to the new look of the AFTE website.  I'm in the process of converting all of the pages to this new look but it will take me several more weeks to finish all of the pages on the website.  It's not a radical change from the old design but it is one that I hope will prove more compatible, user friendly and faster than the old design. Let's talk a little more on compatibility.

 

The world of website design/page construction is not a perfect world by any means.  Over the last few years the two major players in web browsers, Netscape and Internet Explorer, have had several major revisions.  These revisions have usually brought about increased features and options.  Another major reason is to fix bugs that existed in the previous versions!  But even with the revisions and updates, differences still exist in how the two major browsers render (display) a web page.

 

Web page designers (and one firearm examiner) have spent countless hours testing the pages they create against both Netscape and Internet Explorer versions 4 and up.  Revisions and a lot of code must be added to get the pages to look similar and they will not ever look exactly alike when viewing a page in both browsers.

 

The whole point to this little lesson on browsers is that I have tried to make the look and functionality of the AFTE website as close as I can to being cross-browser compatible.  However, some differences still exist.  If you want to have the best experience in viewing the pages of the AFTE website here are my opinions on how that can happen:

1. Do not use Netscape as your browser, but if you have no choice, don't use a version any older than version 6.  Version 4 is a browser that is over 3 years old and many incompatibilities exist with this browser.  Virtually all websites that were created in the last 2 years have issues with the version 4 Netscape browsers.  Less than 10% of the visitors to the AFTE website use all versions of the Netscape browsers.

2. Always keep your browser up to date!  Internet Explorer is now at version 6.  If you are using anything older than version 5 update your browser!  It's a free upgrade.

3. Upgrade your operating system to Windows XP or buy a new system with Windows XP pre-installed.  You not only will get the latest version of Internet Explorer you will get an excellent operating system.  You could also by a new Apple IMAC (they are pretty awesome).

4. Windows XP users (and especially notebook users) should enable "Clear Type" in their system display properties.  This will improve the look of the displayed fonts dramatically.

5. AOL users should connect to AOL, minimize the AOL client and then use Internet Explorer for their internet browsing.

I'm sure there's a 6 and probably a 7 but I've got to finish this serial number restoration case I started yesterday!  The first 5 should go a long way to improving your internet browsing experience.

 

Thanks for bearing with me through this transition period.  Hopefully you won't have any problems but if you do please email me.  I'll do everything I can to help you and in the process make any changes necessary to improve the AFTE website for everybody.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott Doyle
AFTE Webmaster