While not part of Change Log, the list templates are used track of changes made to the site as a whole such as changing the copyright year on every page, which has to be done manually since switching to Visual Studio code.
One of my earliest articles, published in 1998, I am still finding typos and other things that need to be fixed in it. As I explained in an earlier post, content maintenance is a continuous process even for articles that have no external hyperlinks.
Updated links on The Prisoner page. Additionally, centered the audio element.
Updated links on Star Trek page. Additionally, added video trailer for Star Trek: Picard Season 2.
It is extremely difficult find placement links for Star Trek content, which makes the Wayback machine very important.
All links work on Doctor Who Links page. Nothing needs to be done.
This was a unique experience. Coming across a page in a maintenance cycle where nothing needs to be done.
Updated Education Links page. Removed dead links and added new ones.
Added links to updated pages to updates section of the home page.
Updated links to Rodger Ebert interviews of Groucho, and Rodger Ebert homepage on Groucho Marx: The Writer page. Additionally, added a review of the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup.
Changed link to John H Watson MD to a link from the Wayback machine on The Secret of Sherlock Holmes page. While the original URL still leads to a page, the entire website has been taken down and appears to be under construction or major update.
Updated the Why Audio link, an episode of the Keegan Podcast, on the home page because it wasn’t functioning properly.
Changed Web of Fear bookmark Season 5 of the Doctor Who Guide to the complete URL with bookmark because the bookmark was not functioning properly.
Those who run websites have two equally important responsibilities. First, Content Creation and second Content Maintenance, making certain that the content looks and functions the way it should, and that means dealing with a physical quantity called entropy, which measures the degree of disorder in a system.1 Entropy increases with the passage of time. So, at some point, any website will exhibit signs of disorder and dysfunction. Maintenance should be a continuous process.
The most common ways entropy manifests itself in websites are Dead Links and Link Rot.2 These terms describe the same thing in different ways. Links stop working for any one or a combination of four reasons.
Websites go down
Because of server failure or
Non-payment As a result, links to those sites die.
Sites and pages are moved, and no one puts a redirect into the .htaccess file either out of neglect or because their content management system does not allow them to do so, and those links die.
Just as often syntax errors occur during creation, editing, and updating. For example, updating a site to responsive design, HTML 5, or routine maintenance such as checking for and replacing dead links.
Weird stuff happens for no apparent reason.
Experience demonstrates the fourth reason happens most often. The second most common reason is that URLs change.3 Syntax errors, errors in coding, are third in frequency and are usually internal. The least frequent is neglecting to write a redirect into the .htaccess file.
The need for redirects suggests major changes in website architecture such as changing servers, adding or deleting directories, or changing content management systems. For example, some years ago I was hosting two WordPress instances as part of jgkeegan.com, but they required constant updating and I was unable to keep them up-to-date; so, my service provider would periodically shut them down. As a result, I purchased a new domain, keegan.blog, and moved both the Keegan Blog and the Keegan Podcast to WordPress.com. While the content of both is much easier to maintain, and it is much easier to post on the go; weird stuff does happen. Recently, I was routinely checking the blog for link rot, and discovered numerous errors in one of my older posts Intelligent Design is a Social Theory4 Opening the editor to start correction, I found that in both editing views only a third of the content was present. However, all of the content was present when viewing the post in the browser. That did not make sense. Not wanting to risk the loss of two-thirds of my content, I copied the post from the browser and coded it again making corrections as I went, which solved the
problem.
Checking for link rot and other Content Maintenance should be continuous, but stuff happens and, at the very least, routine checks should happen about every three months. Dead links are the most common maintenance issue on websites. Each outgoing link on a website should be physically inspected and replaced if it does not function. On large sites, anything over 250 pages, some type of automatic link checker should be used. I was reluctant to use an automatic link checker because there is no substitute for physical inspection. However, and automatic link checker does give an author a place to start. Recently, I searched for an automatic link checker and found Free Broken Link Checker–Online Dead Link Checking Tool.5 It has two features which are useful. It lists the broken URLs in a table; providing a link to the originating page, and it allows the author to view the code. It does, however, have a major drawback. The checker does not recognize changes immediately. That is, if a check is run on a domain and dead links are found and changed, and the checker is run immediately it will return the same information because not enough time has passed for the changes made to be recognized.
Once a broken link is found, what happens next? If the link is important enough the link text should be searched for, and if the same information is found the link should be replaced. If the same information is not found, then the URL should be put into the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive, and the most recent snapshot of the information should be used.6 There are instances, however, when the Wayback Machine has not archived a page or site. In that case, and if the page is a list of links, the dead link should be removed and replaced if possible. If the dead link is in a footnote, which is part of an article or academic paper and cannot be found it should not be removed that is why the access date is given in the footnote.
Content Maintenance is as important to a website as Content Creation, and a functioning server. Content Maintenance should be a continuous process for a website to maintain its usefulness. Entropy increases with time.
Notes
1 Stephen W. Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam, 1988), 102.
2 PCMag Encyclopedia, s. v. Dead Link accessed July 24, 2021, https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/dead-link. A hyperlink on a website that points to a Web page that has been deleted or moved. Also called an orphan link, it may also be a temporary condition if the Web server is down; PCMag Encyclopedia, s. v. Link Rot accessed July 24, 2021, https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/link-rot. Invalid hyperlinks on the Web. The more years go by, the more link rot because pages are moved to new locations or deleted.
3 PCMag Encyclopedia, s. v. URL accessed July 24, 2021, https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/url. (Uniform Resource Locator) The address that defines the route to a file on an Internet server (Web server, mail server, etc.). URLs are typed into a Web browser to access Web pages and files, and URLs are embedded within the pages themselves as links….
6 Wayback Machine, Internet Archive, accessed July 24, 2021, https://archive.org/web/. The Wayback Machine provides access to snapshots of billions of websites that exist and have existed on the Internet.
The article was originally going to be a blog post, but I could not format it the way I wanted it on the blog; so I put it on the website instead. I did, however, post a video discussion on the blog.
Put index page in all new folders.
I add index pages to folders so that users cannot see the folders contents.
My Sherlock Holmes pages are the hardest keep up to date with good links there are so few out there, which makes me even more dependent on the Wayback Machine. The notes page was one of my first attempts at using footnotes in a webpage. Now, I use them as a matter of course, and footnotes should be used more than they are on the web.
I came up with the idea of doing lectures during the pandemic. When I, like many others, had a lot of time on my hands. I found that making videos and uploading them to YouTube was easier than producing an audio-only podcast. Additionally, it allowed me to present the material the way it should be presented. A complete list of lectures is available at my Document Archive of educational material keegan.wiki.
Updated link in the unit the Launching of a New Constitution on the Contents page Appendix section to a transcript of the Constitution from the National Archives.
Made changes to CSS of article Internet Platforms, User Rights, and Section 230. Set the position of modal using ID instead of class. Additionally, I put the aside element inside the
article element.
Completed updating Copyright on all files contained in the Portfolio. Additionally, updated Annenberg page and Si-Fi page.
Completed update of Copyright year on all Doctor Who pages. Additionally, updated Copyright year on all remaining pages. Update of Copyright year on website is complete.
It is getting more and more difficult to find links to good content about Doctor Who. It is even more difficult to find content that is well maintained.
Removed link to Facebook page about the Secret of Sherlock Holmes. Added a link to a blog post about the play, and embedded slightly better audio from SoundCloud.
Added new links to YouTube videos and new blog post to Intelligent Design Links Page. Additionally, link to blog post was added to Homepage.
I have not publicly updated the change log for some time. Below are the changes made to jgkeegan.com from July 2019-May 2020.
07/21/19
I updated my Groucho Marx: The Writer page adding several new links and updating the HTML code. One of my oldest articles, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find new links to add to the page; or even links that still function.
07/22/19
Corrected an error in the text of a link on the Groucho Marx page. Additionally, checked links on the Star Trek page and added two new links; and a new video. Also updated links on the Sherlock Holmes links page.
I corrected a problem with the index page. Apparently, I put my generic folder index page in the root directory of the site. So, for the last seven days, there were two index files one HTM and the correct one HTML. The server is keyed to HTM. Once in the index.htm was in the root directory that became the index page. I must be more careful using FTP in the future. Because of the way I corrected the problem, Git did not recognize the change and there was nothing to commit. I changed the text color and font of the letters section on the Groucho Marx page.
08/29/19
Updated link to expression web on purpose page of the Constitution Unit. Changed copyright date on Mr. Sherlock Holmes page. Updated resume.
12/26/19
Created a Master List of pages as well as lists for categories such as education, portfolio, articles, papers, and the like. Additionally, I have begun updating the copyright year on each page because I’m using a free HTML editor.
12/28/19
Completed updating copyright year on all articles and miscellaneous pages.
Completed updated copyright year for all pages in the category forensics which includes all Sherlock Holmes pages.
Completed update of copyright year for all pages in the category Education as well as the following: the Prisoner, Star Trek links, templates, and In the News.
Back in July, I changed web design programs from Expression Web to Dreamweaver Creative Cloud. As a result, I had to recode the dynamic web template that I based the majority of my site on. At the end of every year the copyright has to be updated. 2016 has to be changed to 2017. That process should be a simple matter of updating the template, saving the changes, and the program should update the pages that use the template automatically.
I have updated the main template and save the changes, and I thought the program updated the pages that use the template. However, some pages updated and some pages did not, and I have no idea why. This problem is slowing the responsive design update.
Last week, I picked up my responsive design project where I left off. In earlier post I described the beginning of the project. Since November, many of the pages in the site have been updated. There is still a lot of work to be done. This week I changed design programs from Expression Web 4 to Dreamweaver Creative Cloud chiefly because I wanted to use the full capabilities of CSS 3 and have them recognized by my design program. To put it simply, Expression Web 4 is 10 years old and shows every bit of its age. It’s so old in fact that Microsoft is giving it away for free. I have tried Visual Studio 2015, and it takes too long to install; and comes with too many features I will never use.
Dreamweaver Creative Cloud is subscription service, so I will have access to updates as they become available. It is standards compliant and the user interface is not that different. In the end, markup is mark up and code is code. Dreamweaver should I serve my needs for the foreseeable future. Switching to Dreamweaver has created some issues. The most annoying one is that the program uses a slightly different syntax in its dynamic web templates, which means I cannot create new pages based on my existing templates. Furthermore, all pages based on existing templates must be updated after I create new templates based on the different syntax, but all of those are backstage updates.
Most of my major content pages have been updated. I still have some structural pages to update, and I am considering updating the Doctor Who Episode Guide and keegan.wiki as well as other sub-sites. Additionally, I still have a great deal more to learn about CSS 3. I am still having difficulty mastering flex box and float.
Apparently, all the broken links to the documents and presentations that I maintain in OneDrive for Business are now functioning. However, if you have problems accessing any of them, please email me.
At some point in the last few weeks Microsoft updated OneDrive for Business, which is where I store all the files that are linked to from my websites. Because of the update any link that is more than a month old is broken and does not function. The only fix for this problem is to update each link. That is, create a new link for each Word Document and PowerPoint Presentation and Excel spreadsheet on all my sites, which is going to take a great deal of time. How much? Who knows.
If you have trouble accessing a Word Document, PowerPoint Presentation, or Excel spreadsheet please email me and let me know. I will send a working link as soon as possible.
Back in August, I started the process of converting some of the pages in my website to responsive design. I may put up my notes on the process later, but for now I have completed nine pages. I do not know if I will convert my entire site. I have been reluctant to move to responsive design because most of my pages were, I thought, already designed for most smaller screens. The Doctor Who Episode Guide works well on an iPad mini screen, but not as well on an iPhone 5, iPhone 6 , or an iPhone 6 Plus screen. Even so, the Guide is one sub-site I will, most likely, not convert and there is some other content such as my Portfolio, the Launching of a New Constitution, Teaching Resources, and keegan.wiki. The thing these pages have in common is they were designed for professional use where laptops and desktops are common, and for the minimum screen size of an iPad mini. The Doctor Who Guide and my other Doctor Who content does not fit into that category. However, its present format is the best way to display the content at this time.
A majority of my recent content, however, is blog posts and articles, and is slowly being converted to responsive design.The following is a list of pages that have been converted so far. I, probably, should not have used a table.
The Keegan Blog 