Archive Sublevels
On the sublevels, beneath the visitor levels, archivists go about their work of creating and maintaining exhibits. This portion of Sublevel 3 is open to visitors, so that they may learn about the operation of the Archive and understand the work of the archivists. Here, you may read the Chief Archivist's Logbook to see what is being done and what is planned for the future.
January 29, 2007
Finally, I've managed to get a big update out. I'm calling the new style Archive 2.0. The previous one was somewhere around 1.8. You may notice that the layout has changed slightly. If you are using Internet Explorer 6, you will notice a big difference. IE6 doesn't support several important features, so I have to give it a special version of the page layout. To make sure the site works, I had to sacrifice some of its appearance. If you've upgraded to IE7, you should have no problem with the ordinary layout.
Konqueror has been added to the list of test browsers. If you switch to the Ga-Koro style, Konqueror will remember that when you load the next page. Hopefully other browsers will add this feature soon.
More important are the additions to content. Level 5 has been finished off with the Rahi exhibit. Level 4 is now open, with exhibits for Toa Metru, Metru Nui, and Vahki. A summary of the Bohrok-Kal saga is ready. All existing exhibits have had their content reviewed and updated. And finally, level 7 will soon be open.
One more thing: the Archive has made it into the Google database. You'll never find it unless you're specifically looking for it, but it's fun to know, for me at least.
November 15, 2006
Due to receiving Ignition #5, I updated the information on Vezon, Fenrakk, and Kardas. It's been a while since there were any changes, but I should have more ready in a few weeks. I am still finishing up in the corners of Level 5 and writing about the Bohrok-Kal saga. After that, I intend to take care of some technical issues with the site. Hopefully, both those projects will be done before I have to start thinking about opening Level 7.
October 17, 2006
The upcoming pages mentioned in the last entry are still being worked on. What I've done now is create a links page. I have three Bionicle sites there now, and I will be adding more, and looking for more.
You may be wondering about the icons with the "W3C" and the check mark. Try clicking on one of them. "W3C" stands for "World Wide Web Consortium", the organization which agrees on and publishes Web technical standards. W3C has a free online validation service, which tests Web page code to see if it is properly written in conformance to the standards. That is what happens when you click one of the icons. The validator should return a page stating that the Archive passed the test and is actually valid code. If it says something else, let me know. I'm a little proud of passing validation. Not many sites do.
I also need to consider redesigning for the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 7. I'm not sure yet just how much I will change, or how to keep compatibility with IE6. That project will likely wait a few months.
October 11, 2006
Currently, I am working on making a page on the Rahi of Metru Nui, and writing a storyline summary for 2003. Writing is usually slow work for me. The next update might be sometime next week.
I am also looking into making linking agreements with Mask of Destiny and some other Bionicle sites. Therefore, this site is officially out of the BZP orbit.
October 7, 2006
Several new things have appeared in the Archive this weekend. First of all, this page. I plan to use the Chief Archivist's Logbook to explain about the changes, and later to let you know what I'm working on and when it will be ready. It's something like a Webmaster's blog. But instead of using blogging software, I'm coding it from scratch. There is also no form for visitors to leave comments. These are both due to my not being allowed to run script on the server.
Next, about the new layout and page styles which you may or may not be able to choose between. I will have to explain something about how Web pages work. The basis of a Web page is a document written in HTML (which stands for HyperText Markup Language.) In the modern way of coding Web pages, the HTML only defines the text and images of the page, not the style and layout. For example, this page's HTML says something like, "Make a level-1 header containing the words "Archive Sublevels". It doesn't say "Use the font 'Old English Text MT', or a generic sans-serif font if that's not available. Also, align the text to the center." That is done with another language, called CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). If your browser only had the HTML file, this page would have a boring white background with lines of plain text, all identical, all lined up on the left side, without any colors, pictures, or font styles. It's the CSS file that makes everything look good.
Why is this important? Because I've given the Archive two CSS files. The default is mostly black, red, and silver. The other one is mostly blue, with pictures of Ga-Koro instead of the Onu-Metru Archive as banners. If you are using Firefox, Opera, Safari, or a browser built on the same rendering engine, you can choose which one to use by going to the View menu and choosing "Page Style" (though it's slightly different in different browsers.) Internet Explorer, unfortunately, does not support alternate CSS files, so IE users are stuck with the default. Actually, IE doesn't support all the CSS features of the default file, so I've coded it a special file that looks as much like the default as possible. This is why the navigation bar on the main page stays in the window when you scroll in most browsers, but will move out of view in Internet Explorer.
I hope that explanation wasn't too technical. That is why you might be able to re-style the site, and might not. It depends on your browser.
In addition, the URL's for the History section have changed slightly. I doubt anyone has linked to them or bookmarked them, but I am announcing it anyway.
October 7, 2006
The status reports previously kept in the main entrance have been archived here.
October 6, 2006, 20:00 GMT- The Archive is pleased to announce a redesign and the opening of Level 5. Exhibits on the Toa Hordika, Rahaga, Visorak, and Dark Hunters are now open. If your browser supports it, you can skin the site by going to "View: Page Style" and choosing either "Default" or "Ga-Koro". I will explain more about this soon.
October 1, 2006, 2:00 GMT- I've updated the Mask of Life page, with information on Umbra and Vezon. As for the promised layout redesign, it's going well and might be up next week. You will be able to choose between two different page styles, both of which will be better than the current one.
September 12, 2006, 2:00 GMT- I am now in the process of remodeling the Archive's basic layout to make it look better. Keep your eyes open...
September 10, 2006, 2:00 GMT- Level 6 is now complete, with the Piraka page online. I intend to touch up a few things, and move on to writing more story summaries for the Amaja Circle.
September 2, 2006, 20:00 GMT- I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, but the Toa Inika page is ready. In addition, I built the Archive an Amaja Circle, where the Bionicle story can be told. You can read my synopses of the first two years' storyline.
August 31, 2006, 2:00 GMT- I have decided to save some material that's finished but not online, and release several pages all at once. Look for them sometime this weekend.
August 26, 2006, 23:00 GMT- I've updated the Mask of Life page. There's some more information, and if you click on the names of Axonn and Brutaka, pictures of them should appear. I aquired "Power Play" today, and I'm looking forward to writing about the Piraka and Inika.
August 26, 2006, 2:00 GMT- Meet the Matoran of Voya Nui. This page uses an image-cycling program I wrote. Click on the picture with the red border to advance the viewer. Let me know if it doesn't work.
August 25, 2006, 15:00 GMT- A Mask of Life page is now online, ahead of schedule. There is also a page of policies in the "Other Exhibits" section.
August 25, 2006, 13:00 GMT- The site has been up almost 24 hours now. After doing a little research, I corrected some Javascript errors. This allowed me to convert the page from tag soup to valid HTML 4.01 Transitional. As a result, the navigation bar will now work in Firefox, Opera, and Netscape. In Internet Explorer, it will work a little differently, but all content will still be visible. If you do have problems viewing the site, send me an e-mail (there's a link below.) Make sure you include the name and version of your browser and operating system, as well as a clear description of the problem.
August 24, 2006, 21:00 GMT- If you are viewing this page in a web browser, I have successfully begun uploading. Currently, none of the pages with any information
on Bionicle are loaded to the server, and I still have a few technical problems to resolve. I am expecting to get the coding bugs worked out and two or three pages
online this weekend.
UPDATE: the Voya Nui exhibit is online!