Answer: Do you use Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 (IE6)? First released in 2001, it is still widely used, though no longer supported. It came pre-installed with Windows XP when many people acquired their computers. IE6 is a terrible browser: proprietary and generally non-W3C compliant. It drives web developers crazy. We prefer to write code to a specification, a standard, and not for specific browsers. So web pages often look mish-mashed in IE6. It should be phased out.
Being the cautious type, you aren't interested in any of the alternative, free, open source browsers, like Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Chrome. How about upgrading to IE8? IE8 is lightyears better than IE6. These pages are 100% valid XHTML, but they are not guaranteed not to rip, bust, collect dust, roll downhill, or unravel. That said, the performance degradation and rendering problems with IE8 are not present in other browsers. Most other modern browsers render these pages flawlessly and nearly uniformly.
Corporate users, such as banks or the VA, are often stuck with IE6 because they can't add or delete programs on their Windows computers. They can't access the internet during work hours, their keystrokes are frequently logged, and emails scrutinized.
This is an unofficial, non-commercial, amateur, hobby, vanity web site, designed for relatively modern computers. There is nothing of interest here that is not posted at the CCCR main website. Mobile users will appreciate the lack of bloat there.
Answer: Inspired by the Cranston-Warwick Chess Club site, I wanted a similar website for the CCCR, publishing a membership list, bylaws, news, tournament announcements, and member's games. I sought CCCR accreditation for this site and appointment as CCCR webmaster and Director of Media. They felt that my motivations were somehow malevolent and that my calls for open, honest club government were "too negative." In fairness, they postponed judgement, and advised me that an official CCCR web site could not include public disclosure of complaints. So, on September 30, 2008, about 1 year, 5 months and 8 days ago, I registered the domain "communitychessclub.com" at a cost of $10.00 per year. Web hosting cost $25.00 a month for a semi-dedicated server, not unrealistically expensive.
At that time the CCCR's website was not actively maintained to the greatest extent possible. It had no membership list, no list of officers, few tournament announcements, and consisted mostly of photos and crosstables. The majority of CCCR members don't own computers. Still I assumed that they would welcome my offer of webmastering communitychessclub.com, but they didn't. And I was stuck with the domain name.
Answer: In the mid-1990's, I procrastinated for months in learning the simple HTML scripting language, a sort of computer tinker toy originally designed for non-technical acedemics to create web pages. While playing chess on FICS, I met JohnnyRio, who said he had worked in an illegal auto chop shop, stripping down stolen cars for parts. While serving thirty-seven months in an Oregon State Prison for Grand Theft Auto (GTA), or soon thereafter, he created a Bobby Fischer fan web site. It was a simple web page and had a little table with an "x" marked for months that he had Chess Life magazine issues. Essentially, I got shamed into learning to code HTML. I have no formal training.
Maintaining this web site has necessitated updating my rusty HTML coding skills to the stricter, more modern XHTML standard, a reformulation of HTML into a hybrid of XML and HTML. Valid XHTML documents, sent as application/xhtml+xml, are rendered by compliant browsers (pretty much anything that isn't Internet Explorer) much faster.
Answer: My original purpose was to inform people about local chess activities such as tournaments, other chess events, officer's names, cancelations, etc. The local chess community needed a more reliable, timely source of information than it had. However, this idea involved the participation and cooperation of the local organizers, and collecting data would prove to be sporatic. They all want to be little kings, and resist any attempt to imbricate the heirarchy.
Answer: Not at all. Mike and I have different styles of webmasterin'. He prefers to do everything himself; that way he knows everything will get done. Being less focused, I rely on a coterie of helpers, including Mike himself. I get assistance in a wide range of areas: layout, color selection, dhtml, gamescores and analysis.
Our relationship is simple: if something needs to be removed from here, I comply courteously. And if Ron at the Chess Center wants something to disappear from here, it's gone. I hope that this page agrees with them and further facillitates their efforts. Ron is too important a chess personage to alienate. Being the main sweep at both at the Chess Center and the CCCR affords Mike the opportunity for social advancement within the chess world.
I'm not on a quest for power. If nominated for office at CCCR, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve. Nor is a bouleversement my goal. My intent is simply to make local chess information commonly available to the community via the internet.
That mission is partially realized at the CCCR web site. It's morphed into a transparent, member-oriented organization. Online schedules and membership lists are posted at the CCCR web site. Financial statements were posted at the club. We still lack a set of bylaws and elections, but hopefully these issues will be addressed soon. I would love for communitychessclub.com to be unnecessary; that's the point. But, yes, we do compete. Check out this googlefight to see who wins.
Answer: Who cares? My mission will not change regardless of the website's name. I post disclaimers stating that this is not the official CCCR web site. As a watchdog website, I feel somewhat encumbered sharing a name similar to the CCCR. Wish I had registered "CCCR-watch" or something similar.
You will read stuff here that the CCCR/RCC would rather you didn't. When a wrong occurs or something needs improvement, it'll be aired here, after careful scrutiny. Spurious dissent will be kept to a minimum, accounts rendered will be tasteful, fair, reasonable, and polite. We're working friends here. No religous, racial, or sexually-oriented bigotry will be tolerated.
After I posted an account of a possible local USCF-rated tournament irregularity, satisfactory explanations were received. I issued a retraction and an apology. I should have checked the accuracy of the charges. My general amnesty, issued in mid-October 2008, turned out to be a mistake, viewed as weakness on my part.
Answer: It's difficult for me, because I don't own a real computer, just WebTV. It has a wireless keyboard and a remote, and uses my existing TV. I plan to buy a nice computer in late 2009, finances permitting. For now, this means a three-mile slog, twice a week, through snow and cold in winter, and the rains of April, the searing heat of summer, to the Henrietta Public Library, there to use a free computer. I don't drive. Bus service is sporatic.
The programmers at my web hosting service wrote most of the code, and charged me one dollar for each feature. For the random chess quotes displayed at the top of each page, I supplied the list of chess quotes. That, and the code for the photo slideshow each cost a dollar. I'm glad I didn't have to do the work. I know the HTML basics, but the new fancy stuff baffles me.
Pretty soon the combined cost of these extra features ran to $16.00, but it's only a one-time fee. Thank goodness the use of the public library's computers is free of charge.
Answer: As the "People's Champion", I'm not as comfortable with the sham competitive attitudes I displayed in attaining the USCF National Master's title. I wish I'd developed other interests. As a result, I'm somehow less than authentic, viewed as having mastered an elaborate party trick. This, despite having five service awards from USCF, and serving as TD and CCCR Club Secretary for ten years. Go figure. So, yes, I've lost interest in chess. My life is better without serious chess. I play a bit on ICC, but OTB play is no longer my cup of tea.
The Microsoft IE CSS zoom property is used to fix an Internet Explorer bug and cajole it to properly observe the CSS "overflow" property. It is not part of the formal W3C CSS specification, and will not validate. Note that the "zoom" property does nothing in other browsers. Therefore, it's universally web browser compatible. Using the non-standard "zoom" property is an acceptable usage. Validation is just a guide to a defining standard. Because the cause of the failure to validate is understood, and the invalid code isn't hurting anything, there is no cause for concern.
Answer: At the bottom of this page is a link to a W3C validation test for W3C compliance. The higher the level of conformity, the more uniformly the pages will render among the many browsers. It also helps by catching errors, which I correct. There are other reasons to validate html, including the fact that search engine spiders often can't effectively parse or categorize sites with bad html.
