This site was originally constructed using NaviPress 1.0 which became GNNPress 1.1 which then became AOLPress (and NaviSoft, Inc. became a division of America Online). In the late spring of 1999, AOL sold off its web hosting business to Verio and this site moved to a server with FrontPage extensions. At present I am hosted by a local company, Coastside.Net.
The original idea behind this site was to provide members of Time Warner's Dwellings Forum on Compuserve a convenient way of accessing web content that related to current discussion topics. The "twd" subdirectory and Dwelonit page are hold-overs from that time. I left the forum in September 1996. Time Warner removed their name at some later time, and the forum was renamed yet again to the original "Home Forum" moniker. The forums are gone, but you can still find Compuserve here. And I note that Time Warner is channelling some of their content there.
The first and second generations of the Guide to Wood Design Information (GWDI) have been available at this site for many years, but it is time they retired. I have referred you back to the original document owner for online updates. A regular PDF of the guide is available from the APA (search for ref102.pdf).
You may note that the link pages throughout this site share a common format. Custom programs in C++ have been written to extract each of the addresses from my Internet Explorer's Favorite menu and list them according to subject area. This could be something of interest to anyone who also finds maintaining/updating links a painful/tedious process. See the Programming area of the site.
In the mid-nineties I adapted the City of Palo Alto's Residential Construction Guide to web pages for reference by members of the Dwelllings Forum mentioned above. Unfortunately, that document is no longer supported by the City of Palo Alto's website. I have refreshed the link to the files here at the website. Note the document topic index that is part of that publication...a new feature in its time.
The APA's Homeowner's Guide to Earthquake Safeguards (PDF) and two of their Technical Bulletins were similarly adapted for the web. The APA has done an exceptional job of converting their publications into online-accessible documents. Their site is well worth a look. Use this link.
The Shear Wall Basics area was developed for a seminar given at the Construction Business & Technology conference sponsored by the Journal of Light Construction. I'm pleased you have found it useful. I have also written articles for the JOLC's Practical Engineering column. You may also have seen my name in one of their published books.
Many years ago this site was featured in Structural Engineering Forum magazine in the debut of their section relating to the web and has been mentioned in the web section of CE News.
In response to no particular prodding, I have posted a privacy policy on the main page. To recap, the web management tools that my host offers can tell me when traffic peaks, the number of times individual pages are viewed and the domains from which they are requested, but nothing about the individual users.
Remember, if you have questions or comments about the site, drop me a line at any of the highlighted E-mail addresses.
I have again started to fiddle around the margins. Many pages now carry CSS tagging to improve appearance and acknoledge the increased screen sizes present today. Despite the stylish web development programs, I still prefer to do layouts by hand. Go figure.
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