Colophon

How the book Best Sermons 1926 was implemented as the website <www.bestsermons.net/1926>:

1. Set up a web server
   1. registered the internet domain “bestsermons.net” (to give the sermons the best home possible)
   2. learned the GNU/Linux operating system (“Linux”), especially the Apache web server and the DNS/BIND domain name server
   3. set up a web server and a DNS server on my home PC running Red Hat Linux
   4. bought a dedicated server (Sun Cobalt Qube 3) and learned how to use it
2. Converted the book into a text file
   1. photocopied each page of the book, Best Sermons 1926 (two facing book pages per photocopy)
   2. scanned each photocopy into a graphics file (.bmp or .tif)
   3. ran optical character recognition (OCR) software on each graphics file to convert it into an ASCII text file
   4. compared ASCII text to photocopies to correct OCR errors
   5. checked and rechecked the resulting text files for accuracy
   6. concatenated the text files into one large file: “the whole book”
3. Converted the text file into a website
   1. HTML:
      1. starting with “the whole book,” added basic elements: html, head, body, p, headings
      2. put in characters like o-umlaut, ae-ligature, and m-dash, in order to recreate the professionally typeset format of the printed book
      3. added abbreviations and acronyms
      4. broke “the whole book” apart into individual sermons
      5. added navigation bars and links, using a simple model used by the W3C in the HTML 4.01 specification
      6. created an HTML facsimile of the Library of Congress copyright record
      7. I kept reading the sermons and the HTML source code. I continued to make corrections as I went through these steps. I’m sure errors remain, but only a few. Corrections became more infrequent as I repeatedly read the text. I’m nitpicky to a fault, and I’ve been pretty nitpicky about this, even for me.
      8. validated the html code files as “HTML version 4.01 strict”

         

   2. Cascading Style Sheets: I created a page format that is unobtrusive and easy on the eyes.
   3. PHP: Just for fun, I put a counter on the home page, so I have some indication of how many people visit my site (or is it just how many times I visit my site?).
4. Pre-publication:
   1. Licensing: The GNU Free Documentation License makes the work freely available under fair conditions.
   2. Writing my introductory material: the web domain homepage, my biography, and this colophon
5. Publication:
   1. put files on server
   2. submit my site to search engines
   3. tell my family, friends, coworkers, and anyone else who’ll listen
   4. research related websites, tell them of my existence, offer and request links

Equipment & software used:

Computers:

• IBM Thinkpad A21e laptop, running Windows 2000 Professional
• Homebuilt computer: Enlight case, ABit BE6II motherboard, Intel Pentium 550 MHz CPU, 512 MB Crucial RAM, ATI All-In-Wonder 128 video card, Sony Trinitron E-200 17" monitor, Microsoft keyboard and mouse, running Windows NT Workstation 4.0

Scanner:

• Canon CanoScan FB 320P, with ScanCraft CS-P

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software:

• TextBridge Plus (on Windows NT)
• SimpleOCR (on Windows 2000)

Office suite:

• Microsoft Office 2000

HTML editors:

• HomeSite
• Dreamweaver MX

Server:

• Sun Cobalt Qube 3

Server software:

• Apache web server
• DNS/BIND

Internet Service Provider:

• Covad

DNS secondaries:

• zoneedit.com