Development on the site started mid January 1997. Using an Amiga 4000/30 and Claris Home Page 1.0. This program is of course for the Apple Mac, but the Amiga is very good at emulation. With the situation regarding the Amiga, I may have to move over to a PC.
Most of the images are scanned using the Amiga, although some do come from other sites, all images that are imported have links to the original site in the Links. Images are usually 256 colours or more, its recommended that you use more than 256 colours in your browser. The scanner is a Sharp JX100.
The reviews at present are all wrote by me, using various sources. Full credit will be given to any one who submits anything for the site. Click Submit or on the contents page for details.
The layout of the site keeps changing, as I'm trying to find the easiest way to navigate the various pages. At present the first page you see is the title (index) page, telling you what you can find if you chose to explore further. Then comes the contents page, from here you can get to all the pages on the site. With the exception of the film reviews each page has links to the other sections, you have to return to the contents page to select a further review. I wonder if frames would make navigation any easier? send your views please.
1st June. Now moved to a frames based version, think this seems to be more efficient for navigation not having to return to the contents page every time.
10th August. Now done on a PC, mainly for speed. Built by me.
Going to try new internet provider shortly Firstnet does not work well with US Robotics modem I use, have account with BT Internet, but limited to 5 megs, thinking of using Easynet for the unlimited space for personal use.
March 1998. Finally decided on Prestel On-Line, they provide unlimited web space for
personal use and unlimited E-Mail address. Plus they seem quite fast.
Also changed the layout. A drop down menu to select the contents, and the right side with
the full index for each section. This seems to work well.
Going to put a feed back form on soon, plus a survey form for film collectors. (When I find out how to make it work).
Scanner upgraded to Black Widow SCSI 9630S. The quality of the scans seems to be very good, but it has a major drawback VERY bad design, with the raised lip which is about 1" high at the front, you cannot scan from books very well. If I was to buy another scanner it would not be this one.
May 1998. Put the feedback form on and it works. Still not sure about site navigation.
Bought a Syquest Spar 1.0GB drive, seemed OK but lost nearly a full cartridge of data.
They seem to start making a screeching noise and then get errors on them. NOT
recommended.
In the end had to replace the drive, bought from Insight and they refunded my
money. I highly recommend them. When you get good service you are tempted to
keep using them.
Derek Simmonds of Derann gave permission to include reviews from their magazine 'Film For The Collector'. Started adding them now. Going to just put the reviews with no pictures, they will be added later.
August 1998. Doing a little fine tuning, and adding some extra services. Had BT's Home Highway fitted this allows you to have two analogue numbers and one digital line. Basically its residential a version of ISDN2e. It seems faster on analogue modem, still waiting for ISDN card.
September 98. The ISDN card finally arrived on 10/9. The speed difference is amazing. If BT price this service at the right price, they could have a winner on their hands. Too expensive!!
October 98. Not much done working on more reviews. Away for most of the month on holiday.
November 98. Started major design change, going to use CSS.
December 98. Have got the CSS working. IE4 seems to work the best, which is a pity as I like NN4. Thinking of having my own domain name?
January 99. Uploaded the new lay-out, seems to works O.K. Also added large amount of new reviews.
March 99. Uploaded a few new reviews, and added 'search this site' from "Freefind" You may find it useful?
April/May 99. Lots more reviews added. Put extra link on welcome for ease of finding the new reviews. Still no letters to add. Sad!!!!!!!!
November 99. Not much work done during the Summer months. Updating monthly
was too ambitious, hoping to update every couple of months, or try for four
times per year. Added a Mind It button for visitor to be kept informed of up
dates. Also Amazon.com. Jazzed some of the navigation buttons up a bit, the
welcome page takes a little longer to load due to pre-loading some images.
Re-using as many of the images as possible.
Also in November obtained my own domain name. The address is
http://www.thereelimage.co.uk
Started a revamp during December 99 early January 2000, also added a few more reviews.
From January to April working on adding new reviews, uploaded early April.
Added new table of contents/sitemap, fixed some broken links also a few more reviews. Changed hosting to Nic Names cutting out redirection, added benefit of using Frontpage enhancements.
06/01/2001 Uploaded the latest version. New start page used.
Dropped Mind It, never really used it though. Now going to charge too expensive to use.
Added 32 new reviews 1st March 2001. Also a few little tweaks here and there.
April 2001. Added reviews from Super Eight Film Collector issue #9, also a couple of other bits.
May 2001 Added about 30 reviews.
Working on adding forum and classified advertisement sections. In the process of testing them. Also working on database for the survey form to see if it can be automated a little bit.
If any users have accounts with Prestel On-line I would advise they check payments made. They are VERY slack, my account was cancelled in January got a court letter in June. BEST AVOIDED.
Forum and Classified sections added. 10 new reviews, and automated receive updates listing.
This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002