How to use this site

Our atheltics pages are fairly self-explanitory and easy to navigate IF you have the proper hardware and software. Most of the pages are built with Frames, therefore you will need a frames-compatible browser. We suggest the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer. The pages also make heavy use of Java, a language developed by Sun Microsystems. This re-emphasizes the need for a browser like Microsoft Internet Explorer. Netscape Navigator (I've tried up to 4.7) runs JavaScript nauseatingly slow! In addition, many basic items, like buttons, just do not appear when the pages are viewed in Netscape.

Most of the sports pages function in the same way. The frame in the upper-left corner is the main index, containing links to email contact, the main athletics page, and sub-indices. The lower- left corner is where sub-indices appear, such as player rosters. The big frame is where the bulk of the information will appear. This set-up allows for navigation of the site with minimal reliance on the BACK button. A typical navigation may go something like this:
  • You load a page for one of our sports.
  • You click on the player roster (in the upper-left frame).
  • The roster appears in the lower-left frame.
  • You click on one of the players.
  • That player's information, possibly including...
    • mug-shot
    • bio
    • statistics
    • vitals
    appears in the large frame on the right of the screen.
  • You explore the information on that player, possibly investigating any links on his/her page.
  • When you're ready to look at another player, the roster is still there for you to click on.
  • If you want to change to another category, like...
    • View the links page
    • View the coaches roster
    • Jump back to the athletics page
    • View stats and other information
    you simply click on the appropriate category in the upper-left frame -- that frame will always be visible.
The reason for the heavy reliance on Java (actually JavaScript) is quite practical. I have a simple 56K modem, like most of you, and I am frequently frustrated by the speed at which sites load. The focus of many webmasters has shifted from functionality and ease-of-use to attractiveness and graphics. I have deliberately stayed away from non-essential graphics whenever possible. To further aid in access time, much of the data has been 'databased'. This means that the browser only has to download a small snippet of JavaScript code, and that code 'builds' the page based on information from the database. An added benefit on our end is that there are much fewer pages to upload and maintain. For example, on our football page there are over 50 different athletes on the roster that you can click on and retrieve information on. But instead of having 50 different pages, there is only one page which gets the information on the requested player from the database. Thus, if the webmaster wishes to change the appearance of the players' pages, he need change only one page.

Some of you may be aware of ASP -- Active Server Pages. That is a server-side solution that interactively writes the web pages based on the information the client has requested. This, for the most part, only will only work on servers using MS software -- our district's server currently uses Apache. CGI programs could also be used for database storage and retreival, but we are not allowed to use CGI on our server. Thus the final decision was made to go with Client-side JavaScript.

All of this could be good news to you or bad news, depending on your computer. Although maintanence and download times are reduced, the time it takes for a page to actually appear in your browser is extremely dependent on the computer you are using. I've seen some of our statistics pages load quickly - less than 5 seconds - on a 266 Mhz Pentium II with a 56K modem, and take several minutes on a 120 Mhz Pentium I with a T-1 connection. So you don't have to have a state-of-the-art computer, but obviously processor speed, browser manufacturer and version, RAM, and internet connection all greatly affect the speed at which these pages can be accessed.






If there is something that you feel should have been covered in this help file, please contact us so that we can address it.