netscape 1.1+ version straight html version

John Robert Boynton lives in Menlo Park, California, a part of the San Francisco Bay area where life is particularly easy. I answer to "John Robert" or "J.R." Suddenly: the homepage. Through the miracles of modern technology, everyone's a publisher. But what to say? This is not a resume. It becomes, like many other homepages, an eclectic mix of ideas and interests. Imagine when everyone's ideas and experiences are here on the web, searchable. Anything you want: hit the search button. Twist through chaotic hypertext links, then search for something else. Something is going to happen, and we're lucky enough that we will find out what! For general thoughts about this aspect of web publishing, check out: http://www.awaken.org/storming/feather.html; for a story about a particular case: http://www.edbo.com/abigail/WWW/dream.html. I write software manuals and design websites for cash. Some of my interests are listed below: first business-related, then more personal. Contact me by email: jrb@tdl.com, or phone: 415/323-3324.

Technical writing I write excellent software manuals that a normal person can use to get work done. I make it easy for users to identify a procedure they want to perform, and then follow the step-by-step instructions. It sounds simple, and it is: hire me. I explain technical concepts and procedures in a way that "non-technical" people can understand and use. I am also an excellent writer, technical or not.

Web design and digital publishing I've worked in digital publishing for ten years, since before Pagemaker first came out. Mark-up languages like HTML are not new. Design for the Web is really only tricky because of the technical limitations. I am an expert at "re-using" information. The current buzzword: "multi-purposing" is about a process I've used for a decade. Any document, for instance, is an "asset". To use an asset in different contexts without modifying it requires careful design up front, consistent discipline, and usually some programming. When you have a lot of assets you can save a lot of time and money and prevent many errors. I have done projects in a few hours that would otherwise have taken weeks to do. The benefits can be that significant. I'm particularly grateful to Jeff Stamps, of The Networking Institute for his twelve-years-before-their-time ideas and procedures. The hot thing now, of course, is that you want to create a manual on paper, but then you want online documentation for several operating systems, as well as information for the Web. Never re-type. Create graphics only once. Resolution of HTML versus Netscape-ism holy-wars. Dirty secret of hypertext.

Creating tools Send me email if you are interested in any of these tools.... A Netscape driver, for example. I created a program that makes it easy for someone with little knowledge of Russian to create sentences that a Russian will understand. Not a "translation" program, because automatic translation of typical sentences doesn't work well at all. With my software, you can write to a Russian who doesn't speak English. Threaded discussion software.... My simple threaded disucussion software let's you add an ongoing discussion to your website! The software keeps track of what each user has already read. It displays only new messages by default, but the user can easily read old messages. It also promotes adding messages (reduces "lurking"). The primary use of the Internet is still communicating with text. With my threaded discussion software, groups of people can communicate right at your website. The cold, lonely web becomes a place for community.

I didn't mean to carry on so long about business stuff. You have to understand it's where I seek to make a social contribution now.... What follows is a summary of some of my interests.

Languages I speak German pretty well, and know a little French and Russian. I aspire also to learn Italian, and one of these days I plan to take the time to learn Dutch. Theoretically, Dutch should be very easy given knowledge of English and German. I like telling jokes that involve several languages. I don't get to tell them very often enough, though. I have a weakness for certain accents, and that's all I'm going to say about that. I have a particular approach to learning languages. First, learn to speak English with the foreign accent. This is an easy way to learn the tricks of pronunciation and grammar. Second, learn a few basic sentence structures. Third, learn a basic vocabulary of about 1,000 words. That's enough for most self-expression, though not enough to read a newspaper (not counting tabloids).

Travel I love travel and meeting people in new places. My most exciting trip was to Omsk, in Siberia, just after it was opened to foreigners. I've been to Cologne once or twice a year the last few years, and enjoy the Karneval there (they dress like clowns, not demons). Last year I made it to Paris (finally) and loved it as much as I expected. Of all big cities, I would still like to live for a while in New York City and Paris. Plenty of others to visit, though (think St. Petersburg).

Dancing I lived in Houston, right? I took up country western dancing. I love to dance. When I started, they were even making a fair amount of country western music that I enjoyed. (Very rare these days.) Dancing in the Bay Area is a little different. They have their own unique style. Women seem to be willing to dance with me more than once, so I guess that's a good sign. Places and Times: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday at Saddle Rack in San Jose. Thursday at Denim & Diamonds in Alameda. I'm told the place to be on Tuesday is in Petaluma, but I've never been. I go dancing once or twice a week.

Creative Expression I write: The Road and the Tower Driving to El Paso I plan to write sonnets. I aspire to the ablility to draw recognizable portraits that convey emotion. Here are some digital doodles done with a program called Fauve Matisse. One of these days I'll get around to doing some cool things with video.

Values and priorities Integrity is assumed.... Loving, health, personal growth, artistic expression, balance and discipline, $, fun, travel.

Intellectual concepts and spiritual answers Why? These are some ideas I hold to. Goedel and logical argument. Requisite Variety in information systems. Feminism and relationship. Love. Great Spirit, God, the Universe. Mental model for processing information. The irony of democracy.

Jokes Is there a difference between these jokes and the previous section?

© 1995 by John Robert Boynton

Last update: October 22, 1995.