![[Conductor in 1930 uniform]](../fifi/99g10m029c.jpg)
note: this introduction was written in 1999, now in 2010 there are more
than 3 GB of material, but my time is little, so between the options of
updating pages and gathering new material i opted for the second one ...
So i updated only the pages where i feel absolutely necessary ...
After 3 years of
"honorable service", at first on Geocities, later hosted on a
server of the DIC where I work,
I decided to give the site a new aspect.
Not that the old was bad, but now, with more
than 100 pages, 1700 images and 40 multimedial movies, for a total of more
than 150 MB many people get lost in the labyrint of pages.
The most important novelty, althought it should be
trasparent to most of the users, is that the site is now multilingual:
at present in italian and in english, in future ...
The choose of the language is automatic and dependent
upon the setting of your browser, so if you get the wrong language first
thing should be checking language setting of your browser.
Also, most people is not able to see all the
site in a single session, so I prepared a series of Itineraries that give
the links to each page on that argument, this way one can choose an itinerary
and follow that one.
Beside the "traditional"
index that link to every start page of every chapter, as in a printed
book, I have added three more ways to navigate this site: These ways are
complementary, since not all pages can be accessed with every mode.
The first one is the Itinerary
mode, in a way similar to a tourist guide, where for every day you
found a different trip in the city. My itineraries are different, since
they are not geographically connected (since they are in this way from
the beginning) but rather logically connected.
I have prepared a few itineraries, that are described in full
in their sub-page, I have however mention one, that is completely new
in its kind, since it is aimed to sightless people, and include a set of
pages "The sounds of the railway"
without graphics, but with a series of sound recordings
The second is a map
mode: you get a map and by clicking on it you are carried on that place.
Of course I have left also a frameless
mode, if you are annoyed by frames.
Before you begin
navigation I would like to give you some indications on how to get the
best from the site:
The site is bot in italian and in english, the language
should be automatically selected based on the setting of your browser.
However the name places have all been kept in the
original language (that is in Italian for almost every place). For those
that are used to English names for places I have put a list of nameplaces
with the translation in various languages.
Use of the index mode
is just plain as every html page, the use of map
mode is even simpler: just click on the site and if there is an available
page you will be carried there.
Remember that, for any mode, using the backpage
key (usually Alt+CrsrLeft or clicking on left arrow) is quicker than using
the home link, since you will retrieve from local cache
The itinerary
mode instead is a bit more complex: Since the pages are linked by geographical
proximity when going from a page to another you should use the links on
the left frame and not the home link, since it would carry back to main
index.
The graphics have been deliberately kept to
a low level, and no attempts have been made to do "fancy effects"
since there is no reason to waste time and resources to load background,
or putting in home page "best viewed with xyz v 9.4 at 1600x1200 on
a P600" (anyway the site is best viewed at 800x600 or 1024x768).
Also this would allow any one to choose the
best colour combination for his monitor and his eyes.
However two itineraries, "Virtual
trips" and "The sounds of the railway"
that consist almost entirely of multimedial documents are quite heavy,
so you should consider download them only if you have either a fast connection
or a lot of time to wait.
Updated 23 november 1999 ... this page will grow ... look every 2 weeks ... (see note at beginning: :-(
If you want to walk around, and you are planning to
come to Toscana (Italy) drop me a mail
... we can walk together
Leonardo
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