The history of OpenWaterSwim.com. Start at the bottom and read up.

2004.08.24 - 11:39
We haven't been able to update the site for quite some time. The events are a year old and we have received at least one E-mail regarding this fact. The plan was to create a back-end database in MySQL and use PHP to pull the event information. The delay is taking the time to learn PHP and MySQL.

2003.05.18 - 17:50
Received a response from Ted Sheppard and updated the details for the Waikiki Roughwater Swim. Located the Emerald City event and added it. Sent an E-mail to Kristen Schuler to clarify water temperatures and conditions. After reviewing my links found that mthat the cold water story from Reuters at http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2134306 is no longer a valid link. Located the story elsewhere on the internet and copied it to this site.

2003.05.16 - 17:29
Located the Waikiki Roughwater Swim by searching the internet. Sent an E-mail to Ted Sheppard regarding the swim to clarify water temperatures and conditions and requested a link back to us.

2003.05.01 - 23:59
After receiving a kind E-mail from Michael Reynolds we added the Carly's Crossing event and links from the home page.

2003.01.27 - 23:55
Added Big Shoulders, The Great Hudson River Swim, and Little Red Lighthouse swim. Provided the ability to sort events by the headings Date, State, City, Event, Distance in forward and reverse. Updated the copyright dates on all the pages to include 2002. Sent an E-mail to the webmaster of the MOVY (Missouri Valley Masters) web site asking if he would list this site. Completed an online form for Missouri Valley Swimming to add this site to their links. Sent an E-mail to Kris Dees, the coordinator for the Little Swim on the Prairie telling her her event is posted. Completed a web form telling the Manhattan Island Foundation that all their 2003 events are on the site with two great photos, too!

2003.01.26 - 23:45
Added the Little Swim on the Prairie event to the web site. Added two photos taken at the 2002 The Great Hudson River Swim - 6th Annual event and protected them from being copied through a right-mouse click and save-as.

2003.01.25 - 22:30
After two days of updating, finally added content to each page including an interesting article found on Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle. After many revisions, decided on the standard template for the event detail pages. Entered five events Alcatraz SharkFest Swim, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, Cove-To-Cove, Race for the River, Park to Park One Miler. Uploaded the pages to the web server. We are now LIVE!

2003.01.24 - 17:07
After being sidetracked for months since a shoulder injury that took me out of the pool and into physical therapy, you would think this would provide even more of a reason to work on the site, but couldn't get into it. Redesigned the banner at the top of the page. The other one wasn't very clean and although animated was a bit dark for the site. The new one is hopefully temporary, but will work to get the site up and running. Next comes the content and how the information should be displayed.

2002.10.23 - 23:26
From a suggestion yesterday, split the top banner graphic into pieces with the hope that it will load faster in case only part of it should be animated on the Home page. Updated the animation for the new split graphic and it looks just as it did before it was split it up which is a good thing. Finally finished multitude of tab graphics, uploaded the pages to the server, and tested all the links. Most people probably don't realize how much work actually goes into the design and creation of one. Created this page to keep track of all work. It is mildly fascinating when stumbling onto other site update pages.

2002.10.22
After much deliberation finally settled on a design and color scheme. Got rid of all 3D graphics. The new goal is ease of use and fast loading times. Decided on just having tabs across the top of the page with a simple white page and black letters. The links will be roll-overs that highlight the tab descriptions of inactive tabs.

2002.10.20
Figured out the table stuff. Discovered a few handy tricks after trial and error. Set the table height and width and removed all the widths and heights from all the cells in the table. Then only assigned widths to the bottom row of cells and heights to only the right-most column of cells. Left the main text area without a width or height so that it can fill the remaining space required for the table. That seems to do the trick.

2002.10.21
After looking through some web design books discovered that the one should attempt to create a page that doesn't exceed 800 pixels in width so that those individuals viewing at 800x600 resolution won't have to scroll side to side to read your page. Good idea, but it is just one more thing to think about. Argh! Tables, tables, tables! Why don't they work?!? Why is it that every time graphic are added, graphics are changed, or the table size is changed it resizes itself.

2002.10.17
What better way to decide on a color scheme than surf the net. Did quite a bit of surfing looking at sites, design, color schemes.

2002.10.16
Cannot seem to find the right colors for the links in the navigation bar that also work well with the tan body color. It's back to the drawing board for a new design.

2002.10.15
Purchased Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, installed it, and started learning how to use it. Created the first draft of the new site with a 3D teal green banner at the top, a 3D navigation bar on the left side and a 3D tan main document window.

2002.10.12
While working on some animated graphics created an animated logo for the site. Not sure where it will be used or even if it will.

2002.08.02
Purchased OpenWaterSwim.com to create one source for all open water swim events.