Neils Travel Web - IntroductionNeils Travel Web - Introduction

An Introduction to Neils Travel Web

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Neils Travel Web - Summary of Content

My Casio 3000EX - Neils Travel WebMy new Casio EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z850My Travel Web is my collection of travel photographs taken ( and quite a bit of information gathered ) over the years. Its now become a bit of 'blog' in modern terms, but still with a lot more to offer as far as I am concerned.
One thing I have noticed is that as time marches on I seem to be travelling less, but when I do, I take more photographs each time, one is due to age ( and finances ) the other due to digital photography.
This Site, and especially this Travel Web section of it, will remain very much under construction, as I still have several hundred negatives which need to be scanned in as well as old photographs to be copied...one day. Also I need to add detail to the existing pictures, find new information and polish up the viewing method, (originally Microsoft FrontPage's Auto Thumbnails), currently the viewing method has been changed in my Portugal travel section as I try out a useful script for a single click displaying or hiding an enlargement in the same window whilst dimming down the background. See what you think by clicking on the thumbnails below ( also see my update 04/06 below ).
Update 12/09I've let this site slide, bigtime! I've promised myself that this will be addressed during 2010.
Update 08/08As the Algarve continues to feature heavily in this section these days I've developed it further. Make sure you see my 'spin off' site Luz-Info.com dedicated to Praia da Luz and the Algarve. It'll get the bulk of my Portugal travel information, but the Portugal section here will definitely survive as a home for my holiday photographs.
Update 01/08Portugal, especially the Algarve continues to feature heavily in this section these days with a trip over the New Year to Praia da Luz again. Four years on and I still love the place.
Update 09/07I can't believe my gallery application was 'trashed' yet again when my ISP developed a broken server. Time to give it the elbow (my app or isp mmmm.... )
Update 04/06I've now changed my entire site over to this method as it seems to work well (for me) and degrades well if you don't have javascript enabled.
Update 10/06:I've retired my faithful Casio EX3000EX and replaced it with another Casio, the Exilim 850, it wasn't the newest model available but its the last of the models with an optical viewfinder, which I prefer. So far its behaving splendidly and the 8.1mpx is certainly a bonus. The Miscellaneous pages for Portugal after October 2006 will be using the new camera, whilst the main pages will continue to show photographs taken with the Canon D10.
Update 12/05:I've had to stick with my own D.I.Y picture pages as my gallery application was 'trashed' when my ISP changed servers. Back to the drawing board....

Having now viewed this site on quite a few other computers, it has become very apparent that the quality of the photographs leaves room for improvement. When I first started publishing the pictures I was very much aware of the amount of web space being used and loading times and so I optimised heavily to compensate. Nowadays with the wide availability of broadband, cheaper web storage space, improved graphics adaptors and overall larger and better quality screens, my earlier photographs border on being terrible. As of 2006 I started to reduce the amount of optimisation, hopefully without too much impact on loading times. This will lead to better quality photographs, technically that is. Regrettably it will not make the picture content any better :)  Hopefully, I will get round to re-sampling the existing older published photographs but don't have much hope of any significant improvement as they were taken with a 1.3mpx digital camera.

Common Travel Icons

  • Accross the bay to Alvor, Portugal
  • Garry Kennedy, River Shannon, Ireland
  • Fromagerie, Calais, France
  • Joanne Albrecht bar, Bielefeld, Germany
  • Dover Castle, Dover, Kent
  • Portugal
  • Ireland
  • France
  • Germany
  • UK

Neils Travel Web News And Update History

12/2009I've started to add more cross browser styling, I.E. users get the drop shadow images whilst Firefox, Opera, Safari etc.. get at least a tidy border.
12/2009A variation on ( the now very popular ) Lightbox script, I first introduced to the site in 2006 is now standard for 90% of the images on these pages.
12/2009A promise to start paying more attention to the site during 2010!
06/2008A general tidying up, with the Portugal section still stealing the limelight. Still refining my CSS.
03/2008Opened up a new site Luz-Info.com dedicated to Praia da Luz and the neighbourhood. A 'hopefully' better version of my Just Luz section on this site.
09/2007Reworked the expand / collapse option to the menus, a bit slicker methinks. Also a bit of general tidying up.
04/2007The Portugal section is still growing, at the expense of the other sections I'm afraid. I will redress this for 2008, as I will probably be completely broke by then and unable to entertain the more 'exotic' trips.
03/2007Added an expand / collapse option to the menus as they were getting too large. The top levels are collapsed by default. They can be expanded or collapsed by clicking on the plus / minus icons or the text alternative.
12/2006Still continuing with a lot of background rewriting to make more use of CSS. Photographs are being tidied up and where possible re-sampled. Still scanning and repairing older SLR photos for inclusion. My major task for the new year is to bring a minimum standard of (validated) strict HTML 4.01 and preferably try any new develop in XHTML 1.0.
04/2006I've just switched my photograph viewing method to Lightbox, a means of viewing thumbnail enlargements on the same page. Check it out, its rather neat. (If you don't have javascript enabled you'll get the original viewing method).
07/2006Tampering with the overall design again (well it is 12 months since the last overhaul). As mentioned last year let me know what you think about the changes. A lot of rewriting to use more of CSS
04/2006I've just switched my photograph viewing method to Lightbox, a means of viewing thumbnail enlargements on the same page. Check it out, its rather neat. (If you don't have javascript enabled you'll get the original viewing method).
11/2005I've stopped messing about with these pages for this year. I'm going to start improving the quality of the pictures (reducing the 'over the top' optimisation) as looking at them from other computers has made me realise that they aren't coming out as good as I thought they would. Please note the 'old' version is no longer accessible from this website. 
08/2005This travel section is undergoing a re-vamp, as I thought it was starting to look a bit 'jaded'. Until it is completed access to some sections will revert to the original layout.
01/2005The photograph pages on this web have been given more room, now only 6 to a row, also they have been given white borders and drop shadows because I think it looks good (?) If you're interested click here - How I did it.
10/2004Now included in this section are general information pages for each location I have visited. These consist of related topics and links to sites of general interest. Hope you find them useful and please let me know of areas where I could further develop these sections.

Your Contributions

If you were 'there', and wouldn't mind having your own photographs included in this collection, please attach your digital format photo(s) using this email link, or lend me your memory card, 'conventional' camera negatives or slides for scanning. They will be returned!
I will probably need to optimise, re-size etc., (without compromising the originals!), and (subject to web space) publish them as soon as possible, with an appropriate acknowledgement, if you don't like the result let me know.
Any contributions will be for use on these pages only and will, of course, remain your property.
As I attempt to add text comments to the pictures, please don't hesitate to let me know of any inaccurate details (names, places, dates etc.)

Important Information

More DetailsAny links to other sites have been found by myself whilst browsing the web, they are not generating any revenue (for me) and are not guaranteed to be suitable for your needs (but I hope they are).
If I have inadvertedly included property you consider copyrighted, or supplied incorrect information, or you feel you have not been adequately acknowledged or correctly represented, please let me know immediately. I will correct or remove the offending item as you feel necessary.

General Information

More General Information - Neils Resource WebProviding you have allowed javascript, a double mouse click anywhere on the pages will take you back to the top (except when over hyperlinks). Otherwise click on the up arrow button at the foot of the page to return to the top.
Some Links to other information or places may have been abbreviated to reduce space, e.g., (Another Site) and therefore not necessarily show the full URL, (e.g., www.anothersite.com). However they should still take you to the correct location.
If this is not the case please let me know so I can update or repair the link as necessary.

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Last updated: 11/12/2009  - An Introduction - Neils Travel Web

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