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daringdiva.com Help and FAQ
Question Categories
Questions
General: What is this web site?What can this web site do for me?Well, quite a bit, actually! The main strengths of this web site are the art song catalog, the singer's bibliography, and the links to other web sites that contain useful information to singers. In the art song catalog, you can find out about great new songs, often by contemporary composers, using powerful indexes and searches based on high note, low note, composer, poet, nationality, and more; learn more about the art song catalog here. In the bibliography you can find out about great books on a huge variety of singing-related topics; learn more about the bibliography here. In the link pages you can find well-organized collections of useful links to other sites. We ask you to contribute any information that might help the catalog, the bibliography, and the links collections. Other conveniences at the site include a newsletter, a search page, a message board, and the home page, where you can find the most current site news. How is the web site organized?Well, I can think of at least two answers to that: how each page of the site is organized, and how the site itself is organized. Each page is organized so that the top and bottom of every page has a site menu, the left hand blue sidebar has a menu for that page or subsection of the site, and the rest of the page contains the body of the page. The web site is organized into three main sections. The top level section is centered around the home page and contains all of the link pages, the other small site conveniences like the newsletter, and links to the other big sections: the art song catalog, the bibliography, and the links. The catalog and the bibliography are individual sections by merit of their size, for one thing, and the standardized left-hand menus in the two sections for another. They have their own help pages as well, which I commend you to if you would like to learn more about them (catalog, bibliography). The links should be relatively self-explanatory. How do I navigate the site?
Finding: How do I find...stuff in this web site?You've got two approaches: you can either use the site search page (or the song search page), or you can move through the site from large category to small. I suggest trying the category method first, and then, if you still couldn't find what you were looking for, trying the blunter, broader search page. Also, please notice that, if you are looking for something particularly in the bibliography or the song catalog, you can find special search methods in the help pages of those sections (bibliography, catalog). items in the bibliography?Please see the appropriate section in the bibliography help section. songs in the song catalog?Please see the appropriate section in the catalog help section. other web sites useful for singers?That's what the links pages are for! See the link pages. all the information on the site about a certain topic?The search page is probably your best bet for thoroughness, if not necessarily for efficiency. Contributing: How do I add...new links to one of the link pages?Just send us an email with the address and, if possible, a description. Feel free to say hello too! The links pages are not so complex as to require a complicated submission system. new items to the bibliography?Please see the contribution guidelines in the bibliography help section. new songs or recording information to the song catalog?Please see the contribution guidelines in the catalog help section. my support to the web site?Well, on the inexpensive side, you can tell your friends about us, link to us from your own web page, and send us cheery emails telling us that you like what we do. If in fact you are a potential grant provider, oh Boy could we use your help! :-) Email us! Curiosity:How is this web site made?I use Allaire HomeSite, PaintShop Pro, and a home-made Microsoft Access database-to-HTML publishing system. Check out the Thanks page for more info on these programs. The technologies I use include JavaScript, Perl, Casading Style Sheets, and (combining the JavaScript and CSS) DHTML Why is this web site made?The biggest reason was that I wanted to promote contemporary art song composers. Nice side effects have been that we get to know more and more about the contemporary music scene, singing-related books, and singing-related websites; we get to make connections with composers; we get some copies of the music; and we have gotten some premieres out of the connections. Do you make any money off of this web site?So far, this is a labor of love first, and of practicality second. The only real income-producing avenues we have are the Amazon links in the bibliography, from which we have made under US$100, last I checked. We also received a grant to get technology to create the RealAudio clips (translate: a decent computer, because my old laptop couldn't handle the load). We have spent a few hundred dollars (of our own money, not counting the grant) and a lot of time. Who are you people?We're singers on the road to a career, hopefully, now in New York City. Check out our personal page, Karyn's resume, and Gary's resume (on which I am called 'Gerbrand,' because that is my real name). When the website has 'I,' that usually means Gary; when 'we' is used, that usually means Karyn and Gary. Will you come give a workshop about contemporary song composers, Internet resources for singers, singers and technology, etc.?Yes, and at a pretty darn good price too, we might add. Contact us for materials. Why do you have those little funky pictures (often with little funky captions) of unrelated people at the bottom of every left-hand menu?Because I like them. I got them from a website done by Jeffrey Zeldman. ProblemsWhy can't I access some of the site features?Simply put, because not all browsers were created equal. For clean, powerful code, I use the CSS, HTML 4.0, and JavaScript technologies. This means that the site works best in Internet Explorer, next best in Netscape Navigator, and hopefully well enough in other browsers. I have worked hard to make this site up-to-date yet still pleasantly viewable in non-mainstream browsers and would appreciate hearing of any problems you might encounter in any browser. The Perl scripts (the two search pages) rely on my server to work, rather than your computer, so hopefully that will work on everyone's browser. Why do you support Microsoft Internet Explorer first, Netscape Navigator second, and every other browser third? Isn't Bill Gates supposed to be demon spawn?Well, Internet Explorer accounts for more than half of the web browsers being used today. Moreover, it is definitely more powerful than its mainstream rivals (such as Netscape Navigator) and arguably less buggy than Navigator and many of the other browsers. In a way, the features that are Internet Explorer-specific are that way because the other browsers can't accomplish the same tasks, or at least make the tasks much more difficult. I cannot definitively comment on Mr. Gates' provenance: my guess is that he's human like the rest of us. On the other hand, last I checked he was worth several hundred billion US dollars (wow) which does tend to suggest some supernatural power at work... :-) What are cookies, why does daringdiva.com use them, and do I have to accept them if I use the site?Cookies are little bits of information that a website stores on your computer, usually having to do with your site preferences and the like. Some people don't like them because they feel that this violates their computer. Knowing the basics of the technologies involved, I believe cookies to be very safe, and in fact accept them in my own Internet browsing. Most browsers, including the recent releases of Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, recommend you accept them. This site uses cookies for a number of purposes. The jobs they perform here essentially boil down to speeding up the process of contributing reviews of books and songs and adding personalized highlights to the site's homepage. If you do not want to accept cookies from this (or any other) site, all you have to do is make that choice in your browser's settings.
The site is too slow for me! Why? Can it go faster without a new modem or computer?Sorry--I design this site under certain limitations of technology from my end as well, which means that I have to design this site primarily for modem speeds of 28.8 and up. With a 28.8 modem most pages should load in under 10 seconds, and with a 56K modem most under five seconds. With a cable modem you better not be complaining! Also be aware that the web is sometimes slow for grand reasons beyond my control, and that the web server from which I rent space for the site is in California, U.S.A., I think, which might be particularly far away from your own location. Whatever your speed of modem, the site will move a bit faster if you have not removed your browser's cache option. Also, I recommend Internet Explorer 5 first, Netscape Navigator 4.6 next, and everything else after that (although I hear the Opera browser is good, and hey, we singers gotta like the name). These browsers are free (except Opera) and can in fact speed up your browsing experience as well as offer extra bells and whistles. If you are using AOL, you are using a dumbed down version of Internet Explorer: I recommend getting the real browser, which you can still use within AOL, I believe; and I further recommend switching your internet provider from AOL to something like AT&T WorldNet, EarthLink, MindSpring, etc., but I won't get on my soapbox. I have another problem...Tell me about it (if it's site related!).
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