 |
Frequently
Asked Questions ...
(Last
updated 11/4/2008) |
Why does it take 2 clicks to activate the animations now? / Why do I see a message prompting me to “click to activate and use this control” when I roll my mouse over a Flash animation? |
Thank Microsoft for this. They lost some legal battle in 2006 and provided an update to Internet Explorer which now requires you to click on Active X controls (the animations on my site) before you can use them. People have come up with ways around this but not only is it a pain to implement them on all the reports, none of the ones I've tested have been 100% fault-free so I'm not going to risk using them. Other browsers are not affected by this issue. *23/7/07 Update - This should now be fixed on the home pages and any new reports/cartoons which appear from now on. I have gone back through the 05/06 & 06/07 reports to update them and may get around to fixing the others at some point. *11/4/08 Update - It appears MS have now fixed this problem so if you're still seeing the messages then download the latest Internet Explorer updates. |
What/who are the FFA that you refer to in some reports? |
FFA (Fight For Answers) are an independent group of HTFC supporters who question the running of the club by Ken Davy. You can view their website at www.fightforanswers.co.uk to find out the full story. Despite my p*** taking and disagreeing with some of their methods, if you're a Town fan then their cause is well worth reading up on. |
| Some of the pictures don't load and there are lots of red 'x's all over the place. What's going on? |
This problem occurs mainly with dial-up connections and some of the slower broadband connections. Basically, the reports are so large that if the pictures aren't downloaded after a certain time, the browser presumes they aren't there. One workaround is to use the 'refresh' function on your browser ... or get a faster connection. Any images already loaded should remain in the cache so it won't take as long to reload them and will give more time for the others to appear. You may need to do this more than once depending on the speed of your connection. Please note: I've also had a few reports of this since I altered the way the Flash captions are displayed. I'm now using java to display the Flash content as this gets rid of the annoying 'Click here to activate' messages but the flip side to this is that the reports don't appear correctly on some PCs. It seems that some companys' security settings forbid the script from working properly. However, I'm sticking with this method for the moment because I've had relatively few people contact me with problems and they've all been from work based computers. |
| What happened to the regular updates after September 2005? |
| Unfortunately, my dad passed away in September 2005 and since then I've had very little spare time to devote to the site. Whether this will ever change, I can't be sure. However, I do intend to update the site every now and again. |
| Where
has the forum gone? |
| The forum opened the way for a couple of site hacks and I simply don't have the time to monitor and repair these. There's much more to running a forum than most people realise - keeping the security up-to-date, managing user accounts, responding to problems, deleting spam and abusive material, writing new abusive material, laughing at posts about cars breaking down ... it's time consuming. Since the Sky cock-up with Rivals, an independent version of DownAtTheMac has been set up which is the forum of choice for most Town fans. |
| Are
you taking some sort of hallucinogenic drugs? |
| No |
| You have FAR too much spare time on your hands. Why do you bother? |
I do this site because a) I enjoy drawing b) I enjoy football c) I enjoy computers d) I'm a sarcastic ****. Put them all together and this is what you get. Any time I spend doing the site is therefore time spent doing something I enjoy and I'll always have something to show for that time and effort. Personally, I can't understand why people would want to spend hours watching TV soap operas in their spare time but there you go ... each to their own ;-) |
| Who is Transparent Taff / Who is the faded bloke in the reports? |
| See the Manchester City (away) report part 2 for an introduction. |
| What does the V stand for in V.A.F.C.? |
| Virtual |
| How long do the reports take to make? |
| On average about 12 hours which is normally spread over the course of 12 days. |
| Any plans to do a Mac version of the CD? |
| Not at the moment. |
| Do the players read the reports? |
| Some of them have seen the reports. I know that several reports have been printed out and shown to the opposition teams and players. |
| What software do you use to draw the reports? |
| All the graphics are done with a customised (ie lots of 3rd party plug-ins) Fireworks MX by Macromedia. The site is built with Dreamweaver MX. I also use a number of other packages for the clipart, screensaver(s) and Flash animations. |
| What hardware do you use to draw the reports? |
| Obviously the spec of the computer I use changes quite often but the basic setup is - 2 PCs (one notebook and one standard PC which has a TV capture card and scanner for getting external images into the reports), a Fuji F410 digital camera and several bottles of Corona Extra. |
| How much do you make from the site? |
| Not as much as I spend on it. |
| Why are you so biased when describing refereeing decisions and fouls? The ref is always an idiot or blind only when giving bad decisions against Huddersfield. You never portray Huddersfield players as dirty. |
| Because the site is poking fun at football fans (myself included) as much as the players. If you're a fan of any club then you'll understand ... your own club's players aren't dirty, their challenges are just mistimed. Likewise the referee is always out to get you. |
| Why don't you cover many away games? |
| I can't get any footage to make the reports with. Since relegation to the second division (and then third) the TV coverage is practically non-existent. The camera doesn't come in too useful as away fans are almost always situated behind the goal and this vantage point is difficult to work with. |
| I'd like to set up a similar site for my own club. Any objections? |
| No. |
| Can you offer me any help? |
| There are 2 cartoons which show some of the techniques I use. Here and here. |
| What inspired you to do the reports? |
| Ormondroyd's Virtual Match Reports (Note: this site no longer exists at the time of last update) |
| That link above doesn't work. Neither does the other on your reports page which inspired Ormondroyd's page. |
| The Wealdstone site has changed address and Ormondroyd's site appears to have been taken offline at the beginning of 2004 but I'm leaving the link on. |
| Are there any other sites which do similar reports to yours then? |
| There's a Barnet one here. Ormondroyd's archive of Premiership/England reports is on the Guardian's football site - click here. |
| What's the ideal resolution to view the reports? |
| They're designed at 1400x1050 but they should be viewable from 800x600 upwards. If you're using Internet Explorer at 800x600 then the best option is to switch into full-screen mode (F11) and auto-hide the menu bar. |
| Why do the reports take so long to upload? They used to be ready a couple of days after the game. |
| Because I split the work up over several days and don't do them all in one go like I used to. The main reason for this is that the graphics are now much more involved (and hopefully better as a result). I also think of things to include in the report over the few days it takes to draw, I don't have the entire report in my head when I start drawing it and I don't draw it chronologically from start to finish. |
| Why are you doing fewer and fewer reports each season? |
| See the last answer ... and this is a hobby, not a job! |
| Where abouts at the McAlpine do you sit? |
| Lawrence Batley upper tier. I always find that question a bit odd ... can't you tell I'm not in the Panasonic lower tier from most of the camera shots? ;-) |
| I feel like I should contribute something toward the running of the site as I read it all the time and really enjoy the reports. How can I help? |
| Thanks. Click here. |
| What happened to the cards and the links section on the front page? |
| I got rid of them because I couldn't be bothered updating them. |
| So will you link to my site? |
| Sorry but not unless you want to pay for an advert on the site or one of the reports. Nobody ever took notice of the links section so in truth it wouldn't have got you many hits from appearing in there anyway. |
| Almost all the artwork for this site is drawn by myself from the menubars and buttons to the cartoons and the reports. However, there may be a couple of occasions when I use pics which I have come across from other sources. Wherever possible I will credit the source, however, I don't always know where it's from! If there are any items on the site which may infringe copyright then contact the usual email address and I will look into the matter. Some of the logos used in the reports are obtained from www.hqfl.dk If you would like to reproduce any of the images/reports used on this site then please contact me with the details - (danny@htfc-world.com) or use the feedback form |