Probably our first conclusion after viewing the EXPO exhibit was to be extra careful to limit the size of each image we served, and not to use an inordinate amount of text to explain each image. The lessons we learned are incorporated in Fighters on the Farmfront, an exhibit we produced in cooperation with the Oregon State University Archives. It uses concise explanations and GIF thumbnails to allow the user to preview images before downloading. Of course, no one designing a web server is forced to reinvent the wheel. We looked at many good examples of well designed layouts by other government agencies.
Most browsers support the capability of downloading source html from a server.
Thus, after understanding the basic rudiments of the HTML language, and after downloading examples demonstrating how certain features are constructed, it was fairly straightforward to develop the various server pages. The simplicity of the HTML language is one of it s greatest strengths. We went online only three weeks after we downloaded our server program. It was quite surprising to both Archives and Secretary of State administration that such a sophisticated presentation could be developed in such a short time. New' list and in a short time were virtually overwhelmed with logins.