about Dag's Orwell Project

about Copyrights and Donation

At present, all George Orwell's work is in public domain in Australia, Canada and Russian Federation (reference details). Materials on www.orwell.ru are not in public domain. So do read disclaimer and think twice before you steal any work from our site. I had to do this because some people are really without any moral.

– Terms and conditions of using material from orwell.ru

URL: https://orwell.ru/info/(c)en

– UNESCO: ‘Legislation of the R.F. on (C) and Neighboring Rights’

URL: https://orwell.ru/info/unesco

about HTML

I've tried to use as less HTML-tags as it is possible but if you want to create some design, you'll need to use at least some of that also. Download section has all novels ('big-nine') in RTF and TXT formats so, if you do not like HTML go there. Text files in that section are without any format with ASCII characters only — readable really on any platform or system. For Orwell's works in Russian language I've used KOI8-R in text files and IBM CP 1251 for Rich Text Format.

Hereinafter are links on sites which I've found very helpful:

1. WWW Consortium (W3C) — the best starting point
2. HTMLHelp BBS — forum in English
3. WDG HTML Validator — probably the best online validator
4. XHTML or not? — nice answer on that (by Hixie)

By the way, www.orwell.ru is hosted by ‘Web Service Centre’ [http://www.centre.ru/]

about orwell.ru navigation

The best choice will be to add some of sidebars from orwell.ru sidebars page and to navigate site by using it if you ever feel yourself as 'lost' (should be hardly a case). It will work nice in any Mozilla, version higher then 0.92 or Netscape 6 and newer or Opera 6 and newer as well as in Firebird and any Gecko based browser but not in Windows IE (they are still using toolbars for that purpose). Here is the link on the page where you can add orwell.ru sidebar by simple click (javascript should be supported or switched 'on').

Using the keyboard

Tabindexes

According to the requirements of WAI Web Content Accessibility, each single anchor, area, button, input, object, select and textarea elements should use the ‘tabindex’ attribute so you can use tab for browsing between them. On orwell.ru it is the case with base navigation areas only (breadcrumbs and footer) but I'll try to redesign all site to meet these requirements.

Accesskeys

In the near future, each single page will use ‘accesskeys’ (hot-keys) for navigation. Breadcrumbs links (small, the very top line with links) are using numbers 1 to 9; in the footer I've used letters for that purpose. Here is the full list:

The list of universal accesskeys on the orwell.ru

Accesskey	Description and Index name and/or URL
* All acccesskeys on orwell.ru are in lower-case. I think that it should be case-insensitive.
1-9	Index (1) > Library (2) > Articles (3) > Hanging (4)
-	Back to referring page (when available)
C	CSS switch off/on (utility)
G	Glossary page (https://orwell.ru/info/glossary)
D	Long image description (when present)
E	Section-index page in English (top level)
R	Section-index page in Russian (top level)
N	Section-index page in English (second level)
U	Section-index page in Russian (second level)
W	The main index page (https://orwell.ru/)
H	The home page (https://orwell.ru/home)
B	Biography index page (https://orwell.ru/biography/)
L	Library index page (https://orwell.ru/library/)
A	‘A Life’ index page (https://orwell.ru/a_life/)
I	Info and copyrights index page (https://orwell.ru/info/)
K	Links index page (https://orwell.ru/links/)
M	Site-map index page (https://orwell.ru/map/)
S	Search www.orwell.ru (https://orwell.ru/search)
F	Feedback index page (https://orwell.ru/feedback/)

Nice, old but still very actual article about accesskeys, their using and importance:

– ‘ACCESSKEY in HTML forms and links’ by Jukka Korpela

URL: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/forms/accesskey.html

Browsers (UA) specific

Mozilla newer then 1.3 (OS: Windows)

In Mozilla browsers (Firebird, Firefox, K-Meleon...) that keys are case-insensitive and are to be used in combination with [Alt] key by pressing both at the same time. If you want to open some of browser menues by using the key, you should press first [Alt] (focus will jump to the menu panel) and then the key (by keyboard cursor, you can walk though menues). Very confortable and nice solution.

Opera newer then 7 (OS: Windows)

In Opera browser, you should press togehter the [Shift] and [Escape] and only then the accesskey. I am not sure why it could be better then attitude in Mozilla.

Microsoft Internet Explorer (OS: Windows)

In Internet Explorer browser, everything is the same as in Mozilla with few aditional features (‘Few notes’)

Few notes:

– In Mozila and Opera browsers, if accesskey is in the anchor (<A HREF> tag), by pressing the accesskey, you'll be referred to the linked page automatically. With Microsoft Internet Explorer it is not the case: link will just receive the focus and only after the [Enter] key, the linked page will be downloaded. This is probably the best solution and interpreting of HTML specification.

– If you have two (or more) accesskeys with the same value in anchors, Mozila and Opera will accept the last one and other choice will not be available any more because you'll be on another page already. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, the first key will recive the focus, then, if you repeat it, the next one, and so on... (try [Alt g] on this page) very simillar to the tabindex attitude with the same value and that is strictly according to the HTML 4 specification (Mozilla and Opera, btw. are doing the same with tabindexes: can not understand why it can't be done with accesskeys also). So, I.M.H.O.(g), M$oft Explorer solved that type of navigation on the best way.

– Mozila is the only browser (from three above) which are giving you possibility to edit keyboard navigation preferences [Screenhot (14.27 KiB] (g).

– In some Mac (Apple) browsers, you should combine accesskey with [Cmd] key.

Using the Navigation bar

Mozilla and Opera browsers have nice toolbar called Site navigation bar which is created by adding rel (or rev) link tags in the page head section. Opera has complete navigation menu in addition called ‘Site navigation’. Here is the list of head link tags that I am using on almost all pages:

The list of head link tags on the orwell.ru

Head link tag	Link attribute and URL
* Head link tags as Bookmark, Top, Up, Next, Previous, Chapters and Appendices are used mainly in Library section while Sections and Subsections are not used at all because of poor support (Opera) and are replaced with Top, Up, Next, Previous and Home (multiply Home is nicely supported by Mozilla). Strange that Microsoft Explorer doesn't support head link tags.
Author of the Project	rev=author [https://orwell.ru/ ... guestbook ...]
Write to the author	rev=made [https://orwell.ru/feedback/english/em_en]
About copyright	rel=copyright [https://orwell.ru/info/(c)en]
Glossary page	rel=glossary [https://orwell.ru/info/glossary]
About Project and help	rel=help [https://orwell.ru/info/index_en]
Home page	rel=home [https://orwell.ru/home]
Index page	rel=index [https://orwell.ru/]
Search www.orwell.ru	rel=search [https://orwell.ru/s_en]
Contents of [Section]	rel=contents [Propriate page]
[Section] home	rel=home [Section home]
[Subsection] home	rel=home [Subsection home] if any
[Section] top	rel=top [Section index] if any
[One level] up	rel=up [Previous index] if any
Previous page	rel=previous [Previous page] if any
Next page	rel=next [Next page] if any

There are one more head link tag called ‘prefetch’ supported by Mozilla only. I am using that for preloading of some pages and many images (especially in Orwell Photo Archive). According to Forward and reverse links, browser could preload other linked pages also but I didn't notice that any of three browsers that I am listing do that. So, prefetch is perfect solution for Mozilla. People who have problems with band-width can switch that preference off. And few screenshots:

Results in Mozilla and Opera

1. Mozilla navigation toolbar: [screenshot 1 (14.60 KiB)] [screenshot 2 (15.06 KiB)]
2. Opera navigation: [toolbar screenshot (15.17 KiB)] [menu screenshot (20.00 KiB)]

about Cascade Style Sheets (CSS)

Each single page contains several style sheets: default, alternative, handheld (for PDA devices) and print. If you are using Mozilla or Opera browsers, you can switch default on alternative style. If you like it (why not?), you can save your choice in small text file known as ‘cookie’. That option need to be enabled in your browser so then, even with Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can browse the site with alternate style sheet. Page for saving the CSS preference:

– Save your CSS choice to cookie

URL: https://orwell.ru/info/css_cook

If you have any problem with any of my pages, just switch styles off (accesskey: [C]). Clear HTML document will be displayed with very good structure and without any CSS. Usable, accessible, readable, adaptable... etc. The simillar result could be riched if you switch style in your browser: in Mozilla: View / Use style / Basic Page Style and in Opera: View / Style / User mode. In Microsoft Internet Explorer you can do it by chosing the Tools / Internet options / General / Accessibility / User Style sheet and to upload your custom CSS. Not so elegant as in Mozilla and Opera.

If you are the lucky owner of Opera browser, you can try their presentation tool (media: projection) on the next page: https://orwell.ru/info/tliter (cyrillic only). Load the page and press [F 11]. Browser will be switched to projection (presentation) mode and special CSS for projection only will be loaded. Nice work from Opera people!

More about CSS as well as some experiments and tests, you can find in my Test section: about CSS.

about Languages (& lang-support)

Many of George Orwell's works are full of foreign words. In book print, to present that words (characters and other paper-publishing symbols) is not a big deal but Internet (WEB, WWW, HTML, XHTML... call it however you like) has it's own specific. I didn't use much of java (scripts or applets) and other rich web-developing tools and tricks but, when we are talking about text... I had no choice: tried to show each single character in it's original format (of course, only there where I had exact information or book on my hands) and looks everything fine to me so far. Next few pages are listing several of the most used character sets and there you can check what you actually can see with your computer (system, browser) and what you can not, especially in Unicode sections.

1. Languages Codes — ISO-639-1 & ISO-639-2
2. Check up a word — online Merriam-Webster's dictionary
3. Babel Fish Translation — another online translator

Character entities:

While tried to publish texts in the Internet on the proper way, I've learned a lot about presentation of symbols (letters) in different languages. If you need anything what is in connection with it, my Test section will be probably good starting point. Contains subsection as:

1. about Unicode
2. about ISO standards
3. about IBM CP standards

Few alphabets...

1. Russian, Ukrainian and Serbian alphabets — test your Unicode
2. Belorusian alphabet
3. Lithuanian alphabet
4. Hungarian alphabet

and small Unicode play:

– Say ‘Last modified / File size’ in different languages:

URL: https://orwell.ru/info/lm_fs

about Fonts

Most of George Orwell books that I've seen (by Gollancz or Penguin) are printed in Monotype Baskerville garniture. It is beautiful set and I'd found that Microsoft font Georgia is very similar to that garniture. Seems that the root for Monotype Baskerville garniture and Georgia font is the same: Didot and/or Scotch Roman. So, if you want to get full impression about everything I am doing (Windows users), you can download (for free) that nice font here:

– Georgia — 585 glyphs in version 2.05:

URL: https://orwell.ru/download/

& WEFT

The Web Embedding Fonts Tool ‘WEFT’, lets Web authors to create ‘font objects’ that are linked to their Web pages so that when an Internet Explorer user views the pages they'll see them displayed in the font style contained within the font object. — by the © Microsoft Corp.-WEFT. I played with all of that for a while and think that WEFT technique and idea is not bad at all. Of course, you can not embedd each single font (why, only © Microsoft knows — it is their image already... brand, trademark, ®, ™... 'Never do anything till the end.') but when you done, it is very nice. Supported only by MSIE (of course) and by Internet Surfer, very nice and small browser which has almost everything as MSIE but is a million times smaller (last version — 2.64 from November 11, 2002, I've downloaded for 2 minutes). The author is © Jack Flacko. Just noticed: it was free and now is shareware:((

– 'Wefted' pages — Embedded Fonts samples

URL: https://orwell.ru/info/samples/

More about fonts, you can find in my Test section: Few pages about fonts.

about Programs and tools

Programs

I am using the one program only:

1. TextPad for Windows — text editor

Well, it is for 99% of work. Rest 1%, I am using 1st Page 2000, Adobe Photoshop, ABBY Fine reader, Microsoft Winword (because of macros) and UniEdit. That's all.

Tools

1. ‘Cyr2Lat’ converters (Ru, Uk, Sr, Hr, Sl, Cg, Ma...)
2. ‘Text2RTF’ (Rich Text Format) converters (Ru, Uk, Sr, Hr, Sl, Cg, Ma...)
3. HTTP Request and Response Header

about Miscellaneous

O tempora, O mores

As the English language is prefered one (main, pather, master...) on orwell.ru, I've decided to not play a lot with date format so I am using it in ISO standard format as year-month-date. The last modified date of this page should read: 2020-01-07

– International Standard Date and Time Notation:

URL: https://orwell.ru/info/datetime.html

about me

O. Dag <[email protected]>. Write and I'll try to answer on each single letter.

Welcome (or read song for good night).

1914... 1939... 1983
1984, 1984, 1984, 1984, 1984, ...