"For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned."  ~~Benjamin Franklin

Hi all,

Welcome to the second newsletter of 2021! 

It's occurred to me that it's been a while since I did a sort of web site tour.  So I'm gonna do that now because I've been re-organizing some things.  If you're ever on the web site and think "It'd be really helpful to have this link here or..." please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

God bless,
Jenni



A Tour of the JABB Web Site: 2021 Edition

Firstly, there are three different ways to explore the site, one of which I find most useful:

1.  Via Frames- Personally, this is the one I use the least... as in basically never.  Way back when, I think someone said it might be helpful so I did it.  It's kind of nice if you're wanting to click quickly through various pages without repeatedly navigating back to the Table of Contents.  Other than that... not sure it's very useful.

2.  Via the Main TOC- For many years, this was the main way to navigate the JABB site and it's still not bad... except for the fact that, since I no longer use it, I sometimes forget to update it.  But most everything can be accessed from there and it's got a nostalgic look to it, IMO.

3.  Via the JABB Portal- This is the way I prefer to get around the web site.  It's got a cleaner and crisper look to it and the categories are most helpful to me when I try to focus on different updates.  So the remainder of this tour is going to follow the JABB Portal order.  So here goes!

After viewing the lovely photos of John and that beloved TBAA quote from which the site takes its name, we have the First Time Visitors link.  I created that web site back when it wasn't entirely uncommon for me to get emails from folks who assumed I knew John Dye or... stranger still... that I was John Dye.  (To date, I still really wonder what sort of person they thought John Dye was to create a goofy fan club containing top tens and such about himself but anyway...) 

After that come the links to all the newsletters.  One change I have made there is that I used to create a new TOC for every 30 newsletters.  I've decided to up that to every 50 newsletters.  And I'm about due for a new one.

Then there's an email link and a link to the classic TOC for anyone who wants to bail on the Portal.

The section that comes next is JABB Info.  There's the Updates page which is exactly what it sounds like.  The JABB Encyclopedia follows which is, I believe, the largest page on the whole web site.  If you're reading a Dyeland story and really like a particular character, you can go there and get a complete listing of which stories and newsletters they appear in.  Or maybe you want to see all the times Doc Hock comes up.  That works, too!  Next up comes the JABB Calendar which lists important dates.  It does have some Dyeland character birthdates and such but there's another page that's better for that which I'll get to later.  Welcome Newbies is a more practical guide for new members.  I am going to eventually replace the Web Site section with the contents of this newsletter.  JABB News and Reminders isn't a page I use much any more.  But if another John Dye series was ever released, I'd note it there... though perhaps at a delay as I realized only today that I never got the news about Promised Land added.  Oops.

One thing I've started to do is mark pages that are basically archival.  I don't delete them because I'm sentimental but they're also useless, out-dated, or not being updated for other reasons.  JABB Info has six such links: Things You Should Know About JABB, Our FAQ, JABB Member Links, About Us, The "Green Pages", and The JABB Self-Help Pages.  The first one is just plain hilarious to me because I mention how JABB isn't about angel/human romances.  Haha!  I would scandalize younger me...  Anyway, I basically only keep that page because it cracks me up.  The FAQ was a fine enough idea but is basically a rehash of Welcome Newbies.  I'm trying to cut down on having the same information on different pages or at least having to update the same information on different pages. Member Links is something I'd be happy to bring back.  There just hasn't been any interest.  But if you'd like to share your blog, fanfic site, etc., I'm happy to add it.  It doesn't have to be TBAA or John Dye related at all.  If you do submit a link, please also include a brief description.  About Us is the same sort of thing.  If someone would like to provide a bio or Q and A, I'm happy to add it.  But there's not been any recent interest so I archived it.  I'm not even keeping my page there updated.  And "The Green Pages"...  That was a case of me being like "Oooh!  New toy!" but without really having a reason to use the new toy so I just duplicated some stuff.  It used to have a cool Flash intro but, of course, Flash was retired so it no longer works.  I may eventually delete the whole thing but, for now, I sometimes look at it and appreciate the time a former member spent taking digital photos of her TV screen back before screen shots from DVDs were possible.  Kinda touching, to be honest.   The Self-Help page used to be useful because it contained a step-by-step guide to using YahooGroups... with screenshots!  But, of course, I deleted all of that since YG is no more.  But it was a pretty page so... I left a tiny bit.  But it could probably be deleted.  Just... again... sentimental.

The second section is TBAA and More.  I'm sure the most popular link there is the Photo Gallery featuring screenshots from many John Dye projects.  The TBAA Episode Guide follows and one thing I'll note there is if anyone would ever like to submit their own thoughts about an episode, please do!  Useful Links is probably not terribly useful but you can give it a shot.  If there is a link that you would find useful, please let me know and I'll consider including it.  I'm not sure if any station is playing TBAA any more but, if so, I'll add a link to their schedule.  Poems and Stories has some fanfic, thematically related poems, and more.  I should probably mark it as archived but, who knows, maybe I'll get back to writing poems as Ivy someday and put them there.  Andrew's Historical Timeline is badly in need of an update with Dyeland information but as far as TBAA info, it's pretty solid. 

And now we come to the section that I use the most: Dyeland Stories.  As you can see, it's divided into two sections: Stories and References.  In the first section, really only the JABB Story Index is routinely updated.  Every Dyeland story is documented there whether it first appeared in a newsletter or was stand-alone.  The Author's Cut is next.  Originally, all stories that were NOT from a newsletter were listed there.  But when I put together the Story Index, it became redundant to add a story there unless I had substantial author's notes.  And even when I have author's notes, I tend to add those to the individual story's page and not the Author's Cut.  That being said, I have no plans to ever delete the Author's Cut as it does have some good info about older stories.  And then there's the Friends of Joshua Forum which I think was a cute idea but, ultimately, just way too time-intensive.  The actual formatting took way too long and then there was the matter of having to keep a timeline straight.  It just wasn't sustainable.

The second section is Resources.  First we have the Dyeland Map.  Then there's the Timeline which gets updated with every story's information.  More recent stories have extremely detailed entries whereas older ones... not so much.  Then there's another link to the Encyclopedia because while it also has general JABB information, I tend to utilize it most often when working on Dyeland stories.  Each character has an entry listing which stories they appear in.  Cultural References lists all songs, books, etc. alluded to or mentioned in Dyeland stories.  This can be useful if you're looking for a story you remember reading but can only remember, say, that someone sang "Oo-De-Lally."  (That's "Triad," by the way.)  The Birthdates and More list is what I alluded to earlier.  It largely replaced the JABB Calendar for Dyeland stuff.  After that you can find a list of what characters' names mean.  Next up is Biblical Era Characters which gives each one's name in Aramaic which is what I tend to use in stories and then also lists the name as most commonly used in English.  There are three family trees for Joshua's family, JenniAnn's family, and the Chandler/Moretti/Wells/Reese grandparents situation.  Then we have the Official Flowers of Dyeland for any of you language of flowers fans.  Meanings Behind the Place Names explains where some of the castles, islands, etc. in Dyeland got their names.  Next are some Guidelines for Writing Dyeland Stories.  Even though it hasn't been updated in a good while, I did read it over and it holds up... unlike that "Things You Should Know" list from earlier. 

And then we come to the three archived links: Dyeland FAQ, Dyelander Info Database, and Laws of Dyeland.  I'm kind of ambivalent about the first.  It makes sense to have it in some ways.  In others, I'd rather people just ask me directly since things can always change.  But, hey, it's there if anyone needs it and is still legit.  The Dyelander Info Database was a nice idea but, again, too time-consuming.  I didn't want to constantly be updating it for dozens upon dozens of characters.  Finally, there are the Laws of Dyeland which are terribly old and out-of-date but we've gone this far without needing updated rules so I'll just leave it as is.

And now to the fourth button on the Portal which is Fun and Games!  First up, we have the Easter Egg Cheat Sheet.  For a good while, I hid some small, virtual prize in the newsletters.  I don't do that any more because, again, time constraints.  But you can look at that list and see what you can dig up.  If you want to Contribute to JABB, you can find out ways to do that there.  Contest Rules and Information is archived and, to be honest, could probably be deleted since we haven't done a contest in a good while and won't be until the pandemic is over since I don't want to be trekking to the post office.  But I have hope that we can do that sometime in the future so I'm keeping the page since it's easier to make updates than start from scratch.  I'm being optimistic!  JABB Contests and Games is also archived but if you're ever bored, you can play the games there just for fun.  Then there's Dye Scouts wherein you can earn virtual badges by completing assorted tasks.  It was popular in its day and not so much any more.  And some of those badges are real ugly...  I'd probably redo them if anyone ever was interested.  JABB's To-Do List follows.  It's not been updated in a good while but what's there still looks kinda interesting if there are any takes.  Finally, I added a link to all those Andrew, TBAA, Dyeland jigsaws I created during lockdown. 

Finally... the Best of the Rest which is the stuff I couldn't decide where else to put!  There's the Graffiti Wall.  I no longer have the program I used to use for that but I think a program I currently have would work so... there's that.  Then we have Andrew's Blog which was eventually taken over by Violeta only to be entirely abandoned because yours truly couldn't keep up with it.  Next up is the Dictionary and, gonna be honest, I don't remember the word "ungether" but kinda dig it.  Disclaimers and Credits is exactly what it sounds like and hasn't been touched in years.  To be honest, pretty much that entire Best of the Rest section is archived but I wouldn't mind updating it so I didn't mark it as such.  And, yes, the CafePress store is still around but I don't manage it much and I only get a small cut of the proceeds so if you see anything you like, definitely order it.  I have myself.  But don't think I'm relying on it for income or anything.  It's just for fun!

And that's the web site! 



This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye for inspiring a web site that seems pretty sprawling to me since I just spent about three hours outlining it!

JABB Portal
JABB TOC
JABB 590

(Photo Credits: The photographs used on this page are from Touched by an Angel and owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions.  They are not being used to seek profit.)