Topics

What's the web site for?
Who maintains this site?
What is its relationship with the magazine?
Why go to all the trouble then?
Why not put the actual articles here?
How do I look up a particular issue or index?
Why can't I find the search page?
So how do I search for something then?
What's with the coloured letters?
Can I contribute material?
How do I contact the site web master?
What's your privacy policy?
What is the history of this web site?
What's new?

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What's the web site for?

The site is intended to be an additional resource for readers of atomic magazine to use when looking for past articles, deciding whether to subscribe or purchase back issues, linking to the useful URLs mentioned in the magazine articles and doing research into product purchasing. It is not an alternative to reading the magazine nor is it trying to 'compete' with the official atomic web site or other atomican's web sites.

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Who maintains this site?

This web site is maintained by private individuals who are readers of, subscribers and possibly contributors to atomic magazine i.e. atomicans. At the moment the webmaster is atomican Ron3KL

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What is its relationship with the magazine?

The site is not officially supported by atomic magazine or its parent company AJB Publishing, although it has their conditional* approval and occasional assistance with content e.g. the cover page photos.

* Does not use their artwork or content without permission and uses a blue colour 'theme' to differentiate it from their web site.

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Why go to all the trouble then?

The author wished to have a facility to refer back to previous articles quickly and easily without spending ages with a pile of magazines in his lap. What was originally intended to be a private database quickly became a public web site instead.

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Why not put the actual articles here?

Several reasons.

1. It would discourage people from buying the magazine.
2. It would take up a lot of time.
3. Without the express permission of AJB Publishing it would be a breach of copyright. Under the Copyright Act 1968 and Copyright Regulations 1969, copying is only allowed under certain circumstances.  That is for fair usage e.g. personal, research,  educational or promotional use.  Fair usage excludes copying more than 10% of an item, more than ten pages or whole chapters of a work.
   In this instance no more than 3 pages of any issue are used and the material comprises references to the content rather the content itself.

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How do I look up a particular issue or index?

Click on the links in the left hand menu pane to expand either the drop down list of indices that are available or the drop down lists of issues for a particular year.  Then click on the appropriate index or issue to have it displayed in the main pane.

Each page is organised by the page number of the magazine.

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Why can't I find the search page?

If you can't find the search page you are probably using the less comprehensive 'No frames!' version of the site. The search page makes use of frames for best effect and I am still investigating how to integrate the the same search engine into the no frames version. 

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So how do I search for something then?

Most browsers have a Find text in page facility. So if you know which magazine issue you are looking for, go to the link for that issue and do a Find ( <ctrl-F> ) for the appropriate text.  If you don't know which issue, but know which section of the magazine in which to find what you are looking for, go to the appropriate index page.  For example if you want to look up all motherboard reviews, look in the reviews index and possibly the features index for the text 'motherboard'.

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What's with the coloured letters?

The coloured lettering matches the page headings in the early issues of the magazine.

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Can I contribute material?

Although primarily a resource for contents pages of the magazine, there is scope for additional material. Please contact the web master using the link below. In particular send the webmaster an email if you want your site added to the list of atomicans' web sites.

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How do I contact the site web master?

[email protected]

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What's your privacy policy?

Please refer to the Privacy Statement

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What is the history of this web site?

It was first created in April 2001.
After discussions with AJB Publishing and subsequent changes it went public in May 2001.
The format of the site underwent significant changes in January 2002.
Monthly additions to the site are undertaken as soon as possible after the release date of the magazine.

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What's new?

February 2004: Issue 37 added

January 2004 changes:

1. Added issues 32-36
2. Updated indices for issues 30-36.
3. Added CD Guide pages and CD index page.

December 2003 changes:

1. Added issues 30 and 31.
2. Reworked menus to work with wider range of browsers, particularly Opera 6, Netscape 6 & 7, Mozilla etc

June 2003 changes:

1. Issues 24 to 29 added after a six months hiatus due to Canberra fires and other issues beyond the control of the webmaster.
2. Menu Javascript and some CSS reworked to support changes from IE5.5 to IE6.0
3. Pr33x tw33x added to X-Ray and tutorial index.
4. The indices of hardware and game reviews for 2002 put on separate pages.

November 2002 changes:

1. Issues 21, 22 and 23 added.
2. Gearbox and Pr33x Tw33x sections added

July 2002 changes:

1. Forums Frame section removed, pending discussions with AJB Publishing.
2. Games index split by year as it was getting too big.

May 2002 changes:

1. Starting with issue 16 of atomic, AJB Publishing decided to have use a cover date that is the month following actual publication (i.e. issue 16 hit the streets in April 2002 with a cover date of May 02).  Until then the covers did not have a date.  So this web site had used the actual month of publication. The two systems were not compatible, so the menus on this site were changed to reflect the actual covers i.e. Issues 01 through 15 do not have a date while issues 16 onward do. A little confusing perhaps but it matches the magazine covers.
2. Detection of browsers that are not using frame technology now results in automatic redirection to the 'No frames!' version of the site.
3. Technica Obscura and Ground Zero sections of the magazine have their own index.
4. The index of hardware reviews has had the 2001 articles split off as it was getting too big.
5. Forums Frame section added. This tool lets you monitor several atomic forums with the one browser window.

March 2002 changes:

1. The 'No frames!' version of site made more comprehensive and accessible from entry page.
2. Site search via FreeFind added to frames version.
3. Although the pages remain optimised for 800x600 resolution, will now adjust for other resolutions.
4. Help pages added
5. atomicans links extensively updated again.

February 2002 changes:

1. HOT products and games from the magazine highlighted.

January 2002 changes:

1. The site now uses a simple frame page with a JavaScript and image based expanding menus for simpler navigation and easier maintenance.  At this stage the expanding menus only work in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x and above or Netscape Navigator 4.xx and above. Opera 5.xx displays the menu but it is not dynamic. Opera 6.xx displays the menus but not correctly all the time. 'No frames!' and 'No scripts!' visitors are still catered for with a simpler version of the home page linked to the content pages.
2. Starting with issue 12, many magazine contents items are linked to the relevant Web site for the article.  For example game review items are linked to the game's web site mentioned in the review.
3. This page and  the privacy page have been added.
4. The atomicans link page has been significantly updated. Tell the webmaster if you want yours added.

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