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Welcome to my websites, www.LeviCar.com and www.PROACCTIVE.info, and webpage LULUE.
This all-text Guide will gradually morph into a more-colorful one, with plenty of pictures, and even some interactive features.
Each website has a wealth of information about the future of transportation.
LeviCar.com is about my proposed system for MagLev Cars — and more, including a nationwide grid, and provisions for freight. It is meant for the General Public, and includes some “Fun Stuff”.
PROACCTIVE.info is meant for Advanced-Transportation professionals, including educational programs, professional organizations, consultants, and opportunities to use your talents to advance the technology and earn money in the process; but the biggest part is the list of upcoming events, webinars, and conferences.
LULUE is a reference page, containing the combined listings of upcoming events from the two websites, plus a table with links to event calendars from various organizations. It is meant to replace a blog that I had on EVWorld.com, that was discontinued when the owner of that website, Bill Moore, decided to use it to promote his Electric-Car Subscription Service.
I will guide you on handling low-level features first, and then discuss the overall structure of the webpages. Finally, I will discuss certain specific issues, including how the users of these websites can help me keep them accurate and up-to-date.
There are many links on these websites. When you place the cursor over the link, the link gets temporarily underlined, and usually a mouseover (hover) message appears. This works for non-touchscreen computers, such as traditional PCs, laptops, etc. For touchscreens (tablets, cell phones, etc.), display of ‘mouseovers’ is determined by the browser or operating system. By pressing and holding on a link, my Android cell phone will usually show the first part of the mouseover message, and also some navigation buttons.
On these websites, most mouseover messages simply indicate that the link is an “external link” and refers to the disclaimer about external links at the bottom of the page. Some mouseover messages contain additional information about the link.
A “Link-Block” is a set of related clickable links, in a white box surrounded by the background color for its outer Group. A link-block can also contain other informational items. All the links and other items in a link-block pertain to one event, concept, or entity.
Some of these items might be images, as discussed below.
Sometimes, several items within in a link-block will be separated from the others by a horizontal “spar”
of a lighter version of the background color, forming a sub-block. Examples of this include:
• If the link-block is about a professional organization, subblocks may include individual societies within
the orgainization, or special services offered by the organization.
• If the link block is for conference or show, subblocks may be for Calls-for-Papers, information for
exhibitors, etc.
• Some events might have other colocated events, or subevents, or tracks, or student competitions.
• A link-block might be for a series of related events, such as the SBIR Road Show, and each
Road Stop would have its own subblock.
Most events also include a "Catch Phrase". This is a short saying, or other piece of information, usually in small italics with a yellowish background.
Some of the link-blocks have a small oval on the upper-left corner, to indicate if the link-block was recently added or modified. “NEW” indicated that it was added within the past five days, “REV.” if it was revised within the last ten days, and “REC.” if it was added between six and fifteen days ago.
Also, hovering the cursor (mouseover) on oval, shows (in the non-mobile versions) the “frag-tag(s)” [more properly “Fragment Identifier(s)”] associated with the link-block, and those associated with any headers right above it; plus some of the recent history of the link block.
If there is no small oval, hovering the cursor on the top edge of a link-block shows (in the non-mobile versions) a standard popup message, showing the same “frag-tag(s)” as discussed in the previous paragraph, but no recent history.
If you single-click on the small oval, or the top edge if there is no oval, the link-block will “migrate” upwards, usually to the top of the page, and the browser’s URL line will show the complete URL, including a fragment identifier for the link block. The fragment identifier starts with a #-sign. This way, if you want to share the URL for a link-block, you can. Simply copy-and-paste the URL into your e‑mail or message.
Some link-blocks, usually the ones for Upcoming Events, have a small, usually-clickable, rectangular icon on the lower-right corner, indicating either the sponsor of the event, or a calendar which has the event listed. You can use these links to find other events that perhaps don’t fit the criteria to be listed on these websites.
A comprehensive list of these sites, including various organization and their event calendars, is available here.
For LeviCar: This is the LeviCar extended logo; except during Earth Week, when it is the LeviCar logo superimposed on a picture of the earth. It occupies the upper-left area (top of left column) on the tablet/laptop/desktop mode, and the top on the mobile mode.
For PROACCTIVE: This is “PROACCTIVE” in large letters, followed by an explanation of what it is, and then the criteria for inclusion into PROACCTIVE.info. This is always on top.
For LULUE: This is “LULUE” in large script letters letters, followed by an explanation of what it is.
Each of the two main webpages (LeviCar and PROACCTIVE) has five Groups, as described below, but also has a Principal Link Area that has links to many or all of the groups, plus other important internal links.
For LeviCar:
The PLA has four links. the first one is yellow and, when clicked, moves you to a “primer” near the bottom of the webpage, that has an introduction to LeviCar and RoboTrail. The other three are links to Groups A, C, and D, that are either “below the fold” or right on the fold; the “fold” being the bottom of the screen when you are at the top of the webpage. [This term is analogous to the front page of a full-size newspaper (remember those?), where things “below the fold” are not as visible as things above it.] The headers for Groups B and E are always at the top of the webpage, “above the fold”.
Then there are the triple “DuChamp” links, ➀ to this Guide; ➁ E‑Mail; and ➂ links to the latest edition of the newsletter, a list of links to recent newsletters, plus a link to another webpage that explains, and allows you to sign up for, the newsletter. (“Recent Newsletters” include #120 onward, although in the future I hope to expand that back to #100. Older back-issue newsletters can be obtained using the Subscription Form.)
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For PROACCTIVE:
This webpage is designed so that the header of two of the five groups, Group-A and Group-U, are “above the fold”. The PLA contains clickable links to the other three (E, I, and O), plus a cross-link to Group-C in LeviCar.com, and is followed by the DuChamp links, and the T.A.R.D.D.I.S. link.
Groups A, E, I, and O than follow in the left column, and Group-U occupies the center and right columns.
For LULUE:
There is only one “Group”, so there is no PLA. The Title Area is followed by the DuChamp links, and the T.A.R.D.D.I.S. link. This is followed by three columns of Upcoming Events, in chronological order.
Below that is an augmented Table of Event Calendars from Various Organizations (left double column), plus my biography, left over tfrom Blog 1267 on EVWorld (right single column).
The PLA has links to all five groups, plus
for LeviCar: a link to the primer, and
for PROACCTIVE, a cross-link to Group-C of LeviCar.
Again, these are followed by the DuChamp links, and the T.A.R.D.D.I.S. link.
At the bottom of the screen are five links to the five Groups.
LULUE has the DuChamp links, and the T.A.R.D.D.I.S. link, and the upcoming events in chronological order, followed by a simple list of Calendars of Upcoming Events, and my biography from EVWorld.
Each main webpage (LeviCar and PROACCTIVE) has five “Groups”, each consisting of several to many link-blocks. Each group has a distinctive background color. Also, a Group may have intermediate subheaders, dividing the Group in functional subgroups. [In addition, there are some specialized regions of each webpage that are not part of any Group, such as the “Principal Link Area” (PLA), and one Group (Group-U) has some specialized links that aren't part of any Link-Block.]
Each of the five Groups is designated by a letter. The Groups are:
For LeviCar:
A – Antecedents and Allies; also Associations
B – Blogs and Bulletins
C – Competitiona and Critiques
D – … All about LeviCar Documents
E – Extras (This may be later divided into two Groups, “Events and Expositions”
and “Fun Stuff”)
For PROACCTIVE:
A – Associations and their Journals and Lists of Events
E – Educational & Research Institutions
I – Independent Contractors / Consultants … and other services
O – Opportunities (esp. Fed. Gov.)
U – Upcoming Events Conferences, Events, and Webinars
In the mobile versions, the Groups follow each other sequentially (A-B-C-D-E or A-E-I-O-U), and there are clickable buttons for each at the beginning of the webpage (in the PLA), and also fixed links at the bottom of the screen.
For tablet/laptop/desktop mode, there are three columns.
LeviCar.com has three columns. The left column has has the Title Block, the PLA, and Group A; the center column has Groups B, C and D; and the right column has Group E alone.
Below the three columns, is a table (“Primer”) introducing the basic concepts of LeviCar, and its “big brother” for freight, RoboTrail. Clicking on a yellow link in the PLA gets you there.
Below that are various histories, disclainers, copyright notices, and contact information.
Group-E in LeviCar.com, and Group-U in PROACCTIVE.info, show upcomng events. To be listed, they have to meet several criteria:
The event must have at least one webpage in English, but it may also have webpages in other languages.
It must relate to advanced transportation engineering, or related areas like self-driving cars, or things of interest to technological entrepreneurs, such as Small-Business Innovative Research (SBIR) opportunities.
For LeviCar.com, it must be in the United States or Canada, and have some sort of “popular” component, such as an “Expo[sition]” or “Exhibition”. Certain events that are for the general public but not really aimed for engineers, such as Tesla Science Center events, and Ride-and-Drive events, will be on LeviCar.com but not PROACCTIVE.info. Many events will be on both, but with more-complete information in PROACCTIVE.info. LULUE contains all events with more-complete information.
Many event link-blocks have a small rectangular icon in the lower-right corner, indicating the source for the event. Just do a mouseover to see. Most of these are clickable links to the source webpage. The source might be the sponsor of the event, or another organization that shows the event on its calendar. You can use these links to find other events that perhaps don’t fit the criteria to be listed on these websites. As mentioned before, a comprehensive list of these sites, including various organization and their event calendars, is available here. Dates my be colored yellow, red, or green. Yellow indicates that the event starts tomorrow, or warns that a paper is due tomorrow. Green indicates that the event is ongoing today. Red warns that a paper is due today, or that a deadline has expired. Sometimes, event sponsors will accept abstracts or papers even after the posted expiration date, or might extend the expiration date after the original one has passed, but don’t count on it.
Dates at least one year from the beginning of the current month, or before the start of the current month, are, by default, shown with the year. Other dates do not show the year.
Technical details … As far as deadlines for abstracts, digests, proposals, etc., the websites already have a feature that can help you locate things that have upcoming-soon due dates. The dates of events are shown with the month-name spelled out in full, e.g. “January”. The dates that things are due for submission have only the first three letters of the month-name, followed by a period, e.g. “Jan.” Therefore, by searching for the abbreviation, you can find things due in a particular month, or on a particular date. E.g. Search for “Apr.” to find things due in April.
For the merry month of May, which has only three letters, I use a special method. I add an invisible period – when you highlight the date, you’ll see the period, but otherwise you won’t. If you are simply searching for due dates in May, search for “May.” For the other eleven months, a date is represented as the month’s first three letters, followed by a period ('.') and then a space (' '), and then the date, either one or two digits. For May, it would be the month spelled out in full, followed by an invisible period, followed immediately by the date, as before.
To find a particular date, you could use the search argument such as “Apr. 15”. To find the same date the following month, leave out the space and search for “May.15”. (End of Technical details)
Since there are so many events in PROACCTIVE.info, in the tablet/laptop/desktop version, they are split between the center and right columns. They start at the top of the center column, and continue in the top of the right column.
If you missed an event and want some information on it, everything is saved in spreadsheets. Links to these are at the bottom of the right-hand column in the tablet/laptop/desktop version, and the bottom of Group-U in the mobile version. They are not very user-friendly, but are serviceable.
There will be a newsletter sent out, by e‑mail, to anyone who asks for it. For more information, click here.
I cannot list every society and every event for everything that has to do with transportation. I have to be selective, and only show pertinent societies and events. I do, however, have links to various organizations and their calendars, and you can see many societies and events that deal with all aspects of transportation. I encourage you to join any organization, and its pertinent societies, that suit your needs.
Organizers of events can use PROACCTIVE.info to see what other, rival events might be taking place, and perhaps adjust their schedules accordingly.
PROACCTIVE.info also lists calls for papers, and for other submissibles, along with their due dates (deadlines). For better or for worse, the organizers of these events often extend the deadlines, and sometimes apply the extensions after the original deadlines. To mitigate this, links are shown up to 7:00 am ET on the day following the deadline.
Technical details … If you want to see deadlines that expired prior to today (or yesterday, if it is now before 7:00 AM ET), insert the “look‑back” parameter in the URL. This takes the form: www.PROACCTIVE.info/?LB[=<days>]. If <days> is not specified, it looks back 5 days. If <days> is specified as a positive integer, it looks back the specified number of days. www.PROACCTIVE.info/?LookBack looks back 10 days.
It is a lot of effort to maintain the list of Upcoming Events, and a lot of that effort is to find the event, and then deal with changes in dates, with due dates of calls-for-papers, additional sessions, and so forth.
It would be of great advantage that, for every organization that sponsors the events that I list on these webpages, there is some representative who can check LULUE, whenever there has been a change in the event. This would save me a lot of unnecessary effort, and ensure that the listings are more accurate and up-to-date. (LULUE lists all events, so checking it also checks the other two).
This program module not only desiplays dates and date ranges, but also can format these, depending on the current date. To get source code, which includes complete documentation and testing code, click here.
T.A.R.D.D.I.S. takes care of coloring dates, as described above. It can do a lot of other things. It can list a single date, or a range of dates. Before or on the start date, it can list both the start and end dates, an then automatically, on the day after the start date, show “Until” the end date. Then, after the end date, it can say “CLOSED”. All this happens automatically, according to the arguments in the calling sequence, depending on the current date. ^