WRAP > About This Site

About This Site

General

This site is maintained on a Lenovo ThinkCentre M93, using Windows 8.1, ExpressionWeb 4.0, PhotoImpact X3, and more share- and freeware than you can shake a stick at.

Firewall note
For some reason, if you are using ZoneAlarm Pro, it may now and then block the display of an image on this site.  Oddly enough, the image will re-appear if the ZAP Privacy settings of Ad Blocking and Cookie Control are set to "off", even though there are neither ads nor cookies associated with the image files on this site.  Clearing cache and reloading may also be necessary.

A word about watching British/European DVDs in the US
Because most of Wendy's work has been for British movie and television production companies, those movies and TV shows of hers which are commercially available on DVD (and, less frequently now, on video tape) tend to be in PAL format, with the DVDs additionally set to a region code of "2".  This is an obstacle for US (and other non-European) viewers, since TV, VCR, and DVD equipment sold for use in the US is not compatible with PAL format products, nor do they support region codes other than "1" or "0".  What to do?  Stand-alone DVD players which are multisystem and region-free are available and not too expensive.  If you don't mind watching disks on your computer, many -- if not most -- DVD-ROM drives tend to be multisystem.

 As for the region coding:  in the past, your webmeister used an excellent product DVD Region + CSS Free.  It permitted the commercial disk to be viewed on the DVD-ROM drive of one's computer regardless of the region to which the disk (or the player) had been set.  Unfortunately, as of 2015 it is unclear whether the product is still available, or even functional on modern 64-bit PC systems.  The product's home website is defunct.  So, what to do?  LG makes some pretty good (and inexpensive) DVD-RW burner units, which are multiplayer and USB-connected.  Such a player as a second DVD drive, used exclusively for playing Region 2 disks, is a reasonable alternative that neatly avoids the asinine "lock after five region switches" threat to one's primary DVD unit.

Playing audio files
All of the music snippets and most of the quotes and lines on this site are linked to audio files (the better to appreciate Wendy's delivery!).  Presently they are all in MP3 format, since the files are relatively short and will download quickly.  Some audio in the future might be presented in M3U (MP3 playlist) format.  But regardless of the file format, the links should play automatically in your own audio software when clicked.  For many years, your webmeister recommended use of the popular WinAmp player; however, its home website continues to languish in renovation after four years, and the software's future remains uncertain.  A robust alternative is VLC media player.  Finally, note that one of the newer web browsers, Google Chrome, behaves oddly with M3U playlists:  the first time one clicks on such a file, it must be downloaded first and then one may choose to automatically play that type of file in the future.

Page counters
For its first fourteen years, the page footers here at the WRAP displayed XBM-type image hit counters provided by the hosting ISP (Prodigy, aka SBC/Yahoo, aka AT&T).  Regrettably, changes in 2010 within Firefox 3.6.x and in newer versions of Internet Explorer caused these browsers to no longer support or display XBMs.  Although Opera and Safari could still show the old counters correctly, your webmeister assigns a high value to cross-browser consistency and so has replaced the old ones with counters provided by a "free" service.

Contacting the Webmaster

What's It All About?

It was in 1997 that the Wendy Richard Appreciation Page arose out of the convergence of a number of distinct interests of mine. First and foremost, around 1995 I noticed Ms. Richard's work for the first time through various shows on the local PBS television station. I couldn't help wondering who that charming lady was, and to my surprise I found there was virtually no data in any form available outside the UK about Wendy and her career. Hmm, ought to do something about that . . . Second, back in the early Nineties, I'd written a lot of HTML (the hard way) for various corporate and US state government websites. Those projects were finished by '95, but I remained intrigued enough by web technology that I decided to keep some basic currency in the field. Hmm, what kind of web site could I put together . . . ? Finally, there was the clear and rapid ascendancy of the Web as a useful, indeed superior, tool for research, by virtue of its openness and interconnectivity -- features, sadly, which these days have been coming under increasing attack by various interests who would see the best qualities of the Web stifled for their own financial or ideological gain.  In any case, these things all came together handsomely as the "why", "what", and "how" that resulted in the web site you are now visiting.

The fact that the W.R.A.P. is currently the Web's best (and, well actually, only) dedicated fan resource about Ms. Richard is well and good. That maintaining this site has helped me stay reasonably proficient in the art of webmastering is an added bonus. But -- and I make this observation in humility and with no small amount of surprise -- its greatest value has been as a catalyst for many a correspondence, and I dare say even a friendship or two, that has enriched and encouraged me in ways I scarce could have expected when I began this endeavour. I extend my sincere thanks to all -- I very much appreciate it!

Just a very small sample of some of the music that has kept me company as I've worked on this site . . .