About

arbitrary constant is a collection of articles on the topics of film, literature, mathematics and other assorted areas by Richard Watts. The original purpose of the website was threefold: 1) to provide a space in which reviews and articles of all kinds can be catalogued and stored; 2) to keep a diary of Richard's PhD studies and provide information for prospective/current students; and 3) to learn about the web and web design.

Those purposes have been slightly amended after one year of existence, though the basic point of it all - an exercise in self-education and enjoyment - has remained the same.

Along the way to arbitrary constant many small victories have been completed, this site being a meek exhibition of the majority of them. The original attempts at creating a website included a frame and table based monstrosity and it was only through some hard work and plenty of excellent resources on the web that this place has reached the current level. Below are some tutorials that document some of the small victories of arbitrary constant so far.

   1. javascript >> how to make a randomising function using nothing more than javascript and a text editor

   2. CSS >> the CSS currently in use on arbitrary constant (with a nod in the direction of glish.com and, as mentioned, what do I know?)

   3. customised error documents >> none of that boring 404 or 403 stuff here thanks to customisable error documents

The site was redesigned during the Olympic games in the summer of 2004. The design was based on Todd Dominey's very excellent what do I know? and shares obvious similarities, including the location of our respective background tiles at squidfingers. Both sites hold Creative Commons licenses and as such you are free to take any aspect of this site for your own use with appropriate credit etc. I am more than happy for someone to use any of the articles on arbitrary constant in their publication or as the basis for a larger work. If possible, please send me a copy of the new work using the contact page.

I'm not too keen on expansive about pages so this will suffice for now. Thanks for visiting.