Dedicated to helping you untangle the World Wide Web

Welcome to the first edition of "Your Web Connection." Terry and I hope you are as excited about the new look and name of the column as we are. The first edition of our new column will give you an overview of where we've come from and why we decided to change the column's name and focus.

Many of you may remember that Terry and I have authored two previous columns. The first was called StarTips. StarTips grew out of my involvement with the "Buddy" program on what we now call "StarText Classic." Buddies were a group of "core" individuals that were always there to help new users on the StarText system. One day I decided to start sharing with all of new and existing users the tips and tricks that I was discovering while using StarText.

For those of you unfamiliar with our history, let me give you a brief overview of the StarTelegram Online Services. (If you want an in depth history, you can access StarText - A Capsule History.) Star Telegram Online Services dates back to 1981 when the Star-Telegram decided to get into the "information on demand" business. On May 3, 1982, StarText officially started providing on line news content that was updated from 5 a.m. to midnight. Back then, it was all text, no fancy graphics or colors.

Let's now skip ahead to 1994. There was a new buzz word on the horizon. The Internet. The online world was changing. For StarText to survive, it too, would have to change. In the fall of 1995, a hardy group of beta testers ventured where no StarText subscribers had been before - the Net! We all worked very hard for several months to get the system just right before StarText.Net was launched to the general public in May of 1996.

Our second column was called Cruisin' with StarText. The column debuted on the Net on March 8, 1996. As the name implies, the column's focus was a potpourri of news about sites on the Net and just about anything else we wanted to talk about. The column was well received and gained a loyal world-wide readership.

StarText.Net launched several other services; Arlington Online, Northeast Tarrant Online and Fort Worth Online. The focus of all of these sites was to provide localized content specific to that area.

And now, all of the above sites have been rolled into the designation of Star-Telegram Online Services, which is where we are now. So what happen to our old friend, StarText? On March 3, 1997 at 5:13 p.m., the staff held a quiet ceremony and turned off the system for one last time. Classic was officially retired.

Since our readership has grown from a localized to a world-wide audience, many of you wrote questioning the name of the column, since StarText no longer exists. As we've previously mentioned, the site is now called Star-Telegram Online Services. Since StarText has officially retired, Terry and I decided to retire Cruisin' with StarText as well. Doing so would end much of the confusion.

We played around with many different name variations for the new column. Somehow Cruisin with Star-Telegram Online Services just didn't work. We finally decided on Your Web Connection. We know that the Net is a puzzle for many of you. (Now do you see the tie in with the bar to the left?) The focus of this column will be to try to take the confusion out of your online experience. We want everyone to have fun and to be able to find what they're looking for. From time to time, we'll also recommend some pretty neat sites. Your Web Connection will be a much shorter version of our previous effort. As with Cruisin', the new column will be a work in progress, evolving over time based on our Net experiences and reader input.

Terry and I extend a warm welcome to all of our readers. Please write us and tell us what you do or don't like about the new format and direction of the column. We want to know what you are having problems with and what features you'd like to see included. Before, we had a huge humor section. We may not focus on that as much, but time will tell. We both feel that people don't smile and laugh enough in today's society. Much of the time people take themselves too seriously. So from time to time, we'll probably include some light humor that we feel worthy of your time.

We hope you've enjoyed this inaugural issue. Let us know what you think. We'd love to hear from each and every one of our readers. In a couple of weeks, we'll be hightlighting one of those "run, don't walk to" sites that makes the Net such a valuable resource. Lastly, if you want to be added to our notification list, send us an email. We'll see you in two weeks.