Computer Programming

The Canoga Park Youth Arts Center, which opened in January, has received $130,000 to launch a computer graphics program. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick had requested $120,000 in federal Community Development Block grants, which the council approved last week. Chick also will give the center $10,000, her office's entire Council Civic Arts Fund allotment.

Esperanza running back Temitope Sonuyi, The Times' Orange County football player of the year, said Friday he will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and play Division III football for the Engineers, at least during his freshman year. Sonuyi, who chose MIT over Harvard and California, had been debating whether to play football or focus on his studies until learning that MIT uses a pass-fail system for freshman students.

As your Web site expands, it can become increasingly difficult to navigate. But with pages that use frames, visitors can find their way without getting lost. Frames separate a browser screen into several Web pages, allowing content to change in some areas while remaining fixed in others. Designers often use them to create a stable navigation bar containing links that, when selected, open corresponding Web pages in an adjacent content area.

Most Web pages are divided into sections of content, often including colorful sidebars or navigation bars in addition to the main text area. Such designs are created with tables, a design technique that allows you to separate content into columns and rows. Working within the body tag, you can create several tables on one page or construct one table that spans the entire browser screen. Tables consist of at least three tags: TABLE, TR (table row) and TD (table data).

How well your Web site meets users' needs will determine its success. Forms, which allow users to send you feedback, can help you keep tabs on what they like and don't like about your site. Unless you have access to a form-processing application on your Web server, you will have to receive user submissions through e-mail.

In the basement of an old farmhouse deep in the Norwegian countryside, a 15-year-old computer geek named Jon Lech Johansen pecked out the finishing touches on a piece of programming that had been keeping him busy after school and homework. Jon says he didn't realize it at the time, but when he pressed "enter" on his keyboard 16 months ago and launched his handiwork into cyberspace, he was setting off an intercontinental earthquake.

At what point does entertainment become something much, much more? Neil Young, executive in charge of production for Electronic Arts, is determined to find out. His pet project, the episodic online thriller "Majestic," draws users into the story by calling them on real-world phones and sending them faxes, e-mails and instant messages. The game is even smart enough to verbally "threaten" players' spouses. Is the man a mad genius or a visionary?

Consumers using "shopping bots"--computer programs designed to continuously log on to Web sites to help consumers find an item or compare prices--are slowing some holiday shopping Web sites to a crawl. "It's a very real problem, and I think we're liable to have legal forays into this particular issue down the line," said Jack Staff, chief internet analyst for Zona Research Inc. "Especially if a site's performance degrades and sales are not enough to compensate."

Job titles mean little during the game development process. Often, every member of a team pitches in on every aspect of the game's design. And few teams have more experience than the designers and artists at Volition, creator of the award-winning "Descent" series. Most recently, the veteran PC studio has wrapped up "Summoner" for Sony PlayStation2. It's the company's first console title, a role-playing game that aims to bring medieval mumbo jumbo to the masses.

Adrian Smith--creator of Lara Croft, buxom star of the best-selling "Tomb Raider" series--has guided his digital heroine through jungles, sewers and, of course, tombs. As one of the most popular video game characters ever created, Lara inspires loyalty, admiration and, sometimes, very strange behavior in her fans. * Q: Without donning feminine adventure gear, how do you get inside Lara's mind? * A: It's probably a lot easier than everyone thinks. Lara's a figment of a few people's imaginations.