Though not all works presented have yet been subjected to the following processes - some having only been translated, some translated and formatted, while others having also been fully edited - We have endeavored to maintain accurate indications of the status and stage of each work.

In addition to the great and Classic literary works of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, the Bible, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, miscellaneous Texts from Plato to the US Declaration of Independence, and miscellaneous Poets from Alexander Pope to Jim Morrison, we have also included an equally valid section of Quotes, a growing collection of Lyrics, and even a group of Recipes.

The song lyrics in our Lyrics Gallery, for example, are never merely copies of one or two error-ridden versions that are found circulating and replicated across the Web, but are, rather, the best and sometimes toughest songs. Using acoustical and linguistic analysis to assist, we listen numerous times, with and without headphones, often in groups, and at a series of descending speeds combined with ascending pitches when necessary. When we cannot determine the correct lyrics, we do not include the song.

We regard the Lyrics that we choose to include with the same respect as the included Classic literary texts, and, in that regard, endeavor to repair their usually shoddy presentation by means of proper punctuation, use of uppercase, word positioning, and line break and stanza construction as originally intended: All grossly overlooked and ignored and contributing to the further stigmatizing of the genre.

In addition, we take particular exception with the often phonetic representation of words in Rap Lyrics. We believe there has been an effort to represent words like "going to" as "gonna" and "with you" as "witcha." The results are Lyrics that are more difficult to understand and Rap artists who are portrayed as less than educated and even civilized: A far cry from the mastery of language demonstrated in a number of their works. The proper transcription of Lyrics is meant to determine the actual words used. How the artists or their fans choose to pronounce those lyrics when they sing is their own subsequent business. Imagine if the Lyrics of Creedence Clearwater Revival, for example, were transcribed phonetically. No one would be able to understand the songs. The same people who transcribe the Rap songs phonetically would cry out for the expected lexical renditions.

And though, amid the ignorance, there is a modicum of rebelliousness in the blatent violation of all of the above rules and conventions, their breach flies in the face of communication and only serves to obscure what is being imparted. Even rebels need to communicate properly.

While Shakespeare and other master works have been edited word by word and punctuation mark for mark. Beginning with multiple authoritative versions and editions with the simple, yet demanding goal of enabling the text and seeking the most standard, traditional, and precise presentation; of modernizing the content without taking any liberties with the sense or with any level of meaning; of making the work more accessible without compromising it; by, among other processes, removing all semblances of unnecessary confusion and complication, whether textual or aesthetic, and with an obvious absolute reverence for the original intentions of the respective artist.

The process of providing these works in a succinct and flawless manner for the education and enlightenment of the reader is threefold: Translation, Formatting, and Editing.

TRANSLATION PROCESS

Where translations are applicable, the efforts of the original translators have been retained for now. The Classical languages as college minor and lifelong passion in addition to the current study of the Hebrew language, will allow us, if time and the undertaker permit, to also eventually undertake each respective translation process as well.

FORMATTING PROCESS

Formatting each work is the process of enabling and facilitating the greatest aesthetic simplicity for the purpose of making the works most presentable, readable, inviting, and enjoyable. It assists the Editing process in the goal of standardization and conformity among all the works, and, like the Editing process, entails an excessive amount of proofreading.

We have standardized and simplified the presentation of all lists of Characters; all headings that begin each scene; all stage directions, whether names of characters speaking or descriptions of actions taken; and the presentation of all dialog or text.

Since the prose works wrap to fill the size of the reader's screen and the lines of verse will do the same if the browser window is made small enough, we decided not to be thrifty about font size. Squinting while reading will detract from the pleasantness of the experience. Besides, we all only get older and our eyesights only get poorer. A 14-point font is used throughout all literary works.

All works have been color-coded. All dedications, character lists, and stage directions use the familiar ALEF Red (153-0-51, 99-00-33) used throught the Site. While all text of the respective works, and only the actual text of the work, uses standard Teal (0-128-128, 00-80-80). It always remains very clear what part of all the text before you is the work itself and what is peripheral and supporting.

The text is completely centered on your screen and will adjust to fit changes in your browser resolution and window size. It is presented in a completely vertical configuration. The names of the characters speaking are on separate lines above their passages and stage directions that refer to things that occur during a passage are placed on separate lines within and in the distinct ALEF Red color.

Line numbers have been removed. They're an unsightly clutter and an artifact of a pompous and stuffy mentality. Nor should they ever have been part of a short, twenty-line Yeats poem. A line of verse can be identified by a word or two and search functions in our software makes line numbers a welcome thing of the past. As has been said about certain ellipses rules: They are a Victorian eccentricity holdover.

If any part of the choices made do not suit your critical sensitivities when compared to some other edition on your shelf, be sure to keep a copy of it for after the apocalypse. For now, there's room for many versions, and these, we believe serve many purposes beneficial to the age in which we still find ourselves.

EDITING PROCESS

Finally, the editing process. It assists the Formatting process in creating a common standard and conformity among all the works, and, like the Formatting process, entails an additional excessive amount of proofreading. No works were scanned with OCR or other means. All works are manually entered, proofread, and edited Line by Line, Word by Word, and especially Punctuation Mark by Punctuation Mark.

Macbeth "unseam'd" Macdonwald "from the nave to the chaps." At the time these various texts were either written or translated, the word "unseamed" was pronounced with three syllables: un-seam-ed. As the convention of dropping the final syllable caught on, in no small part due to Shakespeare himself, it better served the verse to deliver in speech those words without the final syllable. To make this clear in the text, the apostrophe had to be added and the "e" elided. Since we are today well into the rule and convention of not pronouncing the final syllable, the removal of all traces of the apostrophe before the "d" and the replacement of the elided "e" made more sense and contributed to a more readable text. The same occurs before the "t" and the "n."

Whereas, in a multitude of other areas, where Shakespeare or others intended to omit a syllable which does not represent a current change in the written language, whether to maintain poetic meter or to depict colloquial spoken language of particular characters, the elision (syncope) was either preserved or replaced, if previously removed. The same with contractions: T'appear for to appear is retained due to the intended removal of the syllable for metrical considerations.

Attention has been directed to repairing the lack of uppercase letters following ":," "!," and "?," and for formal titles that refer to specific characters in the works, like Duke, King, and Queen; in addition to reversing some lowercase and removing excessive uppercase, including entire words, and especially the traditionally-capitalized entire first word of works and sections.

Archaic constructions and word forms have been replaced. Words like to-day, to-morrow, a-squint, and a-cold have been changed to their modern counterparts today, tomorrow, asquint, and acold. The excess of unsightly hyphenated words now represented as a single word or two separate words have been repaired, as well.

Specifically English spellings have been replaced. Words like valour, honour, neighbour, and labour were carefully changed to valor, honor, neighbor, and labor; words like practise to practice; words like memorise and apologise to memorize and apologize; words like centre and theatre to center and theater; and words like grey to gray.

Excess Latin words and remnants have been replaced. "Dramatis Personae" has been abandoned for the simpler term "Characters." The stage direction "EXEUNT" has been removed. The distincion between it and "EXIT" (many versus a single character leaving the stage) has been achieved by placing "EXIT" against the character's text when that character exits, with space above and below when all characters exit, and with their names listed when a partial number of characters exit. Finally, Roman Numerals have been replaced in favor of the more familiar Arabic Numerals.

All punctuation has been repaired, which, along with the formatting, is the most extensive and detailed task involved. Things as simple as the removal of double spaces and the spurious spaces before punctuation marks (other than before the single dash); standardizing of punctuation marks only within quotation marks; standardizing of ellipses from anywhere from two to six periods to a consistent three periods preceded and followed by a single space; replacement of double dashes with single dashes and standardizing with one space on either side; removal of underscore characters or replacement with single dashes; removal of square brackets and excess parentheses; removal of semi-colons where commas and periods belong and excessive commas where none belong; repair of improperly-placed question marks, questions without question marks, and an over-abundance of exclamation marks; and much more. All verified in all cases across multiple versions and editions. All of which, if left unchanged, would impact the aesthetics and mechanics of the reading experience and some of which would actually impact the meaning of the work, as well.

Whereas in printed texts where the work is often presented in two columns, certain longer lines of verse sometimes generate Orphan Lines, are forced to wrap their last few words onto the next line. This does not occur in these editions. Even with the larger font and on most size displays there is plenty of space around the lines. Of course you can make even a line of verse wrap if you make its window small enough.

Some passages, in Shakespeare for example, revert from Verse to Prose. These are normally encounterd as fully filling their column from left to right in printed texts and without words in uppercase at the beginning of each line. And so it appears in these editions with the added ability for that wrapping to occur dynamically in any sized window. All Poems or Dramatic Verse with Prose passages are faithful to their original intent.

Finally, with regard to the language itself, few, if any, liberties have been taken. Either the original in English or the translation from the Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Babylonian, or other language into English was almost never touched. Exceptions include blatent misspellings, incorrect words, and other transcription errors, verified by other versions and editions of the work, and words, phrases, or passages where a dialog or debate is already underway, as with Hamlet's "dram of eale," for instance.

George ALEFantes

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