angstmann

That does sound like a very useful piece of luck there Rachael, I could do with some of that! I develop on Mac, test via Parallels Desktop (XP, IE6, FF) and use my old PC to test in IE7. I don't test in Opera, or worry about Linux, or browsers lower than IE6. Once I have more of a handle on CSS layout in general, and common browser issues then I will make more of an effort.

Thank you very much Eskymo. I am not sure why the link doesn't work, as it works for me, and I've had other people be able to reach it without problem. Hmm. Yeah, I usually do give background colours to my divs, but I think i removed them as I went along. I assumed it would be padding or margins at fault but couldn't put my finger on it. I'm still working out what the main IE6 issues are to be honest. main.css fd.html

Hi all... I am having one of those frustrating CSS days again.. I am almost 100% sure that this will be easy to solve, but can't seem to work out how. Surprisingly the problem only shows up in IE6 (for a change)! http://www.webstorenews.co.uk/fd.html The div showing small thumbnail pictures is floated to the right and renders correctly in IE7 and Firefox. In IE6 however it appears below the main photo (shifted down the page, but remaining on the right). You will see immediately in IE6 what I am talking about! Please bear in mind that I am a CSS novice but would be enormously grateful for any assistance/pointers as to where I am going wrong. Thanks in advace rich

Tidying up!! I seem to spend my life tidying up! But, we have people round this evening to watch the Rugby World Cup Final (c'mon England!) - the perils of having a "big TV" - everyone wants a piece of the acton! Aside from that, I need to find a desk and chair to accomodate my impending computer purchase (and my backside!), proving trickier than expected as space is fairly limited. Playin' with the kids. trying to stop them tearing each other to shreds, etc etc Not going out.. not something I do often... not that I wouldnt like to. I like the sound of Sunday beer and darts though!

I have an old desktop PC that I use for my XP work - does the job at the moment but couldn't handle the Vista! Re: Bootcamp... apart from the fact that you have to physically restart the machine to use Windows, its absolutely superb. Full speed, takes full advantage of all hardware, everything has drivers. My Macbook is easily the fastest running Windows machine I have ever had. Depending on what you need to use Windows for, there are other solutions available that allow you to access a Windows (or Linux) installation without rebooting. Examples of this are Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion. These work surprisingly well, but there is a speed and power hit to be considered. If you want full speed, full power access to Windows then Bootcamp is the way to go. My typical setup is that I develop on the Mac, and browser check on Windows via Parallels Desktop, thats the quickest and easiest solution for me and means I don't have to restart my machine, but as I said, it depends on what you need to use Windows for. Hope this helps

Do you do Horlicks? Thats about my level these days. Welcome.. I'm still finding my way around here myself! But my suggestion to you is to get stuck in. I wish I had time to be a perfectionist! Also, I dont get paid enough to be perfect

Mac and XP guy here. I tried Vista, I liked Vista, but until I get a more powerful machine I can't justify using it full-time for work purposes.

You think $150 (about £75) is way too much for a logo? What world are you living in!?

Never got on with GIMP I'm afraid. Just too used to other tools, mainly Photoshop. I do hear great things about it though and I wouldn't totally rule it out.

Welcome aboard... you sound like you're in pretty much the same position as me, in terms of experience, home life and the need to learn new stuff and get up to date. Sometimes I am really motivated to learn and try new things, other times I feel like giving up - but I always drag myself back up. I'm hoping with the help of this forum I can really get up to speed, but I empathise with your situation as it really is very hard to find the time sometimes! Life does tend to get in the way!

Your Grab A Form idea is inspiring I have to say. That would be ridiculously useful and save a lot of time and hassle! Thumbs up from me!

I completely agree with you on this. However, when just starting out and trying to learn such a new way of doing things, resorting to Dreamweaver to solve a problem is often the easiest way out!

Absolutely! People should upgrade, but hey... we all know that they don't! And yes, anything that makes life easier is a bonus!

I quite like it, however, I prefer both of your own individual sites in terms of design and layout. Envious of your skills though!

I've tried a couple of javascript based ones... NiftyCube being the latest, but was thinking about trying CurvyCorners as I'd had a few issues with Nifty. Out of interest, which current browsers support CSS3?

I am sure it won't be long before you are... if that is what you want to do with your skills.

excellent... ! I will certainly be doing that!

Always a first time for everything Rachael! I may well just take you up on that offer.

I prefer them when they don't turn into round yellow blobs on the page!

Well I really liked your "how to make a layout..." article, and I'd like to see and hear more about the nuts and bolts of how people go about actually producing layouts from scratch. Details about how, for example, you take a photoshop or fireworks visual and turn it into a valid HTML/CSS layout. The way I work, and no doubt countless others, is they receive the visuals, and the task is to create the functioning site. I still panic a bit when confronted with a PSD file and I'm told to "CSS it" - I've been thrown in at the deep end a bit so far, but I think thats probably the best way for me to learn.

Don't feel homeless Rachael.. Maybe this is your new home. I feel exactly the same. I know when a site looks good or bad or could do with improvement. I have a good eye for layout (maybe not so much for design!). I am interested in the technology behind whats going on, and I like to make things "work" and like to think there is skill and art in making things work. I struggle to label myself though, when people ask what I do, I don't know what to say usually!

I have to admit something.... I haven't run any of the sites I have done in the last few months through a validator BUT... it is something I will be doing from now on. To be honest, its frustrating enough when my layouts render differently across browsers and platforms, and to think I might have a page staring back at me telling me I have 100 errors or something, well, I didn't think would help my confidence much! I totally understand the need to be compliant though and I think accessibility and web standards are crucial and I always advocate that. I guess its time need for me to practice what I preach!

Welcome aboard. I like to think that in some way we are all newbies at something. I've got my passion for the Web back after about 10 years of doing other things, so I feel like I am starting again myself.

I like the layout and kinda like the colour scheme. Agree with Rachael above about the text alignment also. These things always stick out to me straight away. Also, adhering to web standards is one thing, but they haven't half made those icons look ugly! I'd ditch them and if you feel you have to visibly show that you comply, then a text link should be sufficient. Regarding what software people use. I used Dreamweaver back in the day when I designed with tables. Its still very good for tables-based work, and to be honest thats probably the only reason for me to fire it up these days, for the occasional table I need to make. Since I started doing sites in CSS (only about 3 months ago!), I have ditched all visual tools like Dreamweaver and now just hand code pages and use Photoshop. I find this very hard to believe myself! I used to be in awe of people who hand coded sites, but with the advent of CSS and the way it means that your HTML becomes much simpler, I've found it easier than I thought to move away from Dreamweaver. My tools of choice: Mac - Textmate (http://macromates.com/) Windows - E Text Editor (http://www.e-texteditor.com/)

Hi Rachael, I really like your site. Found some really good information there and like the way it looks and love the style of writing as others have commented on. You come across as really passionate about what you do, which I thnk always gives a great impression and often says a lot more about people than the way their site looks or behaves (although that is important too). Picked up some great tips and bookmarked several of your pages if thats any indication of how much I liked it!