StuartPB

I've got a few distro's I have trade accounts with: Computer 2000 - I don't use these very often. Blue Solutions - I buy all OS'es from here, to install on OEM builds, and OS upgrades. Entatech - for cases and some components I use on custom builds & repair replacement stock. I have trade accounts with some other distro's, which I use for the more specialist jobs, usually order in stock as and when required. Prices and discounts for PC hardware can vary a lot between distro's, so we shop around when putting in big orders.

I voluntarily registered for VAT with my PC repairs and IT services company, for exactly the same reasons as you mentioned. I wanted trade accounts with the distributors. I found though, that unless you are buying in large quantities, you aren't making much (if any) savings when compared to buying through non trade channels. I should have realised this before I went and registered for VAT, but I was just starting up and wet behind the ears. Because I wasn't buying in enough quantity I was no better off. I also had to do my returns every quarter too.

I'm at the University of Sheffield, as a part-time mature student, and am 2 1/2 years into a 5yr course. It should have been 6yrs but I got a year knocked off for APEL. The course I'm studying for is a BSc (Hons) IT & Organisations, and I'm loving it because it's pretty much of an all rounder regards IT. We've done a couple of web design modules, as well as a database design and maintenance one too. In addition, we've done ICT and the law, technical writing, information handling, and a couple of other modules. The degree doesn't give me papers which say I'm an expert in any one field, but it will hopefully give me papers that say I'm a good all rounder. With such a volatile job market, I believe that being able to put your hand to more than one or two things is becoming much more important. We're currently doing a professional development module, and it's business focused (business networking, business start ups etc. etc.), and as someone who's been self employed for almost a decade, I'm learning things I didn't know. It's great to be able to put what we're learning into practice too. If there are any uni's near you that offer the same/similar courses, I would go for something like that. As already mentioned, you should give yourself as many options as you possibly can.

Thanks guys I got the idea for the bottom boxes on my site from the tutorial I found on codrops, but it wouldn't validate as is, so I rewrote the code so it would validate (the page is XHTML 1.0 strict). I just used Divs instead of an unordered list. I really like the effect, especially as there's no js and it degrades nicely in browsers that don't support the CSS3 effects.

Thanks, I managed to sort it out eventually

Thanks mate The slider is the Nivo one, I've just messed around with the layout a little bit.

I've got a piece of jQuery script, that hides divs until a link is clicked. The image below shows this. Each arrowed rectangle is a link, and when clicked on a div opens up below, with more information. It's all working and there's no problem with it. I've just got to put the content in each div ( you can see it here: http://basewebdesign...site-design.php). What I'm trying to consider is what happens when javascript is disabled in the browser. I know I can use content enclosed in the <noscript> tag, and this will only display if javascript is disabled in the browser. I know I can just put the hidden content of the divs into the noscript tags, and it will then output them if js is disabled. This increases bloat on the page though, as there would be two versions of the same content on the page. I thought of a way around this, but I'm not sure if it will work, and that's what I'm asking. If I created a php file, with the same content as the hidden divs, and then used an include in the nofollow tags, would the include only work if js was disabled? Thanks in advance, Stu EDIT: Scratch that, the php include is still output, just tried it

I managed to sort things out with MS, but EA Games never answered the phone once, despite a total of more than two hours trying. I'll try again mid week, and see if I get any joy. At least me not being able to play BF:BC2 has kept the missus sweet

Cheers I've got 3 more pages to finish, plus deciding on whether to keep the font-face symbols I'm using, or just go for sprites instead. Any more opinions would be very welcome at this stage, even if you hate the site, I'd like to hear some constructive criticism if anyone wants to offer any? Cheers, Stu

The colours were intentionally darker than the background, as I wanted a subtle effect for the nav. Regards the slider controls, they should be semi transparent, until the image slider is hovered over: Are you not seeing that effect? I've tried to check in most browsers and flavours, but I may have missed one or two.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated! I've moved the slider controls further to the top of the slider div. I see where you were coming from there, but having the controls above the caption made it look more like they were in the centre. I've also tried to tart up the main navigation, but I'm not 100% sure with it. I don't know if it's going to stay as is yet. Any feedback on that would be cool and much appreciated guys Cheers, Stu

We had this drilled into us over and over again at uni, on an ICT & the Law module we took. If a company is registered (a company registered with Companies House), then you do have a legal obligation to include the registered office address and registration number in business letters, email and also on websites. If you are a sole trader, you do not, but including an address at which you are contactable is good practice for businesses. If the company is VAT registered, then the VAT registration number should be shown on the website too.

Use an unordered list <ul> and list items <li> like so: <ul id="navlist"> <li><a href="link here">link text here</a></li> <li><a href="link here">link text here</a></li> <li><a href="link here">link text here</a></li> </ul> Then apply styling in your CSS stylesheet: #navlist li {display: inline;list-style-type: none;} You would need to play about with margins and padding to get the layout of the links you require.

I'm still working on the site, and have moved domains, it's now at http://basewebdesign.co. I'm seriously considering using the website in a new venture for me, freelancing local web design work. I'm going to start by calling round local charities, to see if they would like some complimentary web design work. Hopefully, that way I can build up a professional portfolio relatively quickly, and gain some more professional experience. I've done bits and bobs of web work before, with my IT support company, so I'm not totally clueless (I hope) I've hacked up a logo, and while I like it, I know it's not on the same par as a pro could do.

I've given up on EA games for now, after having spent ages on their technical support line, and the call not being answered. It's an 0870 number, so it's at the national rate, for which I have to pay for being on hold. There is no support email address for the UK that I could find either. I'm fecked off with them, and if I find out that the original data breach was from EA, I will be even more fecked off. I've had to have my paypal, xbox live and windows live accounts suspended till the investigations are finished, and I've also had to cancel my current credit card too (as a precaution because I have a credit card linked to the two hacked accounts). I've probably spent a small fortune on telephone calls to the respective companies too, so all in all a bad day! I'm seriously considering taking EA to the small claims court for compensation and recovery of costs. It would probably come to nothing, but I'm fuming at the moment. I WANT BLOOD!!!

Nope it's a full on hack. Paypal have verified over the phone that the emails were legitimate, and that payment had been processed for the purchases of the live points. I think they gained access to my xbox account from hacked data from EA, I've done some digging on info, and apparently EA and MS were sharing data on accounts. I reckon I may have to kiss goodbye to my EA account, and all the games I play that I've bought from the Origin store, as their customer services are lacking to say the least! I've been trying to get hold of someone who can actually help for the best part of the two hours now. Thanks for the good luck, I'll need it

I've got accounts with xbox live and EA games, and both have been hacked today. I can't log in to my EA games account, or any of the online games I play, and whoever hacked the accounts has gone and bought 10000 xbox points to the sum of £91 (1x 6000 & 2x 2000). I've just spent the last two hours contacting MS, EA, Paypal, my bank and my credit card company to sort it all out, and I'm stressed to hell as a result. The paypal email payment notifications looked like they were phishing attempts at first, as they were in Chinese. When I saw them, I decided to log in to Paypal to see what the crack was, and sure enough the purchases were there. So if you get any Chinese paypal payment notifications, check your paypal account on the paypal website. My xbox live account has been frozen now, till MS finish their investigations. I only got the live gold sub on xmas day, so I'm foobared for up to 25 days now. I also can't play any of the EA games I've bought either. Today's looking like one of those days when I wish I'd stayed in bed!

I couldn't sleep last night, due to a delhi belly from what I think was a dodgy curry, so I got some practice in with a new website design. I've only managed the front page layout so far, but the rest of the pages will be easy enough. I've tried to move away from the standard 1 col + sidebar layout I'm used to, and gone for something a little different. I haven't put a logo in, as I'm rubbish at logo design. The main nav needs some work. I'd be happy to hear what you guys think so far? Cheers, Stu The addy is http://gamerbase.info (the domain is from an old games database I built, but isn't being used for anything other than testing)

Thanks and I've made the slider scroll smoothly.

I've been using the Metro UI on my WP7 phone since last year, and I dislike it to the point where I miss my old Android phone. It just doesn't float my boat, technically or aesthetically. I can't wait for my next phone upgrade!

Thanks again guys for the feedback Agreed, although I'm not keen on brown, I do think it fits the theme too. I've been working on the nav bar, and came up with the idea of making the background look like a dry stone wall. Not 100% sure about it, but I'll leave it as is for the time being.

Thanks guys, much appreciated. I was really struggling with the colour scheme for this site. I'm not a massive fan of brown either, I tried a variety of different colours to replace the brown but nothing sat right. Cheers, Stu

I'm not an expert by any means, or anywhere near. So I can only give a layman's view on the design. I have one criticism, and that is the placement of the facebook, twitter and RSS links/ images. I would say they have too much prominence in your design. They were pretty much the first thing I was drawn to as I looked at the image you posted.

I was thinking about the same thing myself, for my current site. I think that counting popularity on comments left on the article isn't the way to go, especially for a fledgling site. Comments could be thin on the ground, and a post could have many views but little to no comments. As suggested, I'd personally go with popularity by post views, or by using a post voting system.

I'm just about to down tools for the holidays, so I've got my Xmas head on now! Happy Christmas guys, and I hope it's a blinder for you all!