time to face the world

hi.. been teaching myself xhtml from online courses and books..

I've put together some pages and I'd like some feedback... I'm writing
all my code by hand using a little app called textpad..

things I'm struggling with..

I'd like to have a textured background.. but don't have a tool for
making transparent gifs for some of my graphics..

My main page has become too long I think.. as I've thought of more
subjects I wanted to cover (who knew I had this much to say to the world?)

I'm using tables for my navigation bars, even though I've seen lots of
advice against that, because I like that you can align them in different
ways and change the background colour, and I havne't figured out how to
do that with a list yet.. is there a way to change the background
colour of a list area.. ?

I'm still not quite happy with the color choices for the two subsite--
for the folk connection and for the war resisters' support group.. but
I'm not sure what would be better..

thanks
Helen

Helen Martin wrote:

hi.. been teaching myself xhtml from online courses and books..

I've put together some pages and I'd like some feedback... I'm
writing all my code by hand using a little app called textpad..

Hi Helen, do you have an url that we can look at?

Helen Martin wrote:

I'd like to have a textured background.. but don't have a tool for
making transparent gifs for some of my graphics..

Background for the whole page? Or just some sections?

For the whole page: body { background-image: url(...); } Similar other
elements.
Graphics programs that do lightweight editing range from free to $100.

My main page has become too long I think.. as I've thought of more
subjects I wanted to cover (who knew I had this much to say to the world?)

What length is it? Over 50 KB you should consider splitting it up.

I'm using tables for my navigation bars, even though I've seen lots of
advice against that, because I like that you can align them in different
ways and change the background colour, and I havne't figured out how to
do that with a list yet.. is there a way to change the background
colour of a list area.. ?

See <http://css.maxdesign.com.au/>.

I'm still not quite happy with the color choices for the two subsite--
for the folk connection and for the war resisters' support group.. but
I'm not sure what would be better..

shake, shake, thump, mutter, curse> Stupid crystal ball!

--
jmm (hyphen) list (at) sohnen-moe (dot) com
(Remove .AXSPAMGN for email)

Nik Coughlin wrote:

Helen Martin wrote:

hi.. been teaching myself xhtml from online courses and books..

I've put together some pages and I'd like some feedback... I'm
writing all my code by hand using a little app called textpad..



Hi Helen, do you have an url that we can look at?

can you tell I'm nervous

try http://mypage.uniserve.com/~hrmartin/

thanks
Helen

On Wed, 03 May 2006 22:29:30 -0700, Helen Martin wrote:

hi.. been teaching myself xhtml from online courses and books..

Why bother? Why not just use HTML 4.01 strict? Plus your page doesn't
quite validate:

http://validator.w3.org/check?verbos...m/%7Ehrmartin/

In any case, other tips:

1) Be very very very careful if and when you implement a "textured"
background. Done right, it can add a pleasing visual garnish; done wrong,
it can make your site very hard to read and unpleasant.

2) There are several free image editing software tools available to help
you create, for example, a textured background. My personal favorite its
the GIMP, but that can be a bear to learn. There are others. There are
also some inexpensive but not free ones that are good. (unfortunately I
really only use GIMP and can't recommend any others because of that)

3) I don't know that the page is too long. Determining that depends on a
lot of factors.

4) Everything[1] you can do with tables-for-layout cann be done with
CSS-for-layout. That navigation area is a list, use CSS to change the bg
color, the font size, the borders, the position on the page -- everything.
The idea is that HTML should contain no "layout" or "style" information.
All "layout" and "style" is done separately, using CSS.

5) The color scheme isn't so bad. Keep in mind that the way colors
actually look on screen is highly variable and depends on many things.
For example, I have a dual screen setup and your web page's colors look
quite a bit different in one screen than the other. (unfortunately! I have
tried very hard to get the two screens to display colors the same but alas
it cannot be done)

later...




[1] Not really everything.
--
JDS | jeffrey (AT) example (DOT) invalid

http://www.newtnotes.com
DJMBS | http://newtnotes.com/doctor-jeff-master-brainsurgeon/

Jim Moe wrote:

Helen Martin wrote:

I'd like to have a textured background.. but don't have a tool for
making transparent gifs for some of my graphics..


Background for the whole page? Or just some sections?
For the whole page: body { background-image: url(...); } Similar other
elements.
Graphics programs that do lightweight editing range from free to $100.


My main page has become too long I think.. as I've thought of more
subjects I wanted to cover (who knew I had this much to say to the world?)


What length is it? Over 50 KB you should consider splitting it up.


I'm using tables for my navigation bars, even though I've seen lots of
advice against that, because I like that you can align them in different
ways and change the background colour, and I havne't figured out how to
do that with a list yet.. is there a way to change the background
colour of a list area.. ?


See <http://css.maxdesign.com.au/>.


I'm still not quite happy with the color choices for the two subsite--
for the folk connection and for the war resisters' support group.. but
I'm not sure what would be better..


shake, shake, thump, mutter, curse> Stupid crystal ball!
Let see. He, mine crystal ball is working :-)

http://mypage.uniserve.com/~hrmartin...connection.htm
--
Edwin van der Vaart
http://www.semi-conductor.nl/ Links to Semiconductors sites
http://www.evandervaart.nl/ Edwin's persoonlijke web site
Explicitly no permission given to Forum4Designers, onlinemarketingtoday,
24help.info and issociate.de to duplicate this post.

On Thu, 04 May 2006 01:34:33 -0700, Helen Martin wrote:

Nik Coughlin wrote:
Helen Martin wrote:

hi.. been teaching myself xhtml from online courses and books..

I've put together some pages and I'd like some feedback... I'm
writing all my code by hand using a little app called textpad..



Hi Helen, do you have an url that we can look at?

can you tell I'm nervous

try http://mypage.uniserve.com/~hrmartin/

thanks
Helen

Hi Helen.

Layout is clean and code as well, up to a level. You have few trivial
errors
http://validator.w3.org/check?verbos...2F~hrmartin%2F
in your html - try to fix this first.

I would object
1.using xhtml - there is no real need for it, try to convert to html 4.01,
2. transitional doctype - it should be strict.
3. tables for layout - this is not complicated layout - you should use css
<div></div> to structure you page.
4. Fixed font sizes - try not put px as value, use 100% for main text, h1 -
130% - or whatever suits you.


--
buy, bought, bye

Edwin van der Vaart wrote:

shake, shake, thump, mutter, curse> Stupid crystal ball!
Let see. He, mine crystal ball is working :-)
http://mypage.uniserve.com/~hrmartin...connection.htm

Oooh! Where'd you get yours?

--
jmm (hyphen) list (at) sohnen-moe (dot) com
(Remove .AXSPAMGN for email)

Jim Moe wrote:

Edwin van der Vaart wrote:

shake, shake, thump, mutter, curse> Stupid crystal ball!

Let see. He, mine crystal ball is working :-)
http://mypage.uniserve.com/~hrmartin...connection.htm


Oooh! Where'd you get yours?
From ebay.

--
Edwin van der Vaart
http://www.semi-conductor.nl/ Links to Semiconductors sites
http://www.evandervaart.nl/ Edwin's persoonlijke web site
Explicitly no permission given to Forum4Designers, onlinemarketingtoday,
24help.info and issociate.de to duplicate this post.

Helen Martin wrote:

hi.. been teaching myself xhtml from online courses and books..

I've put together some pages and I'd like some feedback... I'm
writing all my code by hand using a little app called textpad..

try http://mypage.uniserve.com/~hrmartin/

Hi Helen,

As Nije said, layout and code are quite clean. Nije's other points are good
too, but I won't go into those.

I would indent my code if I were you, to make it easier to read and so you
can tell at a glance where tags open and close, but that is just personal
preference.

See those links you have down one side in a table? You can replace that
with a list:
<ul id="navigation">
<li><a href="vi.htm">My Island Home</a></li>
<li><a href="size.htm">Fat Acceptance</a></li>
<li><a href="music.htm">Music in my Life</a></li>
<li><a href="folkconnection/folkconnection.htm">Folk Connection</a></li>
<li><a href="quakers.htm">Quakers</a></li>
<li><a href="pets.htm">Companion Animals</a> </li>
<li><a href="marco.htm">Story of Marco Polo (the cat)</a></li>
<li><a href="pens.htm">Fountain Pens</a></li>
<li><a href="computers.htm">Computers</a></li>
<li><a href="fivefingers.htm">Do You Need a Computer Nerd?</a></li>
<li><a
href="http://www.pacificgallery.ca/dynamic/artist.asp?artistid=115">Art of
Clare Singleton</a></li>
<li><a href="wrs/warresisters.htm">War Resisters' Support</a></</li>
</ul>

Then in your css you can get much the same effect as you have now by doing
something like this (off the top of my head, I didn't test it):

#navigation
{
background: white;
float: left;
width: 125px;
}

#navigation, #navigation li
{
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}

#navigation li
{
list-style: none;
}

There's no need for this to be a table:

<table width="50" align="right" cellpadding="5px" >
<tr><td><a href="#top">Top</a></td></tr>
</table>

Just style the <a..> element instead using CSS to get the same effect.

You can get rid of the <br/> everywhere and instead use CSS to set the top
and bottom margins of the elements you want to seperate out.

Overall, good work.