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Yes, I know it looks very amateur. However, it is something I had spent the little bit of time in between the weeks at sea to make up. I will improve upon it later.
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Learn to hand-write HTML. Only through HTML-Fu can you become a true web page master. You must also learn the power inherent in Cascading Stylesheets, for they are the path to the coveted [reverb] Accessable Website! [/reverb]
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In order to explain what Cascading Style Sheets are (is, really), you must first understand what HTML is. Many people think they know, far fewer actually do.
HTML is a semantic markup language. It is (properly) used to organize document elements according to their meaning as part of the document. For instance, HTML has a <p/>, or paragraph, tag, which should be used to enclose paragraphs. Many people use this tag to add line breaks, which is bad (for many reasons).
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a way of conveying display information about an HTML document. For instance, if you want all paragraphs to have a garamond font, you might have a rule along the lines of:
p { font-family: garamond; }
Display-related concerns should not be handled in the HTML. This makes it hard to maintain, update, and alter the document. By keeping semantic markup and display information orthogonal, it is possible to alter one without affecting the other. This is important.
Think about it. Why should you correct your grammar and change the color of your text in the same place? Shouldn't those concerns be separated so that the color of the text is independent from the document containing the text?
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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That puts into context a lot of what I am reading on HTML.
BTW< I am starting my first HTML page. I think it will follow a similar format as hatrack. I like how there are links in the table HATRACK-The Official Site of Orson Scott Card.
I am going to use the top page table/link format. I will have a left side frame with general links..when someone clicks on the left side link, the table/links at the top will change.
Bahh..too hard to explain. Anywho, can anyone suggest a good html editor? I have heard good things about TextPad, but it costs money
Is it worth the 17 bucks? IS there an equally good program?
I already have the design in my head. I have the content in word documents, and I have a folder with all the pics. It is time to roll up my sleeves and learn HTML. Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Frames are evil (and should never be used for a website unless you understand exactly why you are using them; you don't), tables shouldn't be used for navigation (navigation lists are, not surprisingly, lists), and I'm sure there's a highlighting HTML editor out there for free (highlighting is really number one). If there's a windows version of bluefish, use that, or you could try emacs, or actually, nvu would likely be good for you: http://nvu.com/ .
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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quote: Frames are evil (and should never be used for a website unless you understand exactly why you are using them; you don't), tables shouldn't be used for navigation (navigation lists are, not surprisingly, lists
Why do I not understand exactly "why" I am using a frame? I thouht I knew why.
As far as using tables for navigation, Hatrack uses a table for navigation and I think it is the cleanest navigation format I have seen. Is the table on Hatrack "Wrong?"
I am very new to HTML and so I am not aware of all the html taboos yet.
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I enjoyed the Scouting photos. I'm a Cub Scout den leader, but occasionally get invited to go camping with the older boys. I love it. Last year we went to the Teton High Adventure Base, where I had a frightening experience on their COPE course, balancing on a cable 30 ft above the ground.
I would think that being in the Navy you would have traded backpacking for SCUBA diving.
Posts: 2655 | Registered: Feb 2004
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As for hatrack's navigation being clean, I'm not even talking about the appearance of it. The appearance actually does have some issues, and I can point to plenty of sites with much cleaner navigation (take a look at http://google.com and http://blogger.com , for some easy examples), but that's still not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the ease of modification, and the ease of maintenance, and the semantically correct usage so the source can be easily parsed for meaning. One can make a list-based menu that styles to look exactly like hatrack's.
This isn't about look and feel, this is about making a site that's easy to manage, easy to update (hatrack's menu is always going to look like a table until the html is recoded, which it shouldn't have to -- what if someone wanted to redesign it so they went down the left side of the page one after the other? that's not possible with table, but its an easy switch if the html is written semantically, with the menu as a list).
Heck, here's a site I and another guy made in less than 4 hours (and won an on-location web design contest with, coincidentally) that has better navigation than hatrack: http://mypage.iu.edu/~rduhon/raphael/ For one thing, even the rankest HTML novice can update this page with a new menu item. (the coding on the site is all mine).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I must admit fugu13, you have convinced me about frames, particularly the article about why frames are so evil.
I really liked your website. Is the top of it (with the leaf, cross, and welcome text) a picture you have added to your site?
There are so many links in my website *not created yet in anything but word docs* that I need some way to group related topics together. I think I may have to have a table. I will keep looking around to see other designs.
Do you, or is there a way to find someone else, hire out services to design a web page?
I have the page in my head, but the thougth of building it is VERY daunting. If I could hire someone to write the basic code, then I could fill it in later and edit and update it.
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Yes, that's an image. Its set as a background image for the top div, with a background color that fits with it (it ends where the leaf ends, the rest to the right is just background color). I can't claim credit for the image, it was created (from two public domain images and the raphael health center's logo) by my partner. I can, however, claim credit for the HTML and CSS .
The way one groups things together on a web page if no semantically meaningful container is available is through the use of a div, which is a generic container.
What a coincidence, I am available for creating the HTML for your site . Send me a representative example or two of how you'd like the basic design to be (the word docs, that is), and I'll give you a quote.
Because I updated it a few times. The pics are the same ones, but I changed the look of everything. here it is again.Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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