Embryonic website

[BobDavid]

I've been making slow progress on my website. I had no idea the learning curve would be so steep. I am having to delve into coding (CSS), which I hadn't expected.

Here is where it is at right now. It's version 0.33. I am hoping to get it to Version 1.0 within another month or so. It's gotten tricky because I the template I've chosen is limiting.

So here's where it's at: bobrosinsky.com

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

It's a great start, Bob.
I love the home page image.

One quibble: You might want to expand the Portfolio a bit, when you get around to it.   

I feel your pain. My first website was from a ready-made form that cost me about $25. After one year, I felt I needed much more flexibility. About that time I started teaching a beginners course in web programming (trying to teach something is one of the best ways to learn). With a little of that under my belt, I started trying to build my own. Somewhere on the web I found a template that used two columns, with links on the left and the main stuff on the right, and I based mine on that. Then I started hearing about CSS, and ...

Every time I look at my own website I am reminded how primitive and inflexible it is. It can't adjust automatically to different sized screens, for example. So one day I may try to redo it all again.   

Good luck!

Eric

[RSL]

I'm with Eric, Bob. It's a good start. Plunging into web development can drive you mad. A few years ago I built a bunch of sites with DreamWeaver. Now I hardly can remember how to work with the thing. I also gave one lecture to the local computer club on building webs. Did the whole demo with pure HTML. For some reason nobody in the club jumped into web development.

Keep working on the site. There's no rush.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Something else to keep in mind while you are building your site: Plan procedures for easy updating. How do you ad new images or pages or edit/remove older pages?

Since I didn't do my homework well enough at first, I eventually had to write out a set of instructions about how to do each of the frquent maintenance steps. I can never remember the details, so I always have to refer to my instruction file whenever I do anything.

[RSL]

It gets worse as you get older, Eric.

[BobDavid]

It is a long and winding road. It's clear that CSS coding will help. I'm just starting to figure out what I need to figure out. I really want to have more control over the fonts. I suppose this will be a work-in-progress for awhile. Feel free to throw any advice my way...

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

There is some pretty good info about CSS for free on the Web.
In simple(-minded) terms, I think the idea is that you define all the standards and specificatons (fonts, sizes, etc., for each situation) in one place, giving a name to each combination of specs. That CSS file is included in all of your html or php files, so you then invoke the set of specs you want in a particular instance by the name given to them in your CSS file.

The result is that you get a consistent look across your entire website. If you can get a look at the CSS files for some websites that you like, you'll get an idea of how to build and use them.

I am reminded of the time many years ago when I was doing some consulting that involved coding for an IBM mainframe computer. There was a header file that was always placed at the start of each program for that beast. When I asked an experienced programmer how to write that header file, he told me, "Don't try to write your own. Just borrow a copy from someone else's program. Nobady really knows how to write the header file or who did it originally anyway."   

Good luck!

Eric

[HSakols]

Hi Bob,
Great start on your site.  Mine is always in progress and partially unfinished.  I'm curious are you using Wordpress?  I like your portfolio - great colors!

[BobDavid]

Hi Bob,
Great start on your site.  Mine is always in progress and partially unfinished.  I'm curious are you using Wordpress?  I like your portfolio - great colors!

I am using Wordpress. It is a lot more complicated than I expected. I am working on five portfolio galleries. The trick is finding the right plugin, as the generic template galleries aren't to my liking. The online chat support engineers are good. I wonder how far I'll need to get into the nitty-gritty of CSS coding.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I am using Wordpress. It is a lot more complicated than I expected. I am working on five portfolio galleries. The trick is finding the right plugin, as the generic template galleries aren't to my liking. The online chat support engineers are good. I wonder how far I'll need to get into the nitty-gritty of CSS coding.

I think that with Wordpress and templates you shouldn't have to get involved much in the details of CSS.

If you want to add something in the same format as something that is already there, you can probably copy the section that you want to imitate and just change the text or images to what you want. Of course, when something doesn't work, it may be hard to figure out why.

P.S. I haven't used Wordpress myself, so I'm just guessing.

[Blue439]

It's certainly an interesting start. I'm surprised you have to plunge into CSS when using templates; isn't it the whole point about avoiding such technicalities?

I designed and created my own website from scratch, and Dreamweaver handled more of the chores.

[BobDavid]

It's certainly an interesting start. I'm surprised you have to plunge into CSS when using templates; isn't it the whole point about avoiding such technicalities?

I designed and created my own website from scratch, and Dreamweaver handled more of the chores.

I am super picky about design. Would you mind posting a link to your website?