Filling in the Knowledge Gaps
So last week I continued my education by sitting down to learn XHTML and CSS. My goal was to take a previous site that I threw together for my college Fraternity chapter and create a site that could validate both from an HTML and CSS standpoint. That simple. I wanted it to look decent enough to be presentable, but I mostly wanted it to learn how to essentially create a table-less design incorporating some decent CSS tricks. The site that I created was about four years old and was a simple table driven design. The images were poor at best and the content got dated very easily.
I sit on the Chapter Advisory Board and by default, I get involved in all things technology. So, here is what the site used to look like, and here is what it looks like now. I don’t have all the concepts down yet. I have some research to do on why some of my div’s are doing what they are, which is why formal training is sometimes valuable, but maybe I will bug someone on the team to help me understand a few things. I have a lot to learn, but for me this was a great exercise to go through. I knew very little when I started and I now understand a lot more about XHTML and CSS. That, in my book, is success. I even incorporated a few web 2.0 things into the design. More to come perhaps.
I started at around 8:30PM last Friday night and finally passed out on the keyboard at 6:30AM. I know, I have no life. Softball starts up this Friday, so that likely won’t happen again for a while. I got it to where it is now with about three additional hours. By the way, the book CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions is a great reference. I picked it up on my way home from B&N and it was worth every penny. What’s great is that they had it for 40% off.
