Tyme’s Thoughts: Learning XHTML and CSS2

Jan 25, 2006 Published by Tyme White

I was talking to Colin today he mentioned something I’ve been meaning to deal with for a long time and have been postponing. He mentioned that in the comments all the comments were listed as #1. You could not imagine my surprise because for me, they were listed numerically as they should be. This caused Colin to look at the code and rightfully chastise me. I am known for whipping out code that should crash a server yet works and passed the validator. I need to change that because that’s just half-assed.

I’m a Windows girl and I started my web sites using…yes…FrontPage. It’s embarrassing to admit it but I did. My then fiance now best friend Rog turned me on to it and we realized it wasn’t the best, but hey, it got the job done. Then we got the bright idea to teach ourselves HTML when we actually looked at the code FP was giving. I picked a very popular site that I can’t remember the name of (had to do with hiking I think) and I studied that code and man, did I have it down. Shame it wasn’t properly coded.

So I learned how to code wrong but I didn’t figure that out until years later. One thing I never got was tables. I hate them. When CSS came out I leaped at it leaving Rog in the dust. Unfortunately I didn’t fully learn that either. I would learn what I needed to learn to get the job done. So….I’m going to change that.

Tyme is going properly learn XHTML and CSS2. Stop laughing…ok take a deep breath before you pass out. I am going to do this and I’m bitch-slapping myself for letting this go on this long. There is absolutely no excuse for it. It’s little things like not putting li in a div…or is that reversed? Anyway stuff like that.

What exactly was it that brought this on? I was saying I wasn’t too pleased with EE lately and it dawned on me that perhaps the reason why was because of my crappy code. I admit when I screw up and take responsibility for it so, yeah I’m doing that. I can’t make an informed decision on EE until my code is clean.

You’re still laughing? Geez…this isn’t that funny. :)

Thanks Colin!

Related posts:

  1. Tyme’s Thoughts: TechCrunch design
  2. Tyme for a change
  3. Tyme’s Thoughts: Plans & Blogging
  4. Tyme’s Thoughts: No URL link for comments
  5. Tyme’s thoughts: Blogroll cleanup

13 Responses

    1. Anthony Wilson Says:

      Yeah, it is that funny. :)

      You’ve inspired me to tackle something too. I can’t decide between learning how to cook some basic meals or learning how to do small maint. stuff on my car. Leaning towards the car because it will save me more money.

      Good luck!

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 12:41 am

    2. Charlene Says:

      You’ve inspired me to do the same. I’m want to have my own website and I want to be able to edit it myself. I’m inspired. Thank you!

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 8:24 am

    3. Felix J. Says:

      You think you all are leaving me out? I don’t think so. I wanna learn XHTML and CSS too. Be damned if everyone learns it but me. :)

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 8:50 am

    4. Marcus Says:

      Did Roger used to be truly puzzled (and he’s one of those super smart people) how your code worked? LOL

      This is going to be good. :)

      Funny, with some things you are so patient. When it comes to coding a web page your patience goes out the door. Oh, and when you are about 10,000xp from the next level in a game.

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 8:58 am

    5. Colin D. Devroe Says:

      I’m sure EE will do what it is you want, and you should probably stick with it since you just spent all that time converting everything over.

      The only thing that gets me is that it lacks conditional statements within its theme language.  I realize it’s on the feature list, but really it should have been done awhile ago.

      Good luck with immersing yourself into the world of proper syntax and semantics.

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 9:14 am

    6. Juan Lopez Says:

      In all fairness I think Tyme did know because I remember her going back to XHTML when she “learned” CSS. The problem is that she’ll learn it and not have to use it for six months to a year, maybe more. I would forget too if I didn’t use it for months.

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 9:27 am

    7. Roger Says:

      LMAO Looks like Marcus knows you well. And yes Marcus, her code used to leave me befuddled as to how it worked. Fixing her code was basicly starting over from scratch.

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 9:36 am

    8. Tyme Says:

      Anthony - The car will save you money but cooking will impress the ladies. :)

      Charlene & Felix - We can do this!

      Colin - There are a bunch of little things “not working”. 1.4 jacked my site royally and left people scrambling for fixes. Lisa from EE logged in to my admin panel and there were some things that just would not work but worked fine in 1.3. The performance issues might be due to my code though…I take responsibility for that.

      Marcus - I’m taking an Accounting class now and you know with my background this class is a snap. Problem is I left that world behind and I don’t “want” to comb through financials, so I have a hard time focusing. It’s the same with design. I don’t “want” to do it so my patience goes, but it’s something I “need” to know so I can be independent on the net.

      Juan - You’re right. Tyme2BSexy was my shining moment. I did the graphics and Roger was even impressed with the code. Should have kept that sucker up just to prove I “can” do it when I want to.

      Roger - Ha ha but one thing you have to admit, when I “really” make up my mind to do something I don’t let it go until I’m done. I’m Community Director of the prettiest network on the net. I’m surrounded my awesome properly coded sites. It will be a cold day in hell if I’m the odd girl out. I’m inspired. :)

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 10:23 am

    9. Marcus Says:

      You hate the class because you hate corporate environments and accounting reminds you of that. Have to admit though that when you make up your mind to do something you do it. There is no way you could have achieved the success you have (especially as a female in male dominated fields) if you didn’t have backbone.

      Tyme2BSexy was sweet but I understand why you took it down (and agreed).

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 11:44 am

    10. Felicia Says:

      I’m like that with cooking. I hate to cook so I throw stuff together that doesn’t taste as good as it could. You’re right though, doing something half-assed isn’t good. I’m going to work on that…starting tomorrow. :)

      I miss Tyme2BSexy too damn it!

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 12:08 pm

    11. Tyme Says:

      I miss Tyme2BSexy too sometimes but not enough to bring it back so alas, we must move on. :)

      I’m already fighting the urge to skip over stuff thinking “I know that”…which is probably what got me into trouble in the first place, eh? :)

      Posted on January 25th, 2006 at 1:00 pm

    12. Lindsay Says:

      How interesting!  I just blogged about a very similar thing the day before you made this post.  It’s freakin’ embarassing… I feel your pain!  I’ve taken the easy way out and asked someone to do some code for me, and I’m hoping I can glom some knowledge off of them.  (I hope…)

      My next initiative is to bite the bullet and take a damn class though, enough’s enough!

      Tables! Boooo! ;)

      Posted on January 27th, 2006 at 4:56 am

    13. Mark Groen Says:

      Here’s a tute I wrote for a fixed width/height web site, although I won’t make a claim for it being “proper” css, it works in modern browsers and doesn’t employ hacks.

      http://www.mgwebservices.ca/upgrade/samples/sample-05-b.1.htm

      Posted on February 13th, 2006 at 12:15 pm