Wednesday 12 October 2011

The horror... the HTML...

 (Finally. Blogger has been bloggered most of the evening so I put a post on Orphans of Liberty instead).



Today I have been mostly screaming and pulling my hair out.

I have someone capable of designing a web site and they'll do it for free, which is good and bad. Good because free is always good, and bad because I can’t nag someone I’m not paying.

The problem is not so much the web-writer (although they also have a full-time job so this is part-time stuff) as much as it’s me.

It’s not just that I don’t know much about HTML. I also don’t have a clear idea what this website should look like. So I have resorted to dabbling with one of those free template things until I get something I think looks right, then I’ll hand it over to the expert and say “Make it look a bit like that but better, and make it work properly”.

One good thing – by that stage I won’t object to anything at all as long as it works so the web-writer will have free reign.

In the meantime I decided to set up at least a temporary page just so there’s a place to direct people when they ask about the books. I haven’t even got that right, but it exists and it loads and it doesn’t look completely rubbish (despite still battling with the text – somehow bold is turned on towards the end and I can’t turn it off).

The ads not mine, they are there because it's free hosting. I can get rid of those by paying - when there's a site there worth paying for.

That’s enough HTML for one night. The brandy is out now. For medicinal purposes.


(Actually I've passed the halfway mark but fortunately saved this post offline first)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looks professional and well done to me. Telling everyone there is a free short-story there for download in eBook and other formats might drive more traffic to the site.

Good short-story.

I saw my demon last night too, at 3 am, which some say is a bewitching hour, especially when it's dank and foggy and electricity can flow more freely through the atmosphere.

My demon, being recurring, has a devilish look though I dare not look at him face to face and this last visit I noticed his finger-nails were longer than in the past, clawish, like wild animal paws. He came to the right side of me and said he wanted me desperately, pulling at my arm as if to lead me to hell.

I woke up screaming, walked around pie-eyed for a while, decided to stand up to him and ventured back to sleep and he never returned.

I don't think the whisky earlier in the evening helped me out much though and was maybe a cause for my demon's reappearance again.

Unlike your short story's demon, mine didn't do anything to enhance farming, just came to bedevil me as he does from time to time if my guard is down.

Ralph Musgrave said...

Not only do underdogs bite upwards, they can also see upwards. Simone Weil said, “The innocent victim who suffers knows the truth about his executioner; the executioner does not know it.”

John said...

Just tried to take a look and get this.
WARNING: ProxyAV has detected a virus/PUS in this
file!

File has been dropped.

ProxyAV Administrator: ###########

2011-10-12 08:53:23+00:00UTC
Hardware serial number: 0310220012
ProxyAV (Version 3.3.1.2(57826)) - http://www.BlueCoat.com/
Antivirus Vendor: Panda Software
Scan Engine Version: 1.4.3.4_5.04.03.0000
Pattern File Version: 3.1859052 (Timestamp: 2011-10-11 07:18:08)

####

Virus/PUS: "JS/Agent.NRU" found!
URL: http://gutbugs.iwarp.com/hkhillman/

All the best!

Bandit 1 said...

My one top tip re web authoring would be: use HTML for content and CSS for styling. Makes everything E-Z.

Woodsy42 said...

"somehow bold is turned on towards the end and I can’t turn it off)."

With my eyes and my old monitor that is the only bit I can read without screwing my eyes up and squinting at the screen.

View from the Solent said...

Grey text on black. Yuk. Take pity on my weary old eyes.

Anonymous said...

The bold is caused by this bit:-

<h3 id="heading_9">
<p class="MsoNormal">   </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<p class="MsoNormal">
<p class="MsoNormal">
</h3>

Move those p tags outside of the h3 so change this chunk to:-

<h3 id="heading_9"></h3>
<p class="MsoNormal">   </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<p class="MsoNormal">
<p class="MsoNormal">

(Or just remove the h3 and /h3 tags as they don't seem to be being used)

And the bold should go away I think...

Z.

Mac said...

Looks cool to me and, as stated above, the bold bit is a bonus! Also, while I'm here, this, they say, is a new sit that may be of interest to you;
http://jottify.com/

James Higham said...

... and much appreciated it was too.

Leg-iron said...

Maybe I should make the whole text bold.

John - that trojan could have been in one of the ads. I use NoScript so I just see lines where the ads would be.

When it's properly sorted I'll move it to an ad-free space.

Ralph M - always look before you bite ;)

opinions powered by SendLove.to