Learning: CSS for Example

I do love to learn - but am oldschool enough that it is a separate process for me. I separate that from work. In fact, my whole life is compartmentalized: family, home, work, education. I notice that the newer generations are more integrated in their life-style.

Working on the Internet has been wonderful, but has presented some problems for me. I am leaning CSS - I swear I am!! :) In the meantime, a friend has taken a website I am working on and added CSS for me. It has solved many of my load problems (this site has many photos and graphics of products).

The client wanted to change the background color. I am not going to bother my friend for that - so I stop what I'm doing and research - Hey - This looks easy. I change the bg color on the CSS sheet - cross my fingers and "Voila!"

Thursday, I was ready to add the order form - We are almost ready to go. I used the script that I normally use to make it printer friendly - and Boingoiinngoiiinnnnggggggg. Seems we have a conflict. A little research and a posting to my FP List (a wonderful site, wonderful people, BTW http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frontpage/ ) and that problem is solved.

Now - as usual, I know a lot more about CSS than I want to at this point. Learning in this manner leaves me with holes in my knowledge. I feel insecure with the base. What else can you do on the 'net tho? I am already enrolled in a wonderful - but demanding - class on SWISHmax - for animation. Even if I had the time for more classes, which I don't as I also have to earn a living, I feel that I can't ever learn it all...

Why do we blog? Is it a fad?

Why do you blog?

Are you a writer who simply likes to keep a journal?

Have you read all the hype about it helping your websites in the search engines?

Here's an interesting story:
A friend got an email from a group requesting permission to use her blog on their website. So far, so good, right? Maybe even flattering?

They wanted to CHARGE her $19.95 per month ....

I guess there's always new ways to make a dollar - and new people who will pay it....

Mother's Day Calls

I got the funniest calls for Mother's Day

Elizabeth (3 yrs old - Amy's oldest) called to complain to me that her mother was being 'bad'. I asked her what her mother could do so wrong on Mother's Day - she said "She always makes me call you"

Later in the day, I checked the answering machine and Tela (3 yrs old - Dawn's baby) was on there "Happy Mother's Day... Hello? Hello? LISTEN - I'm TALKING to you!!!" hahahahahahaa

Marketing on the Web

I am amazed at webmasters who are so caught up in SEO that they can't see the forest for the trees.

Weblogs - all those wonderful reports and tools are great marketing tools.

Being on the first page of returns for any search engine is important for generating traffic.

I know several webmasters and so-called SEO experts who are thrilled to death to be #1 in Google's returned list using keywords that are not searched for by the public. If you are selling green widgets, optimize your site for the keywords: "green widgets", or "widgets". Why would you strive to be #1 with a keyword like "snazzlefrass"? No one looking for widgets - green or red - is ever going to go to Google and say "I think I'll type in "snazzlefrass" and see if I find any widgets today."

The buzzword on the 'net is that it is better to be a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big pond. If this means 'target your audience' or 'narrow your focus' - well, sure - that's common sense. Unfortunately, I am seeing more and more sites that are optimized to be a fish in a pond with no water...

The best way to tell if your site is optimized properly is to check your bottom line. Are you selling more? That is what it's all about - isn't it?

What is a Mountain?

I've decided that I live on a mountain.

After hearing over-and-over that there are no mountains in WV (just 'precipitous hills'), I looked up the definition of 'mountain'. (Actually, I didn't even do that LOL My son-in-law did - but that's a whole different story...)

It seems there is no height requirement; it is simply a topography thing (can't be flat on top)

Welllll - Nothing around here is flat! :)

As no one here has realized that I do, in fact, live on a mountain, I'm sure there will be no problem with my naming it.

I'm thinking of 'Mountain Mountain'.

Tourette's Syndrome

I've met a little pre-school boy with Tourette's Syndrome. There are episodes of terrible language; this is one of the major symptoms. Where does the vocabulary come from?

I know for a fact that his parents do not use this type of language. He is not in school yet. They do not have a TV.

Logically, he heard it Somewhere.... (after all, he is not cursing in Chinese or Urdu)

Mockingbirds

How does a Mockingbird - raised as another kind of bird, knowing only the other bird's song, meet and mate with another mockingbird (perhaps raised by a 3rd type of bird - only knowing ITS song) - and then know to lay its eggs in another bird's nest?

Why would a Mockingbird raised as a Jay not be attracted to Jays? If birdsong is communication - how does it communicate with a Mockingbird raised as a Bluebird? Or Cardinal?