I just had a small chat with Matt about this issue. He mentioned that the sidebar is absoultly positioned using CSS. He didn’t say why its done that way (I’m sure there is a good reason) or how to fix it. He said people here on the forums would be willing to help me with CSS related issues.
I dont imagine that this is too difficult as I have seen other sites intergrate wordpress.
Thanks again for any help.
Joe.
why mix tables and divs! 🙂
Can you elaborate? I am about to show my level of understanding your post by asking what a div is? Yeah, yeah, yeah… go ahead and flame 🙂 I am somewhat new to all this. I do understand more than the average Joe (pardon my pun) but I would really apreciate a what you mean in regards to mixing tables and divs.
Thanx
Joe.
Anonymous
Yup Sushubh is right about this as usual. The reason you may not be getting a response is the nature of the problem you are giving us. You are trying to integrate a site which relies exclusively on css for positioning into one which relies exclusively on tables. Which ever way you cut it that is not going to be pretty. It is probably not even achieveable. Secondly the reliance on tables indicates to people here that you might not be entirely comfortable with css positioning or you would be using it already. There are loads of css layout tutorials out there.
In 24 hours of study you could master it. No problem. Good luck.
@anonymous,
I disagree with nearly everything you say. First of all, mixing tables and divs isn’t pretty, but it’s doable. It could lead to a lot of headaches, but it’s not impossible.
Your assessment of Joe’s abilities are neither helpful nor constructive. He is looking for assistance, not a critique of what you assume to be his skill set. Your statement about mastering CSS in 24 hours is based on what? If this indeed was the case, then why are there dozens and dozens of books on the subject, not to mention uncountable web sites, and constant bickering about CSS standards and CSS adoption? Remind me to not hire you to do a site for me.
Oh, and I’m sure Joe appreciated being told about the sites out there…perhaps next time instead of providing unnecessary comments, you could instead post a link that might actually help out a new user?
@nuclearmoose
Thank you for your posts and consideration,
I have not done any of the coding on my site. I used a program that generated a generic template that I customized.
Do you think its a better idea to start from sratch? Should I code the site myself? My hesitations about doing this are do to my lack of coding experience. Therfore I thought that the template method would be good for me cause all the coding was already done. However it seems that I still have ended up doing a moderate amount of coding within the template anyway. I am totally willing to take the time to learn how to code, however I have no idea where to even start.
I know there are a ton of tutorials on web design and CSS and the like but what do you do first? CSS? How do you know when and how to use the appropriate tags? All the tutorial sites I went to usually had conflicting opinions. It seemed complicated.
Any recommended places to start.? I would be looking to create a robust site that uses CSS and could be flexable enough to adopt new standards.
Thank you, I really apreciate the positive response from you. It keeps my faith alive.
Joe.
Joe,
The tutorials at W3Schools are a good place to get a start in XHTML, CSS and other stuff. The tutorials are easy to read and follow, and are not exhaustively involved. They are good in giving you some basic concepts.
phpNeophyte will be a great help to you as well. All of this seems daunting at first, but you will get it.
I break this down into a few major areas:
1. Basic HTML – understand the required minimum structure, and some basic rules. When moving on to XHTML, you have HTML but the rules are more strict. Since XHTML is the foundation of the web site, you must understand something about it first.
2. Basic CSS – this is a broad topic, but again, you can start with the basic rules. Don’t worry about trying to learn all of the possible things you can do with CSS. Focus on things you will make your site look the way you want – coloured text, different fonts, borders, backgrounds, and the like. The rest of it will come with experimentation and more reading.
3. WordPress – again there is a broad range of things that can be done. However, I would focus on the default install. Fool around with the CSS for a while to get things looking the way you want, and when you get bored with that, then do some research. Visit some WP sites, and find something you really like. Just pick one certain thing. Examine the CSS of the site, and look at the source code. A little bit of detective work will yield amazing results and you will learn much this way. Then, if you get stuck, you can post to this forum, and ask “how do I do this” and give us a link to the site that has your desired feature or function. From there, the locals here can help you out.
Just take everything in small bites, and it will come to you over time. Don’t be in a rush to build the Internet’s best site; for now, build Joe’s best site. The next version and each subsequent version will be that much better.
HTH.
Craig.
Thanks again for the links and info, I’ve already found a lot of good info from them.
I see you caught on to my biggest weakness. I am VERY impatient. 🙂 I want it all right now! But I have made a decision to learn and do it right instead of having it right now. It should be worth it. I would rather spend the time blogging, but I guess I should set the foundation first.
Thanks for taking the time to help. It was way more than I’ve ever got and or expected. Great community!
Special thanks to:
phpNeophyte (good links!)
NuclearMoose
Matt
Alex
Joe.
Sort of following on from the web references, can anyone recommend a CSS forum ?
I’ve been trying to do something in CSS (for my wp layout) for ages now, and I keep failing. It’s just CSS though, so therefore OT for this board.
@podz
Hey I did a little research on google and found a great CSS resource.
The below link contains a ton of links to other CSS resources (including forums)
http://www.csscreator.com/links/linkspage.php
This link is to the forum I have decided to use:
http://www.csscreator.com/css-forum/
Good Luck
Joe.
yeah i have used csscreator in the past.
and people were pretty helpful…
i would also suggest, Opera’s webdesign forum. but people here dislike when i mention that word 😛
http://my.opera.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=27
Thanks !
I’m off to scan both 🙂
Anonymous
I am preparing a tutorial which I hope to publish shortly. Headings include:
- Where to start Notepad for Windows users
- What does view source ?
- How to copy and paste in simple steps
- Save as made easy
A lot of folks might find it helpful.
You forgot to add:
How to be an unhelpful nimrod while maintaining your anonymity
Although, I see you’ve already mastered that chapter…
Wow,
I feel like an idiot! After doing a lot of research and much trial and error I have reviewed this post and realize how dumb this question must have seemed to most people.
Thanx for putting up with this…
Joe.
