Using external style sheets is a great way to change the whole look and feel of a website without actually altering the sites structure or content. A Cascading style sheet or CSS file is an external file that holds all element properties for your website; so within this file are font sizes, colour schemes, rollover images, background images, page structure, page margins, etc etc. The list is quite literally endless of the things you can control and manipulate within the CSS file. Since web standards (W3C) stated that websites should be constructed using XHTML and CSS, external style sheets have become around 50% of the initial development process.
The great thing about CSS is that it has to be one of the easiest languages to write, it uses plain English to define the element properties; and using a text editor such as Dreamweaver all the properties are made available from a list so you don’t even have to remember them.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that CSS is a simply a basic language, the full potential of CSS is now starting to rise to the surface, with publications such as Dan Cederholm’s Bulletproof Web design (http://www.simplebits.com/), which highlights the advanced layout structures and website effects that can be achieved using this language.
XHTML and CSS is a great starting point for any budding programmer. They teach you the basics and introduce you into other languages such as PHP and Javascript. You don’t need any fancy software to get started. Simply load up notepad. Get yourself a couple of tutorials of the internet, give it a go and see what you can achieve.
Digital photography means that more people than ever are taking photographs, even if some are of dubious quality (See blog “Has going digital ruined photography?”).
More people than ever now also have access to a home computer and together with increased popularity of image manipulation software, this means that many people are realising for the first time that the picture they take is not just an end in itself, to be filed away and forgotten about. In fact nearly all images taken on a digital camera need to be manipulated to a greater or lesser extent. Too many people think that the camera does it all for them. Not so. In the days of film cameras you took the photographs then had the film developed. The same principle applies to digital. You take the photographs then you tweak (or develop) them using a program such as Adobe Photoshop.
Of course, we should still strive to get out photographs as right as possible at the taking stage, but it is nice to know that we are able to “fix” things later on the PC. Once the realm of specialist darkroom technicians or design studios, anyone can now manipulate their images.
With just a little knowledge of Photoshop it is possible to turn any digital photograph into almost any image – maybe even a good photograph! We can now alter colours or even turn them to black and white. We can tint, tone, adjust brightness, contrast, focus, twist, distort, manipulate. We can remove lamp posts from sticking out of people’s heads, change skies, add bits in, take bits out, and apply a whole gamut of special effects. In fact if you can think of it, it can be done – the only limitation is the extent of your own imagination.
As Albert Einstein once wrote, “Imagination is more important than Knowledge” …and how right he was!
Chris U’Dell has launched his own business blog entitled shaking up insurance. MD of Business & Domestic Insurance Services Ltd, Chris sees his blog as communication tools designed to provide relevant insurance information to collegues, clients and clients; both current and potential.
www.chrisudell.co.uk
If you’re looking for property in Egypt, then Jood Investments have more fantastic offers. These two developments are based in Hurghada, Egypt.
We have developed micro-sites to showcase these developments for them
www.coral-sea-hurghada.co.uk
www.pearl-vista-hurghada.co.uk
We are in a technologically advanced age where it seems that every new product that hits the market has to be smaller and more crammed with features than the previous version. In some cases the desire to create an iconic design (usually housed in sleek looking, smooth faced, casings…you know the type) seems to be at the expense of practicality and durability. This is especially the case with digital cameras and mobile phones. But, and it’s a big but, there must surely come a time when they are simply too small to be used effectively?
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