The Source Coder

I have constructed this web site to share the information that I received from my father via the book that was written back in 1950. It has been a long journey as far as designing the web site in a manner that would be pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. When I started I knew absolutely nothing about the internet and was slightly intimidated by computing in general. The first couple of web sites that I built were on "free web site" services that were here today and gone tomorrow. They were great learning experiences but because I knew nothing about computing were total losses every time the "free service" disappeared. You live and you learn. I began paying for hosting services back in 1999. Every time that my contract ran out I would change web hosts mainly because the prices were dropping like a rock and if you stayed with your old web host you were locked into the original contract price. That first year of web hosting cost me $120.00 USD. I also wanted to see what was out there as far as hosting services that were available. I changed web hosts about 3 times before I decided to start my own web hosting company in 2002. With the start of my own web hosting company I have complete server access and total control over my craft. I have taken full advantage of controlling my craft and have published an online portfolio of my work. I actually have about 10 different web sites up and running that I manage and maintain. I became enamored by the latest technologies available after having attended college for a couple of years, part time, to learn Java programming. As time went on I began to hear more and more about Cascading Style Sheets and as the buzz grew louder I decided to check it out. Wow! Cascading style sheets are so much easier to use than having to argue everything into existence with Java. I found my niche in Cascading Style sheets and use Java for very little except for some menu and link operations. I began to upgrade my internet programming skills after purchasing a tech. manual that covered HTML 4.01. Previously I was using "point and click" software that generally left a mess in your code. When I finally got control of HTML 4.01 I looked around and found out I was about 2 years behind the times. I decided to accept the challenge and learn to program XHTML 1.0. It just spiraled out of control from there. Once I mastered XHTML 1.0 Transitional, XHTML became like a drug for me. I now write XHTML 1.1 freehand, because there is no tech. manual or HTML editors for this language. There is a working draft located online at www.w3c.org that I consult for reference as needed and a working validator located at that same address that I use religiously. I have converted 3 of my websites to XHTML 1.1. This particular website was re-written back to XHTML 1.0 Strict because of some usability concerns on this developers part. XHTML 1.1 is harder to write and delivers less potential than 1.0 Strict.
A person whose opinion I respect, said that 1.1 was really un-necessary for what I was actually delivering or had hopes to deliver on my web site. I bought a book," The Zen of CSS", and found another person, whose opinion I have respect for, saying the same thing. When you begin to hear echoes it's time to pay attention. Transitioning back to 1.0 was a breeze. There were only a few padding and / or margin considerations to deal with. I have links located at the bottom of each page so that anybody who wants to can check any or all of my web pages for valid XHTML 1.0 Strict code and / or valid CSS Level 2 code.

  Well, so much for me now what about you? I assume you came to my little corner of the internet to either gather information, to share some information, or to ask me questions about the information contained on my site. I have written a short ASP Form, at the bottom of this page, so that you and I can communicate more freely. The form asks for a minimal amount of information about you when you use it. If you are not comfortable sharing your name, e-mail address or the state that you live in we probably don't have that much to talk about anyway.