General HTML Rant!

Just for fun... I thought it was time to vent a bit about what it's like to try to manage a website with no real knowledge of HTML!

When I first decided to set up my website, Torchsong Studio, I registered the name and downloaded one of those "easy, overnight" website designers. It really was easy and I really did manage to get the site designed and up almost overnight. The hard part came when I decided it was time to make a few changes.

The first change was adding a stat counter. I found a stat counter that looked good and was free, set that up and then, I had to paste some code into the page. Unfortunately, there was no way to access the code through the program and this led to downloading another website design program, NVU ( freeware), which allowed me access to the code. I pasted it in and all was well.

Then, I had sold a few items and it was time to start rearranging stuff.... that was when the trouble began.

Headers started to disappear and change, tables started rearranging themselves, stuff like that....

Along the way, I consulted with my brother who set up my Lancaster County Soapworks site and who uses Front Page - so there was a little tinkering with Front Page, too....

My latest fiasco was adding a Gallery page of the items I have sold. So far so good, until I decided I should make the pictures on the Gallery page into thumbnails and link them to larger pictures that would open in a separate window. I thought I had it right, but when the images were clicked, nothing happened. That was actually something that I did wrong, but last night and this morning, I corrected it all.... loaded everything up and... bingo... the header disappeared and the navigation buttons are doing something odd!

I know, it's back to the books and I think what I really need to do is redesign the whole thing in html (while learning it!) and get rid of the templates that came with the original program! I need to work in one design program and stop jumping around from one to the other because it is apparent they are doing some reformatting all on their own.

My son has supplied me with two excellent books on the subject and I'll be having foot surgery next week, so I'll have plenty of time to work on it.

Just thought I'd share my pain! Wish me luck, and don't think badly of me when viewing my site for the next week or so... The pictures are still pretty, the information is correct and I hope to have everything looking much better soon.