Out from the fog of HTML coding and into the light.

Man, I have to tell you.  Doing “Hard Code“, as I’ve just learned is the term, is really an all consuming thing.

I talked with a tech person at my Website Hosting Service.  The fault with the “Invalid Template!” and the subsequent failure of my “Home Page” was all in the file name I had given it.

When I created my website from scratch last year I had a file named “index.html”.  That is a standard for any website that is created.  They all have to have an “Index” file.  Since I was making a whole new website I thought I’d have to name it a bit different so I added the acronym of my website to the index file.  Making it “indexmiaf.htm”.  THAT was my whole problem.

The remedy was to rename the file to “index.htm” and then go in to every file that referenced the Home Page and change the file name as well.

After that little change everything is working as it should.  See, I told you.  A little knowledge for me is Dangerous!  Oh well, at least it was a simple fix.

Joe has a doctor appointment this afternoon and he is still home.  I’m taking the time off from doing my website by getting back in touch with my friends and fellow bloggers.  Answering their comments and leaving some of my own.  The madness has abated so I can now relax and enjoy the rest of the process of getting my website completed over the next few days.

Going back through my YouTube videos to select them for various spots in my website has been a revelation.  Man are they bad or what?!  I need to make some updated versions minus the “boob shots”.  Terrible job I’ve done in those videos.  Learning curves are pretty steep sometimes.  At least for me they are!

One other thing I learned was how much fun I had when I did a lot of creating and doing tutorials.  I’m going to get back into that kind of thing more.  I’ve lost my focus and the joy of creating by turning my life into a BUSINESS.  I do want to still make this a viable business but I want to be able to enjoy the process.  Over the past year I’ve lost the joy of it all and strayed from my path.  It is time to get back on the road and out of the weeds 😀

I will alert you all to new content on my website as it happens.  Tutorials will be included there in a new section.  That will require another several days of coding to make that happen.  I like the idea of having control over my website by adding items to it and changing things as I need to.  Control being the operative word here.  I’m a freak sometimes.

So I’m off to finish getting dressed and ready for today’s bout of errands and doctor visits.  I won’t be posting anything tomorrow.  I’m going to Dallas with Joe to get his trucks hooked up and ready for him to get back on the road.  I  have March and April to get myself back on the right track before it is time for me to head back out for another six months on the road.  I’m going to make the best of the time I have left at home and get the fun put back in my crafting.

Everyone enjoy your day.

My New Website Is Up!

I have one glitch right now.  The “Home Page” is a bit wonky at first go.  I have to wait for a tech person to come in on Monday at my Web Hosting Service to help get that tweaked.

Go to Message In A Fold and click on any of the Navigation Buttons  on the left side, then click on the “Home” button and you will see the Home Page as it  has been created by me.

Now this old girl has had a bit of “Lipstick and Mascara” applied to her.  She has a hitch in her “Get Along” at first but she works fine.

Most of the content is recycled from my older website version.  So I guess I can lay claim to “NEW AND IMPROVED” :D.

This has been one heck of a battle, let me tell you.

I am very proud to say that all of the navigation links have been created by me from photos of  a flower that I made in my very own craft room.  I’ve then taken that flower to Photoshop Elements and worked some magic on it to be the links to the various pages in my website.  NOW I’m “Dangerous”.  I have been gifted with a little bit of knowledge of Photoshop Elements and I can wreck havoc there :D.  For me….a little knowledge is always dangerous 😀

As you troll through you will find a teeny flower with the word “Top”.  That is the button to click on to go back to the top of the page you are looking at.

The “Header”, as I’ve already stated is my very own creation.  It is part of one of the belly bands I made for the Christmas gift boxes for our friend, Tim.

Right now, I’ve had the sight of my website everyday from about 5:30 a.m. to well past 10:00 at night for the past two weeks.  Clicking my computer keys to create this work.  I kind of know why the “geeks” are mostly found with soda pop and potato chips all the time.  To much coding, check to see if the coded stuff works right, then going back to fix what doesn’t work.  I’m just a bit sick of looking at it.

I have a few sections I need to work on and you will find that they are “Under Construction” and will be for another few days until I get them fully fleshed out.  The “GIFTS” button will take you to an error message page.  I forgot to put the “Under Construction” page in that little spot.

I don’t have a “Twitter Badge” nor a “Facebook Badge” on my site yet and they will come in the next couple of weeks.

Lynn, I’m sorry that I didn’t respond to your comment on my last post.  I was “up to my arse in alligators” with this CSS and XHTML stuff.  Shelly, I haven’t responded to your comment either.  I have no idea why Lynn’s comment didn’t get automatically approved as Shelly’s did.

Joe can testify to the fact that he got his ear chewed off each time he called to interrupt a coding session.

I am now a Certificate carrying CSS and XHTML person – whatever that is called.  Please, don’t ask me to build you a website.  Those people have to totally love this stuff like we do our crafting.  I can’t say that I love coding or doing HTML.  Not at all!  I can at least get my two certificates framed – last year’s HTML and this years CSS and XHTML – and put them on my wall.

Maybe I’ll venture into the next bit of Foolishness and take a course on adding a Forum to this website next winter.  I need that long of time to pass before I get another hair brained idea :D.

If you have any suggestions about items you would like to see in my website, leave a comment with any ideas and I will consider them.

Next, I need to leave a link to my website at the computer course site so I can be assured of having completed the class and turned in all my work.  Joe’s home for a couple days.  I won’t be coding from pre dawn to dark over the next few days so don’t count on many change or additions right away.

Hope you like it.  Mostly I just HOPE it works in your browser and you can see it without a lot of trouble.

Have a great week everyone.