Websites for the rest of us...

This site is built almost entirely with CSS [Cascading Style Sheets]. CSS can be used with HTML or alone. Many Website builders are converting to CSS because it makes it easier to modify a site and is very sparing of bandwidth. With CSS the download time can be reduced by between 30% to 60% which makes the pages load faster.

While this may may not make much difference to people using cable or DSL there are many people who are still using dialup. To a merchant this means that a customer is more likely to stay on the site and explore his interests. It also allows the author to design a page the way he wants it to look. Publishers of print spend a lot of time making a book or magazine look good to the eye. When the web gained popularity it soon became apparent that designers needed little tricks to make a page look the way the designer wanted it to. This led to HTML [HyperText Markup Language].

With HTML a site designer could layout pages more like the viewer was used to seeing them in print. The result however was lots of coding. Tables are the main way to make a page look like what the author wants it to look. Basically a table is a rectangular box in which to place text or images. By arranging the boxes on the page the page is built, like a jigsaw puzzle. The main problem with HTML is that each browser handles it in it's own way. A page looks different in Explorer than it does in Navigator. It will look different on a PC than it will on a Macintosh.

While CSS has some of these same limitations it is fairly easy to code for the differences. The standards are slowly being adopted by the major browsers and incompatibility soon should be no major problem.

One of the biggest advantages of CSS is that it enables changes to websites to be accomplished quickly. Each page is linked to a page of CSS rules which when changed make every other page linked to it change as well.


A Brief Resume...

I have worked with computers since 1981. I got a Macintosh the year it was introduced because I could use it to draw. I have been a graphic artist and sculptor since school. I just never found a way to make a living from my talents. I m now seeking to put some of the talents I have developed over the years to good use.

I am a self taught web designer. My first website was for my business. I was the first Chimney Sweep in the state. I started that business in 1975. The Chimney business was booming at that time and I soon learned to install woodstoves and chimneys. I formed a solid reputation with Insurance adjusters and got a lot of work rebuilding burnt out chimneys.

It got to a point where I was so busy that I sold off part of the business and remained with an installation and repair service. The man I sold my business to became a good friend and I started using him on some of my bigger insurance jobs. He had not been interested in the repair side of the business but when he worked with me for a while he became interested. He started taking on jobs and using me to help. Soon we were working together often. He had a Window Cleaning service and since I had started out my business life cleaning offices in Denver and moving to Ft Collins to do the same I started working with him in his business. We eventually decided to work together thus reducing our advertising budget by half.

I built the website CapriServices.com while just beginning to learn CSS. Since we did many things besides chimneys and windows we needed a way to tell present and future customers about what we offered. We got quite a few customers from it and were able to advertise the different services we performed.

The site you are on is one I built for a guy who eventually defaulted on payment. I took all the photographs and manipulated them in Photoshop. I am proficient in Photoshop and like to play with it. When I'm working with it it doesn't feel like work at all.

I have been an ISP and spent over a year as a tech for web development in an internet live chat room. I have bought and sold on eBay for 10 years.


Skill Sets...

Some of the skills I bring to any employment opportunity...


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