A Web Designing Life

Happy New Year everyone!!!

I had to say that otherwise i'd get killed by "her"!!

Did you all have a great time? Was it what you expected?

No? Never is anymore eh?

Well I think i'm gonna stop doing this for a while. Until I get more time to actually put lots of effort into this journal, I don't really think it's fair on you or me.

I may well continue after I have completed some projects that will enable me to have more time but for now,

Bye & thanks for reading!

Take Care -

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Hey all, time for another stint in front of the computer. The other half never lets me on here any more lol

I have just redesigned my website in the hope that i will attract more business. Things aint been going too well of late. Not that i really have enough time to play about graphically!! I always seem to be doing half of this and half of that.

Anyway, how is everyone doing for christmas? We have done fairly well this year, in organisation skills that is. We haven't been able to spend as much as what we would like to, but hey that's not what it's about eh?

This year i'm off for christmas, but i still have to work new years eve!! This is one of the most hectic times of the year for the emergency services & the hospitals and i really feel sorry for those that are working. It seems that every year more people are able to spend their "disposable" incomes on getting wasted & not really give a thought to the hundreds of people working or the resources they waste by over-doing it.

Anyway, enough of the moaning:

Have a great ( & safe ) Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

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Well... I aint updated in such a long time, i thought i had better do something!

Things have been so hectic recently that i just haven't had the time to get on here and tell you all what has been going on.

Well, those of you that read my other halfs journal you will know that we have finally decided to set a date for our wedding!! Phew... only a couple of years in the waiting!! LOL

On the work front, things are alright in some ways... one of those reasons being that i have been off on leave for 3 weeks..lol  Also, instead of going back this weekend like i was supposed to.. i am off again.. this time though, it's because Jane was really kind and let me have her 'Flu! Now i was also brought up to share but i think she is taking the pi55 a little bit lol

On the website work side, i haven't really done anything for a while. I haven't had the time to really sit down and play creatively. I will though, and hopefully, by the end of January i will have my site completed in flash.

Right, i off again... i will try and get on here to update a little more frequently than i have been, but i'm not making promises.

In light of this, i will just say a few Hellos:

'Chelle *\o

Dave *\o

Ben *\o

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Ok, this aint really an entry as such LOL

Everyone must of heard/played the penguin game. You know the one where you have to hit 'em and see how far you can get 'em to fly!

Well, did you know that there is a whole multitude of variations to this classic game, and just for you lucky lot, here's the address:YETI SPORTS

If you would prefer a more gory game to play, well guess what?

Yep, there is a modified version to play too:http://andrewg1323.uk.ro/ping.swf

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Ok, thought i'd best update on this a little bit.

Firstly, about my computer, in case anyone else recognises the same similarities, I run a 2.2ghz processor, with windows service pack 2 OS. The rest you really don't need to know, nor am i willing to share ;-)

Ok, the problem is down to AOL's Connectivity Service, this has a range of IP Address'. One of these ranges are: 152.163.0.0 - 152.163.255.255, now if you do a trace with McAfee Visual Trace and look at the Registrant View, it tells you that the IP is registered to an "unscrupulous" (my words) person(s). I contacted AOL about this and they were less than helpfull to say the least. So, I thought simple, i'll ban the IP address and any others that come back with the same registrant info. WRONG, now you won't be able to access any web page/site other than AOL.

Mmmm ok, so allow one of these namely, 205.188.146.146 and low and behold: you can access web pages/sites again.

So in conclusion, without allowing at least one range/single ip you won't get the service that you are paying for!

 I feel that AOL really need to get their arse into gear and find out why these ranges are being associated with porn sites. I think that a corporation as large as AOL should be very concerned that someone is "spoofing" their address' and registrant information.

If, as someone has suggested, this may be down to requiring updates, AOL should provide these everytime you sign on, Microsoft do it and make a big noise about the importance of these for your own & families safety.

If anyone else has found out differently please let me know!!

Change of subject: Congratulations to James Toseland for winning Race 1 !!

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Alcohol, like it? Sure you do. Everyone goes out & gets hammered at the weekend don't they!

As you'll know from the little "about me" panel, I work in a hospital for my full time job.

How many of you have ever seen the real effects of drink? Ever lived or known someone who was an alcoholic? Ever seen them hallucinating?

Ever seen someone climbing the walls or saying that they are somewhere else? Seen them fighting imaginary insects, people or demons? Talking to themselves or imaginary persons or spirits?

As I said in the hospital you see quite a few eye opening things, and I sometimes wonder if more people saw the "real" effects that alcohol had in the long term, if it would stop some of the binge drinking culture.

Recently a person killed themselves by smashing & jumping out of a third floor window, again due to "detox" from alcohol.

How many resources do you think this takes up and what is the cost?

In money terms, it's enormous!! In physical terms, probably more that what can be measured. For example, how do you measure domestic violence? The amount of time spent cleaning up/washing clothes & linen due to incontinence?

About 70% of people that attend an A&E department is due to either alcohol related injuries, i.e fighting, or alcohol induced problems, i.e drank too much.

Little bit to ponder about next time your mates ask if you want to go out on the town eh?

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Ok, just got off the phone with Technical Support. Or should I say, bloody useless, non-qualified, don't-know-my-arse-end-to-the-registry, totally unacceptable support.

Basically, ( in case you haven't guessed ) they were less than useless!!

After speaking/being on hold for the best part of half an hour, I was told the only way to fix the problem was to re-install windows. WTF!! Why would I want to re-install windows when the problem is obviously to do with AOL Connectivity Service??? When I said why can't I just uninstall AOL, and delete any excess registry strings, he said he didn't know anything about it and that you can't delete registry strings!! LOLOLOLOLOL What?? Where do they find these people? I bet I could find a 10 year old to read the instructions from their totally useless screens! Anyone with any knowledge of computers would HATE to work there so they employ monkeys!!

Anyway, WHEN I find the solution to this problem I will let you all know.

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Ok, has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone else agree with me when I say that AOL's Live Help really doesn't help at all? Check out the conversation I have just had with one of their representatives. Once I have spoken to Tech Support, I will explain further.

Grrr@useless people!!!

Chatagentuk095: Welcome to Member Help Interactive.  Please present your
question, and I will be with you in just a moment.   :)
Chatagentuk095: Thank you for calling in to Live Help!!  I may be with some
other members at the moment, please state your query and I will be with you
as soon as possible :-)

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So, seeing as this journal is supposed to be about web design & little tips on how to make life easier for you, if you're sitting, standing, kneeling or hanging upside down comfortably, I'll begin lol

First & foremost Dreamweaver® is a registered trademark of Macromedia®

Ok, with that out of the way lets get on with it. I think that Dreamweaver is probably the best design tool available to you as a designer. You can create pages or even whole sites in literally half the time due to the extensive work gone in to produce it. I REALLY recommend that anyone interested in create pages or sites to download this software. You can even trial it for free by going to: http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver

For a first time user I would suggest that you read all the tutorials and Read Me files that come with the d/l.

Once you have a basic grasp of the way Dreamweaver works, you can start to create your site. You can either code it yourself, or you can use the "design" view and create a "template design" with just a few clicks.

There is also a facility to use the template designs already included in Dreamweaver. These are great if you want a professional looking site without all the "hard" work writing your own CSS ( Cascading Style Sheets ).

Personally I like to code my own stuff, this is just so I know that all of the work is my own & unique. ( There really is nothing more satisfying than seeing your first web site up on the "web" ). Also I like to make sure that what I create is something I can be proud of. All the hours spent trying different colour schemes and logo designs makes me feel I have achieved something worthwhile.

If you do this for another person or client, it's great when they come back again & again to see if you have added anything new!!

Anyway, time to spend a few hours with the better half. Seems like we only see each other to say "Goodbye", "Hello" & "Night" !

Nathan 

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