Learning CSS & MT in one go
Before I started this test blog ( I call it test 'cos I don't know if it will live and breath in the real world just yet) I hadn't even looked at a Cascading Stylesheet before. With Richard giving me some encouragement to get on with it I've looked at how MT hangs together, and with the changes I've made so far it's been a bit of a steep learning curve.
I don't like text editors, especially when I don't know the lingo. But, with some references back to some entries that are easy to work out, a little trial and error, and some web searches I'm slowly getting there.
A number of sites have been useful in their own realm, but the one I get most help from, both in terms of (a) how things work and (b) hints and tips is www.learningmovabletype.com. And I've seen a few MT tags that could be used, even if just to play with to see if they'd be useful or not.
HTML is another one, I like the old-fashioned WYSIWYG methods like Frontpage and HoTMetal. But, I've seen some tools for verification of CSS and HTML, so I'll give some of these a try.
I'm trying to learn something new to me here. Surely it can't be as bad as being a new parent, can it?
Right, my problems so far:
Column widths. I couldn't get any column to change width until I spotted two entries for the column widths in the default MT stylesheet. You guessed it, I was changing the first one I found, not knowing there was a second further down overwriting the first. Once I found the second itwas so frustrating to learn it wasn't anything I was or wasn't doing but purely down to duplicate entries on the provided sheets.
Column widths (2). Try as I might I can't get that middle column to change width at all. Maybe there's something else I haven't yet spotted, but I will find it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday.
Column widths (3). Spotted a pattern here yet? With two days of messing about with dynamic and static column widths I'm not exactly sure if this is a non-issue or not. Frankly I've lost the will to live. But I did try and set columns at 180 / 400 / 180 pixels wide, which by my reckoning is 760 pixels. So why my 760px banner went well wide of the main body is beyond me, reducing it to 730 pixels matched perfectly. Even with the 5px border on each side (total 10) 730+10=740, not 760. Better check I'm not using an early Pentium-60.
For now the standard style stays with a few tweaks being added now and again.
Comments
I have to say Lee there are some things about this version of MT that are very annoying, and one is the layout of the CSS, it's so over complicated it's a nightmare to understand.
Sure, it'll be easy if you're a CSS specialist, and it probably follows some bizarre CSS rules, but for the average person out there it's a mess.
I learnt the previous CSS layouts from before this version and it was far easier.
You're doing well Lee, and please don't hesitate to ask, if I can help I will.
Posted by: Richard Brunton | July 9, 2006 6:41 PM
I'll certainly take that offer up for sure, Rich!
What I'm doing for now is keeping that standard CSS as it is and adding any changes at the bottom - NOT pretty at all, but at least if I make a hash of it (I have 3 times so far) I can cut & paste the changes straight into the recovered virgin sheet.
Posted by: Lee | July 9, 2006 7:37 PM