My Work, err… Hobby.

Now, normally on Wednesdays I will share some fantastic new site that I’ve stumbled across… or maybe one of my “Golden Oldies” (read: my favourites *grin*) but for today, because I would love to have it all in one place… I have decided to tell you all about some of the work that *I* do on websites.

I taught myself HTML years ago when I had only two little ones who took naps in the day… ahh for those days of peace and quiet.. LOL!  My first sites were pretty rudimentary, but still, I took time to learn frames, tables, stuff like that from the blank “notepad” screen up… I believe this has helped me tremendously over the years that I’ve used WYSIWYG programs such as Front Page, PagePlus, and Xara.  It helps me find that “itty bitty toopid piece of code” that is messing up what I’m trying to get to happen on the screen.  Many WYSIWYG programs throw in SO much unnecessary code snippets that the whole site slows down in loading and functioning because of the “muck in it’s wheels”.

Here are some sites I’ve worked on in the past few years… many for free, some as a thank you gift, some as ” real,live, lookit me being professional”CONTRACT!  *grin*  Many sites are maintained by the persons or organizations I created them for… but some I maintain as a courtesy to family or friends.

www.ratcliffeblessings.com (this is our family site - in sorry need of updating, I’m afraid)

www.homeschoolinghorizons.com (THE only monthly Canadian Homeschool Magazine.  *Oct 2008*)

www.realjoyministry.ca (the church my parents attend in Alexandria, Ontario)

www.visitseakindly.com (my Father in law’s Bed & Breakfast in Nova Scotia, Canada - check ‘em out!!)

www.signingsmarttots.ca (a friend of mine’s site devoted to Infant Sign Language in Windsor, Ontario)

www.lemetro.ca (a friend of mine’s consulting business)

(I used to have St. Georges Church in this list, but they’ve recently redone their website.  So that is why it is missing, for those who notice! LOL!)

www.prayersat830.com (my new friend Stan’s site, and I’m hoping he’ll let me work on some of his other sites too! *Oct 2008*)

www.personneloasis.com (currently being maintained by the website owner *March 2009*)

My son is hoping to follow in my footsteps in this webdesign thing (probably as a part time hobby as well since he’s planning first to be a best-selling author) and is learning using Motherboard Books “Let’s Make a Webpage“.  Who knows, maybe you”ll read about his new webpages on his blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/ratcliffeauthor where he blogs weekly on his learning adventures of the week!

Enjoy “my” hobby! :o)

Blessings!

2 Responses to “My Work, err… Hobby.”

  1. Cindy says:

    Hello, Crewmate! I looked at a couple of the websites you did…great job! I also learned HTML “back in the day” before WYSIWYG editors. Now, I actually can’t stand using WYSIWYG, I just enjoy making the code myself. I saw a quote on a site that said, “Good code is like art.” It does feel that way! Making all those and turn into something lovely. :) If you want, you can look at my family’s page, which I wrote in Notepad. http://www.frontiernet.net/~hortonx5 (Not as pretty as yours, but I was impressed with myself over the frames…lol!)

    Visit my blog too! (I cheated and used a template on that one.) Happy reviewing :)

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