The code was the biggest thing that got me.  The classes are all called grid_1, grid_2, grid_3, etc., which tells me nothing about them.  Say I want to use the 300px width, what grid is it?  1, 2, 3?  See what I am saying. Something else I did not understand was that the container (12 or 16 columns) was a class.  Are you ever going to use it more than once on a page?  Sort of defeats the purpose.  He also has 3 different CSS files, which is horribly bad for performance.

While it may seem like I am knocking it, I am not.  I really like it, and I am in the process of rewriting it.  But I am having the same problem the original author did, I don’t know what to name the different widths.  I am also in the process of creating a starter wordpress theme file pack for people to use based on it.  I am going to be designing about 3 or 4 wordpress themes, so I decided to create a wordpress theme framework.  This will be all the theme files ready to go, just the color and other minor changes will need to be made before it can be deployed.

I usually code my sites 900px wide.  It makes it easier for the rule of thirds, 600px for content, and 300px for the sidebar.  I also like the 900px because it is small enough for 1024×768 resolution screens, but not too big allowing the user to have some room to breathe.  I have never really looked into any of widths for my website.  And I really never code in anything, but fixed width.  I have had one too many bad experiences with fluid width sites at work.

I found a site on Digg that talked about the top 10 CSS mistakes.  One of top 10 mistakes was not using frameworks for all your sites.  The site then linked to the 960 Grid System.  The site is very well put together, and it shows you excellent examples of how to use the framework.  At first, it made me think I need to come up with a common framework for myself, so that when I create a new site, I can copy over my framework and begin working (I need one of these for Wordpress themes too).  But then after visiting the site and reading all the benefits of the 960px width grid system, I think I might be using this width for my next site.

I haven’t done any design (or development) in a long time.  I have been mostly doing affiliate marketing, which is something I really don’t like doing.  I have found writing seems to be the only way for me to make money now.  Problem is, my developing and designing skills have not been making me money.  I probably can make some money doing VB.Net work, but my design skills are still lacking.  Maybe taking steps like setting up a design framework will improve my design skills enough for me to make some money.

WRONG!

Talk to the manager of System A, and you will hear the blame thrown everywhere but where it should lie.  “It was correct as written”, “It was signed off as correct”, blah blah blah.  The problem is that the wrong people signed off on his System, but not everyone.  If the System has had the same issue since it was created, and now it is considered a bug, it was a bug when it was created.

Sad thing is, this happens all the time.  You continue to put a band-aid on an issue, and add another band-aid until it explodes.  Why not just save all that time and fix the initial issue!

I plan on posting to this site a lot more (starting now).  Not sure how often I will post as I have two other blogs I want to work on, but I will try to get to this one as often as possible.  With work demoralizing me more and more every day, you may see this blog take a turn towards - “here are the idiots I work with and what stupid things they do”.

Other than those type of posts, I want to make this blog about what I do, web devigner (developer and designer).  I have a wealth of information to share, the problem will be finding the time to share it.

Scalability is not your problem, getting people to give a shit is

Our task is not producing software; it’s helping our customers finish their work faster. Our job isn’t writing code; it’s giving our customers fast tools to get their jobs done.

After I read this, I just went, “Thank You”. I thought I was the only one who KNEW this.

It’s more important to keep projects as small as possible for as long time as possible.

This comes from the conception that you need to involve everyone in the project from the very beginning like the designer, copywriter, whoever.

This also works when creating a website. SEO specialists tell you keep SEO in mind when creating a site. Designers tell you to keep design in mind when creating a site. Coders tell you to keep code in mind when creating a site. So do I really have to think about everything all at once, or can I just create the site already!