I’ve been courting a domain for a while now, it expires in February, I’ve read countless articles on the subject but sadly there’s a good chance that the company will probably renew it making this blog post somewhat redundant.

However, my situation is a little different and I’m hoping because of this that I might stand a better chance of getting somewhere than I would with other domains. The company are based in New York, they are quite big, I’ve wrote to them several times using their “webmaster” email link with no response, I’ve contacted them on twitter with no response and I recently called up their office and after being put on hold for twenty minutes I was told that nobody could really help me, they didn’t even know who handled all their web stuff.

A little background check on the domain told me that it was first registered in 1995 and was held by a company until they were bought over. Since the buyout the domain has been forwarded onto an exisiting page within the companies site. However after visiting this page a few times something struck me, something was very peculiar about the page, then it hit me. Not once does the page in question make reference to the old company, no mention of the old URL, no mention of the company name. There isn’t anything to show the relationship between the old company and the new one? Surely the buyer had deemed the company a rival or something that had shown a good deal of promise and therefore decided to go ahead with a buyout? If this was indeed the case, then surely you would make to maximise your sales and let others know of your affiliation?

As my desired address was taken, I naturally looked at the other options but unfortunately .co.uk, .net and .org have all been taken too. However something that worries me is that the .co.uk address is held by another relatively large company. The reason for writing this post is because I want to get in their first, beating the other people who might be having similar thoughts. It also doesn’t help that the company who helped design the .co.uk are pretty big players and will have a better idea of how to go about things like this.

I need your help, what would you do in a situation like this? Have you ever dealt with anything like this before and if so, have you been successful? What tactics did you employee to get your domain? Should I bypass the “webmaster” who is obviously incapable of doing their job and go straight to the top and explain my situation and their poor customer service? Does the fact that they don’t reference the URL anywhere perhaps put me in a good position?

A few months ago I wrote a post about the severe lack of geek nights up in Scotland for the web enthusiasts. However, if the truth be told, since I wrote the original post I’ve just been too busy to get anything up and running but now I’m ready to get the ball rolling. With your help of course. Without you the night will be nothing.

You might be wondering why I’ve choosen the name Weegi.es, well if you have a quick look over at the urban dictionary they define weegie as:

A person who comes from Glasgow

Pretty simple eh? The cone also symbolises one of Glasgows most famous landmarks.

Right now the website is just a holding page with a quick explanation basically telling readers exactly what you are reading in this post. I’ve also hooked up a feedburner subscription box, so you can sign up and see all the news regarding the site.

The plan is simple, I’ll leave the holidng page up as it is for now and drum up interest through many of the different social networks, primarily twitter. Please feel free to retweet as many times as you want. I’ll also set up a google group so we can start talking about what we want to do with the night, probably arrange a first meet up for next month in a pub somewhere and then finally get a site pushed live.

If you have any questions please leave them here and remember to sign up to the feedburner on the main site.

This got me thinking, how do we go about creating this with Cascading Style Sheets? A common approach when going down the CSS route is to attach an class to your first p tag within your post/article.

<p class="drop">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.</p>

By adding an class you can then add the following styling to your css file

.drop:first-letter {
background: #CCC;
border: 4px double #FFF;
color: #ffffff;
float: left;
font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
font-size: 4em;
font-weight: bold;
margin: 0.1em 0.4em 0em 0em;
padding: 0.5em;
}


This will work in most modern browsers but expect the usual issues with Internet Explorer 6, to get around this you will need to wrap your first letter within the <span> element.

Although this works well it got me thinking, could we ditch the id on the first paragraph? The answer is yes but unfortunately my new suggested method isn’t going to work in every browser, just the really cool ones. So, if you’re down with the progressive enhancement let’s get started.

Much like the above we wrap our text in the paragraph tag

<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.</p>

Then we add our css again, remember if your article is contained with a div, remember to assign the divs id before the p tags in the example below.

p:first-child:first-letter{
background: #CCC;
border: 4px double #FFF;
color: #ffffff;
float: left;
font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
font-size: 4em;
font-weight: bold;
margin: 0.1em 0.4em 0em 0em;
padding: 0.5em;
text-transform: uppercase;
}
p:first-child:first-letter:after {
content: ".";
display: block;
height: 0;
clear: both;
visibility: hidden;
}

With your top css selector, first-letter element, you can add any of the following

• background properties
• clear
• font properties
• letter-spacing
• line-height
• text-decoration
• vertical-align
• word-spacing

By floating the dropcap you are causing the letter to be consistent with the rest of the line, while the base is allowed to extend below. If you removeit, it will cause the base to line up with the rest of the line. However, if you decide to use the float, I recommend using the :after pseudo element to clear the paragraph. If you do not your dropcap may interfere with the following paragraph, if the first paragraph is short.

Give it a go and tell me what you think, do you have a better suggestion? Leave a comment and let me know.

The reason I was allocated the job was because they had liked the job I had done in converting my own personal site from XHTML to HTML 5, how I documented it all and more recently having helped set up and run the HTML 5 Doctor.

My plan of action was simple, I was going to pull down a typical blog post, so I could see how the page was being created and what elements I was going to be dealing with. I would then pull together a wireframe, with the design work being done in the browser and then I would write a large document saying how I went about this process. Let it be noted that the crux of the post was based on the excellent article which had been created from the excellent Mr. Bruce Lawson.

If the truth be known, I actually found recreating the layout for Hobo a lot harder than I have for any of my other HTML 5 projects, I guess this was down to the sheer magnitude and the fact that their general page layout consists of three columns, all of which hold important information. Unlike other sites where you might have just one main section and two secondary content areas with trivial bits of information.

The project still has some work to be done on it, I’m still not that happy with a few of the element decisions that I’ve made and with the footer element changing just last week I’ll probably need to revise bits and pieces. The actual post still needs some work and I need to create the diagrams for the post but for all you lucky readers of this site I’m going to be giving you a sneak peak before it goes live to the masses. If you’re interested in seeing this journey then please visit the following link http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/html5.

Although I’m a keen advocator of HTML 5 and everything that it brings to the table, I have to be honest when I say that I’m not sure if we’re ready to go the full hog and create business sites using these new elements. We need to remember that browsers still do not fully understand the new elements that HTML 5 provides and lets not even start to list all of Internet Explorers lovely faults, but whats new there! However, don’t let this stop you experimenting, as you don’t want to be left behind when the revolution comes.

My idea for the mini series was simple, at the start of the series I would offer a general introduction into the world of CSS. How to go about setting everything, some very basic styling, correct use of selectors and as the mini series progressed we would find ourselves delving deeper into everything that CSS offers. Then by the time the final post rolls, we’ll get stuck into the juicy stuff, the breathtaking and incredible techniques that CSS3 offers. Techniques such as techniques such as RGBa and -webkit-transitions and good old border-radius.

Since writing my previous post I’ve decided that I’m going to be taking this idea one step further. A few months ago I was able to secure the domain http://simplecss.co.uk and my ideas was, as you might be able to guess, to offer a central resource for all your CSS needs.

You might be wondering ‘do we really need another site dedicated to this’ but the truth is this site isn’t for anyone other than myself. So why build it? How many times have you seen a great CSS technique that you have ended up bookmarking on your computer or on a network like Delicious only to not be able to find said link at a later date? I know this has happened to me several times and this is the driving force behind creating the simplecss site. If people find it useful and subscribe or contribute then that’s great. If more people get involved then I might be persuaded not to be so self centered with this project.

I’ll be looking to get this site live around early November, so for now you will all have to make do with a series of cracking CSS articles. If you have anything in particular that you would like me to cover in this up and coming series then please feel free to leave a message in the comment form and I’ll make sure that I cover it in one of the posts.

During my last post I highlighted that I was changing the way that this site works, instead of it being multi functional I decided to change it solely to that of a blog where I would be able to focus on my writing. As you can see, I’ve decided to get rid of my portfolio and about pages, these will feature in my other website which I will have more news on soon. Under the hood everything is still powered by wordpress as I believe that it is the best platform on which to run a blog. I’m still going down the HTML 5 route and I’ve also added dashes of wai-aria and microformats

The last time I redesigned the blog, in May, I decided to write a blog post detailing my journey with HTML 5 highlighting how certain sections of the site were created and areas I had trouble with. To date, that post has recieved the most views in this sites history, so as a result I think I will do more of the same again.

With this new site now up and running I am announcing that throughout the month of September I will be writing a series of articles decided to CSS, hopefully these will drum up some interest within the community and get some more traffic over here. I think I’ll aim for around four or five to begin with but ultimately I’ll need to see how I get on, hopefully I will have set myself an achievable target.

The reason I’ve decided to focus on CSS for my first mini series is because that is where my passion for web design lies. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are the reason I’m even in a job. It may sound daft, but when I attending my first day of college and created the Hello World! page I knew this was the career for me. Initially when I set out my ideas for this website, I had a section decided entirely to CSS tip bits, everytime I learned a new piece of code I added it to my online library.

For the mini series I might start the first article off with an introduction to the basic elements and then as I progress I’ll ramp things up and focus on the newer techniques available within CSS3 such as border radius and -webkit-tranisitions.

As usual feel free to leave your comments below, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new look but please note that this site is still very much finding it’s feet since the relaunch. If you find any problem areas don’t be shy, point them out.

However of late I’ve been thinking about moving my portfolio section into a site of it’s own. Sure you could argue that it’s good to have everything together but my reasons for splitting are simple.

In my new years resolution post from December the first thing I highlighted was the fact that I wanted to write more. I’d like to think that I have achieved this to a certain degree as I have been trying my best to consistently publish content to the blog aswell as having an article published in .net magazine. By moving my portfolio away from this site, it will hopefully allow me to dedicate more time to my writing and raise the profile of this weblog.

I’ve already started mocking up plans for a new design that will allow more emphasis to be placed on the actual content, everyone seems to be saying this these days. The layout and design are still very much in the development stages, so far I have mocked up a very rough wireframe in Fireworks before designing within the browser. I now also officially have some branding to show off on this site that I am very, very happy with. When the site goes live you will notice my homage to Fred Perry. There’s just something about that laurel.

Don’t fear though, certain elements of the site will remain the same even in the new design, I spent alot of time crafting elements of this design, elements that I still very much like and as such I see no reason to throw them away, especially as this design is only approaching it’s fifth month of existance. The site will still be created in HTML 5 and colour schemes and typography will be staying the same, although with @font-face appearing everywhere of late I may yet be tempted to incorporate some within.

With regards to the my actual portfolio, as I said above, I’m looking to move that into an entirely new site. I know the domain I want and I even have a few wireframes created. However, it isn’t all easy sailing. I’m trying desperately to contact the company who currently hold the domain but after several attempts to contact them I have got nowhere. More on that later, I’m hoping something will come of that within the next seven days.

If you’ve been reading the blog recently you will have noticed that, it has been more focused on all this HTML 5 stuff. It all started back in January when I noticed Bruce Lawson documenting his journey converting his site from XHTML to HTML 5 and as I was later to find out, it seemed that I wasn’t the only one interested in it.

When I attended Future Of Web Design London, in May of this year, I had agreed to go to a pre-arranged meet up organised by Bruce where he was eager to hear the opinions of people who had experimented with this new language. After an hour or so of discussing the spec and our problems interpreting it, a few of us decided to take the discussion further and decided that the best court of action would be to talk it over a beer or three.

The Alcoholics Anonymous were:

• Richard Clark*
• Bruce Lawson
• Tom Leadbetter
• Mike Robinson
• Myself

After some rehydration therapy we discussed the fact that there wasn’t a one stop shop resource for HTML 5 and as someone had mentioned earlier, during the pre-arranged meet-up, that reading the spec was just unrealistic due to the size of it, and that they wished that someone would produce a straight to the point site, explaining everything that they needed to know.

After we left the pub and headed in our different ways we kept in touch through many emails. Now, nearly three months after the event we are ready to put this project live. Please note that we still have some work to do with the site, so if you find an error or something you don’t think is quite correct please contact us through the site and we will do our best to get back to you as soon as possible.

I hope that many of you will find the site to be extremely useful, as I know that when I was converting this site a few months ago I found it very difficult to find HTML 5 resources or indeed information that was correct.

Also, a few weeks ago, our little group increased by one, when the excellent Remy Sharp joined the revolution. Yes, that Remy Sharp, pretty cool eh?

* Some of you might already be familiar with Richard as he runs the increasingly popular HTML 5 Gallery

First of all let me apologise for this random blog entry, I promise I’ll keep it short. I’m in a bit of pickle and I’m hoping my blog/readers will be able to help me out.

At the start of the year I waited patiently for the Blur reunion tickets to go on sale and I was chuffed to bits when I got them and I immediately started counting down the days until the concert. However, due to a turn in events I am now no longer able to attend this concert and as such I am having to sell my tickets.

If you are interested in purchasing these tickets, please get in touch with me through the contact form. If you are a regular contributor to the site I’ll knock some money off the price of the ticket for you.

Support includes Vampire Weekend, who I’m sure we are all familiar with after last summer. And my new favourite band, who I’m actually more upset about missing than Blur – Florence and the machine.

A few weeks ago I agreed to start working on a project and although it wasn’t paying anything it managed to get me very, very excited. It was one of those rare occasions where before you have even sat down with a pen and paper you know exactly the route you wish to take.

Immediately I knew this project was going to be a pleasure to work on and before long I had already mocked up the page using some lovely CSS3 elements, infact I’d probably go as far to say that it was my best piece of CSS work to date. After a few hours of constructing the page I was very happy with the outcome, which was apparent due to the fact that I wasn’t spending hours tweaking parts of it.

However for a combination of different reasons I was unable to continue at the pace I had set at the start and when I entered the second week of the project, it had sadly almost ground to a hault. Thankfully, it wasn’t all doom and gloom, I had in-fact been able to incorporated a few more elements into the site and spent a little time refining some aspects that I wasn’t completely happy with.

With the end of week two approaching, I decided to show what I had created, letting them know that it still wasn’t completely finished. The feedback I received was very encouraging and the design seemed to go down well enough. However, as with many thing, especially when you think you are progressing nicely, a setback cropped up. It turned out that the highly customised pages that I was working to were to be altered and that I would have to edit my CSS to get everything to fall into place again.

I spent the the next couple of evenings, altering my CSS to fit the template but due to the amount of changes it proved to be very time consuming. However, on Monday, two weeks after starting this project, I recieved an email stating that another template would be going up for now due to time constraints as the event was edging ever closer. I was gutted, my code was nearly finished and I didn’t think I was that far away from sign-off.

On a positive note, there may be another chance for me to showcase this design, as it was still under debate whether the the design of the site would change for each event. For now though, I’ll need to keep my fingers crossed.