It's been quiet on this blog recently. Everything is kind of in limbo. All my spare time is take up with developing the new web site. I don't know about other people but it takes me so long. I've only just finished designing the template. That's the static element of each page into which the content is pasted. When you see it you'll think it doesn't look that much different from the old one! I'd agree, but it does use space much more efficiently - visitors to web sites hate to scroll! Spinning that little mouse wheel can be exhausting you know. Anyway, writing the code doesn't take that long but as it usually takes me about 10 different designs before I like the results, and so its taken a week or so.
Now follows the laborious task of copying and pasting the old content into the new site. It's not that simple as the layouts have changed and so the "style sheets" have to be adjusted to make the content fill a new space with different dimensions. This will take another week or so. Once that's done I can look at putting in some new content. New content really takes time and is the reason it will be several more months before it sees the general WWW. Finally, there's the process of trying to make it look right. I could just put all the old header photos up, but what would be the point of that? I'm still waiting for some inspiration in this area.
In fact the new site, or at least some of it, is up on the web. I tend to test my sites in hidden subfolders on my server. Alternatively, I could post the site on a server set up in my own computer. The reason I don't is that I like to test the new pages on as many browsers and screen resolutions as possible. You'd be amazed how if you are not careful, your beautiful site can completely fall to pieces on someone else's screen. For example, the Isle of Man Government still uses the now decrepit and prehistoric Internet Explorer 6, which is a web designers nightmare.
Speaking of decrepit and prehistoric, I was looking through my old photographs and found the picture of the car above. This was the hire car we rented last Summer in Lofoten in Norway. It seemed a bit prone to punctures, as we suffered two. When I came to apply the spare wheel there was a slight size difference as you can see! It still fitted however, although it rendered the car a bit lob sided. This, added to the smoke which poured out from the engine compartment, made this rental a very different driving experience. Thank you Hertz.
www.KAYAK.im
Located a mile and a half off the southern most tip of the Calf of Man lies Chicken Rock, with it's formidable lighthouse. This is the most southerly land mass administered by the Manx Government. There's a light house there because the rock is treacherous to shipping. It's also pretty treacherous to kayakers. Exposed to the prevailing westerly and south westerly winds, the rock has vast, endless and constant tidal races sweeping around it. These often meet with eddy currents creating turbulent, boiling, whirlpool infested waters! This seemed the ideal spot for Ian and I to practice our rough water landings, roles and self rescues! Well, to be fair it was pretty sedate for chicken rock this day, and the rough water landing was made in a gentle swell. There was even time to climb the 30 feet or so up the iron ladder to the locked lighthouse door to snap some of the photos above.
