Archive for April, 2009

I decided to go with a grid system called 960 to lay this site out.  It is basically a CSS framework.  CSS in itself is not complex enough to really call it a framework, but for my purposes that is what I am calling it.  The framework is based on this: “All modern monitors support at least 1024 × 768 pixel resolution. 960 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 32, 40, 48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160, 192, 240, 320 and 480. This makes it a highly flexible base number to work with.”

So I downloaded the .zip file that they give you.  I snagged the Photoshop file and started designing.  The PSD file has a bunch of markers, so when you draw a box, it will snap into the right place.  You don’t spend as much time making sure everything winds up in the right place.  Nor do you have odd (strange) numbers, like a width of 934.

This theme (ishinelight.com) was my first 960 design.  Check out the source code, *maybe* it will make sense.  Or just go to 960.gs and download the .zip file yourself.  It took me about 5 minutes to realize the power of it.  Anyway, it’s a short post, but it has changed the way I code now.

Are you a web designer that sometimes need to SSH into a web site and make some changes but don’t know a Unix text editor?  Here are some basic commands that you might need.

Navigating in and out of directores:

To change directories:

pwd (shows you what directory you are in)

ls (lists all files)

cd www (gets you into the directory called www)

cd .. (gets you down one directory)

Editing files.  I like editing files in Vi.  It is confusing if you don’t know it.  I am by no means a Vi expert like some of my friends, but I can do a lot.  Here are the basics:

use the arrow keys to navigate (you can use letters to move around, but if you don’t want to learn Vi, don’t waste your time)

vi filename.php (opens a file called filename.php)

i (gets you in the insert mode)

the escape key gets you out of the insert mode

x (deletes the character your cursor is on)

dd (deletes the whole line you are on)

:w (writes the file)

:q (quits Vi)

:wq (writes the file and exists)

:%s:bob:john:g (replaces bob with john in the whole file, i recently used that to replace text on a 42 meg text file, it came in handy.  it took seconds to do)

Enjoy!