For the Love of God!
Monday, March 10 2003
File Under:
Daily, Redesign
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I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided 10 days ago to redesign this website. I figured it defintely needed a change, but more importantly I felt that I needed to abandon my crippling dependency on nested tables and embrace the beauty that is CSS.
Now people, if there ever was a person on this earth who loves nested tables, my God, that person is me. I can take any design, however curvy or transparent or unnecessarily purple and turn it into tables. I cannot possibly extol the virtues of nested tables enough: Car won't start? Try nested tables. Having trouble in your relationship? Try nested tables. Constipated? I highly recommend nested tables.
So when I sat down and started fiddling with CSS I felt as if I was typing without my hands. And I tried to give up several times, believe me. There were entire hours I spent cussing at the monitor and scaring the shit out of my dog. But my lovely bearded husband, like a concerned family member staging an intervention, wouldn't let me fall back into my old ways. He's defintely a keeper.
I've also gone back through my pre-Movable Type entries and entered them into Movable Type, perhaps the most time consuming endeavor of the redesign. Every night for the past week I've had dreams where I can't do anything without an opening <div> and a closing </div>. Conversations had to begin with <div id= "conversation"> and end with </div>. There were <div> structures for going up the stairs, feeding the dog, and hitting the snooze button on the alarm, which proved to be the most exhausting because I usually hit the snooze button about 7 times. So in between the 7 <div id= "alarm-snooze"></div> tags there were also 7 <div id= "go-back-to-sleep"></div> tags.
So this website is coded entirely in CSS and, for the most part, validates in XHTML. I say "for the most part" because there are still some tables and old code hanging around in some of the much older entires, and I don't have the time right now to go under the hood of each of those entries. And I just know that some self-righteous geek out there is going to run my site through a validator, and when it comes back un-validated he's going to come here and make some snarky comment. And I just know he'll be from Wisconsin.
To make matters even more frustrating, I couldn't have picked a worse week to undertake a redesign. In the last 8 days my husband has accepted a job offer, we've procured financing for a house, I've developed a screaming bladder infection, we've found a house to buy, and now we have to haggle with 40 different people over how much and who gets to buy the house. I just needed that little extra anxiety of entering over 600 blog entries into a content management system.
<div id= "relief"> Phew! </div>
- Bump watch begins
Tuesday, 02 December 2008 - Three months
Monday, 01 December 2008 - Excuse me while I go make love to a bean burrito
Monday, 24 November 2008 - The making of an older sister
Thursday, 20 November 2008 - Internet, I'm craving Doritos
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
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1. S. said:
Try having a dream where you play Scrabble with HTML code. If ever I appreciated having a bedtosser sleeping next to me, that was it.
2. Shane said:
Welcome to the world of sleaze. Now that you've gorged on the XHTML/CSS crack, you'll never be able to go back.
3. Darian said:
I love this new layout!
4. jonah said:
Looks great and I'm glad you brought back the sidebar topics.
5. chunderchud said:
First reaction: Damn!
Second reaction: Duh, what'd I expect?
Third reaction: Time to redesign.
Very nice.
6. the mighty jimbo said:
oh sweet merciful lord, dooce has come back to us!
i can go back to procrastinating with wild, reckless abandon once again!
and for the record, you could post this blog with dancing hamsters and little animated torches and i would still read the fucker religiously.
7. Jory said:
Hotty McHot Hot. Nice design. Also: I'm not sure if your tostada lust is exclusive to Taco Bell, but apparently Taco Time makes several variations...
8. .sara said:
neato. (: congrats on the new house, that's awesome!
9. rusbravo said:
Glad you're back. I've missed you.
10. Lyric said:
Gorgeous redesign. I've always loved your graphic sense. The next thing you're going to try is replacing all the divs and spans with real HTML elements - and then you get to have the fun of overriding all the browser defaults so it looks like you want again! (And don't forget that every browser has different defaults...)
In all seriousness, it's a pleasure to see someone else who's made the jump to the Higher Plane Of Web Design. Congratulations.
11. Irk said:
Dude! Sweet! Me likey.
12. Sarah B. said:
How to charm/annoy me is back! All is right with the world.
13. Morgan said:
You forgot to close the div tag here:
There were structures for going up the stairs,
Love it all otherwise.
14. Michael said:
I actually put my hands together and prayed - PRAYED - that your site would be there. And it was. Proof there is a God.
Great post to welcome us back with.
I've never heard of someone's bladder screaming? Can I come over and listen/see? :P
15. an ardent stone said:
Fuck, now I want a martini.
Everytime I start to set up a site using pure CSS/XHTML, Walter from the Big Lebowski stomps into my head and shouts, "Mark that div tag and you're entering a world of pain!" Congrats on pulling through with it, very snazzy.
As always, thanks for the awesome site.
16. Chuck Cheeze said:
Oh Heather. You charm me so. Furst you grow up around the corner from where I went to high school (Millington Central), then you move to LA where I am sure I saw you walking behind the same alley from 7-11 to the apartments at 4151 Arch drive off Ventura, then you off and get marries in Yosemite, my favorite place on Earth. Now you bring back all the best parts about your sites' past. I am enamored and frazzled.
17. Brent said:
CSS and 's are cool -- and supposed to make life simpler -- but I'll be damned if sometimes they don't end up making Web design a pain-in-the-arse! Ever tried to make a three column data entry form with 's? It's trivial with tables, but requires some heroics with CSS. But, still, I jumped on the bandwagon a year ago, and never looked back. Glad to see you're here, too!
18. Heather #2 said:
Morgan - you just earned your place under the "how to annoy me" heading.
Jimbo - dancing hamsters, even from Heather, will never be ok.
Heather - I totally missed you, sister. I'm glad you're back. Congrats on the house. I will pray for your and John's smooth transition into your new space.
19. Jon said:
As adorable as your 'keep coming back' page was, I'm so excited that the Dooce is back! Most excellent design, and another priceless story.
Praise Dooce!
20. Dyanna said:
As always, it looks loverly 'round here. Glad you're back! :)
21. The Fanboy Formerly Known As Beerzie said:
Omigosh this new site is orgasmically wonderful, and I was suicidal the last week without your blog.
Seriously, it looks good.
Welcome back.
22. The Fanboy Formerly Known As Beerzie said:
Oh, and I hope those are GIN martinis, because I'm the type of snob who believes that vodka martinis are not really martinis at all, they are BULLSHIT!
Whew.
23. Alex said:
Who knew a tiled background could look classy?
Looks beautiful and inspires me to try out this whole CSS thing you speak of. If only there were more hours in the day...
24. Ismat said:
Dooce, I would like to award you 50 points. You've earned it.
25. Ismat said:
Dooce, I would just like to give you 50 points. You've earned it.
26. peggy said:
Purty! Glad you're back.
27. Ismat said:
Dooce, I would like to take away 1000 points from myself because I am an idiot.
28. Morgan said:
Having made a weak attempt at a joke, I'll slink back under my desk and hide now.
29. Richard Barkins said:
I'm dreaming in teal! Nice!
30. Lil' Lib said:
Oh thank God! I was beginning to think I'd never get my next fix. Welcome back!
31. windosill wendy said:
Dooce, it's just lovely. Congrats on conquering CSS. You have my full admiration.
32. Renee said:
CSS rules! And so does your new design! I love it!
33. Renee said:
Oh, and PS: for bladder infections I swear by grape juice. Not the from-concentrate kind, but the full strength, organic kind. I used to get them aaaaaall the time, now if I feel one coming on, I chug grape and POOF! Gone. (Yes, I said grape juice. It's been proven to be just as effective, if not more, than cranberry. And it tastes way better.)
34. allisonic said:
This rules. It's beautiful. I love that you brought back the how to charm me/annoy me headings.
And, the colors are so cheerfully springy.
35. moose said:
Sigh. This won't let me put my comment properly between brackets so you'll have to imagine them:
div id="enjoyment-and-appreciation" dooce rocks once again! /div
36. joh3n said:
Hot diggity boo-bombly! Site looks rocken like dokken. Curse you, now I may have to attempt css myself. A pox on you and your cute dog and bearded manly-man, a pox!
(welcome back!)
37. Naaman said:
Just wait until you learn the wonders that come with learning XSL and combining it with CSS and XHTML to make your life a tableless nightmare. Don't worry though -- after a while you can start nesting divs and really make a mess of it.
38. s00ka said:
great googly moogly! you're back! :) i've been like a crackwhore living off a patch. love the new look.
39. kate said:
Damn. It would take a life-altering catastrophe for me to mention a bladder infection in a mere parenthetical manner.
Therefore, I'm glad you're even ALIVE.
40. Heather #2 said:
Morgan - I was totally kidding.
Dooce - it didn't remember my personal info.
41. dooce said:
heather #2: thanks for the heads up. fucking fuck fuck fuck.
42. Turner said:
Ok, so I'm surfing the web looking for some old wedding photos to play around with and I stumble on your wedding photos. Fabulous. So is your site.
I'm turning your wedding photos into a video without your permission. I will put it on a DVD for you. I am not a psycho killer, just killing time.
JT
43. MattE said:
Dooce!
Hot diggity dog! Glad to see you are back. I agree with the masses... a week without Dooce was hard to take. Your musings are addictive!
I love the additions of the Annoy/Charm stuff! If only I could get something this cool on my blog!
Welcome back. We've missed you.
44. Jen said:
Dooce! Love the new layout! (Especially the martini glasses.) Man, nested tables, huh? I'm in the process of doing a new summer re-design on my ol' site... maybe I should figure out what the hell nested tables ARE.
45. Chrys said:
I only disovered your blog a few days ago and have thoroughly enjoyed the hours spent laughing and reliving the lastcouple years of your life with you. Thank you for "blessing" the rest of the world with such humor and humility. (PS - Love the new redesign? What software do you use?)
46. certified said:
Man, the past week has been lame. Nobody asked me once why I was laughing out loud. Welcome back.
47. shy said:
31337
48. Heather #2 said:
Dooce: Fuck, fuck, fucking on heaven's door.
49. scot-on-the-rocks said:
Amazing...spectaular...nectar of the blog-gods!
But just what I would expect from you. You are among the bes MT drivers ever!
50. dooce said:
testing these motherfucking comments motherfuck.
51. Don said:
Nice design. A really half-ass compliment I know.
52. Kayjay said:
Oh my god! I am going through that same pain. Last night I was up till 2 AM cursing at my monitor for the fact that I still can't get my oldest entires converted, and that my template is all in Bloggerian HTML and I know nothing about CSS yet. Oy. I ended up having nightmares about unending progress bars and broken code.
Oh, and while I am from Wisconsin, I promise to never, ever, on pain of death and dismemberment, run your site through a validator.
53. tracy said:
Preach it. I've been redoing my blog because I'm moving to MT, and I still can't let go of the tables. I love the tables. The tables are God, and I am still faithfull.
Sigh.
54. Blib said:
Hmmm. I've dreamed in versions of C and in classic NES Tetris, but thats about the extent of it. And frankly I think thats personally reasonable. This of course seems totally odd to me as the whole 'reading' thing is a funtion opposite to where dreams come from. Whom I to argue though. (I love this btw - Site looks rocken like dokken)
55. chris said:
now you get to have BABIES!
56. April said:
Beautifully done! I missed the super old stuff--the mastheads, the "how to charm me" sidebar things--and I'm glad to see them back and so well organized using MT's multiple-blog-in-one-blog feature. You're an inspiration. It was worth all the work, trust us.
57. Gina said:
3 words:
So. worth. it.
58. Lisa, Gal of Unix said:
Love the new layout!
59. liqidclark said:
I usually just read and never, never post--but holy shit. Redesign good. Good, I say.
60. feelafel said:
You're a better woman than I, as I've often said I'm going to redesign m'blog, but always seem to find good reasons not to. The CSS thing being one of them.
(I should note I'm not a woman, so you had a distinct advantage going into the competition anyway ...)
61. Xanthan said:
Dooce, thank GOD your back. I was getting the shakes, suffering withdrawls and the methodooce they gave me at the clinic was don't any good. I mainlined a twinkie infused with Kettle One, but it didn't do a bit of good.
Love the new site design and, like others, am delighted at the return of your right hand side menu.
Good luck with closing on the house.
62. Xanthan said:
...and it's obvious that when I'm getting over DWS (Dooce Withdrawl Syndrome) that my grammer, spelling, and proofreading gets all shot to hell!
63. Heather #2 said:
You are my favorite fucking fuck friend, like, ever.
64. shy said:
w00t
65. jonathan said:
very nice job! the site looks great and i'm glad to see the sidebar!
66. Agatha said:
Neato, peaches!
67. Jayden said:
I, too, have a sickening dependency/addiction to nested tables. One day I will have to kick the habit, as I know that they're not good for me and I might develop some kind of terminal illness. I wonder if I could sue the nested table companies?
68. Chad's Favorite Bridesmaid said:
If there were ever a day I needed to have your website return today was it--THANK YOU! I don't know what 90% of what you said means, but knowing it's what you used to create the site tells me it's pretty kick-ass stuff. Looks fabulous!
69. Summer said:
I love it. Sooooo glad your're back.
70. S said:
... and that you can spell better than I.
71. dvl said:
blah blah blah... Dooce has a new format... blah blah blah... SHE'S BACK!!!
(yay)
72. Broch said:
Fucking beautiful!
73. Glovia said:
You're always going and outdoing yourself. Wow. How to Charm/Annoy Me is totally the best of blog extras. Thanks for bringing it back.
74. Daejin said:
Damn slick, welcome back!
75. Owen said:
Oh Dooce, you rock! Go girl, go!
The XHTML+CSS path to happiness is painful, but it's gotta beat that nested table stuff. Faster loading, better doc structure, etc.
Shit fire and save the matches!
76. galt said:
damn. you're awesome, what with this herculean re-design task undertaken w/ all the other crap going on in your life. amazing. and this new design is, as we say in wisconsin, five-star fabulous. in conclusion, and to reiterate, damn.
77. Bill from Wisconsin said:
Yeah, um, like your design is great and all, but it doesn't validate in XHTML. I'm gonna need you to fix that, mmkay.
78. Nelle said:
Yay for the return of the sidebar and the "how to" comments! They were always what kept me coming back.
79. glen said:
Here's a great benefit of table less layouts- I added your site as an Avantgo favorite and it looks great on my PDA. I even posted this comment from it while off line. Way to go, Doole !
80. The other Renee said:
Ms Dooce, I've missed you so! Wicked new layout...makes me crave alcohol...mmmmmm allllcoooohoooollll
81. Elvis Pepper said:
like the martinis. like the sidebar.
you have proven that you can give teal tiles and still be liked.
good to see you back
82. Naz said:
Word dawg. Shite's tight. Fo' shizzle. (this is what happens when you watch Snoop on VH1's Rock the House).
83. Brooke said:
Ditto ditto ditto to all (or most) of the above. It looks so yummy.
Am in the midst of redesigning using all CSS too and am pulling out hair. Dooce, (or any experienced CSS writers out there) can you recommend a good resource? I have tons of info but it's almost *too* much and if there is one good book or website that really helped you could you let me know?
84. heather said:
Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. You reign supreme over the evil div tag!
85. Anne said:
Hurrah! I was starting to get resentful that you were gone, which is very unworthy of me.
Sucks about the bladder infections... I get 'em lots. My very first one came when I was in 7th grade, and my mom explained to me that you get them from butt sex. Umm... mom? I'm in 7th grade.
Don't know what she was doing in her younger years, but it freaked me out permanently.
Dooce, you need to PING so I know when to come and worship you. You're relegated to the non-pingers on my blogroll, and that's not a fun place to live.
86. Donna said:
Please forgive me... but I always thought the husband designed this blog ever since I saw your logo in his portfolio!
87. Amanda Lew said:
Site looks freakin' awesome, dooce. Hell. Yeah.
88. Slocore said:
I don't know why but your site isn't displaying properly in my IE explorer 6.0. or IE 5.0. The sidebar is at the bottom of the page instead of the top. It looks fine in Netscape 7 though. It seems like I'm the only one. What's my freakin problem!
89. Greebs said:
First, as always, your site rocks the casbah. But, I long for the "Women Who Make Me Question My Sexuality" or whatever it was where you had those kick-ass collection of photos of Kirsten Dunst and at least two other hotties.
90. stacey said:
I'm in the middle of the same, Dooce. I feel your pain. I was hitting the snooze button last week and dreaming that I was "rebuilding my site." I was feeling discouraged, but you've inspired me. Time to snort some Ritalin and drink a case of Mountain Dew and get my redesign launched! Thanks for the recharge.
91. Marie said:
Uh - not alone, slocore. Doesn't display right here either (not even on Netscape 7.0), the "side bar" becomes a bottom bar, for one - and I get a javascript error.
On the bright side, the layout looks like it would be fabulous if displayed correctly! But I can't figure out why it won't...
92. lkm in texas said:
Every day I would check only to find no dooce update. I got so depressed, I had to seek medical treatment. Now I can throw out the Prozac! She is back! Don't go away again without checking with my doctor first!
93. speedo said:
Can we still say "poop" on this beautiful new design?
94. Anna said:
Beautiful new design! You should be very proud of yourself.
95. Angelique said:
Mmmm..... fan.
Oh goddess of blog, please let us not be without your presence ever again.... lead us not into the realm of non-dooced-ness... but deliver us from our banal work days and our trite 15 minute breaks.... ohm to dooce....oooohhhmmmmmmmm.
96. Lorelei said:
I'm glad you're back; the new design is spiffy. I myself build a happy relationship of tables and css in my layouts (not the horrible one I have up now, though). I've been dreaming in html and css for the past week now. It's kind of amusing. Oh, by the way, I'm Lorelei. I don't believe I've posted a comment here before.
97. dammitdave said:
Hey the site now looks like...like...um, every other newly designed site.
:(
98. dooce said:
i've tested it on IE 5 and 6 and Netscape 7 on PC and it works fine on my crappy Dell machine with Windows 2000. Marie, what's your operating system and resolution set to?
dammitdave, what does your site look like?
99. Lauren said:
I love this new layout. And I'm so glad you brought back the old little bits of content like "how to charm me" haha. i missed those.
100. eric said:
nicely done dooce, it's beautious.
101. marie said:
Dooce, I'm on WinXP with my resolution set at 1280x1024. O.o
That's exactly why I'm a fan of nested tables!
But er, not so big a deal since, apparently, -most- people are viewing it right. I can deal with a bottom-bar.
102. Angelique said:
Hey, lorelei, funny thing.... my sweetie and i were trying to pick out baby names just last night and your name came up.... what kindof stuff did kids come up with to poke fun at your name in school.....? see, i'm a fan of your name - him? notsomuch. how do you like it??
103. Marie (last time I swear) said:
Dooce, dear, I figured it out.
Your server's been doing some funky shit, it seems(or my computer's totally whacked).
Got an email I could send my findings to?
104. dooce said:
Marie, thanks for your help. I had to change my DNS servers at Register.com when I got a new host, and it's taking several days for the whole move-over to take place. I'm thinking that half of my usual readers still see my old site, and until all the routers across the internet update the IP address, i'm going to have problems. send email to dooce at dooce dot com.
105. Flipsycab said:
Looks RAD! Glad you're back. Bearded men rule, don't they?
106. sheila said:
:)
I find Dooce is back right on the heels of learning they've found Elizabeth Smart.......coooo-incidence?
All luverly.
107. Kevin said:
I enjoy the bubbly tingle that comes along with this layout. However, when I get lost in the comments and can't see any martini glasses, the tingle goes away and it's like I'm standing in front of a urinal (a urinal in the classiest hotel in the universe, of course).
Keep up the great work; I can't imagine the past year without your brilliant humor. And I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I think the page title might have a typo?
108. moonz said:
it's pretty.
i was missing the dooce.
my notes never showed up on your other layout. maybe mt will be nicer to me?
109. marie said:
Yay! working, looking totally fab. :D
(I actually was seeing the new site with the old stylesheet. That's how weird it looked.)
110. Carole said:
Heather -- beautiful job, congrats on the creativity and discipline to put it all together ... Just a nit, but in IE6 (PC running XP) your sidebar info is waaaay at the bottom, past all the comments. Looks great in NS 6.2 tho.
111. blamb said:
Sharp! Love it! YAY!
112. Wendi said:
I've recently become addicted to your site. The first time I found my way here was the day you took the site down for a re-do, so I luckily had a lot of catching up to do. You are brilliant and I love the new look.
113. sourbob said:
Looks grand on Opera for the PC, 1024 by 768.
114. Austin said:
See, it even looks good on Opera. That's when it's time to hang things up, kick back, and have a drink. Or twelve. Love the new look/layout.
115. Turner said:
Yes, I like the new design too. But then again, I never saw the old one. I just want to send you the video I finished this evening of your wedding photos. I chose Leo Kotke's, The Brain Of The Purple Mountain for the music. We can arrange to have it dropped off near a lamp post in Santa Monica somewhere.
116. Jesper said:
Holy shit.
117. jenB said:
the new look is pooptastic!
118. Boz said:
Doocelicious Design!
119. Charles R. Kaiser said:
I too have struggled with CSS, and I think that it has really paid off on my site. My entire site validates as CSS as well as XHTML Strict except for "What's New" and "Sitemap" pages over which I have very little control as they are served by a free service.
CSS is the wave that everyone will soon have to catch. I will soon have to convert all of my websites to CSS and in one site in particular (http://www.clanmacneil.ca ), I am _NOT_ looking forward to it!
BTW, I noticed that you feel guilty about putting roll-on on your dog's feet. Our dog's feet always smell like Fritos for some reason. Other chihuahua owners have noted the same thing.
I was pointed to your site by Rob Guglielmetti's Blog at http://www.rumblestrip.org and I'm glad that I took the time to stop by!
Thanks!