Today I spent all day designing and beginning to code my online journal site. I spent hours going to graphics site looking for the left border that I wanted to use. Of course, I didn't find what I wanted, which was a vining rose entwined with a grapevine with grapes. I did, however, find a site with some very creative borders, one of which I used for my journal. It was at Pambytes. Searching graphics took 3-4 hours and I could have spent so much more time.
My youngest son, Firefly, (not so young anymore at 18) taught me to use style sheets so I spent the rest of the day trying to get the various elements right, then setting up month and day html documents for the handful of entries I already have. I stole the drop down box code from Tamara's Journal. My partner taught me to make buttons and also matched the color of the bar in the border so that I could color coordinate the titles of the entries. He is also working on making a button gif for me from the border to use for the next, previous, and home buttons. I like consistent, coordinated elements to bring the multiple pages of a site together. Unusual elements can always be added here and there for a surprise or a little spontaneity, a bit of whimsy now and again.
Eventually I may recolor the border, perhaps making it a bit redder as red is my favorite color, although I like most bright, clear colors. We'll have to see whether I tire of this design quickly or settle into it as an old familiar friend. I think it may be a day or two more before I actually feel ready to upload my work and give it a trial spin. I haven't decided yet where to put it but most likely it will go up on Paganpaths.org since it is on Kevin's server. And I have not decided how really public to make it either. I could link to other journals, join a journal webring, or just let it float here and see how long it takes to be discovered, if it ever does. That too will wait for a future moment when impulse strikes.
Copyright © 2000 Kyril Oakwind