rocknbil - 4:49 pm on Sep 12, 2010 (gmt 0)

What's the difference for me as a business person and for my client who has no clue about anything related to web development whether the code is clean or not so clean?

Well, being defensive when there are those trying to help you is not going to help you do this:

I want to work as a freelancer web developer/designer to create sites for small companies etc.

The freelancers competing against you will be more than happy to point out the hows and why's of why they can improve on what you've done. As for your clients not having a clue, of course they don't - but these same competitors will use what they don't know against you to steal your clients. You will need to have a correct answer - not a justification - for everything that is asked of you.

It's not about "clean code." It's about building it the most efficient way, fastest loading, cross browser compatible, and leaving as few "Achilles heels" in your designs for competitors to use against you. It's about making the content accessibile to all, which relates to your original question.

I'm not here after perfection, but after sites that work and clients that pay.

I've been in this industry for over 17 years, and 100% freelancing for 8. There are millions of competitors out there who will do this work for a song and a dance, and just as many clients willing to exploit them. So how do you stand out amongst the ocean of people competing against you? You add value to your work by doing it right, taking the pains to learn why one thing is superior over another, by accepting new ideas and seeing their value.

You asked for advice on doing rollovers, I really don't know how else to answer, rollovers with automated code and Javascript is really the hard and inefficient way to do it, there really is no other correct answer.

Do not take this as a judgment on your site (I haven't even looked,) but once you get over the initial shock, spend some time looking around on this site. Read the lists, read the reasoning. You will learn more about what you need to know here, and on WebmasterWorld, than any other web resources.

WPTS [webpagesthatsuck.com]

[edited by: rocknbil at 4:52 pm (utc) on Sep 12, 2010]