I just gotta strut some

[The_Hat]

I have been in the industry now for just about a decade (got into it just after 911).. I've taken myself through learning how to use FrontPage98 (and make really bad websites) to learning how to hand code a table based layout, to learning DreamWeaver, to learning how to hand code valid Xhtml using positional css to now hand coding php/mysql dynamic websites.

I am right now working on building out a solution to replace something that we currently pay for, and I just gotta say what I am working on is just gonna kick the $%*@ outta what we are paying good money for.. It's gonna validate, it's gonna have relevant page titles (what we currently pay for does not), it will use SEO far more effectively than what we pay for, it's gonna be highly interactive, it's gonna be secure, it's gonna get so many more page views than what we pay for, it's just gonna be soooo cool... It's gonna be my first really large project using what I have been teaching myself.

Color me proud.
Color me so in love with my industry.
Man, I just love this stuff guys..

Have a great weekend everyone.

[Propools]

That's great. I hope the end result is what you're looking for.
Might this also be a "throw down" to the box venders to buy my software package kinda thing? ;)

[blend27]

Cordial hat ventures on your Journey may you have!

[grandpa]

I know how you feel The_Hat. I remember the first site I took from a poorly maintained static site to a fully validated dynamic site. We went to number one and stayed there, and business was great.

Then the owner went to prison, the site was sold, and today it is once again a poorly maintained static site. Oh well, not my concern as I've moved on and I'm doing my own sites.

Education is great!

[tonynoriega]

Been there my friend.. and it feels great... learned HTMl from hand, getting deeper into CSS, self taught PHP...etc..etc.. have taken a few sites from "enh" to "awesome"

the current site im maintaining is looking better all the time compared to the previous owner who just outsourced everything.

nothing like getting your hands dirty...

funny how we as designers, developers talk about hand coding as getting "dirty"...

when i was in the navy the enginemen would come up from watch in the main engine rooms, covered in oil, grease..sweaty...what have you...

me in the administration office ...all nice and cozy , air conditioned... once i came out of my office with copier toner all over my hands and face, and dungarees... all pissed off cuz i blew up a toner cartridge... yeah, i felt like i was getting dirty that day.

[The_Hat]

Follow up: Launched new website about 4 days ago and at last count are pulling approx 4 times the per day pageviews we were. also showing marked improvement on about the same degree are visits, absolute uniques, average pageviews per visitor and time on site.

Right now we have hit the total average visitor count for previous days and it is only mid day...