Dear SBIer

I get too many questions about my design to keep answering them all personally. That's why I prepared the info below. It tells you all there is to say about my design.

Hope it helps!

The design of my Outback site

My design is an ultra simple two column fixed width template. (Update: now three columns, but everything else remains the same.) I use xhtml and css. It's all hand coded in a plain editor (an older version of the free CoffeeCup) and there isn't much to that template.

(Here is as TNT tutorial for using CoffeeCup.)

Tatiana from allbizwebdesign.com did the top graphic for me, and Rohit from website-squad.com did the original css (which I then since changed and tweaked a million times). Tatiana also did the three column template I now use (and have changed and tweaked many times).

The site looked hardly any different when it was done in SBI's block builder, it just had buttons instead of text navigation and no coloured background around the page. Everything else was exactly the same and I got many compliments on it.

The current navigation is something that I did myself. Again, simply hand coded in a simple html editor.

I knew nothing when I started with SBI and learned everything along the way.

The info is referenced in the Action Guide and found in the TNT HQ. There are tutorials on how to first start with uploading (by using a transition template), how to use includes and lots more. There are free html and css tutorials on the web.

I started with block builder, like everyone.

Then I switched to uploading my own html, still using the same block builder (=transition) template, exactly as SBI advises.

Once I had the flexibility that uploading offers I learned more about html and css and includes. Once I was confident with all that I switched to a custom template.

The template has nothing to do with the success of my sites.

I still start every new site by throwing up a block builder standard template or equivalent. Only once I have a solid basis of content and traffic will I start wasting time on design.

Hope this helps!

Good luck and much success with your site,
B.

Here is another site of mine where Tatiana did both graphics and css.

Here is another site of mine where Rohit did both graphics and css.

Here is another site of mine where I did both graphics and css.

Again all Tatiana's work, this time using her three column template package.