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CSS Learning Curve

I've noted before that CSS is frustrating at times, yet a great tool with great promise.

Of course, one usually notices the flaws, not the goodies. Here's a message of both:

• Frustration: Yes, I should have checked and all that, but apparently -- for what I'm aiming for (HTML 4.01 STRICT and CSS2), underscores are not acceptable characters in class/ID names. This is new to me. Very non-Unix, which the W3C seems to follow (with my support/understanding, mind you). Turns out that a class I had in this blog still worked fine, but failed the W3C's CSS validation. I don't want that. Ouch. Yes, should have tested earlier, but it was not that bad. But why is underscore "_" bad? Interesting.


• Great (promise): OK, I discovered that I screwed up, but thanks to style sheets -- and good architecture (the classes affected on other sites limited only to the header and footer files. Trivial) -- it was a quick fix. Would I have rather NOT had to fix it? Sure! But did the entire nature of style sheets vs. content make this a billion times easier? Yep.

End of rant...
OK, I think Blogger's Sunday, 02/23/2003 update introduced some weirdness -- my name no longer appears in the "posted by" byline.

Normally, I'd say this was my fault (as I recently introduced new template code), but it doesn't even work if I used the exact code they supply in the example on the template page.

I tried the nickname, as well, and that did not work either. (Yes, I have a nickname registered...)

NOTE: The archived pages -- all of which I also regenerated with the new code -- are fine. Except for the set I just regenerated now as a test; they have the same byline issue.

No note of this on the blogger status page, as of yet. Oh well...

[Update about a half hour later: Of course, after I have submitted an issue to Blogger and then gave it one more try, all was well. Without touching the template, as well. So it was on their end. I don't know if there was a setting they had to flip on my blog that they did when they received my message (doubtful) or a site-wide thing. Either way, all better now. Republished the block of archive that I had tested, and all is well again.]
Content vs. Code

One of the drawbacks to blogging that I've discovered is that it takes away precious coding time.

Beyond the normal use of the HTTP and SMTP protocols, there are only a couple of things that I do regularly on the computer: Code and, over the last couple of years (in a very sporadic nature, mind you), blog.

So it comes down -- in any given keystroke -- what is one to do? Crank code or create content?

While not a big concern for many bloggers - who are writers only - it is a big issue, I would think, for many others. Face it, a lot of the popular bloggers out there were already known for code work (for example, Dan Bricklin, creator of VisiCalc about a million [Internet] years ago. And, of course, there is Dave Winer, a developer and Blogerati).

So there is a choice that needs to be made.

On the other hand, there is always the interest in keeping a rounded personality (as if coding AND blogging will turn one into a Renaissance man/woman...)

Oh well..