Hi all,

Recently, I have made this web site (under construction still)

www.parroquiasanfranciscosj.com

 (I know that it doesn't look like very well, and I feel ashamed...) I have used FrontPage 2003 and I wanted to migrate to EW. I know that I can improve it using CSS but I have no idea how to accomplish it. Can you please provide me any hints for doing that? I don't know any word of CSS...

Thank you very much in advance!

First I would scrap the table and use a css based layout. You should also get used to working in split view so that you can see when styles are being added in EW which is what all the style1, style2, style3, etc are. I usually create the styles first and then apply them BUT if I do inadvertently create one, I change the name to something that lets me know what it is for. You basically have a top header div, a div that is floated left for your left side navigation, a content div and the footer div. All this is within a container div. It will give you the same look as the table you are using. A div is just a division or section of your document. This explains the <div> tag in more detail http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_div.asp

 My favorite starting place is  http://www.inknoise.com/experimental/layoutomatic.php  However if you want a headstart, you can use any of these

http://www.genealogy-web-creations.com/css-layouts/index.htm  which are based on the above layout creator. This one probably comes closest to what you are trying to do. http://www.genealogy-web-creations.com/css-layouts/site1.html  You can view the source and see basically what I  did. Instead of the more complicated menu you are using, you can use one that is a css based menu layout that would look something like this http://www.the-gearys.com/david/index.htm

Your doctype has some extra stuff in it that is usually caused by copying and pasting from another MS program into Expression Web. See http://www.genealogy-web-creations.com/xmlns-validation-error.html for a complete explanation.

I would change the blue to another color as it does not quite go with the tans and browns. 

 
CSS is not hard, just think of it as having your content in your html coding and your presentation or styling in your style sheet.  Tina has a free e-bokk on setting up Expression Web to get you off on the right foot and another one on creating dwt's or dynamic web templates in Expression Web

http://any-expression.com/expression-web/ebooks/expression-web-dwt-ebook.htm

and http://any-expression.com/expression-web/ebooks/setting-up-expression-web-ebook.htm

A lot at one time. Read it over and if you don't understand come back and ask questions.

pat 

Thanks, Pat! This kind of information is what I was looking for (and thanks to Cheryl who pointed me out to ask here). I'm reading and executing what you said. Thanks!

The first question which I'm interested on is the menu. What are the reasons for using those you said and not mine?

One more question. Here:

http://www.the-gearys.com/david/index.htm

what shoul the css file "daivd.css" be?

You can certainly use your own menu but it looks like it is a javascript menu so if someone has javascript turned off, you should provide an alternative plain text menu. Some examples include -

http://www.houseofoak.com/

javascript menu at the top, plain text menu on the bottom

http://www.gnc-web-creations.com/

javascript menu on top and plain text menu on bottom.

pat 

Not sure what you are asking here?

pat 

Very, very, rough and no attempt was made to reproduce your menu. http://www.the-gearys.com/pepe/

pat 

What do you think of this new one?

 http://www.parroquiasanfranciscosj.com

Still don't care for the light turquoise color but that is my personal opinion. Also I am assuming the image at the top of the content area is the main topic of the page or what would be the h1 tag which a search engine will not read since it is a graphic image. When I try and validate the page I get 28 errors which need cleaning up. If you view the source code you still see lots of style + a number which are all the different styles you have created. In a week or two or even tomorrow are all the style1, style2, etc going to mean anything to you? You need to rename them so they have a meaning and use them over again instead of just restyling by highlighting and applying new styles. Try this, and swap with your menu and see if it works.

 
You also have some coding in the middle of the page that does not belong there.  

http://www.the-gearys.com/pepe/default.htm 

http://www.the-gearys.com/pepe/pepe.css

pat 

Well obviously I did something wrong there so will have to look at it tomorrow and see whee I goofed. Off to bed for tonight.

pat 

No I like the menu, I just did not take the time to pop it in the layout I was showing you. I think on the color because it is adding another color to the mix. But you have to be happy with it. Just suggestions.

 
pat 

What I tried to do was take the design you were currently using which was table based with a fixed width and show you how you could have the same look using divs and an external style sheet. Your menu is fine but you have lots of styles with #'s that are created when you try to format text content within Expression Web. You also have a lot of coding errors and another style section in the middle of the document. It is only meant to give you an idea of what you can do.

 Last try  http://www.the-gearys.com/pepe/revised-default.htm

It validates but has no H1 tag for structure. Style sheet needs some cleaning up.

pat