Hi

I have just finished my first ever CSS site and would be interested to hear any critiques.
I really wanted the site to be simple and to not end up looking like a blog / web 2.0 site.

Before this attempted CSS based design, all my previous websites were made in WYSIWYG apps, so learning CSS was doubly hard :) However, I must say, once I got my had around the concept I can't believe how much better and more logical it is - and for the first time ever, I actually enjoyed building a a website.

I am sure my code is messy and would appreciate any pointers or problems so I can learn in time for my next site.

Thanks

The site: http://www.jpink.co.uk

DP

Visually it is a nice design, I like it.

There is a but, sorry, maybe it's me but the centre right border stopping short was noticeable. Was this intended or a shortcoming in the HTML? I know column borders are awkward using CSS but there are techniques to overcome this issue.

Also I know the site validates using the online tool but IMO it is not valid XHTML code for the following reasons:

1. The navigation has empty anchor tags.
If you want to use an background image for the link use this technique so that screen readers have text as well:

html
<a href="http://www.jpink.co.uk"><span>HOME</span></a>
CSS
a span{display:none;}

2. Alt tags for the images should provide a description, "header graphic" is unacceptable.
For good XHTML images that are for presentation purposes should be in the CSS.

3. Header tags should follow a logical sequence h1 => h6. Headers should be used in the same way as newspapers and magazines use them to describe articles. The content of the <h4> from the main page is not content:

<h4><a href="terms/index.htm">Terms &amp; Conditions</a> |
<a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer" target=
"_blank">XHTML 1.0</a> | <a href=
"http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer" target=
"_blank">CSS</a></h4>

4. Having the navigation as a definition list rather than an unordered list.

Hope you find the comments constructive.

I agree with varland.

However --> you are both missing the big picture. THIS IS HIS FIRST CSS SITE. Validation shouldn't even been an issue with your first site. Bringing your design to life in a table-less way is the primary objective. If you don't validate, if you don't use the right tags, it is all rather pointless in the grand scheme of things -- in my personal opinion.

Yes, I want for designpunk to learn how to do it the right way, but I don't want him or others getting distracted when the important thing is realizing he made a very important and challenging choice -- going table-less. You guys know what I mean I am sure. His code, while not perfect, is functional, clean and coherent.

The site looks good man! You did a great job and we all expect closer to perfection with each site that follows. I'd be too embarrassed to share with everyone the code from my first CSS Site.