About the Mad Artist

I'm doing this website for a couple of reasons. First, of course, is to showcase my photography. Second is to learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and how to use them to create a Website. The Image Creation part of this project is no problem. That is, I know how to go out and shoot some pretty good pictures. It is the Website Creation part of the project that is the real learning experience.

I started building this website in 2013 using Microsoft FrontPage, but soon found out that FrontPage added a LOT of unnecessary code. So I learned how to write HTML and CSS Code 'by hand' using Notepad++ and hosted it on Freewebs. After a bit I found an inexpensive place to host the site and registered my domain name. Then a friend gave me Adobe CS3, which includes Dreamweaver (Thanks, James). Dreamweaver is one of the best pieces of Web Design Software available, and it was great while it lasted. But Dreamweaver CS3 didn't play well with the upgrade to Windows 10. So now it is back to Notepad++ and Microsoft with Visual Studio Code.

I haven't done a lot of updating of the site over the years. In fact it pretty much sat in it's half-completed stage for most of the time since then. And now, jumping back into it I find that the 'new' HTML5 and CSS3 do a lot more than HTML and CSS did when I started this journey. So that gives me more stuff to learn and play with.

So please be patient, as this website is a 'work in progress'. I recently removed most of the old site and have a new front page and some place-holder pages. Nothing very fancy as of now. I simply want to get something clean and simple and working. And I will continue to add to it as time allows and the spirit move me. I'm still not sure where all this is going to end up. And it may very well be a never ending journey. But I sure am having a lot of fun along the way.

Thanks for visiting, John