Design and Coding

This website has been designed and coded to be compact, fast-loading, standards-compliant, and should work in nearly any browser.

I've created this site entirely using open-source tools:

• HTML coding - I've written most of the code for this site using Kate, the advanced text editor shipped with KDE. I also occasionally use the Midnight Commander editor for small changes.
• Graphics - graphics on this site were created using the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). I've mostly used the PNG graphics format which is compact, high-quality, well-supported and completely open-source.
• Hosting - the site is hosted on my virtual dedicated Linux server from Bytemark Hosting, running the Apache webserver. It also uses PHP for dynamic content, and Perl for some site management, scheduled jobs, log analysis etc.

I believe that websites should work well enough in any browser. A website can never be absolutely identical in every browser, but with careful coding you can create a website which is usable by almost everyone on the net.

The old version of preshweb.co.uk used more controlled, stylish design, but wasn't very cross-browser compatible, and wasn't a fluid design (it couldn't expand to take up wider browser windows).

I've used PHP and Perl to automate many tasks and parts of the site to reduce my maintenance requirements. I want to be able to keep the site up to date, but I don't want to spend hours and hours of my free time on it - I'm not that much of a geek, I do enough code-monkeying at work!