I have never been satisfied with the design of the websites. I have accepted a long, long, long time ago that I did not have much in the way of artistic ability.
However since getting a real smartphone for myself – a Google Nexus 5 which at only CDN$350 unlocked, having a “pure” Android interface, not having to wait on a carrier to provide the OS updates and not having carrier bloatware is a great deal – I quickly realized that I needed to redesign the site. It was simply not readable on a smartphone without zooming in and of course that would make navigation and viewing a chore.
So, it was time to brush of my HTML and PHP skills. And to force myself to learn CSS. I am (unfortunately) old enough to remember when CSS first came about. I was a web developer at that time (it was a long time ago before artistic skills were needed 🙂 ) and, frankly, CSS was somewhat a solution looking for a problem and it was not much of a solution at that. We were all pumping out text and tabular data with a few, now quaint, icons.
On of the very smart folks at work (Dan Shea from Dockridge Solutions) suggested using Bootstrap as the framework. It took a little while to figure it out (likely because I am not as sharp as I used to be) but the first conversion is now up. I used the Weather Page (wx.pelleys.com – Paradise Weather) as the starting point since that is the page I check most frequently on a mobile device.
Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think. And no, Bootstrap does not help the artistically challenged. Dunh!
About Mike Pelley
Let’s see… A little about me…
I’ve been around information technology since 1983 with computers such as DEC Rainbows (weird machine – the standard DOS couldn’t format its own floppy disks – remember them? – and I had to format them on a friend’s IBM PC) to Radio Shack TRS-80 to Apple ][e and Apple //c in the beginning.
I have programmed in 8-bit assembly language on 6502, FORTRAN and COBOL on IBM System/370 (and I still hate JCL), VAX BASIC and COBOL (and a weird and massive WordPerfect 4.0 macro) on DEC VMS (Alpha), C/C++ on Digital Unix (ALPHA), and C/C++, Perl (it may be powerful but I still hate it), PHP on Linux (Red Hat, Centos, Ubuntu, etc.).
I have work with databases such as Digital RDB (later to become Oracle RDB), Oracle DBMS, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and PostgreSQL on VAX, Alpha, Sun and Intel.
Check out my professional profile and connect with me on LinkedIn. See http://lnkd.in/nhTRZe
I still think that Digital created some of the best ideas in the world: VAX clustering, DSSI disks (forerunner to SCSI) and the Alpha processor (first commercial 64-bit processor – Red Hat screamed on an Alpha!). DEC just could not seem to be able to give air conditioners away to someone lost in the Sahara Desert!
VMware is one of the best ways to get the most out of an x64 server. And I have tried Oracle VM, Virtual Box and Microsoft Virtual Server.
Outside of that I am a huge military history buff starting in the early 20th century. I love Ford Mustangs (my ’87 Mustang GT was awesome) and if I had the money I would have a Porsche 928S4. If I had a lot of money I would have a Porsche 911 Turbo.
I also play too much AmrA 3 Exile mod. Over 5,000+ hours...
I have a wonderful son, Cameron. I have a long suffering (Do you really need all that computer junk?) wife, Paula. I live in Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador.
