freshpub

Hope someone here will take pity on poor, little, programming-challenged, old me...I have managed to install Oscommerce (easy enough with Fantastico - many thanks to its creators) and the STS module (quite a feat for me!). I have even managed to find a very good set of HTML/CSS pages to use as templates.But this is where I'm stuck. I have been trawling - and still am - the Internet for help to transform my HTML pages so that they become templates. But all the explanations I have found are too complicated for me, because they all assume that I know PHP. I don't Would there be someone very nice here at Xisto who would take me by the hand and give a step by step how-to in plain English? Or could you point me somewhere on the Internet where the information is available, preferably for free?Thanks you all so much

Congratulations!!!I hope you will be able to see your new darling daughter very soon. In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers will hopefully keep her and your wife safe.Now you can look forward to teething problems, running around and bumping into things, teenage rebellion, and unsuitable boyfriends... I bet your job sounds a lot easier now All my love and wishes of happinness to you and your family!

I don't think making tobacco illegal would do much good.Many people like to be contratry, and if tobacco was to be made illegal, it would only lead to more people, and teenagers in particular, getting hold of some and smoking it just to be cool.I agree that it's very bad for your own health and for that of those who live and work close to you... So I think the UK have got it right to a point. Smoking - smoking anything for that matter - has been banned from public places. You can smoke in your own home, and out in the open, but not in enclosed places where people meet such as bars and restaurants.There has been much grumbling by the smokers when this law came into action a few years back. But people seem to have adapted pretty well to it. The only solution is to have rooms for smokers and rooms for non-smokers, but it might stretch some businesses...So, sorry Laos, but you won't get my signature to make tobacco illegal.

The survival of the human race will ultimately depend on us colonising space in one way or the other...The dinosaur were wiped out and so could we. Whether it was diseases, asteroid strikes or another catastrophe, what killed them could and probably would kill us too. On top of natural disaster, there is the fact that the human race can't seem to be able to stop fighting among itself. If Nature doesn't get rid of us, we would surely do the job for Her...Space, and the possibilities that are out there, is the only way mankind will survive.Then again, I'm not convinced that mankind should survive...

The government can try to cut off people from the Internet, but nearly every town has a library with computers to access the net. And usually it's free to sign up! The threat might stop some people, like those who prefer to stay on the right side of the law or who might not even realise they're doing wrong. But like you pointed out, those who really want their videos, music tracks or ebooks will find a way to get what they want. I think the ISP's may report the very worst offenders, but as you said, they stand to lose a lot.And if you're right with your statistics, the government can't really do anything anyway. I seems to recall the Prime Minister saying he wanted everyone in Britain to have access to the net by 2012. If have of us get banned, that target won't be met, will it?I think the government should stay out of it, really. It's a matter for the courts. I'm a publisher, and my industry has been working hard to put books online without risking the kind of piracy like the music industry has experienced with mp3. I think that this is really the way to go. The businesses offering stuff online must make sure themselves that their stuff doesn't get stolen. They have security systems for their offices and warehouses rights? They need the equivalent online!And then if someone steal, ban them from the store and sue them like you would do an offline thief. That's what the laws are for! Sure it might be more difficult, but the ISP's would definitely be more willing to help track down thieves rather than loose customers altogether.Just my point of view...

I agree with kleong, to a point. Formula one is now more interesting, because Ferrari has lost their death grip on the top spot of the podium. Michael was an excellent driver, and got the best out of the car. And Formula 1 was boring when he could win with a lap on nearly everyone else.Now that they have started to change the rules, the sport is more interesting - to a fan like me anyway. Although I do think that some of the changes planned for next year are ridiculous...In response to Simpleton, the races really aren't that long. The time limit for a race is 2 hours, just over the length of a football match. What makes it appear so long is the time that the tv channels spend talking about it beforehand. You don't need a whole hour to tell everyone who is where on the starting grid I agree that drivers have to be lucky to have a good car underneat them if they want to win. They also have to be lucky not to crash, or be caught up in another driver's crash. Luck is an important part of any sport. But talent is just as important. And so is strategy.Even starting near enough last, a driver with talent can weave his way into the points - first to eighth get points. Michael could do it. Hamilton can do it. So can Barichello, Massa and Fisichella if they have a good car underneath them. The more points you earn during one season, the better your chances the following one, either in your current team as they will be having more money from sponsors; or at a different team who will have recognised your talent.I think it all comes down to being truly hooked. I love it. Can't stop shouting at the tv screen when the stewarts make a poor decision. can't help but yell when my favourite wins. My partner's the same with football, though I can't see the point of 22 men running after a ball when they all earn enough to buy their own. It's called being a fan i suppose, and if you can't stop watching, Simpleton, maybe you're getting there yourself

Your portfolio will be a very important tool. But you need something to show before you can build it.Look around for a charity, an event, anything that you think might do with a good new website, or a redesign of their old one. Then approach them and offer to do the work for free, or at costs if they want some very specific stock pictures. And here is the first project to put in your portfolio...But two things that you should do afterwards:1-Ask whoever agreed to you doing with the website if they were happy with the way you did it. Ask for suggestions on how to improve your customer service. And if they were desperately happy with it all, ask for a testimonial, a short quote to put on your own website, in promotional literature and/or to use in a press release...2-Get the local news involved. If the charity/event you've just finished working for is already planning to appear in the local paper, radio, tv news, ask if you can be mentioned as a sponsor, a volunteer or whatever they want to call you. Ask that they mentioned exactly what you did for them and that they are happy with your service. Create your own press release as well. Ask someone you know that is good with words if you can't do it yourself. Then sent the release to everyone you can think of and post it on your website and with press release agencies online.Mailing the businesses in your area repeatedly could do you some harm as well as good. Many people don't read flyers, and if they do, they might get annoyed to see your name crop up again and again. Unsolicited direct mailings are good, but only if you don't do it too often...Try getting in at business events. Doesn't have to be related with designing at all. Over here in the UK, we have networking events, specifically hosted to meet new business contacts. But almost every business owners I know are using free business courses and events about accounting, marketing, tax, purchasing... as a networking event, to make new business contacts.Just a few ideas...

I think all people with high salaries should take a good, long, hard look at themselves. I put bankers, politicians, rich businessmen all in the same basket here.Over here, in the UK, some politicians have been found to claim expenses for ridiculous things such as changing the toilet seats in their home. Many have been ordered to repay this, and some are now moaning that they don't have enough to live on. ?64,766 a year, allowances for two homes and travel back and forth to London... I think that's far too much when I struggle on just under ?12,000.If your President Obama has started the ball rolling by forcing pay cuts on high earners who make bad decisions, very good. Hopefully, our politicians will now see sense and realise they're just the same!

I don't think that McDonald should take all the blame here. Yes, some of their stuff is not that healthy, but no one is forcing parents to go and eat there. And nowadays - at least in the UK, McDonalds actually offers one portion of fruit or vegetable with their kids' meals. The fact remains that, going to McDonalds once or twice a month, like I do with my kids, won't do them a lot of harm. If they have an actively lifestyle and otherwise eat healthy enough, one greasy burger every other week is not going to make them obese.I must admit that we don't eat particularly healthy in my home. We only have 2 or 3 of the 5 portions of fruits and vegetables a day doctors keep on saying we should all eat. The kids have chocolate cereals for breakfast. We love our potatoes - whether mashed, roasted or in the form of chips or wedges. And there's always sweets and sugary stuff for the kids to eat...But then again, we walk everywhere. The kids have been taught that they only get sweets if they behave and eat the rest of their food first. They are involved in lots of activities and sports. The food I cook is always prepared without any oil. I only buy 100% beef burgers, so that you don't get all the crap that cheaper brand add to theirs.It's all a question of balancing food and an active lifestyle...

I think McDonalds does relatively decent food for what you pay. I know my kids are always asking to go, probably because of the sugar content. And I do let them sometimes, because it's cheap. I kind of like too, once in a while. Sure it doesn't taste as good as a nice mome-made burger and fries, but it could be a lot worse. McDonalds will stay top because their one of the cheapest. I do prefer to pay a bit more and get better food, but not everyone can nowadays. And they have the budget to keep advertising and stay in the mind of the public. As for those who say that it's not healthy, my answer is: go and have a run around the park. A greasy burger will only drop on your thighs if you keep them still.

If I had a million pound, I would buy a nice, four or five bedrooms house (not a too expensive one, say ?500k max), a couple of cheap flats to refurbish and then rent, and use some of what's left to furiously promote my publishing business.I think that leaves me with thereabouts of ?200,000... Let's see - keep half to give an extremely wonderful Christmas to my children and my family, and give the other half to charity, maybe Cancer Research UK or the Red Cross.

I've got three children. The first two, my lazy boys, only started talking properly around 2, because they were happy to talk baby-talk between themselves, didn't go much to play groups, and knew perfectly well that Mum and Dad could understand them.My third one, my little girl, has said her first words aged 10 months, and by 1, her vocabulary contained mama, dada, bottle, milk and tickle.All children are different, but if you're still worried, do try to get in touch with a speech therapist, like rayzoredge suggested. It worked wonders with my boys!

Do you like how that person in your dream changed? Do you think that they changed for the better? Because if not, your subconcious might be trying to pinpoint when/where/what went wrong in that person's life, for you to then fix it.I often have dreams the way you describe it, and as Baniboy said, I often take control of these dreams because they are very useful creative tool for me. Although it took me a little while to learn, I can now rewind, pause, zoom in, fast-forward... all sorts of useful things for a writer/editor trying to make a story better.However, if you really do not want the dreams, here is a little tip. It was taught me by a friend and, although not totally foolproof, it works often enough for me. When you go to bed, take a glass of water. Drink that very slowly in your bed, and consciously slow your breathing. Then lay down and close your eyes, still trying to keep your breathing nice, even and slow. When you start drifting off, think very clearly to yourself that you do not want to dream this night. Try and make this the very last conscious thought you have. Although your subconscious takes over at night, I found that often sleep quietly through the night with that technique!Hope this helps!

I don't get to choose lately, because I'm forced to use the computers at my local library. And, of course, they use Windows and IE.But otherwise, Firefox, all the way. I also like Google Chrome.I think the only reason IE is used so much IS because it is bundled with windows. None of my web developers use it for anything but checking their sites work with it, and they keep on telling me it's a nightmare to get the sites to behave the way they should with IE...

It might look very nice and shiny now, but give it to my kids for just five minutes, and you'll see the finger marks and scratches appear!!!I think it's not worth it. Just give me a nice black phone that can easily make calls and go on the Internet. That's all I need.