I finally did the sensible thing a few weeks ago and created katcom. It's a whole lot easier adding LJ syndication to an existing RSS feed than posting both here and over on katsue_fox about KatCom updates!

If you're here for the updates, then you'd be far better off adding katcom to your LJ feeds than reading this journal.

If, however, you're interested in long rambling posts about coding and web design, detailed accounts of layout- and usability-related KatCom updates and occasional highly opinionated rantage about browsers, text editors and arrogant techie tossers, then stay put! ^_^

Well over a year ago, someone was damningly critical of KatCom's layout and usability, and to be honest, I never really got over that. Also, KatCom has been built pretty much one page at a time over a period of two-and-a-half years, and in it's present form, it's a total sod to update.

Bit by bit, I'm trying to do things to make it more user-friendly for both me and for visitors to the site. It's a slow process, because I'm ill most of the time and find it hard to think straight, but I'm determined to give it a much-needed overhaul.

What I'm not prepared to do, however, is use any "off the peg" ready-made layouts. Because I'm not a prolific writer, my main contribution towards KatCom *is* the coding and layout. Using a ready-made layout would make me feel redundant and worthless, and then having to adapt it so that it also worked for *me* (Opera, 800x600) *and* validated... *shakes head*. No. Just no.

I've spent the last couple of months or so reading tutorial after tutorial - mainly CSS but also PHP and MySQL, I've read through a lot of what Jakob Nielsen has to say about usability and I've spent far more time on the W3C than is good for my sanity. ¬_¬

How much of what I've studied I'll be able to use effectively, I don't know. But I want to TRY.

*Goes back to working on Tatsumi shrine*