About the Project

"Look, Ma: no tables!" The main goal of this project was to create a site using only CSS for layout. Tables were only to be used as they were originally intended: for tabular data, only. The site also had to be optimized to work in all modern browsers, and to degrade nicely in the older ones.

International folkdancing is a huge hobby for me, and one of my very favourite recreational activities. Although there are many websites on international folkdancing, almost all of them only have information on the particular local group that developed the site. I wanted to create a website that would help various folkdance groups network with each other, that would develop an interest and a starting point to people who had heard of international folkdancing but didn't know where to seek it out, and that would provide useful resources to more experienced folkdancers on folkdance workshops around the world, folkdance instructors, and musical groups specializing in international folk music.

About the Site Features

Hand-coding of the website was done in BBEdit, and all positioning of the layout was done with CSS. The navigation uses no images (unless you count the five dancers on the lime green colour bar as part of the navigational bar): The various changes to the colour bars, font weights, font colours, and underscores on the rollover, mouse-down, and on states were all achieved with CSS. It is trickier than it looks. I used Fireworks to create the graphics, and slice and optimize the images.

I designed the site to be simple and straightforward; colourful but not distracting. The navigation, especially, adds bursts of playful colour. It also clearly indicates 'where you are' on the site. Typography is designed to be easy on the eye, and suitable for quick scanning.