The technology
So how did I go about building this site? What does it take? And what software does the modern web consultant swear about? Sorry, swear by?
PHP
The site is built using PHP as a server-side language, although there's not much server-side stuff going on just yet. Soon there will be database type things added, hopefully.
To do the coding I'm using a mixture of Dreamweaver on the PC and Aptana on the Mac.
Code libraries and JavaScript
For some of the JavaScript effects you can see on the home page and in the navigation, I'm using byteFX, by Andrea Giammarchi:
As well as, for images, probably my favourite JS effect ever - LightBox, by Lokesh Dhakar.
Images
Initial design is done using my trusty felt-tip pens and big A3 pad of colouring in paper from Tesco. Image manipulation work is done using The Gimp on the PC and GimpShop on the Mac; a wonderful bit of software which seems to get more powerful every time I play with it and discover something new.
Browsers and testing
My day-to-day browser needs are more than met by Firefox 2.0; other testing is done in IE6 and Opera on the PC and Safari 2.0 on the Mac. I know this site's a bit dodgy in Safari; I'm working on it. Honest.
