Help with CSS (and maybe PHP/MySQL/Ajax)

[Sefyu]

First off, let me introduce myself:

I'm a beginning 'webmaster' from the Netherlands. Currently I've rolled into a start up business together with my uncle. As I am by far the most technical of us, I've taken upon me the task to do all the computer and web related tasks. We decided to start a web shop. I've read some comparisons between shops and I've chosen Interspire Shopping Cart(nulled, for now). As there already has been a small investment(Dutch language pack, not available for free anywhere), I'd like to stick with Interspire.

From the shopping cart software I've compared, Interspire has the best looking templates. But those are not enough for me, I'm planning to create a good looking website, looking non-standard. So now I'm figuring out how the back-end of the software works, it's kind of complicated(more about that later).

Secondly, I'll give you the URL: http://www.xgbeatz.com/
Also, as you can see, all the standard templates are, well, standard(http://www.interspire.com/shoppingcart/storedesigns.php). I took the 'Lingerie' template and started from there on. I don't have a lot of experience with web coding. I know how HTML works, I know how CSS works for a small part, I know a tiny tiny bit about PHP and even less about MySQL and Ajax, this shop uses all of those languages.

This is what I think I know about the back end:

When you go to the root of the site(index.php), the file init.php is called which seems to handle all the requests, it takes the data from the DB and uses HTML templates to build the pages(it calls default.html(the homepage), product.html, etc ect.)
I can ofcourse give more information about the file structure and the content of the files if needed.

I don't have a complete image in my head of how the site should look, but I've created a quick mockup in PS for the homepage: http://i45.tinypic.com/2rr4eh2.png


My design is based on this site's: http://www.endless.com/
Until now, I've been screwing around and figuring out things by trying, but I think I could progress a lot faster if I had a little help from the outside.
I have a couple of tasks now that pop up that I should do first. Those are:

Creating a pure CSS navbar: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008...-and-examples/

Removing the first column and maybe moving the contents to the top navbar(this shouldn't be a problem)

Centering the image(somehow it won't work if I put margin-left:auto margin-right:auto, like how I centered the content div)

Getting the site to work in IE, and making it look the same in FF IE and Chrome(particularly the rounded corners and the border gradient)


Less important(for later):
Using Super Awesome buttons: http://www.zurb.com/article/266/supe...-css3-and-rgba

Using customs fonts: http://www.css3.info/preview/web-fonts-with-font-face/

Creating custom dialog boxes: http://www.queness.com/post/1696/cre...query-and-css3

This list is just a start, there's much more that I'll add.

I would like to know what you think is important to fix first. And if you see obvious issues at first sight(but not the placement of the search box, those are trivial things) and know how to fix them: please do reply here.

This is not all I have to say, it's a start, whilst working on the code, I'll come up with other issues and post them here.

Thanks in advance.

Sefyu Reviewed by Sefyu on 7th Mar 2010. Help with CSS (and maybe PHP/MySQL/Ajax) First off, let me introduce myself: I'm a beginning 'webmaster' from the Netherlands. Currently I've rolled into a start up business together with my uncle. As I am by far the most technical of us, I've taken upon me the task to do all the computer and web related tasks. We decided to start a web shop. I've read some comparisons between shops and I've chosen Interspire Shopping Cart(nulled, for now). As there already has been a small investment(Dutch language pack, not available for free Rating: 5

[jayfella]

Hey there.

Firstly, i would suggest downloading XAMPP or WAMPP and installing your site on localhost so you can play with it without messing around with FTP etc.

Secondly, there are several Content Management Systems designed to help you achieve your goals without putting in half as much effort as your going to need to do with your current setup, the most popular being Joomla and DLE.

Thirdly, dialog boxes and buttons are uber easy to do. Take a look at the rokbox plugin, which is a universal plugin and allows you to create HTML/CSS/Java/etc dialog boxes and is literally endlessly configurable.

A small example of using those buttons you mentioned:

#myImg {background-image:url('../img/image1.gif')}
#myImg :hover {background-position:0px -72px}

That code will move the image up 72px when u hover over it (i cant do it here, html/css is not allowed in posts) - thus creating the effect that a button has been pressed.

thats all there is to it really when your using whats called "sprites". Basically it reduces HTTP requests and results in much quicker loading websites.

Anyway.

Welcome to KWWH. Have fun messing around

[seanellisUK]

drop a message here if you have msn and need a hand and I'll help you out

[Sefyu]

@jayfella

I don't mind reuploading everything with every change, I use Dreamweaver to edit the code, and updating the file is just a matter of pressing CTRL+S and then CTRK+SHIFT+U and the file's online.

Secondly, about the CMS. I'm guessing you mean using something like Joomla with an eCommerce plugin? I don't know if that's such a good idea, as I think that Interspire offers the most functionality. Plus, coding all this stuff myself is good for my coding abilities, as I've been planning on doing webstuff for ages, but never got to it.

Thirdly, I see... The various methods I've encountered online don't look to hard either. It's something for the future though, I'd like to finish the basis of the site first, I think I should write down everything and create mockups of every page so you guys can understand better what I'd like to do.


@seanellisUK

I will PM you my MSN later.

[Sefyu]

Well, I can't find the PM function here lol, how can I give you my MSN?

[seanellisUK]

media@dotnet-media.com - hit me up I'll be online soon.