Drawar

Thanks a lot, I'm trying different themes at the moment, let's see if finally i'll find the right one for me ;)

Solved problems #3 and 4...
Still can't find a solution for #1 and 2

The first theme is amazing, i chose that one.

Things i don't know how to do (comparing the theme to the theme page here:
1) on the sidebar it says there's an accordion script. It's not working on firefox and also ie;
2) how to add the add to technorati and add to delicious on the sidebar top;
3) add the little bar to bookmark posts on delicious, etc.;
4) how to add the search field.

Thank you very much!

Thank you guys for all your suggestions.
If anyone else maybe is looking for tutorials thanks to my feeds i found this web site.

It's really nice, good job :P

Thanks guys. I'm really happy someone just told me to use tutorials is not so bad, cos i was a bit worried about just jumping into the program without any basis. I'm trying these days, a bit difficult but i start understandind little thinks every day.

A friend (also a 9rules reader) suggested me the same web site jPhil said :P it's usefull.

Thanks guillaumeb, very usefull information :D

Does anyone use Gimp? Is it in your opinion a valid alternative to Photoshop, or just a different program? Thanks :)

I love lightbox these days, i would use the effect everywhere ahahah :D

"and try not to say 'i told you so' later when they come back" :D
Really hard thing to do, but it's of course the best thing to do

Every project has a personal playlist, it depends on what i have to do... If that's a code matter, maybe something smooth, oterwhise rock, funky, something more energic...

Thank you all guys, i'll let you know. Tomoroow i think it's gonna be The day i'm going to start :D

Ok, so i'll just try...
Just needed some encouragement, you're great guys :P
I'll try and let you know how will be my first close meeting with photoshop :D

So just trying... I'll try, and i'll let you know, it just seems so... Complicated ;) that having something like a tutorial to look at was encouraging :P...

Lightbox is a great idea :D

Mike! That's the article i was talking about in my first comment :D
So that's you :P

I'm not a professional web designer, what i'd like to learn is to make the graphic i need for the sites i design (so i'm not talking about "huge" things).
I'd like to learn Photoshop 'cos everyone i hear talking about it says such beautiful things, "you can do whatever you want", "it's more professional", "fireworks is going to disappear" (after adobe's acquisition of macromedia)...
So i'm looking for web sites where to find tutorials, resources, not so difficult to understand for a beginner...

It's usefull, thanks :)
You can do every kind of buttons with this method, notr just for feeds.

Thanks for the link i usually check those web sites, that have quite the same goal, the try to group web sites with great design.
Css Import
Css Drive
Css Elite
Css Beauty

I read something about this on a web site i have in my feeds...
For sure contrast is very important, just because i think a "flat" web site can be boring for viewers.
I created once a web site made of different boxes, each one of a different color (bright colors) and then effect was nice.
I use a lot of web sites for creating new color schemes (i already suggested in a post adobe's kuler.
I just think, like always, you don't have to exagerate. Sometimes can be better in my opinion chosing a range of colors contrasting, but still of the same shade...

You talked about font size, and that's something i like in the "web 2.0 style". Big fonts sometimes, in the right position etc., can give good contrast and a nice view. (I like when i fill in forms where fonts are big ;))

Chris, you got it... All of you said great things, and i had to change my mind on some aspects, but what happens when a customer want something made in flash, you show him an alternative made with, i don't know, javascript, and he still wants flash?
My note wasn't really about the choise "using flash or not using flash", it was about the "customer's mentality", which is not into those things (technical issues), and have "wrong" ideas about what we use for creating a web site (differences between languages etc.)... Some customers just don't understand, and they pay you, so you have to do what they ask.
If you are a professional web designer, you are in a position where you can chose, and say "i don't want a bad site in my portfolio", but when you're starting, you don't have any credibility to explain your choises (in cases when flash is not the right solution), and you need to work, to gain this credibility (and money also).
So you maybe have to decline works just because the customer think he can do your job, and is not doing it because maybe you'll be faster... This always happen to me talking about flash (when i say flash i mean when the customer wants to use it in a way which is not the bast for this king of programming language - because if i see actionscript can be the right option, even though i don't like it, i take my books and start working anyway - ).

The "education of the client" is the difficult thing... We all can have different opinions about using flash, but none of us would say that a web site can be done "all in flash" i would say.. Some customers just don't get it, and so it's hard to make them understand how important is to have a simple web site sometimes, rather than a super complex one that can be maybe "shocking" at a first sight, but totally not usefull to their customers. I had to do this when i worked on my first web site, the first i did for a "customer". It was really hard, but i think at the end he was quite happy with the final result.

I think Flash can be usefull maybe when you have to put videos on a web site, maybe the flv format can be "explored", but for example, i don't understand why people think flash "intro" are cool...

At work i experience web surfing at a low speed... The connection isn't fast, so opening a flash web site becomes a problem, it takes long time, and sometimes is not possible at all... And sometimes i find difficult, as a "designer", to adapt flash content to my sites, and most of times what customers ask in flash can be done either way, but they want flash because "that's professional", "thas's cool"...
I think that's a wrong idea, then we all know every designer have is favourite technique, so maybe i don't like using flash, another one likes to, and so on...
But why some customers thinks that's something you can't give up, you can't have a web site without a flash intro... Why?!?!?!

I used carbonmade for a while, which is pretty cool, but i'm working on my own... I still have to decide things about the design, but i'd like to have all my projects in one page, something like a mouse over, or a lightbox effect to show details about each one...

I recently learned how to use a "lightbox" effect (when you have a page, you click on a link, and you see the link opened and the rest of the page, in background, "covered in shadows"), and this is helping, but i still find people that thinks that "if my web site is made with flash, people would believe is more professional" :S

I'll read this article, i think it can answer some of my questions

We should do whatever we are able to to protect the environment, and i think we can use our websites and blogs to promote this idea. I'm starting to ask my friends that want me to create a web site for them, to add in the sidebar or wherever a few words, or the badge or logo of an association, a campaign to protect the environment they support. Just a way to tell people "we have this big problem, don't forget it".

In Italy government web sites are not so good, but now they are starting to pay more attention to accessibility. Sometimes compatibility with browsers is not great, but i think they are understandig the importance of having working web sites.

I also use web sites for color schemes, just like one of the last i tried, form Adobe, Kuler. For me trying to look somewhere else, distracting from my web site, from the things i'm working on, it's the only way to find my inspiration when i lost it.

For CSS learning I don't think you need books, just a lot of training. I can suggest a web site Css Drive, where you can start browsing into a lot of sites, divided from different point of view.