One of the variables that web designers have to deal with during the design process is the continually changing screen resolution of Internet users. Not that long ago, an 800px x 600px screen size was the norm. These days, most people have at least a 1024px x 768px screen. Of course, you still have users who are stuck in the dark ages, with screen resolutions of 640px x 480px, and you have some users who connect to the Internet via their HDTVs, giving them a screen resolution of 1920px x 1080px.

So, how do you, as a web designer, deal with this constantly changing landscape? Well, there’s no easy answer to this. Some designers opt to create pages that are scalable, so they always fill the entire web browser. Others hedge their bets by limiting the width of their sites so they fit within the most common browser size. There are upsides and downsides to both of these approaches, but in both cases, there are other factors to consider.

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If you’re relatively new to web design, you’re probably still learning how to get your pages to look the same in all browsers. Even more important, though, is learning how to get your pages to function correctly in all browsers.

The most arduous way of doing this is to open your site in every browser—at least the major ones—and check the functionality of every link, every Flash element, and so on. Of course, even if you’re willing to take the time to do this, you have no guarantee that the invisible elements of your site—your meta tags and doctype tags, for instance—are working correctly.

The only way to ensure that your site has been properly coded is to validate it in order to confirm that it adheres to accepted web standards. So, how do you do this? Well, let me introduce you to your new best friend, the W3C Markup Validation Service.

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INTERMEDIATE

Size: 13 circular needles
Yarn: 80 yards
One stitch holder

This scarf has two tapered ends and loops through itself making a bowtie effect. It’s warm, comfortable, doesn’t get in the way, closes that gap at the top of your jackets, and fits easily in a bag for those cool early spring evenings. Most of the complexities of this pattern are in the decreasing within an established pattern and moving/picking up stitches to and from stitch holders.

For those of you who like pictures, this is the basic shape and approximate dimensions:

NEEDLE SIZE:

This pattern is written for size 13 needles. I suggest circular needles because there are frequent transitions from needles to holders and this allows you to ignore which side you’re starting.

I have also made this pattern successfully on size 10 needles/27 stitches and size 15 needles/21 stitches (3 more rows of decrease at tapering for size 10 needle pattern).

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You’ve finally done it. You’ve made a film — most likely a short — and you’ve been accepted to your first film festival. So, what should you expect? Well, first thing’s first. I don’t want to burst your bubble (after all, getting screened at a film festival is a big deal — it really is) but it’s important not to have any illusions about what this means for you as a filmmaker.

Getting into a festival is like any other career achievement. It’s something to enjoy; it’s something to put on your resume; it’s an opportunity to gain some exposure and make some connections. It’s very rarely, however, a giant breakthrough that results in funding for a major production. After all, there are hundreds of film festivals in the United States alone, with thousands of filmmakers screening their work every year, yet when you see commercials for upcoming Hollywood releases, almost none of them were directed by filmmakers who just got discovered at a festival.

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Still somewhat new to CSS?  Below are three suggestions to help improve your coding:

1) External, Not Internal

There are three ways to apply CSS styles to your web site:

1. Use Internal CSS
2. Use Inline CSS
3. Use an External Style Sheet

Internal (or “embedded”) CSS is a set of CSS properties specified within the head tags of your page.  For instance, if you want the background of your page to be black, you could do this:

<html>
<head>
<title>My Web Site</title>
<style type="text/css">
body {
          background-color: #000;
}
</style>
</head>

Inline CSS is similar, except that the properties are applied directly to specific elements within the page.  For instance, if you want one paragraph to have a 20px margin above it, you could do this:

<p style="margin-top: 20px">This is my sample paragraph.</p>

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