my thoughts

I've always been known as the person to ask when it comes to CSS, so I thought I'd share a few of the resources that I find helpful when working with CSS. I will revise this post in the near future so that the concepts are explained.

I recommend learning about the 'box model', semantic markup (writing documents with meaningful structure) and how widely supported this is. There are a few caveats with css support: look at the "Box Model Hack" for general problems with the box model on IE5 and the "Commented Backslash Hack" for problems with IE5 on the Mac.

Technique & reference:
www.alistapart.com - techniques for web development.
css-discuss.incutio.com/ - CSS Wiki

Correct use of fonts:
www.w3.org/QA/Tips/font-size - Why the big fonts?
www.clagnut.com/blog/348/ - sizing text in 'em's

Bugs and workarounds:
www.tantek.com/CSS/Examples/boxmodelhack.html - Box model hack
www.sam-i-am.com/work/sandbox/css/mac_ie5_hack.html - IE5-Mac hack
positioniseverything.net/explorer/threepxtest.html - IE 3px float bug

Just discovered this collection of talking food. It's inspired, and spot on.
www.angelfire.com/comics/carowallis/

Here's a pronunciation guide to a selection of belgian beers. You can listen to the American version (just plain wrong, and probably how you say it if you're anything like me) and to the Flemish and French pronunciations to find out how they ask for the beer in Belgium. So now you know that Hoegaarden is not "Hoe-garden" but "Hoo-haardn". www.belgianstyle.com/mmguide/pronounce/speak.html

Old news perhaps, but it needs noting: Lynx is an excellent text-only browser, and a valuable tool for checking the accessibility of a site (but it is not a substitute for an actual screen reader). Delorie.com provide web access to Lynx for you to check your work for the times when you don't have the full version to hand.
www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html

Mind mapping is a technique for helping people learn more effectively. I use some free mind-mapping software to as a method of writing down my ideas in a natural and rapid manner. I have found that once you've mastered a few keyboard shortcuts you can really let the creativity rip (some people call this the "flow state"). When was the last time you can say that about a technique for recording an idea quickly?

Interestingly it also makes for a great way of producing any heirarchical (tree) structure quickly. I've used it for website structure (mapping the information architecture) but it would work well for organisation charts, project structure etc..

Freemind: free mind mapping software, very good, intuitive, requires Java. Get it.
freemind.sourceforge.net/

Summary of mind mapping benefits:
www.mind-mapping.co.uk/

I'm sure you've heard of Derren Brown by now, his ability to second guess and manipulate people, and his memory tricks make for very compelling viewing! The channel 4 website has an interesting insight into the various techniques he employs to perform these impressive feats! I particularly like the statement that most of the show is based on existing knowledge of human psychology - the remainder is "magic", the talent of an experienced performance artist. If you are interested I recommend reading the follow-up resources (mostly websites) listed after each example on the site. You might also want to check out the field of NLP, just watch out for the quacks!
www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/M/mindcontrol/
www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/M/mindcontrol/subtle/illusion.html (How it's done)
www.derrenbrown.co.uk/home.asp
www.nlpinfo.com/ (About NLP)

"Crank Dot Net is devoted to presenting Web sites by and about cranks, crankism, crankishness, and crankosity". The science category makes for interesting reading - there are plenty of examples of the undergrowth of science and the downright bizzarre in here.
www.crank.net/
undergrowth of science (Book by Walter Gratzer; ISBN 0198507070; a good read)

The latest installment of the Ethical Living series at The Guardian covers organic vegetable delivery schemes. The benefits are numerous: with support for locally grown produce, minimal environmental impact, etc. through to more subtle points such as a more varied diet (the variety encourages you to work with new recipes).
money.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving/story/0,13437,1246093,00.html
money.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving

The article recommends that you try farmers' markets. These are a great source of locally produced food, to quote the Hampshire Farmers' Market website:
"At a Hampshire Farmersí Market all produce being sold must have been grown, reared, caught, brewed, pickled, baked, or processed within Hampshire or ten miles of the border. The producer, or someone directly involved with the production, must sell the produce themselves and no bought in produce is allowed.

The intention is to allow smaller local producers an outlet direct to the public enabling them to become less reliant on wholesalers and supermarkets."
www.farmersmarkets.net/
www.hampshirefarmersmarkets.co.uk

What are we doing about it?
We are going to trial Riverford, a vegbox company that we met at the Southampton Festival. We asked them plenty of questions covering ethical and environmental issues (reuse, recycling, organics, wildlife, fair prices, pollutants etc) and were very impressed with their responses. I will post an update here when we've trialled the service.
www.riverford.co.uk/en/

Need to know? Take a look at the wikipedia. It's a very good general resource on every area of human knowledge. There are a few areas that are missing, and if one of those areas happens to be part of your specialist knowledge you can contribute to the project by writing for a topic. I just read up on glaciers, after being lucky enough to walk across one last week, (see the pics!) so now I remember all that stuff from geography lessons all those years ago: moraines, crevasses, erratics... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page The wikipedia is part of a larger project that includes wikibooks, for the publishing of open-content textbooks, which is an interesting concept. There's language courses, maths and physics textbooks, humanities topics, and plenty more... wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page I was looking at nationmaster recently, this is a good source of information on the nations of the world. It goes into quite some depth with its well cross-referenced encyclopedia. Of particular interest to me is the way you can see how closely related languages are, through the language "family tree" feature. Take a look at this page on the Dutch language and see for yourself. www.nationmaster.com/ Update! How could I forget Everything2? It is more informal than the others. Useful. everything2.com/

This is comic genius and informative photo-factbook all in one: how much is inside takes a few everyday things and asks how much you get. They usually provide the answer in a very silly extreme.
www.cockeyed.com/inside/howmuchinside.html