The Tech Bits:
This site was originally written in strict xhtml using nothing more complex than a text editor and some image editing software. The styling is done the proper way using external stylesheets with hand made CSS. The few odd bits of JavaScript which are used are generally stored externally as well, because that's the proper way to do it.
I've been through a stage of tweaking and rewiting using Dreamweaver, but seem to have gone back to a basic text editor and hand coding nowadays. I recommend being able to code by hand as it lets you do so much more than Dreamweaver will.
Validation:
The html markup on this site has been checked using the W3C validator. This means it should work properly and be solid, reliable code which behaves itself. You can visit the W3C validator yourself
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Lets you know that the Style Sheets (CSS) have also been checked by the W3C validator. Again, you can run any style sheet through the validator yourself to check it.
I've gone to CSS Level 3 nowadays, mainly to get the cool curved corners on the edge of the page. If you're not seeing them it's probably because you're using IE on an XP machine...
Browser Compatability:
A Web Browser is the piece of software you use to view the internet in. Not every web user uses the latest version of Internet Explorer running on a Windows PC with a widescreen monitor so it's important to make sure that websites can be viewed sensibly on any reasonable machine using any browser. There's nothing more infuriating than coming across a website that tells me I have to be using a certain browser to use it.
A few of the bits and pieces here rely on more up to date browsers. Google Analytics tells me no one's using IE 6 anymore so I've more or less dropped support for that and you won't see cool curved borders on the pages in IE8 or below. But stuff will still work fine.
The site's tested using Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera and IE 7, 8 and 9 - and on 1024 wide monitors because that's what I have at work. I check it on an iPhone and it seems to work fine on that - any feedback is gratefully received about other platforms.
Accessibility:
This site tries it's best to meet Accessibility Standards to at least AA standards. This should be a basic standard for any web design. If you come across anything on That Blue Square Thing which you think fails accessibility standards then please let me know about it.
Other Geeky Stuff:
> Web Pages That Suck is an incredibly useful resource which teaches good web design by showing you how bad some stuff out there looks.
> The Visibone Colour Chart is an excellent resource which makes choosing a colour scheme so much easier.
> Opera is my preferred web browser. Far, far safer than Internet Explorer and much more adaptable.
The site is hosted using CS New Media, which seems utterly reliable and very reasonable. I push content to it using FileZilla.
There's a pile more geeky stuff over at the Cool IT Stuff page.