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Wrestling computer code to the ground… and winning!

I don’t know why I let the issue fester for months, but I did. The problem was a basic esthetic one—I wanted the links in the blog to look a little differently than they had been looking—but for months I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. (See how that one is blue and bold?)

Computer code I wrote and inserted into the blog's DNA

Computer code I wrote and inserted into the blog's DNA

My code-writing compatriots are, I realize, laughing out loud as they read about my efforts. What I wanted to do was, I’m sure, the code equivalent of putting a gas cap on a car. I read about the issue in the theme forum. I Googled what I expected were the words to describe my goal, and then flipped from site to site in a vain effort to make the links look a little more like I wanted them to. Every time I tried inserting what every printed and online reference said was the code, I’d suffer a fatal error of one sort or another—either it would do nothing at all or it would change all of the text into something hard to look at and impossible to read.

I figured I’d give it one more go. I made a quick run through the literature and then took one last stab at the code. The fix amounted to two whole lines! And then I previewed. Voila! Precisely what I wanted to see. The links were blue and bold.

I felt empowered, as DaVinci must have felt when he put the finishing strokes on The Mona Lisa and took a step back to survey his handiwork, as the Wright Brothers must have felt as they watched the ground fall away beneath them.

Invigorated by this success, I immediately dove into a second code problem that had been befuddling me. That one also fell, and it took only one line of code.

I am emboldened by my successes, but I also understand statistics. That’s why I picked up a book, went into the other room, and enjoyed a comfortable technology I conquered more than a half-century ago!

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Jack E. Bishop April 13, 2011, 10:18 am

    “Dude!” ,
    Very impressive … and i thought your ‘THANG!” is … Photography … Well done …
    PHANDL Jack}
    P.S.: Did mention: Once up-on a T/S {Early … when Steve Wassniac was creatin’ … his first ‘Apple!’) he hired me to pay ‘Him!” $9.00 /hour to learn (x3) computer programs … and help him debug his soft-ware …
    P.P.S.: “Wrestling computer code to the ground… and winning!”… “PAUL!” You rock!!!

    • Paul Skolnick April 13, 2011, 10:31 am

      Well, it amounted to three lines of CSS, so it’s not exactly the equivalent of creating an OS or anything. But it really is wonderful when it works!