Wierdness of Technology

When I write something for this blog, I frequently hit the "preview" button to make sure that it's going to look on your screen the way it looks on mine.

I wanted to post an article that involved data in tables. It didn't preview well. Not well at all.

At first, I tried to space the data so that it would line up as if it were in a table.

Blog software appears to HATE spaces, and kept collapsing my carefully spaced columns. I tried inserting a series of periods to hold the space, and colored them the same as the background so they'd effectively be invisible. Something wierd was happening with proportional spacing that kept messing up those columns, too.

Ok. Let's change tactics.

I created actual tables in an HTML editor and pasted them in the post. The tables looked ok, but the blog software added a dozen line feeds after each, which pushed the next bit of text down past the bottom of the page.

That didn't preview well, either.

After a bit of studying the on-line help files, I determined that I should turn off the automatic line feed feature. Unfortunately, that one is a global command and affects every article on the blog. I got the article in question to look right, but the rest of the last year-and-a-half of my posts collapsed into one giant paragraph each.

Not pretty.

But, even though it didn't work properly on this blog, that particular change did make the e-mailed Fishing For Customers newsletter look right. If you're a subscriber, you will have already received "The Cost Of Effectiveness."

If you aren't, I'll happily e-mail you a copy. Drop me a note and ask for the April 7 newsletter.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Chuck

PS. Anyone who is a whiz at HTML, PHP, and Server Side Scripting, and who might have some time to help resolve a few of these issues, please click the link and send me your rates.

PPS. Why haven't you subscribed to the Fishing For Customers newsletter? It's free, and your information will never be shared. I take your trust seriously.