Template conversion/tweaking services...

I have a template that I’ve been developing for a new college website that I’m moving entirely over to MODx. Being a newbie to XHTML/CSS, I spent a lot of time researching first and did what the experts suggested... developed a site for COMPLIANT browsers first, validating along the way, and worried about hacking/tweaking for IE until later. (You can see it at: http://dev.baycollege.edu )

Well, now I’m ready for that (I think) but am utterly lost. The template and CSS seems to work great in FF, but really falls apart in IE. And my other (more boring) job responsibilities just don’t afford me the time to put into it. I’ve tried some of the common iehacks files, csshover, etc... but things still don’t work just right. I wish I could put more time into it and figure it out myself -- I’m having a blast working with MODx. I don’t want to let it sit for too long, so I think I better let an expert help me finish the job.

Do you know of anyplace that offers this sort of service? How much should one expect to pay for such a thing? Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Robert

You can start by checking the validator

http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fdev.baycollege.edu%2Fcss%2Fconstants.css&usermedium=all

Perhaps the markup validator as well

Then, go see Big John and Holly Bergevin at http://positioniseverything.net/ -- an especially useful read linked from there is located at http://www.satzansatz.de/cssd/onhavinglayout.html

What I have been doing for the last few months is have an IE conditional block, and anything I can’t comfortably tweak in the main CSS I just put the CSS that works for IE in that block. I’ve even seen some designers use the conditional block to include a different CSS file for IE. I usually only need to add three or four IE-specific styles, so it’s not really worth it to include a whole file.

From what I can see, the only problem is your menu CSS correct? If so, I might have a good solution for you.

Thanks for all the website references... I’ve looked over a few of them already and am looking forward to checking the rest out.

Starbuck... thanks... the markup validates fine and the CSS is mostly warnings, but I’ll work on that.

Susan... that’s a great idea... you’re suggesting I should take out all my existing attempts at IE hacks and put them into a conditional section of the template -- or even into a separate file called within a conditional statement just for IE? I’ll do that... it’ll certainly make things neater and easier to work with.

Mark... the menu CSS is definitely wonky. I know that using hover is an issue -- unfortunately the template was designed with ... umm... "input" (ahem...) from a committee who insisted on a hover/flyout menu for main navigation. But there are other issues as well... ’separator’ DIVs that are 1px high, for example, are somehow MUCH thicker in IE. Placement of content is different. I downloaded the IE7 beta and was discovered things weren’t much improved.

I really appreciate all your help. My regular job duties take up most of my time and it’s really hard for me to dedicate a couple of hours to absorb some of this stuff. I’ll give all your suggestions a shot and would certainly appreciate any other feedback you might have.

MODx and it’s community are the greatest!

Hi Robert
You’ve probably seen them already, these two MODx driven sites. But if not, certainly worth a peek - truly inspirational.
http://www.vet.ohio-state.edu/home.htm
http://www.bryan.edu/

Mind if I make a small suggestion? Try removing all inline styles from HTML/Template and integrate them into the style sheet; avoids redundancy, duplication and generally makes life easier...

Cheers!

Thanks!
I’d seen the Bryan site, but not the OSU site. They are both fantastic examples of how powerful and adaptable MODx can be. Not to mention they’re both beautiful designs... truly nice work!
Robert

What about using Adam’s moofx menus?