Having Fun with HTML

When I bought this domain name, it came with 3 free web pages. I simply selected a template and added a few photos. It was very easy to set up. I also wanted a blog, so I created this on Blogger and set it up on a subdomain. That took a little more work. I had to familiarize myself with concepts such as domain mapping and nameservers.

I had fun with that, which is why I created these two nameplate websites. I used a free web host with a site builder.

My other domain name included a hosting package without a site builder. I thought about using Wordpress (the self-hosted version), but I couldn't because my tiny hosting plan didn't include SQL. Instead, I used a free editor called KompoZer and created this simple page.

It looks rather plain, I know, but it's much better than a parked page, right?

The problem with KompoZer is that I couldn't get the Google+ community badge to appear because it kept deleting part of the code.  I had to edit the HTML using a text editor. I also learned a little about using CSS.

I plan on giving subdomains and email addresses to my relatives. To show them what they can do with a subdomain, I made this Tumblr blog using one of the free themes. I was able to add a couple of widgets because Tumblr allows us to modify the HTML code.

I enjoyed this so much that I've decided to revamp my website. I want to play around with CSS, perhaps even make my website mobile-friendly (according to the Google Mobile-Friendly Test, it wasn't). I can't edit the HTML on my free web pages, however, so I'm going to host it somewhere else.

Don't get me wrong, I love my registrar. Their rates are reasonable and they provide excellent support. They even gave me a free domain during their 15th anniversary celebration. Unfortunately, right now I can't afford to pay for hosting.

I'm probably going to use Tumblr. If you are aware of another free web host that lets you customize the HTML code and map domains for free, please let me know.

Trying to Learn a New Language

my foreign language books

As a child, I would often hear my mom and my grandmother speaking in Bicolano. I wanted to join their conversation, so I decided that I would learn that dialect. Nobody had time to teach me, and there were no Bicolano dictionaries at the book stores, so I made my own. It was just a tiny notebook (the size of a credit card) made out of a few sheets of graphing paper that I cut up and stapled together. I added words to it every time my grandmother visited us. That project lasted a few weeks, and then I completely forgot about it.

When I was seventeen, I tried to learn German. I had no pressing reason for learning the language. I just thought it was cool because Jose Rizal spoke German. I also loved the Grimms' fairy tales and wanted to read them in their original form.

I enrolled in a language course at the local Goethe-Institut, joined their library, and bought several workbooks. German wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I had a lot of fun with it. Sadly, life got in the way and my interest waned.

My cousin Edgar tried to convince me to study Japanese instead, so I bought a book, watched a few videos, and ended up remembering just one line -- Kore wa hon desu ka (Is this a book?). As a joke, I repeat that line every now and then. I'm lucky that no one has thrown a book at me yet, though I suspect many have wanted to.

Last year, I decided that Spanish would be much easier to learn. I signed up on Duolingo. Learning the language through a game made the task easier, but that was not enough to keep me hooked. It wasn't that I was no longer interested. I was just too busy.

Esperanto also got my attention. I read that it was very simple and easy to master, and that with two weeks of studying, I would already be capable of having a conversation in Esperanto. Unfortunately, no matter how much I tried, I couldn't muster enough interest to keep going.

Have I finally given up?  I haven't, and I won't. I'm going to work on German again. This time, I'm giving myself a concrete but easy-to-reach goal -- A1 level in three months, then A2 before the end of the year. I will also set up a blog where I will write exclusively in German. If you would like to check on my progress, you can click here to visit my German blog. Wish me luck!

Danke schön!  Guten Tag!