nat: i didn't say i used notepad purely because it can help speed things up, i enjoy having to write the website, and being able to do something that most people can't do. it may take a bit longer, but it gets a better result. using applications it is very easy to add effects and bits that just take the website away from being professional. it is annoying when using notepad something wnot load correctly, and you have to spend agse researching and recoding for how to get ti to work. but once you have it working you get a great feeling of accomplishment and success, which in my opinion you just cant get in the same way from using a drag and drop sort of application.
VG Window Cleaners: the design didn't take me very long, but it's simplicity is what i was looking for. an over complicated design looks naff and people will exit your web page. but something simple where you can see everything instantly and doesn't take ages to load is best. i never wait long for a web page to load..if it's too slow i'll go back and find something else that i cant get the same information or product from but it wont take ages each time i click a link. the website can be altered from my computer, or in fact anywhere i go as long as i have internet access and notepad (virtually every PC has it) because i have ftp and web ftp. my website costs me less than £15 a year. the biggest and most superior software aren't always the best. everyone has windows or mac, but some people swear by linux or some of the others. only one can be the best, and that isn't necessarily the most used or most advertised.
John Garnett: thanks, i'll have a play around maybe tomorrow and see what looks best
Ian W; all of my web page should be fast loading as they al use one CSS script, one background image and one logo image. the rest will just be text (except for small images which should be fast enough anyway). the search engines isn't going to be a worry for now until i get the site finished and ready to be used. i don't expect miracles. the search engines is going to be hard i know, and without wanting to pay big money i don't know yet how successful i can be getting a decent listing location - but even if the website only serves the purpose of communicating with my current customers they extra things we do, then i will be pleased. i have one website on line which was created very early on when i didn't know all that much about web design. but the owner still gets emails from it now, and that had no promotion put into it.