Advice on transferring and converting web site

Hello to all. I'm a member of this non-profit organization:

[1] http://www.hitagroup.org/

For several reasons, we need to move our web host and I got volunteered.
The person who created it is no longer available; we don't have FTP
access (at least for now); and I don't know ASP, only some HTML. So I
started to convert the pages to that format.

I started by saving an HTML version of the home page, and cleaning it
using NotePad2, a Notepad replacement with some simple display schemes
for HTML). Next I validated it at validator.w3.org. All the errors are
gone except one. My HTML version is available at this location for the
time being (most of the other pages are not loaded yet):

[2] http://www.marzolian.com/hitahome.html

There's going to be some more reorganization, but here is my first group
of questions.

1. On the original home page (No. 1), when viewed in IE, the navigation
buttons at the top are blue ovals, distributed across the whole page.
In Firefox they're truncated ovals and go only partway across. For my
HTML-only version (No. 2 above), the buttons are truncated whether I use
Internet Explorer or Firefox.

I want the buttons at the new site (written in HTML, and using any
browser) to look like the ovals at the original site (viewed in IE). How?

2. Why are there lines around some sections of the page, when viewed in
IE, and not in Firefox?

3. There are about 16 tables in this page. They display fine, but are
they necessary? Is it worth replacing them, and if so, with what?

4. Some of the other pages are like this one, but simpler. We want to
keep the top section (skyline and navigation buttons) the same on each
page. What's the best way to maintain the top section, edit it at a
single location and have the changes passed when visiting the other
pages? I want to avoid making the same changes 5 or 6 times.

5. The association doesn't have time for me to learn how to reproduce
the member database. So that part will be contracted out. Based on
recommendations from two people who were in a similar position, I plan
to hire a developer to use PHP and MySQL and duplicate the functionality
of this database.

A visitor should be able to search the database for a translator or
interpreter, each association member should be able to edit his/her own
information, and an administrator should be able to edit all
information. Most of the database will be public, but there are some
exceptions; for example, a visitor should not be able to see whether a
member has paid his/her annual membership fee, and some other minor points.

What else do I need to tell a developer, so that he can provide a good
estimate? We keep the member information in text and database format,
in addition to the web site.

6. Any other suggestions for places to ask these types of questions?

Steven

re: Advice on transferring and converting web site

In article <42838773$0$64586$a726171b@news.hal-pc.org>, unspam@hal-pc.orgwax.invalid says...
[color=blue]
> 1. On the original home page (No. 1), when viewed in IE, the navigation
> buttons at the top are blue ovals, distributed across the whole page.
> In Firefox they're truncated ovals and go only partway across. For my
> HTML-only version (No. 2 above), the buttons are truncated whether I use
> Internet Explorer or Firefox.[/color]


..SelectedTab
{
background-image:url(images/button.gif);
border-style:solid;
border-width:0px;
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 11px;
color:Red;
font-weight: bold;
text-align: center;
/* padding-top:2; */
padding:2px;
width:131px;
height:23px;
}

Image width is 176 pixels, see width attribute above!

[color=blue]
> 2. Why are there lines around some sections of the page, when viewed in
> IE, and not in Firefox?[/color]

No BORDER attribute and it is not set to 0. IE automatically defaults
border to 1.

<table id="ctl2_t1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" rules="none">

<table width="98%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" rules="none">

[color=blue]
> 3. There are about 16 tables in this page. They display fine, but are
> they necessary? Is it worth replacing them, and if so, with what?[/color]

Well, you *could* do a full CSS layout but it would take more knowledge
than you currently have. Build this one then study others' work to learn
how to build a table-less design.
[color=blue]
> 4. Some of the other pages are like this one, but simpler. We want to
> keep the top section (skyline and navigation buttons) the same on each
> page. What's the best way to maintain the top section, edit it at a
> single location and have the changes passed when visiting the other
> pages? I want to avoid making the same changes 5 or 6 times.[/color]

Use ASP or PHP scripting with templates.
[color=blue]
> 5. The association doesn't have time for me to learn how to reproduce
> the member database. So that part will be contracted out. Based on
> recommendations from two people who were in a similar position, I plan
> to hire a developer to use PHP and MySQL and duplicate the functionality
> of this database.
>
> A visitor should be able to search the database for a translator or
> interpreter, each association member should be able to edit his/her own
> information, and an administrator should be able to edit all
> information. Most of the database will be public, but there are some
> exceptions; for example, a visitor should not be able to see whether a
> member has paid his/her annual membership fee, and some other minor points.
>
> What else do I need to tell a developer, so that he can provide a good
> estimate? We keep the member information in text and database format,
> in addition to the web site.[/color]

He just needs the text file with the member info to import into the mySQL tables.
He will need to know how you want to be able to search and how you want the info
displayed.

[color=blue]
> 6. Any other suggestions for places to ask these types of questions?[/color]

Not that I can think of OTTOMH.