Starting a blog...

Hi and welcome to Open Edge Computer Solutions.

This is the page where you can stay up to date with all of the news and events going on in the world of Open Edge. This page will undergo some structural changes over the next few days so that it looks a little less messy than it does at the time of writing this first post. Of course, by the time you read it, it may already have been through its transformation as every post displayed will be covered by the same .css file.

This will not only be a blog about news and happenings at Open Edge though. It will also be a place where You can read about issues to do with Web Design and even some programming -yeah, I know, I'll need some guest bloggers to start with for that last aspect.

So, let's start with a brief introduction. Open Edge Computer Solutions was started in early 2008 as a business selling computers with Open Source software. The premise was that a customer would order a computer with one of the "distro's" (or versions) of the Linux Operating System and they would get that computer supplied with all the software they required fully configured for their needs. Moreover, they would receive in home training in the usage of their new system.

This is an area that Open Edge would love to get involved in again, but at the moment, it is on hold. While many people saw this as a great idea, it never really got off the ground because of a shortfall in cash flow. This is one part of the business where a little capital is required in order to buy stock (computer parts) and advertise and other things along those lines and it was not available at the time, so alternative methods were sought.

It was at this time that Open Edge was contacted in regards to doing some potential Websites and so, with some experience behind him, Tim jumped into this new venture. It soon became apparent though that the rough, table based designs were not up to scratch and so a crash course in semantic and standards based Web design followed with that becoming the main focus of the business. Over the coming months, through much trial and error and with plenty of help from the online community, some standards compliant Websites such as this one here and also "Swift Online Secretarial" were built and the rest, as they say, is history.

The focus of Open Edge Computer Solutions has shifted solely to freelance Web design at present and it is this angle that is being utilized with a view to one day expand back in to the sale of Open Source computers. At the present moment however, there is still much to be learned in regards to Website design and it is this area that most of the posts on this blog will cover. It will be set up more as a discussion rather than a tutorial or anything like that and will be used to convey tips and techniques as they are learned.

So, stay tuned as we delve in to the wonderful world of Web design.