Rabbit & Cavy News

I am about half way finished with the redo of my main website.  Learning CSS has not been too bad, although there are just some little things that show up differently in different browsers that I can’t seem to make work the way I want. 

Tables, tables, tables, there will always be a place for tables, despite CSS.  I ended up using a few here and there just because I can make them look the way I want, quickly and without fuss. 

I hope to publish within a few weeks - and then I’ll make a decision about the other directory/information website.  I am not sure if it is worth having that site. 

Well I hope 2008 finds you and your family healthy and happy, and your nextboxes full!

Cathy

I know, I know…..I haven’t done anything with my blog or my websites - when am I going to get off my butt?

Well I am making good progress on my redo of my main website, LaReau Lops & Cavies - my old site was made entirely with tables - and lots of bulky code.  Although the site looks OK in most browsers - any changes I want to make to the site must be done manually, page by page. AARRGGGGHHH

This is specifically what killed my interest in my other large directory site, The Rabbit & Cavy Directory - that site grew quickly, but I became overwhelmed with requests from breeders to make so many changes, so often, to their listings.

Now, that doesn’t seem unreasonable to the average web designer - in fact, info on a site should remain updated - but that site, like my main site, was designed with HTML pages using tables also.   All changes had to be done manually on each page, and since each breeder listing was on multiple pages, this quickly grew into an unmanageable fiasco!

My redo of my main site will be done using CSS.  As with the HTML sites I had before, I am learning (CSS) as I go.  Sometimes it takes me a while to tackle a specific fix or problem because I’ve got to learn as I go (the hard way….) but how satisfying when I figure out how to make something and it finally turns out the way I want it!

Of course it took me a week to make my first page, but I had to experiment with different looks, styles and layouts before I could decide on one: Now I can use this one page as a template to quickly grow my site!

Once I get my main site finished and working the way I want - I’ll begin working on the new rabbitbreeder.net site - my replacement for The Rabbit & Cavy Directory.  Hopefully I’ll make that entire site using CSS, and also incorporate a database so changes to information can be made in one place and will update on all pages - and of course, I know nothing about databases.

I can’t close until I mention a special thanks to Robert up in Alaska - I could not do all this without your help (and your cool graphics)  If anyone is looking to spice up a page or website with some cool graphics, be sure to visit Light Speed Web Graphics!

My rabbits are doing well - they haven’t even noticed all the dang snow we’ve gotten around here!  I’ve got a couple does due tomorrow and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

All for now

Cathy

My, how time is flying by so fast!  Already the end of October and I feel as though it should still be summer. 

I’ve got only one Holland litter this fall so far, and my August Polish litters are doing great -I’ll have several nice broken Polish to show come spring!  I’ve got one more Polish doe due this week, but I don’t think she’s bred - she surely didn’t act to concerned when I put her nest box in yesterday (usually a sign of an unbred doe)

In two weeks I’ll be taking a stretch of time off work, during which I hope to be able to redo my main website.  This site is horribly out of date and doesn’t reflect the direction I am taking in open. 

I’ll be unable to answer any emails from November 13, through about November 20.  I will answer everyone once I am back on my feet. 

Happy Halloween!

Cathy

Well I’ve found it very difficult to eek out time to publish anything lately, much less work on any of my websites.  My time has been divided among track and soccer meets, endless meetings and planning for graduation this year.  Between all this, I’ve been taking care of bunnies and the horse. 

After graduation, I’ll gradually get back into more web work and also more reporting about our rabbitry.

Sorry for the delays and excuses!  Have a super weekend.

Cathy

During our recent minor revision of our website, LaReau Lops & Cavies, we also included a new link section listing all our printable rabbit resources:  Basic Rabbit Care & Breeding booklet, Printable Rabbit Show Checklist to assist you in getting ready for a rabbit show, and just yesterday we added a basic Rabbit Show Entry Form to this link group. 

Our one page Rabbit Show Entry Form is fairly basic and contains info used at most rabbit shows I’ve been to in the Midwest region.  Since it is not an ARBA-approved form, you may want to check your show catalog to see if they require ARBA-approved show forms before you print and use this to enter a show.  You can find the form here:

http://www.lopsandcavies.com/pdf/Rabbit_Show_Entry_Form.pdf

Have a great Friday!

Over the past few days I’ve spent a little time updating some of the pages in our website, LaReau Lops & Cavies.

No major changes, and certainly no new pictures as of yet, but I did put an updated file into our pdf folder:  Checklist for Rabbit Shows.  This is a printable list anyone can use when they go to a rabbit show and has a checklist of all the common supplies you’ll need to bring.

Hope you enjoy it - good luck at your next rabbit show!

Cathy

Wow, I just finally scanned over our current Holland Lop pages in our website and realized that over summer I had intended to update the pictures of our own Holland Lop stock…..and never did.

I guess we’ll have to spend some time this week taking pictures!  Our foundation stock pages are pretty current, but I think I was going to try to take replacement pictures of a few of our foundation Hollands, to replace the current poor pictures.

Thinking back, when I decided to take new pics, I believe all our bunnies were in a horrid molt from this crazy Wisconsin weather this summer - you know……90 degrees one day and 50 degrees the next - just been a hard year to keep nice coats going!

Well I’ll post here when we get some nice new pics put in, several of our current rabbits are even missing from our website and I am sure they’d all want to be movie stars if given the chance..you know those Hollands!

Cathy

Finally, I’ve taken the time to run acrobat distiller and optimize the currently super large file of the Rabbit Care Booklet located on our website.

Initially I made this booklet to hand out to all new rabbit breeders and rabbit owners that buy from us.  Our booklet contains a lot of basic rabbit care information, health and illness info, feeding and grooming tips, plus how-to’s for beginning rabbit breeders. 

Soon after I made this booklet, I decided to put it on our website so others could use it too. 

In my haste to get it installed in my website, I neglected to optimize it for use on the web, making this booklet a very slow downloading file for users, and I am sure, frustrating….

The new file will load much much faster for you, plus I’ve added some info and modified a bit too. 

I’ll be putting this new file into my website either late tonight or tomorrow morning, providing I don’t have some other crazy task come ahead of it.

The old large file was downloaded an aweful lot, so I am hoping the new optimized Rabbit Care handout will be even more useful!

Visit our website tomorrow to see our new file!