Dianne's new home pages : writing, painting & web design

Web Design : I began building websites when I was off work, housebound with a broken leg, and at a loose end needing something to keep me occupied. We had recently gone "on-line" (as I had already learned to call it) so I began surfing the net for sites which interested me. As I was a Guide leader I naturally drifted towards the Guiding and Scouting sites and soon began to want one of my own...........

My first website was a pretty amateurish affair, built entirely with Geocities' pagebuilder program and very little understanding of what I was doing. I even had to ask someone else to put my webring links on for me as I didn't know how. I was soon dissatisfied with that and wanted more control over the final appearance of my pages and so I embarked on the first of a series of Internet correspondence courses on HTML and using PSP.

As the months and then years rolled by I built more websites on a wide variety of subjects - everything from the Large Munsterlander (a German gundog breed) to Canoe Polo : you can find links to all my sites on the Links page on this site. Eventually I became proficient enough to become consultant to AllExperts and Yahoo Experts, and was commissioned to build websites for local authorities, businesses and schools and create unique graphics and animations for all sorts of occasions. Thus, D-D-Designs, my freelance web design business, arose and I finally had an excuse to spend ALL my available time on the Net!

Painting and drawing : on the premise that one picture is worth a thousand words, take a look at my Gallery pages (but please bear in mind that most of those paintings are by my daughter!) I tend to draw rather than paint, and used this a lot when I was teaching : I illustrated everything, and many of the resources I created for myself and my colleagues are now available for download on my website SEN Resources

Although I can draw and paint, of late I tend to go in more for computer art - you can see some of my more recent efforts on this page. (Unless you are involved in Guiding or Scouting, you can ignore the fact that this is a "badge work" site!)

I also create computer graphics - illustrations, animations, website background sets etc. All my sites use my own graphics so if you've seen them elsewhere, they've got them from me and not vice-versa! If you, or anyone you know, wants some background sets, there is a selection (indexed by theme/style) on my "Website help" site Site Solutions. Help yourself, but please put a link back to that site and also let me know that you've used them (so I can go and see what they look like!) If you fancy having a go yourself, there are a number of tutorials on my "Singing Snowmen" website.

Writing : I have always written, from as far back as I can remember. Most of my early efforts were at school and I soon learned that teachers love adjectives!! I was definitely Teacher's Pet when it came to "Composition" lessons, and even had a couple of pieces published in our local newspaper (around the same time as I had a couple of paintings hung in the city Art Gallery.)

I've continued writing, mostly for my own amusement (see my efforts on Dianne's Bookcase - there is a wide assortment of my work, including children's stories - illustrated of course - and a couple of biographical pieces.) The one novel which they say everyone has inside of them is still struggling to get out, although I have written the first two chapters of it - when (if?) I get it finished it will probably join my other works on my website, although if I think it's good enough I may try to find a publisher too!

I also write professionally, a weekly column of local news for the local newspaper (the same one that published my essays all those years ago, only now I get paid!) All my pieces are archived on "From Your Local Correspondent."

.... not my own work but I think you might like them - "Snippets from the Web"
- a selection of Internet humour, all guaranteed 100% clean!