Novice Webmaster

Here at work, we have a company website. It's not really a company website, per se, but a webpage with information on a business thing -- anyways. Back in march, we hired a webpage designing company to make our website. They created the whole thing and did an ok job. We had been editing the contents of the webpage ourselves -- or rather, I made the editing at my boss' direction. Although I can't do high tech html asp perl mysql crap, I can do basic things like change links, delete a comma, move text around, upload images, etc. So I had been doing that. However, a time came when we needed more professional help -- we needed to create several new pages and do some heavy-duty updating, so we called the original designers to do a second job. It felt a bit iffy, because while their website was still there, the phone numbers were disconnected. I did track them down through e-mail, and they decided to do the job. It was still a bit iffy, because when I asked for the business phone number, they gave me bullshit excuses as to why I should contact them through e-mail instead. But we went through with the deal and they began working. We saw some progress, and it took over a month. I was waiting for a response about a correction I had requested -- they never responded. I sent another follow-up e-mail but no response! So we had to look for a new designer. And we did. He seemed like a guy who was on task, and came by asap. He began working right away, and updated me frequently. I was happy. The boss was happy. We were relieved. However, as we requested more and more corrections to be made, the web designer got more and more pissy. Not really a professional attitude. Basically, since my boss and I dont' know how to make webpages, we don't know how much work goes into, say, making a new link, or creating scripts. And when we requested something to be done that required more work, he gave me more attitude than my cat when I spray her with water. I accept the fact that if he does more than he originally agreed to do, he should let us know and we should either make a new arrangement for more payment or a new contract or whatever. But instead of informing me that the work would cost extra, he threw a hissy fit, basically saying that "this isn't part of the deal!" Finally, he told me, "you know what? Forget it. Just forget the whole thing!" I had to basically calm him and talk to him like a spoiled brat! So we basically halted the whole thing, just paid the dude. We did get some updates which were good, but still have a plethora of things we want to tear apart and start from scratch. I am NOT PLEASED. Am I just a tough client? Do I ask for too much? I don't know. But with the last two experiences with webpage designers, I am beginning to feel that these designers are a bunch of sissies with attitudes of a spoiled diva ("I said I wanted my ICE WATER with ICE ON THE SIDE!"). I'm beginning to feel that the only way I can get complete satisfaction is to do the damned thing myself! Of course I won't be able to do full-fledged designing anytime soon. But I have started back with the basics. I need to be able to do more so I can hire these fools less and less, and hopefully deal with less of their friggin 'tudes. So I took some time today to learn how to make tables. Which I hated originally, so never bothered with previously. I'm learning all the basics, because it seems, like most things, you can't just jump from knowing zilch to flying with PERL or ASP (I hate these acronyms that sound like other things). So I'm starting from the bottom, working my way up. Hopefully by 2019, I will be able to do everything. Of course, by then, no one will use the internet, as it would have become obsolete. Everybody probably will have wireless data cards attached to their brain and will access data wirelessly without any equipment. Yes. Then we'll all be primed to be easily dominated by anyone who wants to do that whole "take over the world" thing. But I digress. Tables... tr is table row... td is table data... D major has two sharps... mitochondria is the powerhouse of a cell... let epsilon equal any delta x blah blah blah... Here's an inspirational quote:

"... CGI scripts were usually written in Perl. Perl is a language that is about as easy to understand as differential calculus."

Gee, thanks guy. That makes me feel a whole lot better.