GCSE results and future education

To be honest, this is a bit of belated post seeing as I got my GCSE results a few days ago, I’ve just been busy with the new blog over at Clear:Both to post about them. Anyway, without further ado…

In short I got: 2 A*’s, 1 A, 3 B’s, 2 C’s, 1 D and 1 E. So a mixed bag of results there. I am a bit disappointed with my C in Maths because I really wanted a B, and I’m also disappointed with my B’s in English Language and Media Studies because I really, really tried in the exams so I was hoping for A’s.

Failing Design Technology, Business Studies and French doesn’t really bother me, they’re not the big subjects anyway. However, on the plus side I am really happy with my A* in Religious Studies and my A* and A in Information Technology, (although I could have got an A*, A, A and A in it if I didn’t have a certain teacher teaching me, oh well). I can’t really complain because I didn’t really revise until the last week. Saying that, my parents are very proud of me so I know I did some good.

With those results I did get enough points to get into 6th Form college and Wollaston School – you needed 10 points in total and I think I got around 26 points. The new term starts 7th of September 2009 and I’ll be learning: English Language, Information Technology, Psychology and Media Studies. I expect myself to perform well in 6th Form because it’s a different kind of schooling that I want to use to my advantage. I really can’t wait for it to start because to be honest I’m pretty bored on week 15 of my 17 week holiday – I know it’s the longest holiday I’ll probably ever have, but it does drag on.

If you’re bored like me, visit Clear:Both, who knows what you may find?

Steven – Administrator.

New tutorial on Clear:Both

I’ve just spent the last few hours polishing up the Clear:Both blog and writing my first tutorial for that site. I recommend it if you want an easy start into XHTML coding. Here’s the opening section.

Welcome to the first of what will hopefully many practical tutorials regarding website design and development. In this tutorial, I will be the showing you the basics of how to set up from a scratch a basic template that you can use for all of your future projects.

This tutorial is very simple, I will gradually be introducing more difficult tutorials as time goes on. A well thought out template can really help, so lets get started.

If you feel like sitting down with a biscuit and reading up on some basic XHTML coding, then please do read the rest of the above post via this link.

Steven – Administrator.

Clear:Both blog launched!

I’ve just launched my new blog over at Clear:Both after a day or so adapting the theme of this blog to fit it’s style. To give you an idea what to expect, here’s a bit of the first post for you.

Hello, I’m Steven Knight – owner of Clear:Both. If you’ve reached this blog, it could be one of many reasons: you found me on Google, I directed you here, you were browsing around Clear:Both and found this blog. Well, it doesn’t matter how you got here: welcome.

Some of you may know that I have ran a personal blog for nearly three years now which can be located at stevenknight.info. So, you may ask: why have you started another blog? Well, I wanted one that ties in purely with my new business; one that relates to anything web design and developed based. For example; I may post my own tutorials on designing websites from pad to Photoshop, or how to code a XHTML or Wordpress theme, or I may simply post something I’ve found on my web travels like a beautiful website or useful plugin.

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You can read the rest here. Steven – Administrator

Number Eleven

The Eleventh Doctor is going bring a lot of new changes with him: new companion, new costume, new TARDIS exterior and interior – (both to help aid high definition), new Sonic Screwdriver, (rumour only so far), the return of River Song. Meanwhile, in the real world: new head writer, new writers, new producer, new directors and new promotion, (as the new series will be promoted as Series One).

Steven Moffat really is going out of his way to distance himself from Russell T Davies. I really do hope that he doesn’t bring back any more old companions, (including Rose), or the Daleks – the Dalek’s have been back too many times; bring on anything new.

Some of the fans, (mainly hardcore ones), are going to complain that everything is changing. Saying that it’s all been established, that’s it all perfect: but there is always room for change and perhaps, improvement. Change isn’t always bad you know.

A few weeks ago, the first official on-set pictures featuring Matt Smith, (Eleventh Doctor), and Karen Gillan, (Amy Pond) were published, so I decided to find the best picture I could, then edit it a little bit – (resize, crop, rotate adjust brightness, etc) – so I could release it here as a wallpaper if you wish to use it. You can find the download link at the end of the post.

I don’t really have a point to this post, I just wanted to get some facts, rumours and angst out over the new series which will air in 2010. I really am going to miss David Tennant, he was my Doctor, and he’s brilliant. There are still three more episodes starring Tennant though, so it isn’t all bad. All the same I do hope that the Tenth Doctor’s final episodes are going to be heartbreaking, painful and excoriating for him. In a good way.

Download Link | Steven Knight – Administrator.

Yes, I’ve taken the plunge.

After three years of not having any adverts on any of my sites; I’ve caved in and have decided to take the plunge into the world of Google Adsense. I’m talking as if Adsense is in fact a bad thing, so you may be thinking “Why did you add them then?”. Well, for the simple fact that they generate revenue for me: when somebody clicks an advert; I get money. (On an unrelated note, please click the adverts at the bottom of the sidebar). If you are unaware of what Google Adsense actually is, it’s the text and image based advertising service provided by Google which is on almost every website you visit, so you probably won’t even notice it most of the time.

Now, I haven’t gone overboard by having the adverts above the header logo, or inside every single post, or just below the search box. I’ve discreetly added them at the bottom of the sidebar; I’ve also tried by best to style the adverts so they blend in and don’t cause much of a distraction. Now, that is going against what an advert is meant to do, but I do know how annoying going onto a site is with intrusive adverts that don’t blend in with the rest of the site, so I’ve done my best to combat this and have the best of both worlds.

I’m currently running the adverts as a trial to see if I do benefit financially from them, the trial will last one month, so at the end of that time I will decide whether on not to keep them. Oh, and in case you were wondering: I haven’t and won’t be adding any kind of advertising onto clearboth.co.uk as that would just be ridiculous, so they shall remain only on this Blog; and perhaps not for definite either. If you do have any feedback regarding the advertisements, please click Contact at the top of this page.

On a proper unrelated note, my exam results are in on the 27th of June; I shall be up at 6am to collect them online, (that’s how we work now-a-days, cool, uh?). I remain confident in getting what I need in order to attend Sixth Form, so please do be rooting for me. Also, good luck if you’re in the same boat as I.

Thank you very much for reading – Steven, Administrator.