Liberogiannis Kostantinos

These days i am working on a site and while i was developing it, a thought interrupted me by the process.Just thinking of the importance of developing cross browser compatible sites and how complicated or simple effort could be. Nowadays where everyone’s using different browsers similar to what happens in operating systems and growth of mobile market and smartphone browsing devices is exponential,it’s a duty for developers like me and designers to produce usable cross platform products.

Ok well done until here but what if that process takes too long to accomplish and what if you can’t satisfy all?There is no way to satisfy all,this is general rule,so take your time and check all the major browsers to be compatible with and don’t forget to check for mobile phones and tablets.This process must be in your mind from the beginning of each project in order to avoid spending hours changing basic code last moment.Below i am trying to give you some css programming tips to avoid problems with compatibility in the future.

1. Most problems caused by css files and especially by the positioning values.Avoid to set absolute values which destabilize web content in different browsers and screen resolutions.
2. A reset.css is necessary in my opinion.For more information look at this wonderful article.
3. Never use tables,is a bad and old technique and causes problem also in SEO.Instead use div.
4. Handle inconsistent element margins and padding,for this read here.
5. Never resize images in the CSS or HTML.
6. Coding until end for your favorite browser and then check result on the others.

Here is a very good tool to check your site in different browsers and resolutions.Also this would help you on tablets.

These are basic principles for me,however i am open to discuss them further.

Freelancing in most people thoughts,in mine also until recently,is a simple and fast way to earn extra money away from common practices of recruiting and stress, caused by tough clients and managers.Firstly sounds very cool and easy but in my opinion there are not a lot of differences, maybe only in way and environment you are working.Yes it’s an advantage just sitting in front of your laptop in your bedroom enjoying your favorite music,eating or drinking beers and be free coding for a new unknown client’s project.It is not necessary to wake up early in the morning,to get mad with traffic and transportations delays but there is no bigger advantage than organizing yourself as you wish.Ok enough,now let’s figure out the problems a freelancer could run into.

The competitors are much more because all the procedure goes around the world,of course there are also a variety of employers, but when you are new with no previous proven experience almost nobody would choose your bids,even your offers are the lowest.No difference from the real way of recruiting.The employer always choose the best combination between price and quality even you don’t have a portofolio you have to prove your abilities usually with project implementation targeted bids.Again that’s remaining tough effort.I am trying to say that employers are suspicious because they can’t understand the willingness and innovative spirit by your texts.Also disputes between freelancers and employers for delays in projects delivery or payments are very common like daily labour conditions out of web.

In conlusion some advices to begin earning money and gaining good reputation which in my opinion counts.

1. Bid specifically for projects which for sure you can deliver on,that fits you exactly in your knowledge background.
2. Make your bids accurate,don’t reply to all with the same way,care about how to convince about your implementation plan.
3. Do not hesitate to make any suggestions and in no way don’t bid the lowest bid for the sake of winning the project.
4. Build a good profile page with all your skills and don’t forget that it is good your bids reflect them.
5. Don’t guarantee for things you can’t deliver.

Above all, be honest and show professionallism

Some good and bad sites to bid are Freelancer.com, Elance.com, PeoplePerHour.com.

First of all you must download MikTex2.9 and an editor.I prefer Texmaker.After installation success go to configure Texmaker.

1. Options⇒Configure Texmaker⇒Commands⇒Latex type latex -interaction=nonstopmode %.tex
2. Options⇒Configure Texmaker⇒Commands⇒PdfLatex type xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode %.tex
3. Options⇒Configure Texmaker⇒Commands⇒PdfViewer check External Viewer and browse to your PdfReader
4. Options⇒Configure Texmaker⇒QuickBuild check PdfLatex + ViewPDF
5. Options⇒Configure Texmaker⇒Editor choose UTF-8 encoding

Go to MikTex2.9 options and packages.From Start⇒Programs⇒MikTex2.9⇒Maintenance choose Settings and check if greek language is selected.Then choose Package Manager and install xetex packages.Now open TexMaker and type:

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{xunicode}
\usepackage{xltxtra}
\usepackage{xgreek}
\setmainfont[Mapping=TeX-text]{Times New Roman}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[scale=0.8]{geometry}
\usepackage[acronym]{glossaries}

For those who want to create a professional cv with Latex i recommend moderncv template and this link.
An important issue which i realized is that if you want to add greek font in a moderncv template there is a problem with upper-lower case letters.It recognizes only capital letters and ignores lowercase so you must play with \newcommands in order to modify your text.I added this line below above code and it worked for me:

\newcommand{\txt}[1]{\textrm{#1}}