Placing Introductory Images

Introductory images are most typically seen on designers’ weblogs but these images are a fun way for anyone to introduce a post.
As the name suggests, introductory images appear at the beginning of the text. However,
you can give them a lot more impact by playing around with their placement via the
manipulation of their borders and padding values.
Using Borders and Padding
Let’s work through an example, which you can see in Figure 2.16, that uses borders and
padding to extend an image beyond the width of the page content. This approach makes
the layout a little more interesting, and makes the image seem more deliberate—it doesn’t
seem as if it’s just been “placed” there.It’s very easy to create this look. We start with the proper markup—simply replace the text
and images used here with the content that you want:

“http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">



/>

The “Cat Vase” that won’t go away.

Published on Saturday, September 23, 2006, at 4:00pm
by

I remember the day that my grandmother told me what she
was giving me in her will. She pointed to the vase in
the corner. This vase always intrigued me, in all its
elegance and gaudiness. But I certainly did not wish to
own it.

It is a big white vase painted with large pink, yellow,
and purple flowers, butterflies, and ornamentation
around the top. All the line work was painted in glossy,
shiny gold. And all around the vase were
three-dimensional figurines of cats attached on to it,
so it would look like they were climbing the vase.
The cats are cute, white, with gold-trimmed ears and
tails.

Don’t get me wrong. I love cats. But I was never one
to collect memorabilia.

Years went by and I never put another thought to the vase.
Then the day came that my father showed up to visit.
He was holding the vase.

"Grandma told me to give this to you," he said
with a smirk on his face.

"She did? But that was part of her will... Why is she
giving it to me now?"

"Guess she wanted to get rid of it."

I reluctantly received the vase. I kept it in the closet
of my old bedroom I had when I lived with my boyfriend
at the time. After I moved out into my own apartment,
I didn’t think much of it again. About a year went by,
and I was moving once again to a nicer apartment. My
ex-boyfriend began bringing things that I had left at
his house. I didn’t realize how much I had left over
there.

Then the day came that Michael showed up at the door.
He was holding the vase, in a much similar style that
my father had done, with the same smirk.

I don’t know what to do with it. My grandmother told
me she paid $200 for it, so I don’t want to just get
rid of it. It’s definitely not my style, and certainly
doesn’t match anything in my home. But at the same time,
it’s almost too funny to get rid of. I mean, how often
do you see a vase this ornamental and bizarre?

I’ve considered maybe putting it on eBay but I think I
might hold on to it just for a little while longer.
It’s certainly photogenic.