Found a nice easy way to identify your current location on your Joomla site, with the following code from a Joomla forum:

<?php $menu = &JSite::getMenu();
if ($menu->getActive() == $menu->getDefault())
{
// Script here will execute only on frontpage.
}
?>

I think it may be handy to fine tune a couple of page elements that I can't seem to find any conventional way to get at.

Also noticed that the upgrade to Joomla 1.5.15 at the weekend messed up the MCE editor. It turned out some of the defaults had changed and needed to be edited in the Plugin Manager. There's a "Functionality" radio button that had to go from "Advanced" to "Extended". I dread to think what the "Basic" setting does!

Added a footer and a dotted line to separate articles. Neither of these developments is particularly exciting. But, the footer does include the following:

<?php
  define("QUOTE1", "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.");
  echo QUOTE1;
?>

This might seem needlessly complicated, but I wanted to echo a variable, because it will gradually develop into a random "quotation" module. (The above is attributed to Albert Einstein.)

Redesigned left menu and altered DIVs to make their behaviour more predictable. Also re-sequenced page, so I hope "body" should now load before the "menu" and "twitter" DIVs in the left sidebar. I am still feeling amazed by the level of control from a few simple lines of CSS. I wanted a slight gap in the left menu, to show there's something significant about the "Blog" menu item. Hadn't realised I could get right down to each individual menu item and alter their display parameters. Add a renewed love of CSS to my admiration of the Firebug addon!

/* Inserts a separator gap into the left menu bar, below blog */
#left li.item53 {
    margin-top: 20px;
}

/* Adjusts display of items in Blog drop-down menu */
#left li.item60, #left li.item61, #left li.item62, #left li.item64 {
    width: 288px;
    BORDER-top: 0px;
}

It's almost too easy! Maybe adding a page footer should be next on my list.

Wanted to remove the default underline from the "left" menu without affecting the underlining of other links. Thought there would be nothing simpler, but wasn't sure of the CSS and my search results on the subject in Google took me way off on a series of complete red herrings. Found a nice easy way in the end, but this came from an old CSS stylesheet that luckily I kept an archive copy of. Otherwise, I'd probably still be looking!

/* Force links in left menu bar to appear blue (no underline) */
#left a:link, #left a:visited {
  color: #0000ff;
  text-decoration: none;
}

/* Force "hover" links in left menu bar to appear blue and underlined */
#left a:hover {
  color: #0000ff;
  text-decoration: underline;
}

And I was right - nothing could be easier, "#left" being the left menu region. I'm obviously typing the wrong terms into Google to end up with the convoluted non-solutions that I eventually managed to turn up!