so i didn't wait until next year. i worked on the templates all day. thought they were 3.2 compliant and relaxed. then i noticed a problem. the old version of skullblog was wider. i had a few photos that were 600 pixels wide. with css, either the image gets cut off or the columns wrap down to where they shouldn't be. i absolutely did not want that to happen. tried to work on it. had to re-open the age-old debate about average user's browser width and how to accommodate. tore out some hair...aged 30 years. but now it's done. skullblog behaves the way i want it to behave without compromising the original look and width of the photos. i don't want to do this for another few years. but i still have to revamp my dormant sites. when i do, i want to bring them into the modern age and inject them with css. thankfully it won't be as difficult due to this exercise with css. plus there won't be any mt tags to deal with.