I'm a noob, wanna help me?

[2F/2F]

Wanna help you? Sure, but not by answering your question. Good Christ, man. This is stuff you learn the first week in a photo class. If you want to learn well, and properly, go to the library. Take a class. Read some manufacturers' publications on film processing. At least try picking up some knowledge using ANALOG methods before you expect people to hand you scattered, piecemeal, effectively random instructions for EVERYTHING on the Internet. There is too much Information (MOST of it crap) and distraction on the Internet to use it as an effective basic learning tool for this stuff. (Additionally, as you stated, there are about a million threads and Webpages that already have the information you need.) At the very least, go to the library and read a basic photo textbook cover to cover. You will learn more basic knowledge by doing that than you will in many years of asking the questions on the Internet as they come up, and having a bunch of short, often off topic, and more often just plain wrong answers from any old Joe. "Photography" by Upton and Upton (or London and Upton, depending on the edition) should be in any library, and will give you a nice read packed with basic information and more.

[Anon Ymous]

...I fixed with Ilford Rapid Fixer diluted at 1+9 as well (is this correct?)...

Well, it's not exactly wrong, but film strength fixer dilution is 1+4. Get the data sheet for your fixer and give it a glance. It's not that the 1+9 dilution can't fix film, but you'll need to modify fixing times. Finaly, search APUG and many of your questions will be answered within minutes.

[Chazzy]

Okay, I finally got my head out of the dark bag, and I'm back with results!
Thanks to all of your competent help, I can now proudly claim to be a home developer. I just developed my first roll ever, it was a test roll of the APX 100. I developed at 24°C, 1+9 Ilfosol 3, for 5 minutes. I agitated 5 times (not seconds, my timer isn't accurate enough) every 30 seconds. I stopped with (roughly) 24°C water, three runs of it, agitating constantly (and fiercely) every time. I fixed with Ilford Rapid Fixer diluted at 1+9 as well (is this correct?). Then I wiped the negatives down and hung them up to dry. Now I'm waiting for them to be scannable.

After the fixer, the film needs to be washed. Or did you just forget to mention it?

[dancqu]

It's not that the 1+9 dilution can't fix film, but you'll
need to modify fixing times.

I've put a few 120 rolls through at 1:31: 500ml of solution.
I later standardized on 1:24 as my concentrate aged. The
fixer is used one-shot. As dilution increases so does time
but capacity decreases.

Film strength only exists because a film's emulsion has
a great tolerance for dissolved silver and other by products
of fixing. Paper on the other hand has less tolerance so the
1:9 Paper strength. At 1:9 capacity is less and so too is the
solution's build up of dissolved silver and byproducts. Dan

[funkpilz]

Hey everyone, I'm back with scans!
I've developed quite a few rolls lately, mostly APX100 and HP5+. The developing times seem to be right, but I think I'm doing something wrong. On pretty much all of my scans (this one's HP5+ at EI200), I get weird contrast-y shadow areas that look like this:
http://img60.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blacksw.jpg
Another thing that I noticed when I developed HP5+ at EI400 was that the texture was very much off, sort of like after you apply a Photoshop filter to a picture to make it look more artsy. Note the texture on these jeans:
http://img60.imageshack.us/my.php?image=filter.jpg
Now, my suspicion is of course that this is due to the Fixer being diluted at 1+9 (5 minutes fixing), but can anyone comment on whether this mistake will go away if I dilute at 1+4?

[Thomas Bertilsson]

This is good advice. Processing film is not difficult, but it takes a lot of practice to actually understand all of the variables.

The internet is becoming a crap source of reliable information. Anything published in a library is trustworthy and a good place to start. At least it's been filtered.
Most of what you find online is opinion.

Wanna help you? Sure, but not by answering your question. Good Christ, man. This is stuff you learn the first week in a photo class. If you want to learn well, and properly, go to the library. Take a class. Read some manufacturers' publications on film processing. At least try picking up some knowledge using ANALOG methods before you expect people to hand you scattered, piecemeal, effectively random instructions for EVERYTHING on the Internet. There is too much Information (MOST of it crap) and distraction on the Internet to use it as an effective basic learning tool for this stuff. (Additionally, as you stated, there are about a million threads and Webpages that already have the information you need.) At the very least, go to the library and read a basic photo textbook cover to cover. You will learn more basic knowledge by doing that than you will in many years of asking the questions on the Internet as they come up, and having a bunch of short, often off topic, and more often just plain wrong answers from any old Joe. "Photography" by Upton and Upton (or London and Upton, depending on the edition) should be in any library, and will give you a nice read packed with basic information and more.

[funkpilz]

Anything published in a library is trustworthy and a good place to start.

Don't have one.

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Ah, the things I take for granted.

Can you order books via Amazon or similar source? Perhaps find publications from Kodak or Ilford (the source)?

This is a good place to start:
Ilford
Kodak

Those two links should get you to places with documented information published by the manufacturer. It's a good start to study those sources.

Sorry about the assumption above.

[funkpilz]

No problem. In fact, I think it's a travesty that I would have to actually get into a car (don't have a license yet) and drive for like half an hour to get to a library to get some books. Kinda shows you how highly education is valued in our society
I've actually read Langford and Adams, most of it pretty thoroughly, and especially the latter has been very helpful. The only thing I have problems with is troubleshooting, which I find is rather hard to do through reading books.
And thanks for the links - although I've already gone through the Ilford one, which has proven to be extremely valuable.

[2F/2F]

Try E-Bay for some books. Old textbooks are the best, as they are very cheap, and the basic info hasn't changed (just materials available have changed). I think the one I mentioned earlier is a decent read, and often sells for peanuts. There are some used 3rd Ed. copies on Amazon for about $20 plus shipping, but I'll bet you could do better on E-Bay.