Goodies to Go ™
September 3, 2002–Newsletter #196
This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
Goodies Announcement
Just in case you missed it before, the new Beyond HTML Goodies book has just been released!
Go beyond the basics and learn how the pros add and use dynamic HTML features
and advanced JavaScript techniques. Beyond HTML Goodies demonstrates dozens of
new and different features readers can add to their existing Web pages using
HTML and JavaScript. The book starts with simple text and image tips, such as
adding a clock to a Web page or causing text to appear when the mouse moves over
an image. It gradually builds to more complex tricks, including manipulating
forms or working with cookies behind the scenes. Throughout the book, readers
enjoy Joe’s snappy style and "to the point" discussion of each "goody" in the
book.
http://books.internet.com/books/0789727803
Goodies Thoughts – What should I put on my Website?
It surprises me how often I hear it. Someone has decided
to get themselves a web site, whether its for business or personal, and they
say but what should I put on it? Put on it whatever you want to, I think to
myself outwardly I try to be a little more helpful! It is an interesting
thing, though, because the moment you try to reply you find yourself fumbling:
Umm, I dunno.. maybe you could I thought Id try a semi-formal approach
that can help to define content for starting a site.
Information is the key. A website is to inform. When it
comes to effectively informing somebody about something there is a tried and
true formula: Who? What? When? Where? Why? The five Ws. This old formula
will work just as well for a website as it does for anything else. Lets take a
closer look as we compare the application of this thought process thats
really what this formula is all about to the website for a small business and
to a family website.
Who? When it comes to the family site theres not much
doubt as to the answer! We do need some clarification though. For example, in
my case I might need to explain that my site is about the family of Vince Barnes
of Central Florida, not the Vince Barnes of Oshkosh Wisconsin (even though he
has a really cool name and lives in a town with one of the coolest names in the
US!) For a small business this is a very important matter. Jacks Bits, inc.
may be clear enough to somebody in the horse business but could be confusing to
a tool and die person or even a computer memory manufacturer. Who we are
talking about on this website needs to be explained very clearly, right away.
We now have start of the content for the first page.
What? A small business offers products, services or both.
We need to tell our visitor what we have. From Goldfish and other snacks to
rocket fuel to accounting, what we have to offer must be clearly explained
next. If our visitor is looking for bar snacks, they dont need to hang around
if our goldfish are the kind you put in water. On the family page, what do we
have to offer? Do we have a family tree that goes back to Adam? Are there
photos of that episode up at the lake? (I do hope so!) Can we take a look at
Ted and Alices new baby? You get the idea. Our business site will likely
involve more What? than everything else combined. It is critically important
that our potential customers fully understand our products and services. For
our family site, dont forget what are our plans? Some form of calendar of
events can be very useful in deterring Aunt Mabel from one of her surprise
visits.
When? When can we deliver your rocket fuel? When is our
new book coming out? When are we open? When will we see the results? Business
runs by the clock and calendar. Explaining all timing options lets our
customers know that we can provide that what they need within their schedule.
Where? Geography is important too. If our site is to
offer well drilling services our service area is likely to be fairly small if
our wells supply houses with water but may be much larger if we drill oil
wells. For a retail store or a restaurant its important that potential
customers know where the store is and how to get there. Maps are great try
using a link to mapquest.com or a similar mapping site. I explained earlier the
importance of location in defining which family we are talking about on our
family site. There can also be a down side. It is probably not a good idea to
have your website say that you live at 123 4th street and youll be
on vacation in Aruba for the first two weeks in September. You may not have
much furniture on your return!
Finally there is Why? For our business, this is the
opportunity to explain why our potential customer should buy from us instead of
elsewhere. What is it that differentiates us? Why are we the best? For our
family site, why might not be the most important question but it can certainly
be an interesting one: Why are Grandpas earlobes so long? Why dont we have
more family gatherings? Creativity can run amuck answering the question
Why?!
Using these five questions in this manner will usually
result in a good supply of material for the new website. Once the site has been
up for a few days with this content in place, there are frequently many
suggestions offered as to new content that should be added. Once its on the
web, the world can review it and put in their two cents worth.
Thanks for reading!
Q & A Goodies
Questions are taken from
submissions to our Community Mentors. You can ask a Mentor a question by going
to
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors/.
Q. I am very new to HTML. I am having to create a 4 page web site and I
have completed my first page. How do I begin the next page?. I’m sure it’s
extremely simple but I can’t find any tags or codes that say, "This is how you
begin page two in your web site."
A. Just make a new html page and name it something different than your
first page, for example page2.html.
To be able to link to it from your first page just add this html code
where you want the link to be on your first page:
<p><a href="page2.html">Page 2</a></p>
Just remember to change "page2.html" to whatever you name your page and place
the second page in the same directory or folder as the first one.
Q. I have a website and I change the links on left a lot, and when I do
that, I have to change them on all the other pages. That’s too much work. Is
there any way that I can change a link and all the other pages links change too?
A. There is a way to do that using Server Side Includes (SSI). There is a
tutorial using Active Server Pages (ASP) here:
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/asp.html
About half way down the page it starts:
A Useful ASP Example: SSI
The trouble you may run into is that your host may not allow SSI. The server
does the work and these will not run with static HTML pages. In this particular
case using ASP, your server must support ASP which usually means that the server
must be a Windows server. Find out from your host if they support SSI first
before doing all the work.
*** and an alternative answer:
A. You could use frames with the top frame having your links in it.
You might also try creating an external JavaScript that would write the links
out when the page was loaded. You could then include the external
javascript in each page. You could also try using a server side language
such as PHP that allows you to include a snippet of code into a page. If
you have access to PHP that might be the easiest way.
Q. Is there anyway that you can refresh two frames at once with a link? I
need the code.
A. Here is a link to the htmlgoodies section on frames. This code
refreshes 3
frames so just edit it to only refresh the 2 you need.
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutors/2atonce.html
News Goodies
Its all over for Napster
Napster to be put out to pasture after a Delaware court blocks Bertelsmann’s
attempts at taking over the bad boy of music file swapping.
Click here to read the article
Bush Administration to call for
Privacy Czar.
[September 3, 2002] The Bush administration is expected to call for the creation
of a federal chief privacy officer to help minimize criticism of increased
electronic surveillance capabilities attached to its National Strategy for
Securing Cyberspace.
Click here to read the article
A Blatantly Optimistic Outlook on
DSL
Only a short while ago, cable seemed to the the clear front runner for home and
small-office broadband connectivity in the U.S. Digital subscriber line (DSL)
service seemed in shambles: the leaders in deployment were struggling for
survival.
Click here to read the article
And Remember This . . .
On this day in…
1992, The first PowerPC chips arrived at Apple Computer in Cupertino CA.
The PowerPC chip, which was an Apple/IBM/Motorola joint venture, became the
basis of the PowerMac.
1991, Italian-born film director Frank Capra (1897-1991) died. Frank
Capra’s best known films include "It’s a Wonderful Life" (1946) and
"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939).
1926, The murder trial of gangster Lefty Lewis started in Cook County, IL.
More than a thousand jurors were rejected in this trial, most because they
claimed they had already made up their minds. Some of the witnesses
received death threats; the house of one was even bombed. On November 18,
1927 the jury acquitted him despite the overwhelming evidence against him.
Thanks for reading Goodies to Go!
