Thursday, March 28, 2024

Goodies to Go ™
January 13, 2003– Newsletter #215


Goodies to Go ™
January 13, 2003–Newsletter #215

This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
 


Featured
this week
:

* Goodies Thoughts –
The Importance of Design.
* Q & A Goodies
* News Goodies
* Feedback Goodies  

* And Remember This

 


 

Goodies Announcement

Just in case you missed
it before, the new Beyond HTML Goodies book is now available!

 

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

The Importance of Design.

The year 2003 is now well under way,
as is the new century. Being in the early part of
something new is, I think, a great reason to take a
quick look at where I stand with regard to my plans.
Are things in my life progressing according to plan
or have they gone wildly out of control? Not that we
really need a reason — it’s always best to take
stock on an ongoing basis — but it is a great
excuse to step back and double-check. It occurs to
me that exactly the same applies to the early life
of a website.

A good website starts life in the design stage.
There are several aspects of the site that are
formed at this stage, including among other things,
layout, color, sound, content, functionality and
maintainability. No reasonable person would start to
build a house without designing it first, no
reasonable website builders should begin
construction without a design either. While I admit
there may be a better chance of succeeding with the
un-designed website than with the un-designed house,
you are selling yourself short if you skip the
design stage. A friend of mine says (about
programming computer systems) "you can’t debug a
system; you can only debug a system design. Sure you
can fix the syntax things, but it’s in design where
the bugs are eliminated — or introduced!" Wise
words! The same holds true for a website, though by
"bug" we might mean something a little different.

If design is so important, how should we go about
it? Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to go
over the main elements of website design. Hopefully
I can help you take a structured approach to your
next site, and maybe make life easier as you revisit
some aspects of your earlier work. This is a process
I go through all the time with my own sites. The
more you do, the more you realize the benefits of
good design work.

I used the analogy of a house design a moment ago;
there are some good parallels to be drawn between
these two types of design. The design of a house
involves not only the appearance of the finished
house, but also the material of which it is made,
the manor in which the material is used, the time
and expense required to put it together, the ease of
access and the usability of its rooms and the
building’s durability and maintainability. A website
design involves the look and feel of the site, the
languages and server resources it will use, the
programming and data structures involved, the time
and programming abilities needed, end-user ease of
use and site maintenance. Design a house, design a
website. Same thing — almost <G>!!

I hope I have convinced you of the importance of
taking a little extra time in the design stage of
your development work. "A stitch in time saves
nine," my Grandma used to say. And the web wasn’t
even around then!

Next week I will be delving into the first few
considerations of the design stage as I take a look
at layout, color and sound. Until then,

Thanks for Reading!
– Vince Barnes


 

Top

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 was trying to put a "close
this window" link onto a webpage. When I put a
HREF link to nowhere,
it linked to my homepage, because it is called
index.htm. Is there any way around this?

A. You can do it using a little
javascript. To make a text link here’s the code:
<.a href="javascript:window.close();">Close This
Window<./a>

Or using a button:
<.form>
<.input type=button value="Close This Window"
onClick="javascript:window.close();">
<./form>

Q. How do I lose the blue line that
appears round an image when I make it a link?

A. In the IMG SRC tag add this:
border="0"

Q. Is there any way to place text on top
of pictures?

A. Here is the link to see how its done:

http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutors/textonimages.html

Q. Is it possible to change the link
color with the onMouseOver command?

A. Yes it is. I have done it using
javascript (there is also a way using CSS). Here
is my JavaScript version:
<.html>
<.head>
<.title>Change Link Color<./title>
<.style type="text/css">
/* Set colors for IE5.0+ and Netscape 6.0 */
.textRed {color:red}
.textBlue {color:blue}
.textLgreen {color:lightgreen}
/* Set colors for Netscape 4.0+ */
A.normal{color:blue}
A.over{color:red}
A.overb{color:lightgreen}
/* No underline on link for all browsers */
A{text-decoration:none}
<./style>
<.SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
/* This script was written by Jim Young of
www.requestcode.com and has been tested in
Internet Explorer 5.0+, Netscape 4.0+ and
Netscape 6.0. I use the statement (this.className)
to change the class for the links in NS6 and
IE5.0+ . The scripts below are strictly for
NS4.0+ . Add links below that are in the same
order as your links in the body section. the
format for the array is:
page to link to, the link name(what is displayed
on your page), div id, class(color) for the
mouseover, and class(color) for the mouseout.
Make sure you separate them by a comma (,).
*/
var links = new Array()
links[0]="http://www.wsabstract.com,Website
Abstraction,divLink0,over,normal"
links[1]
="http://www.requestcode.com,Requestcode,divLink1,overb,normal"
// Unless you absolutely have to DO NOT change
the functions below.
function change(linknum)
{
if(document.layers) // Check for NS4.0+
{
linkval=links[linknum].split(",") // split out
the values
linkpage=linkval[0]
linkname=linkval[1]
linkdiv=linkval[2]
linkclass=linkval[3]
var linkd="<.A HREF="+linkpage+" CLASS="+linkclass+"
onMouseOut=changeb(""+linknum+"")>"+linkname+"<./A>"
var docwrta="document."+linkdiv+".document.write(‘"+linkd+"’)"
eval(docwrta)
eval(‘document.’+linkdiv+’.document.close()’)
}
}
function changeb(linknum)
{
if(document.layers)
{
linkval=links[linknum].split(",")
linkpage=linkval[0]
linkname=linkval[1]
linkdiv=linkval[2]
linkclass=linkval[4]
var linkd="<.A HREF="+linkpage+" CLASS="+linkclass+"

onMouseOver=change(""+linknum+"") onMouseOut=changeb(""+linknum+"")
>"+linkname+"<./A>"
var docwrta="document."+linkdiv+".document.write(‘"+linkd+"’)"
eval(docwrta)
eval(‘document.’+linkdiv+’.document.close()’)
}
}
<./SCRIPT>
<./head>
<.body>
<.SCRIPT>
/* If you add more links here make sure you
update the links array with the same url and
other required information. Make sure they are
entered in the array in the same order as they
appear on your page. Also remember to change the
value being passed on the mouseover and mouseout
to the functions to match the entry in the
array. Make sure you use different names for
each div. In the mouseover for IE and NS6 you
can change the class name specified by the
statement this.className to a color you have
setup in the styles area in your head section
above. You should leave the class(color) for the
mouseout the same as when your link is displayed
when the page is first loaded. I currently have
them set to blue which is the class normal.
*/
<./SCRIPT>
<.CENTER>
<.H1>Link Effect Example<./H1>
Run your mouse over the links to see them change
color <./CENTER> <.div id="divLink0"
style="left:15; position:absolute; top:90;
visibility:visible">
<.a href="http://www.wsabstract.com" onMouseOver="change
(‘0’);this.className=’textRed’" class="normal"
onMouseOut="changeb (‘0’);this.className=’textBlue’">Website
Abstraction<./a> <./div> <.div id="divLink1"
style="left:15; position:absolute; top:120;
visibility:visible">
<.a href="http://www.requestcode.com"
onMouseOver="change (‘1’);this.className=’textLgreen’"
class="normal" onMouseOut="changeb
(‘1’);this.className=’textBlue’">Requestcode<./a>
<./div>
<./body>
<./html>

Q. I designed a web page to present an
image that had been scanned in and then saved as
a jpg file. It all looked great but when I
printed the page it did not print the complete
image. How can I set the image up so that it is
readable as web page and can be printed so that
it looks nice? The image is a 8 = x 11 scanned
document.

A. The problem is when you print, the
hardcopy includes a margin besides the image.
That means the printable area is actually less
than 8= x 11. You have to shrink the image to
make it fit on paper, or find a printer that can
handle larger paper.
(Or, take a look at Adobe’s "Acrobat" – Ed)

And this just in…. DatabaseJournal (http://www.DatabaseJournal.com)
has a Forums section in which you can ask, and
receive answers to, database related questions.
Check it out! Here’s a sample (this represents a
short dialog in the forums):

Q. One of our programmers created an
access database which is pretty big. It takes up
a lot of resources and freezes the desktop
sometimes. We’re using the following operating
systems WIN98, XP and Window 2000 Pro. Is there
any known configuration for the desktops running
a huge access database?

A. Which version of Access are you
running on the desktops? In Access 97 MS did
still use some 16-bit code which consumes a lot
of resources. As far as I can tell Access2K’s
query engine is much more efficient.

Q. Access2K – So far two of our users are
complaining about slowness.

A. Your computers need more memory and
better processors… My Access DB is at the
speed of a click.

 

 

 

 

Top

News Goodies


A New AOL Time Warner?
[January 13, 2003] ANALYSIS: After Steve Case
announces his exit as chairman of the media giant,
speculation ensues over whether AOL Time Warner will
change its name, spin off AOL, and how this helps
its broadband strategy.

Click
here to read the article

 

PalmSource Creating Graffiti 2: ‘Jot’ This One
Down

[January 13, 2003] The handheld computer maker’s
splitting software division licenses CIC’s Jot as an
alternative to its ‘Graffiti’ handwriting technology
for its latest OS.

Click
here to read the article

 




Nextel Begins Nationwide ‘Direct Connect’ Rollout
[January 13, 2003] With the help of Motorola’s
iDEN technology, the walkie-talkie phone maker is
going coast-to-coast in some 197 markets by Q3 2003.

Click here to read the article

 




Dell Moves into Electronic Cash Register
[January 13, 2003] The PC-based registers are
designed for retail store systems.

Click here to read the article

 



 

Yahoo! Buffs Up Personals
[January 13, 2003] With an increasing amount of its
revenue coming from paid services, Yahoo! adds voice
and video features to its personals section.

Click here to read the article

 

 

Judge: Kazaa Can Be Sued In U.S.
[January 13, 2003] Court ropes file-swapping service
into massive copyright infringement suit against
Morpheus and Grokster.

Click here to read the article

 

 

Microsoft to Cough Up $1.1 Billion to Settle
Suits

[January 13, 2003] The software giant will pay more
than $1 billion to disgruntled customers who felt
the company was taking advantage of them.

Click here to read the article

 

 

What’s in a Name for Microsoft? Not .NET
[January 10, 2003] Addressing public concerns that
.NET was confusing, the software outfit simplifies
the name of its upcoming server.

Click here to read the article

 

 

 

IT Vendors Publish Web Services Messaging Spec
[January 9, 2003] Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, Oracle,
Sonic Software and Sun have joined forces to promote
WS-Reliability specification; Microsoft and IBM are
conspicuously absent.

Click here to read the article

 

 

 

 

 

Top

Feedback
Goodies


Did you ever wish your newsletter was an easy two way communications medium?
Ploof! It now is!
If you would like to comment on the newsletter or expand/improve on something
you have seen in here, you can now send your input to:

mailto:nlfeedback@htmlgoodies.com

We already receive a lot of email every day. This address will help us sort out
those relating specifically to this newsletter from all the rest. When you send
email to this address it may wind up being included in this section of the
newsletter, to be shared with your fellow readers.
Please don’t send your questions to this address.
They should be sent to our mentors: see

http://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors/

Thanks to those of you who have sent in your
comments regarding our use of "<." in code samples
to help those readers whose email client programs
interpret the code as code instead of text. Several
of you have suggested we use "&lt" instead. The
trouble with this is that while it is interpreted by
HTML as the "<" sign for display purposes, it is
still copied as "&lt" when cut and pasted. It still
has to be edited for use as interpretable code. We
felt that "<." is clearer since it is always visible
to the reader that it is not interpretable code,
whether their email client can sort out text from
code or not.
Arthur Weibe suggests that HTML Goodies should be in
HTML format instead of text. We have it as a text
newsletter because a large number of our readers are
using email clients that don’t interpret the HTML.
We do put it into HTML when it goes into the
archive, however (see

http://www.htmlgoodies.com/letters/
)

Once again, thanks to all who take the time to send
in your comments. It is my hope that this newsletter
will continue to provide you with useful and timely
news and information. Your input helps me to do
that.
 

 

 

Top
And
Remember This
. . .

On this day in…

1941: James Joyce dies
James Joyce, widely regarded as Ireland’s greatest
author, dies in Z|rich, Switzerland, at the age of
58. One of the most brilliant and daring writers of
the 20th century, Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses is
ranked among the greatest works in the English
language. Born in Dublin in 1882, Joyce grew up in
poor surroundings and was educated at Jesuit-run
schools and the University College in Dublin. He
wrote poetry and short prose passages that he called
"epiphanies," a term he used to describe the sudden
revelation of the true nature of a person or thing.
Ulysses brought Joyce international fame, and the
work’s groundbreaking literary forms, including
stream-of-consciousness writing, were an immediate
influence on novelists the world over. The action of
the novel takes place in Dublin on a single day but
parallels the epic 10-year journey described in
Homer’s Odyssey.

1928 Experimental TV sets installed in homes
Television sets are installed in three homes in
Schenectady, New York. RCA and General Electric
installed the sets, which displayed a
1.5-inch-square picture. However, televisions did
not become common household appliances until the
late 1940s.



Thanks for reading
Goodies to Go!


 




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