Goodies to Go ™
April 5, 2004–Newsletter #279
This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
Featured this week:
* Goodies Thoughts – Getting the Red Out
* Q & A Goodies
* News Goodies
* Goodies Peer Reviews
* Feedback Goodies
* Windows Tech Goodies
* And Remember This…
Goodies Announcement
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 – Getting the Red Out
I know this is a very basic thing, but you’d be surprised how
often it becomes a stumbling block for newer web designers. I’m talking about
the little red "X" that shows up when your web server can’t find something. For
those of you who are completely familiar with the perils of the red "X", there
may be some useful tips on organization in here too!
This situation, which comes up in questions several times a week, is where you
have built some pages on your PC and they look great. You upload them to the
server and when you look at them there, you get boxes with little red "X"s in
them everywhere your pictures should be.
The cause is that the web server can’t find your pictures where you said they
should be. "But," you protest, "they’re in the same folder as the pages, just
like they were in on my computer. So what gives?" "It’s your relatives," I say,
helpfully, "or at least, the lack of them."
Now that I’ve got you completely confused, let me explain. When the pages were
on you computer they were in a folder (aka a directory) called (for the sake of
this example) "C:sitesthissite". When you included them in your pages you may
have coded something like:
<img border="0" src="C:sitesthissitepicture.jpg">
Now that they’re up on the server the actual folder pathname might be something
like "F:cutomersusisp1johnnyhomewebsite" or even "/var/http/custdata/sites/~johnny"
depending on your service providers setup and operating system. In any case,
it’s highly unlikely to be "C:sitesthissite"! Hence the path to the picture is
invalid and the picture is not found.
What you should have done instead is to address all components of your website
relative (there’s that word!) to the root folder of the site; that is the folder
at the top of your folder (directory) structure and which contains your site’s
home page. For example, if the picture is in the same folder as the page, it
needs no pathname at all, giving a tag like this:
<img border="0" src="picture.jpg">
If the picture is in a folder below the one the page is in, add the folder name
(here it’s called "images" to the path in the tag like this:
<img border="0" src="images/picture.jpg">
If your page is in a folder at a lower level than the root, say one called
"level2", and the image is in another folder below the root, as in the last
example, then your pathname needs to point to its parent folder using "../"
(dot, dot, slash) which indicates "my parent folder" (put another way, it means
up one level). In this example the tag would look like this:
<img border="0" src="../images/picture.jpg">
which says up one level, down into images and the file name is picture.jpg.
To go up more than one level, you’d use more than one "../" like this:
<img border="0" src="../../images/picture.jpg">
Using relative addressing like this enables the site to be moved from computer
to computer without breaking the integrity of addresses within the pages. The
relationship between the address of the page and the address of the picture
remains the same.
Organizing your pictures and pages into a sensible hierarchy of folders can
bring lots of other benefits to you also. I have discussed this before in this
newsletter, and you can find that discussion here:
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/letters/224.html
Thanks for Reading!
– Vince Barnes
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. How do I attach the "onClick" event handler to plain text? What I am
trying to do is load the Javascript function contained in the code in a new
window using a text link to pop the referenced URL in a specifically-sized
window with most of the bells and whistles disabled. While the code I have below
works "okay", it doesn’t work the way I want it to. I think I need to use the ‘onClick’
handler to accomplish this, but the only references to that handler I can seem
to find on HTMLGoodies uses form buttons, or regular HTML links. I want to use
plain text links. I tried this:
<a href="" onClick="javascript:popup("URL")">Text here</a>
..but all I got was my local desktop in the window when I tested it. Here is the
code I am using to call my popup window on page load:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html>
<head>
<title>BridgeMon</title>
<!– TWO STEPS TO INSTALL POPUP WINDOW:
1. Paste the first into the HEAD of your HTML document
2. Use the code to open the popup page on your site –>
<!– STEP ONE: Copy this code into the HEAD of your HTML document –>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!– Idea by: Nic Wolfe (Nic@TimelapseProductions.com) –>
<!– Web URL: http://fineline.xs.mw –>
<!– This script and many more are available free online at –>
<!– The JavaScript Source!! http://javascript.internet.com –>
<!– Begin
function popUp(URL) {
day = new Date();
id = day.getTime();
eval("page" + id + " = window.open(URL, ‘" + id + "’,
‘toolbar=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=0,width=320,height=210’);");
self.close();
}
// End –>
</script>
<!– STEP TWO: Paste this onLoad event handler into the BODY tag –>
<BODY onLoad="javascript:popUp(‘URL’)">
<!– Script Size: 0.73 KB –>
</head>
A. Part of your problem is that you left the "href" blank. This causes
problems with the link. There are some different ways that you can accomplish
what you want. The first one is to use the "#" pound sign to void the link so
that only the onClick event works. For example: <a href="#" onClick="popup(‘somepage.html’)">Text
here</a>
(You also do not need to specify "javascript" in the onClick event)
You can also call the function by placing the function call in the "href" like
this.
<a href="javascript:popup(‘somepage.html’)">Text here</a>
This does away with the onClick event. I also noticed that you surounded the URL
with double quotes and at the same time surounded the function call with double
quotes. When you are doing a function call like your example it should be single
quotes within double quotes or double quotes within single quotes.
Q. I have developed a website for a consulting business. What steps do
you need to take to make sure that copyrights are not infringed by using photos
and graphics from other sites?
A. Website items are like any other property. If you use any images or
any content for that matter from another website, you should get permission from
the owner first, before you use them for your site.
Q. Could you please tell me how to link one page to a specific point on
another page? Also, how do I link the top of one page to the bottom of the same
page?
A. If you want to link to a spot on a particular page you can use the
NAME ANCHOR. For instance if you had a long page and wanted to give the user an
easy way to get back to the top after reading the article you would place this
in the HTML near the top after the <BODY> tag:
<a name="top">
At the end of the article you would place this code:
<a href="#top">TOP</a>
That creates a link to the top of the page. If you want a link to a certain area
on another page it is done in a similar way. On the page you want to link to you
place the NAME ANCHOR in the spot on the page you want to jump to:
<a href="jump">Jump Here</a>
On the page you are coming from, the link would look like this:
<a href="#jump">Click here to Jump</a>
Here is the tutorial from the HTMLGoodies site:
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutors/pagejump.html
Q. How do you get your brower reset because I have no status bar and no
scrollbar?
A. You could provide a link like this to reload the document:
<a href="javascript:window.location.reload()">Refresh</a>
When the link is clicked on it would refresh the page.
[If you wish to restore the browser status bar (in Internet Explorer) click
"View/Status Bar"
Q. I have created two pages one for high res and other for low
resolutions, and want to create a "splash" page that will show some content
while redirect the user to the correct resolution main page. This is the code
I4m using to redirects the user to the correct res page. I need to add a delay
of X seconds so the user can see the content of "splash" page before being
redirected. How can i do this?
<script>
<!–
if (screen.width<=640)
top.location.href="index640.html";
if (screen.width<=800)
top.location.href="index800.html";
if (screen.width<=1024)
top.location.href="index1024.html";
top.location.href="index1280.html";
//–>
</script>
A. You could use setTimeout() to perform a function to redirect after so
many milliseconds. Here is an example that will redirect to the specified link
after 2000 milliseconds (2 seconds):
<script>
<!–
function Redirect(linkid)
{
top.location.href=linkid
}
if (screen.width<=640)
setTimeout(‘Redirect("index640.html")’,2000);
if (screen.width<=800)
setTimeout(‘Redirect("index800.html")’,2000);
if (screen.width<=1024)
setTimeout(‘Redirect("index1024.html")’,2000)
top.location.href="index1280.html";
//–>
</script>
Q. (Re. Search Engine Submissions) I typically submit my sites using the
tool provided by my web host. That’s not because I want to, but more because I’m
confused by all the ‘services’ out there that offer site submission – from
$24.95/month to $500 one time fee for software that promises to submit, analyze
and everything else in between other than fixing my breakfast. Before spending
money on anything that I’m solicited to via email and ads on sites that I visit,
I wonder if anyone might have a suggestion on a site submission tool that is
really worth the money spent.
A. I am not a search engine/marketing guru be any means. I tell my
clients up front that I do not guarantee a good placement in any search engine.
There are people that do just website marketing and get paid very well. I do,
however use this site to submit the websites of my clients:
http://selfpromotion.com
Another site I use for information is:
http://www.sitepoint.com
It has a lot of information about web sites from coding to marketing. I don’t
know if you are interested in PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing, but I suggest you
take a look at
http://www.overture.com It has a really nice tool for seeing the
amount of times a certain keyword was searched for in the previous month. It may
help your META tags.
[There is a lot of information about all aspects of Search Engines, including a
submission service, at
http://www.searchenginewatch.com – Ed.]
News Goodies
New Software Head in Sun Management Shift
[April 5, 2004] On the heels of announcing a major
restructuring, Sun continues shifting senior management.
Click
here to read the article
Sun’s Financial Strategy — Can It Work?
[April 5, 2004] Sun and Microsoft’s deal may not help hide Sun’s perilous
position in the marketplace.
Click here to read the article
EMC Crafts ‘True’ Library For Data Recovery
[April 5, 2004] EMC is looking to offer a 30 to 60 percent back-up speed
bump over tape systems with the new disk library.
Click here to read the article
Where You See a Gym, They See a Supercomputer
[April 5, 2004] USF’s bid to build an ad hoc supercomputer in a single day
hits major speeds, but falls short of benchmarking goals.
Click
here to read the article
A
New Approach to Fortify Your Software
[April 5, 2004] A startup has come up with a solution to
security flaws — make the app safe before you deploy it on the
network.
Click here to read the article
Challenges Ahead for .NET, Java Union
[April 2, 2004] Customers and developers could be the
deciding factors on whether this deal flies or crashes.
Click here to read the article
Apple Sees a Shift in Developer Profiles
[April 5, 2004] Ever since the Macintosh maker put its trust in UNIX, the
company has seen an unanticipated change in the backgrounds of its
application developers.
Click here to read the article
American Firms Pitch ‘In-sourcing,’ ‘Onshoring’
[April 2, 2004] FEATURE As overseas options increase, U.S.-based
contract software development firms are highlighting quality and security to
potential enterprise customers.
Click here to read the article
Task Force: Patches Must be Small, Easy to Install
[April 2, 2004] A high-powered cybersecurity task force recommends patch
management principles to ensure security patches are well-tested, small,
localized, reversible and easy to install.
Click here to read the article
Study: Virus Attacks Up But Infections Hold Steady
[April 1, 2004] Last year more — and more dangerous — viruses raced across
the Internet than ever, according to a new study. But there was a glimmer of
good news.
Click here to read the article
Every week a site is selected for review. Each week,
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Ploof! It now is!
If you would like to comment on the newsletter or expand/improve on something
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Please don’t send your questions to this address.
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For those who are missing Peer reviews: we are once again
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workable solution. The current plan is to move the new Peer
Review pages into place in the new year. All those who have
been selected for reviews in the past will be featured in
the new pages. The new method will make it much easier for
your peers to provide feedback and much easier for us to
handle the publication side of things. "Watch this space!"
It’s coming soon!!
Thanks again for all your feedback!
Top
Windows Tech Goodie of the Week:
Exploiting .NET’s Advanced Deployment Features
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/040323.htm
Tony Arslan shows how to use VS .NET’s custom deployment
feature to create
configuration files on the target machine during
installation.
*** AND ***
Department of Homeland Security Threat Advisory Level
Retriever
http://www.asp101.com/resources/visitors/index.asp#dhspull
This script pulls the current threat advisory level from the
Department of
Homeland Security’s website and displays a graphic
corresponding to the
current threat level on your site.
Top
And Remember This . . .
On this day in…
1951 Rosenbergs Sentenced to Death for Spying
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death on this day in
1951, convicted of passing secret data about the atomic bomb to the
soviets. While they pled their innocence until the end, they were
executed in the electric chair in June of 1953. In 1950 the British
arrested nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs in England. When questioned,
Fuchs admitted stealing secrets while working on the Manhattan
Project (the secret US project to build an atomic bomb). Fuchs
implicated his courier, David Greenglass who in turn implicated his
sister and brother-in-law, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Their
attorney argued that they were the victims of the anti-red
"political hysteria" of the times, but Federal Judge Irving R.
Kaufman described their crime as "worse than murder" saying that,
"By your betrayal you undoubtedly have altered the course of history
to the disadvantage of our country." He sentenced them to death.
Today was also the day that in: 1614 Indian princess
Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe; 1887 Anne
Sullivan taught Helen Keller to say "water"; 1895 Oscar Wilde
lost his libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who had
accused him of homosexual practices; 1896 1st modern Olympic
Games officially opened in Athens; 1923 the Firestone company
started production of their new inflatable tire; 1954 Elvis
Presley recorded his debut single, "That’s All Right"; 1955
Winston Churchill resigned as British PM; 1963 The Beatles
received their 1st silver disc (Please Please Me); 1964 US
General Douglas MacArthur died at the age of 84; 1974 The 110
story World Trade Center opened in NYC; 1993 Construction
began on Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Born today were: in 1725 (attributed) Italian
writer/philanderer/adventurer Giacomo Casanova; 1900 actor
Spencer Tracy; 1908 actress Bette Davis; 1909 film
producer Alberto Romero "Cubby" Broccoli (James Bond); 1912
English actor John Le Mesurier; 1916 actor Gregory Peck;
1920 English author Arthur Hailey (Airport); 1922 English
actor Christopher Hewett; 1929 actor Nigel Hawthorne; 1937
General/advisor to President George Bush (Nat Security
Affairs)/Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93)/Secretary
of State (2001-present) Colin Powell; 1941 actor Michael
Moriarty; 1941 musician David Swarbrick (Fairport
Convention); 1941 musician Eric Burden; 1963 singer
Jimmy Osmond;
Thanks for reading Goodies to Go!
