Friday, March 29, 2024

Goodies To Go! Newsletter #327

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Goodies to Go ™
March 7, 2005 — Newsletter # 327

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

Please visit
http://www.htmlgoodies.com

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Featured this week:

* Goodies Thoughts – A Feedback Request
* Q & A Goodies
* News Goodies
* Feedback Goodies
* Windows Tech Goodie of the Week
* And Remember This…

A Feedback Request

I’d like all of you to know that I very much appreciate the opportunity to
communicate with you via this newsletter, and the loyalty you show by reading it
each week.

This week, however, this lead piece is going to be short. It’s a request, so I
don’t want to be long winded about it. I would like your opinions about the
newsletter: which sections do you like, which don’t matter to you and which
would you like to see disappear? Are there things you would like to see added?

Please send your input to our feedback address (mailto:nlfeedback@htmlgoodies.com)
with the words "GTG Feedback" in the subject line (so that the emails will be
correctly filtered.

When the responses are in, they’ll be analyzed, tabulated and I let you all know
what you had to say!

Thanks for Reading!

– Vince Barnes

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Q & A Goodies
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Questions are taken from submissions to our Community Mentors. You can ask a
Mentor a question by going to

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,b3d2,9l6f,kdo1,b82d

Q. I am a beginning web designer working for a non-profit organization
and I’ve inherited the job of maintaining the organization’s website. I’ve been
asked to make an online shopping cart to market our secondary school curriculum
and supplementary materials.
HTML Goodies has been extremely helpful in getting me up to speed to be able to
maintain the website and tackle this project. I followed the "So you want a
shopping cart"
tutorial and installed the cart and the CGI successfully. I’ve customized it to
include all of the elements that we are listing. It works beautifully in
Netscape 7, including sending the correct item and price information to the CGI.
However, in Internet Explorer
6 and Mozilla Firefox it won’t display the list of items ordered on the order
page or send it to the CGI. I’ve been trying to debug it for weeks, and I’m just
not fluent enough with JavaScript to be able to figure out what IE and Firefox
don’t like. (URL
provided)

A. I noticed in this bit of code :
if (parent.item_num > 0)
{
for (i =1;i < parent.item_num;i++)
{ if (parent.itemlist[i].quan > 0)
{index = index + 1;
document.write(‘<a href=’+ parent.itemlist[i].url + ‘><i><b> review :
</b></i></a><input size=10 type=text name= ‘ + parent.itemlist[i].code + ‘
value= ‘ + parent.itemlist[i].code + ‘><input size=6 type=text name= ‘
+ parent.itemlist[i].code + ‘ value=’ + parent.itemlist[i].price +
‘><input size=20 type=text name= ‘ + parent.itemlist[i].code + ‘ value= ‘+
parent.itemlist[i].desc + ‘><input size=2 type=text name= ‘ +
parent.itemlist[i].desc + ‘ value= ‘+ parent.itemlist[i].quan + ‘><br>’);
}
}
}

You are getting an error that says the variable index is not defined.
If you look up farther up in your code you have the line where it is defined
commented out. With Mozilla type browsers you can find out what type of
JavaScript errors you are getting by clicking on Tools then JavaScript Console.
In the options for the JavaScript Console you can click to have all error
messages displayed.

Q. (Question was posed as a JavaScript question) How do I (or can I at
all) use a button in frame A to send the page in frame B to a specific E-mail
address?

A. Unfortunately JavaScript cannot send HTML emails. You will need to use
a Server Side language such as Perl, PHP or ASP. The best you could do with
JavaScript would be to send a link to a Page, but in your case that would not
work as you want them to build the document and then send it.

Q. My website uses frames and I was wondering if there was a code (which
I was guessing uses JavaScript) that refreshes a page/frame automatically every
X minutes?

A. If you want to reload a document in one frame from another you could
do this:
<script language="javascript">
function doReload()
{
parent.framea.location.reload()
setTimeout(‘doReload()’,60000)
}
</script>
Then start it by using the onLoad event in the body tag:
<body onload="setTimeout(‘doReload()’,60000)">
This would reload the document in the frame named "framea" every 60,000
miliseconds (1 minute).

Q. I have recently made an e-mail form with the help of the tutorial on
the site, and my form is made up entirely of text boxes. However, I find that
the text boxes are ugly.. I would like the borders of them to be a different
colour, so they do not have that "grey shadow" look. I know it is possible to
change the colour of them, as I have seen it done on another website, but how
can I do it on mine?

A. The easiest way to do it is to set up a style for the "input" in you
style sheet, since you are only using text boxes. The following will also apply
to any radio buttons or checkboxes that may be in the form. If you add them
later, you may want to set up a class. But for now, add this to your style
sheet:
input { border: 1px solid black; }
You can use change the pixel size, or switch from solid to dashed. For colors,
you can use the text names that are available, or the hexidecimal (#000000).

Q. How do I make a link from a popup window close the popup window and
link back to a page of the main web site?

A. To refer back to the window that opened the popup you would use the
term "opener". I would suggest that you create a function in your popup to load
the page into the main window and then close the popup. The function could look
like this:
function LoadPage(linkid)
{
opener.location.href=linkid
self.close()
}
You can then call this function and pass the page you want to load into the
"opener" window as a value like this:
<a HREF="#" onClick="LoadPage(‘mypage.html’)">Click Me</a>
or:
<a HREF="javascript:LoadPage(‘mypage.html’)">Click Me</a> The second example
might be better because IE5.0 has a problem when you use the "#" sign to void
the link. You can also reference function in the "opener" window from the popup
by prefacing the function name with the term "opener" like this:
opener.function_name()
As you can see you can reference just about anything in the main window as long
as you preface it with "opener".

News Goodies
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Broadcom to Pay $32M For Bluetooth Outfit
[March 7, 2005] The chipset maker looks to Zeevo to go beyond Wi-Fi and
Blutonium.
Read the article:

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,5p21,8vks,kdo1,b82d

Opsware Tackles Network Automation
[March 7, 2005] The company adds another stack to its system automation
platform, this time with network devices.
Read the article:

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,74qb,dd41,kdo1,b82d

Tech Heavies Throw Weight Into Compliance
[March 7, 2005] HP, Oracle and others want to build a cross-industry, global
framework for companies looking to get a handle on government compliance
regulations.
Read the article:

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,l6q,1q51,kdo1,b82d

Google Officially Drills Down to the Desktop
[March 7, 2005] The official launch of the software tool is the latest attempt
to lock up search real estate.
Read the article:

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,68w1,gnc1,kdo1,b82d


Viruses Gearing up For The Smart Set

[March 4, 2005] FEATURE: Viruses targeting smartphones don’t get much attention
these days, but someone’s got to take responsibility for them. The question is
who?
Read the article:

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,94ll,325,kdo1,b82d


Vonage Passes VoIP Milestone

[March 7, 2005] The broadband telephony service now has more than 500,000 total
lines.
Read the article:

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,499d,fj83,kdo1,b82d

It’s Degrading: VoIP Firms Urge More FCC Action
[March 4, 2005] Vonage and Nuvio say port blocking is easy to prove, but allege
that telecoms and cable companies are also degrading VoIP signals.
Read the article:

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,eh5m,68vd,kdo1,b82d

Bloggers Can’t Shield Sources
[March 4, 2005] UPDATED: Lawyers for Apple and three blog sites await word to
see whether the judge will change his mind over a preliminary ruling that forces
bloggers to reveal sources.
Read the article:

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,5x2u,6e9f,kdo1,b82d

Yahoo’s Little Ad Gap
[March 4, 2005] Yahoo opened its advertising APIs, but they’ll only benefit
large advertisers. Is it missing out on the long tail?
Read the article:

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,jdlt,4hkz,kdo1,b82d

Spamhaus Lauds Spam Fighters
[March 4, 2005] Global Crossing receives kudos from the non-profit for its
network spam protection.
Read the article:

http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,3bva,dhrr,kdo1,b82d

Feedback Goodies
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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 helps 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://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,b3d2,9l6f,kdo1,b82d

Lots of response to last week’s "Dealer Sticker" piece! This time, those for and
those against were about evenly matched, where responses usually tend to be
mostly one way or the other. Some people were quite passionate about their
position. One thing to remember about the Internet: there is no "boss" of the
net — we’re all free to do as we see fit and also to express our opinions as we
see fit!

Thanks for all your feedback!

Windows Tech Goodie of the Week
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The Value of .NET Server Controls in Content Management

Server controls are just one of the many developments in content management and
web development solutions. Their power cannot be overstated. They simply make
developers more efficient than they’ve ever been before.


http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,1lm3,8d0a,kdo1,b82d

*** AND ***


Display Local Weather Forecasts with the NOAA’s Web Service

In December 2004 the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA)
unveiled a Web service for accessing weather forecasts for locations within the
United States. Read this article for the details on how you can add this feature
to your site.


http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1ftl,1,l62y,86jh,kdo1,b82d

And Remember This …
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On this day in…

1876 Alexander Graham Bell received the patent for the telephone; 1908
Cincinnati Mayor Mark Breith stood before city council and announced that
"women are not physically fit to operate automobiles"; 1917 the first
jazz record, "Dixie Jazz Band One Step", recorded by
Nick LaRocca Original Dixieland Jazz Band, was released by RCA Victor in Camden
NJ; 1933 the game "Monopoly" was invented; 1962 The Beatles made
their broadcasting debut on BBC radio; 1967 Teamsters Union president
Jimmy Hoffa began an eight year prison sentence for defrauding the union and
tampering with a jury (sentence was commuted on December 23, 1971); 1971
IBM’s PC-DOS version 3.1 was released; 1989 Iran dropped diplomatic
relations with Britain over Salman Rushdie’s book "The Satanic Verses"; 1994
the US Navy issued their first permanent order assigning women on combat ship;

Born today were: in 1875 composer Maurice Joseph Ravel; 1914 movie
director Morton DaCosta; 1930 English photographer, Earl of Snowdon,
Anthony Armstrong-Jones; 1934 Weatherman/TV Personality Willard Scott;
1942
Disney COE Michael Eisner; 1942 gospel
singer/make-up consumer Tammy Faye Bakker; 1945 actor John Heard; 1958
comedian Rik Mayall; 1961 actress Mary Beth Evans;

 

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