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Featured this week:
* Goodies Thoughts – No Ocean Phishing
* Q & A Goodies
* News Goodies
* 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 – No Ocean Phishing
I got into my car to go and visit someone this morning and
turned on the radio just in time to hear a voice saying that "the Internet is
awesome, absolutely awesome." He got my attention, so I listened a little
longer. It turns out he was talking about something related to the tsunamis.
The scope of the tsunami damage around the Indian Ocean is impossible for me to
get my mind around. In 2004 Florida was hit by four hurricanes, three of which I
had to endure myself, but they pale as nothing at all compared to the
destruction wreaked by the earthquake and tidal waves that hit without warning
on December 26, 2004, taking more than 155,000 lives.
The news stunned me. My immediate reaction was that I wanted in some way to help
those people. Millions of others reacted the same way, including that radio
announcer. What made him comment so gratifyingly about our beloved Internet, was
that it made it "possible, easy in fact, really easy, for an individual to
actually do something themselves to help out."
He was talking about all the websites that have set up funds into which you can
make a contribution through a web page. The Red Cross is an example. Amazon.com
even placed a box front and center on their home page to provide a link directly
into the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. I just checked, and as of this
writing, 163,052 people have contributed a total of US$13,172,690.37 through
this one source alone. Not bad!
However….. there’s always a dark side. The scavenging scum of the web didn’t
take long to get to work either — I am, of course, talking about phishers. I
think it is totally despicable that someone would try to divert money intended
for those who are suffering so much into their own pockets; it shows a total
lack on humanity. But, it’s happening.
Phishing, in case there’s anybody reading who is not yet aware of the term, is
the act of preparing a site that pertains to be something it’s not, and coerces
people into giving up personal information, usernames and passwords, access to
their bank accounts, or simply cash. I’m sure you’ve all received emails from
various banks asking you to "click here to go to our site where you can log in
and update your information" – a common phishing technique. It continues to
happen because it continues to work.
I have received emails from things like "The Organization for South East Asian
Relief Work" or thereabouts, asking my to "simply click here to contribute".
Uh-huh! Contribute my credit card and bank account information, perhaps. You
know; I DON’T THINK SO!
My readers tend to be a pretty savvy bunch, involved as you are in web
development, so I don’t anticipate that any of you would fall for this kind of
skullduggery. However, as savvy web citizens, you are the folks upon whom it
falls to inform others of the dangers!
Tell them please, that to contribute safely, they should go to Google or Amazon
or their local TV or Newspaper’s website by typing in the web address themselves
(or using their favorites link, if they have it) and following their links only,
or if they know it, they could go directly to a well know Non-Governmental
Organization’s website (in a half a minute I found redcross.org, rotary.org and
ifrc.org (the red crescent). Just don’t follow a hyper-link you received in an
email. EVER! Keep the phishers away from the Indian Ocean!
Keeping stats as they are on Amazon is also pretty interesting. They show
anybody looking that 163,052 people really care about those distressed; and
that’s a lot of caring too: using those numbers, I calculate the average
contribution to be US$80.79.
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
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors.
Q. I have been asked to apply colors to the background and text of the
web page whenever an item in various list boxes has been changed. The list boxes
contain various background and text color choices, which have been assigned
variables within the apply_color() function that I just created. Got any tips?
A. Here is a example of how you can set up various style classes with the
text color and background color and then through the dropdown assign one of
those classes to the body of the document. This will change the color for all
text in the body of the document along with the background color. This will not
work in older browsers such as Netscape 4 versions:
<html>
<head>
<title></title>
<style>
.tcolor {color:white;background-color:black}
.bcolor {color:black;background-color:white}
.jcolor {color:red;background-color:yellow}
.fcolor {color:blue;background-color:lightgreen}
</style>
<script type="text/javascript">
function doIt(selclass)
{
document.body.className=selclass
}
</script>
</head>
<body class="tcolor">
This is some text that hopefully the color will change along with the background
color <form> <select onChange="doIt(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value)">
<option value="bcolor">Black/White</option>
<option value="jcolor">Red/Yellow</option>
<option value="fcolor">Blue/Lightgreen</option>
<option value="tcolor">White/Black</option>
</select>
</form>
</body>
</html>
Q. What is the simplest way to create a ‘bookmark button’ to book mark
(or add to favorites) a certain page? I might mention that the page I want to
put it on is forwarded and masked, don’t know if that makes any difference.
A. To place a bookmark link on a page you need to do the following. I
will use a link to take a person to the top of the page as an example. Near the
top of the page, usually directly after the <BODY> tag you would enter the
following:
<a name="top"></a>
At the bottom of the page or any place you want the link you would create the
following link:
<a href="#top">TOP^</a>
When the link is clicked on you "jump" to the top of the page. If you want to
use a "bookmark" from one page to another you would create the link like this:
http:www.your_site.com/your_page.htm#top
You can of course create as many as you need and name them differently for
diferent areas on the page. When you are masking you will have to use the actual
URL and not the shortened URL. For instance your actual URL might be http://www.geocities.com/my_folder_name/my_page_name.htm
and you are pointing a shorter URL to it named
http://www.my-site.com. You have to use the longer URL in the hyperlink.
Q. I want to add a link on my pages that would allow my visitors to go
back to the last page they were looking at, no matter which page it was (like
the "Back" button, but a hyperlink). How do I code this?
A. You can use a piece of javascript that works just like the browsers
back button. Code it like so:
<a href="javascript:history.go(-1)">Go Back</a>
Q. Do you use href to open a link in a new window?
A. Yes you do. You add the target="blank" for a new window. Code it like
so:
<a href="http://www.somewhere.com" target="_blank">Somewhere</a>
Q. Im trying to make one of those websites where you can change the
whole color-scheme of the site by clicking a link. I know Im probably going to
have to use PHP with CSS, my main question was concerning images. How do I
insert an image using an External Style Sheet. I have a few images that I want
swapped in and out, depending on which style-sheet is applied to the site. Is
that possible? If so, how can I achieve it?
A. A good reference for style switchers is http://www.alistapart.com/
They have a few articles about this. Changing images can be a little tricky,
especially concerning older browsers. You may want to test this method on your
local site before going live.
The style sheet cannot add images using the <img> tag, but it can add background
images to almost any block element, like <div>, <p>, <ul> etc.
If my business, Company ABC, has two different style sheets with different color
schemes, I might want to use different color logos. I would do something like
this in my HTML:
<div id="header">
<h1>Company ABC</h1>
</div>
and add different code in my styles…
………. in file redstyle.css :
div#header {
background: url(redlogo.gif) no-repeat;
height: 50px;
wisth: 200px; }
………. in file bluestyle.css :
div#header {
background: url(bluelogo.gif) no-repeat;
height: 50px;
wisth: 200px; }
………. and in both files:
div#header h1 { display: none;}
When the styles are switched, the background image in the "header" div is
changed, creating the illusion of different images on the page. The "display:
none;" attribute hides the text in the <h1> of the <div> so only the images
shows through, but the text will be readable if the browser can’t handle the
style sheet.
News Goodies
Bush Says Go Online to Offer Tsunami Support
[January 3, 2005] Flanked by two former presidents, he tells
Americans they can help best by going online.
Click
here to read the article
Gartner to Buy META Group
[December 27, 2004] More consolidation among IT research firms.
Click
here to read the article
Blog Readership Spiked in 2004
[January 3, 2005] New study shows growth not only in readers but
also blog creation and news aggregators.
Click here to read the article
IBM PC Unit Saw Three-Year Slide
[January 3, 2005] Big Blue releases results for the PC
division it is selling to China’s Lenovo group.
Click here to read the article
‘TiVo-To-Go’ Debuts
[January 3, 2005] The company partners with Sonic Solutions for its latest
download and transfer service.
Click here to read the article
SBC Entertains Home with 2Wire Venture
[January 3, 2005] The carrier and set-top box maker will deliver satellite
TV, music and video, photo-sharing and other features.
Click here to read the article
Fake Chips Shadow AMD’s New Alchemy
[January 3, 2005] Counterfeits discovered in Taipei give pause to the
chipmaker’s foray into portable players.
Click here to read the article
Oracle Fires PeopleSoft Co-Presidents
[January 3, 2005] Oracle fires Co-President Phillip Wilmington and
Co-President and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Parker.
Click here to read the article
Spinning Microsoft’s EU Troubles
[December 30, 2004] Microsoft retains a group of lawyers in Brussels whose
only job is to paint its recent legal setback in more positive light, a
source tells internetnews.com.
Click here to read the article
eBay Nixing Microsoft’s Passport
[December 30, 2004] UPDATED: The company stops hawking its
single sign-on directory after eBay plans to drop the Passport
service in January.
Click here to read the article
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Thanks again for all your feedback!
Top
Windows Tech Goodie of the Week:
A Sneak Peak at Working with Data in ASP.NET 2.0
In this article I’ll briefly discuss some of the bigger new
things in ASP.NET 2.0, and focus in on one of the more
relevant new things: the new and improved means for working
with data in an ASP.NET 2.0 Web page.
http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/122904-1.aspx
*** AND ***
ASP 101’s Year in Review – A Look Back At 2004
As 2004 draws to a close, I once again find myself wondering
where the year went. Here’s a list of some of ASP 101’s
highlights from 2004.
http://www.asp101.com/articles/john/2004review/default.asp
*** AND ***
ClickOnce Deployment in .NET Framework 2.0
In this article, Thiru Thangarathinam examines .NET 2.0’s
new ClickOnce deployment technology that is designed to ease
deployment of Windows forms applications. This new
technology not only provides an easy application
installation mechanism, it also eases deployment of upgrades
to existing applications.
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/041229.htm
Top
And Remember This . . .
On this day in…
1924 Tutankhamun’s Sarcophagus was Uncovered
British archaeologist Howard Carter had searched intently for the
tomb of the boy king, Pharoah Tutankhamun, the 12th king of the 18th
Dynasty who was nine years old at his accession, and who died while
still in his teens. He finally found the steps to the burial chamber
near the tomb of King Rameses VI in the Valley of the Kings, near
Luxor, Egypt. On November 26, 1922 he and fellow archeologist Lord
Carnarvon entered the tomb. The tomb had, miraculously, survived
intact for more than 3,000 years. The excavation of the four room
tomb took more than four years, and uncovered thousands of objects.
It was on this day in 1924 that a stone sarcophagus was uncovered,
which contained three coffins, nested one inside the other, the
innermost of which was made of solid gold, and contained the
mummified body of Tutankhamun.
Today was also the day that in: 1431 Joan of Arc was handed
over to the Bishop; 1521 Martin Luther was excommunicated by
the Roman Catholic Church; 1777 Washington defeated the
British at the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey; 1795 Ceramic
craftsman Josiah Wedgwood died at age 64; 1833 Britain took
control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic; 1870
construction of the Brooklyn Bridge was started (completed May 24,
1883); 1938 the March of Dimes was established to fight
Polio; 1958 Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole,
overland; 1959 Alaska was admitted as the 49th State; 1961
the US broke diplomatic relations with Cuba; 1962 Pope John
XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro; 1969 John Lennon’s album
"Two Virgins" was declared pornographic in New Jersey; 1977
Apple Computer was incorporated; 1988 Margaret Thatcher
became British Prime Minister; 1990 General Manuel Noriega of
Panama surrendered to US authorities; 1993 Junk bond king
Michael Milkin was released from jail after 22 months;
Born today were: in 1624 the first Black child born in
America William Tucker; 1892 writer John Ronald Reuel Tolkien;
1897 Polish American actress Pola Negri (Barbara A Chalupec)
(Madame Bovary); 1905 Welsh actor Ray Milland; 1909
Danish pianist/comedian Victor Borge; 1918 singer Maxene
Andrews (one of the sisters); 1921 actor John Russell,
1926 English record producer Sir George Martin (The Beatles);
1930 actor Eddie Egan; 1945 actress Victoria Principal;
1945 musician Stephen Stills; 1946 English musician
John Paul Jones; 1956 actor Mel Gibson; 1960 Chinese
actress Joan Chen (Chen Chung); 1967 English actress Helena
Bonham Carter; 1968 actress Shannon Sturges; 1975
actress Danica McKellar; 1975 actor Jason Marsden
Thanks for reading Goodies to Go!
