Goodies to Go ™
December 22, 2003–Newsletter #264
This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
Featured this week:
* Goodies Thoughts – What’s On The Net?
* 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
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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’s On The Net?
Just a few year’s ago I would quite frequently have to answer
the questions "what is the Internet?" and "what can you find on the World Wide
Web?" These days both questions seem to be a bit unnecessary. It seems to me
that the easier question to answer is "what’s not on the Web?" The short answer
to that could be "what’s not known to mankind." This explosive growth of
available information is due in large part to website developers such as
yourself, and this particular web surfer is very grateful and thanks you very
much!
Having such a huge quantity of material available has naturally led to the need
for better and better search capabilities. Set up a search page and people will
come to it to help them search the web. The better the search page, the more
people will come. The more people coming to a page, the more the potential
advertising revenue it has. More revenue means more resources and more
motivation to improve. See where we’re going here? All of this has enabled
and/or motivated a bunch of pretty significant mental talents to devise the very
clever search capability called Google. So effective is this engine that the
name has become a new verb — "need to know about atomic grasshoppers? Just
Google it and you’ll find about 17,200 references."
And this search engine in turn has led to the latest in Internet based mental
sports. Yes, that’s right! I’m talking about Googlewhacking! If you haven’t
tried it yet, get ready to lose a portion of your life to frivolous pursuit!
The object of Googlewhacking is to find two words which, when entered into the
Google search engine without quotes, yield one and only one result. Thanks to "UnBlinking"
Gary Stock (http://www.unblinking.com)
the search for "The One" is on. It’s a lot harder than you might expect, and of
course, if you succeed in finding one and post it to
http://www.googlewhack.com,
within a very short time your whack will yield more than one result! Such is the
ephemeral nature of the beast. (By the way, "ephemeral Googlewhack", without the
quotes of course, yielded 35 results when I tried!)
Apart from being entertaining, Googlewhacking quickly makes you comprehend the
vastness of the resource we call the World Wide Web. Einstein once said that the
greatest knowledge a man can possess is the address of the local library. I
guess today that would be "his logon id and password"!
There are things to be added to the list of what is not on the net, however. For
example, I would love to be able to find a picture of everybody’s home town. And
I do mean everybody’s! There are plenty of cities that have their own website,
but there are millions of cities, towns, villages and homesteads that don’t.
Wouldn’t it be great if, when somebody told you where they’re from, you could
reliably go to the net and get a picture of what the area around their home
looks like? You can usually get some impression by googling the name of the
place, but it would be really something to be able to find a picture of it every
time.
Hmmm…..
Project time?
Many of you celebrate holidays at this time of the year, and for those that do,
I hope you have a wonderful time. I hope every one of you is safe, healthy and
happy and can enjoy the company of family and friends.
Meanwhile, pass a little while in search of that illusive "Results 1 to 1 of
about 1".
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
different 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 have a side bar on the left and then the rest of the page is where
all the content goes. The side bar just has a navigation menu. I have it where
the page is one big table and the sidebar is one cell and the rest of the page
is a cell. Well my problem is… if there is a lot of information in the right
hand cell, then the stuff in the left hand cell gets right in the middle of the
cell so everything will be even. But I want that stuff to stay at the top of the
page, regardless of how much info is in the right hand cell. Is there a way to
make it where it doesn’t automatically center itself like that?
A. You need to add VALIGN="top" to the row or cell or both. This will
make all the contents stay at the top of the cell.
Q. I am interested in starting a web design business, and I have noticed
that many companies on the web make things alot easier by allowing the client to
choose from a list of templates, and then using that template to build the
website.
So my question is, where do these templates come from? Can you buy a software
package that has these, or would I need to start developing them from scratch
using a graphics program, etc.? Also, are there copyright issues associated with
using a template, say from a software program, and then charging fees to develop
the website for the client using this template?
A. Do a search on Google for "web templates" and you are bound to find a
ton of sites that will sell you a package of pre-made templates that you can
sell. As for the copyright issues, they are all different. You will have to deal
with each site’s rules and regulations.
[Note: Please refer all legal questions to qualified legal counsel. – Ed.]
Q. I want to know which graphics program is a good program to obtain to
alter images, like ‘blending’, cropping, etc.
A. There are three that I can think of and they are all very good. It all
depends on exactly what you want from the program and how much you want to
spend. You can probably download a demonstration copy and test them before you
buy. All are different prices.
Adobe PhotoShop –
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html
Jasc PaintShop Pro –
http://www.jasc.com
Ulead PhotoImpact –
http://www.ulead.com
The best of the three by far is Adobe PhotShop but you will see that it is not
cheap, about $500 or more. Jasc PaintShop Pro will run you about $100 and Ulead
PhotoImpact will run you about $90.
News Goodies
(Sober) Mutant Starts to Squirm
[December 22, 2003] Mass-mailing worm comes with a German
flavor and puts new PC users at higher risk..
Click
here to read the article
SCO Spreads New Linux Copyright Notices
[December 22, 2003] The SCO Group isn’t letting the holidays slow down its
license and payment quest with users of the Linux operating system.
Click here to read the article
Verizon Weaves Fiber-to-Home Plan
[December 22, 2003] Telecom’s effort to eliminate last-mile slowdown
advances with the selection of four more equipment vendors.
Click here to read the article
TSMC Accuses Chinese Rival of Pirating
[December 22, 2003] Taiwan-based semiconductor manufacturer says Chinese
rival pirated employees and trade secrets.
Click here to read the article
Interest in Online Banking Grows
[December 22, 2003] Barring a major security breach, U.S. consumers will
increasingly turn to bank Web sites, a new study concludes.
Click here to read the article
MaXXan Does Storage on Demand
[December 22, 2003] The storage solutions provider partners
with to create a storage-on-demand solution that just about
does it all.
Click here to read the article
ISPs Win a Round in File-Swapping Tussle
[December 19, 2003] In a major blow to the music industry’s campaign to
sue individual file-swappers, court sides with Internet service providers.
Click here to read the article
Windows Server 2000 Put Out to Pasture
[December 19, 2003] The move comes just two years after the Windows 2000
Server was launched to replace Windows NT Server 4.0. .
Click
here to read the article
Open Source IE Patch Has a Glitch
[December 19, 2003] OpenWares issues its own fix, and a faulty one at
that, for a URL-spoofing vulnerability in Microsoft’s browser.
Click here to read the article
For NTT, Time to Up Ante on 3G Bets
[December 19, 2003] The Japanese telecom giant is investing millions in the
development of alternative operating systems for next-generation FOMA
phones.
Click here to read the article
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Top
Windows Tech Goodie of the Week:
Multiple Dropdown Lists Sample Code
http://www.asp101.com/resources/visitors/index.asp#multidropdowns
One of our visitors sent us an alternate method of dealing
with linked dropdown lists that pull their data from a database.
His solution uses ASP-generated, client-side javascript to avoid
making a round trip to the server to fill the second list.
*** And ***
Leveraging MSMQ in ASP.NET Applications
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/031202.htm
Ever developed a Web application that requires extensive
processing? Ever had long running Web pages that often time out
in the browser? Greg Huber reveals a simple technique that uses
Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) and the System.Messaging
framework to handle long running Web processes.
Top
And Remember This . . .
On this day in…
1984 Bernhard Goetz Shoots Four in NYC Subway
On being surrounded by four black males in a New York City subway
car, Bernhard Goetz, a 45 white male, shot at the men, wounding
three. Seeing the fourth cowering Goetz said "You don’t look too
bad, here’s another," shooting him, severing his spinal cord and
paralyzing him and causing brain damage. Pleading self defense,
Goetz was cleared of murder but was convicted of illegal firearm
possession and sentenced to 270 days in prison. The fourth man,
18-year-old Darrell Cabey, sued Goetz and was awarded $43million by
a Bronx jury. Goetz filed for bankruptcy following the hearing.
Today was also the day that: in 1440 the pirate Bluebeard was
executed; 1882 Thomas Edison created the first string of
Christmas tree lights; 1894 the US Professional Golf
Association was formed; 1937 the Lincoln Tunnel from New York
City to New Jersey was opened to traffic; 1964 the Lockheed
SR-71 "Blackbird" spyplane set jet speed record of 3,530kph; 1965
the UK adopted 70mph all roads speed limit; 1972 12,000+
were killed by 6.25 (Richter) earthquake in Managua Nicaragua;
1981 Madonna’s "Like A Virgin" hit number 1 (US) (stayed there
for 6 weeks); 1989 Nicolae Ceausescu was ousted in Romania
after 23 years of dictatorship; 1990 Iraq announced it would
never give up Kuwait; 1990 Lech Walesa was sworn in as
Poland’s first popularly elected president
Born today were: in 1428 Second Earl of Salisbury Richard
Neville Warwick; 1710 coomposer Wilhelm Friedmann Bach (son
of JS); 1808 English tour director Thomas Cook; 1819
English novelist George Eliot; 1858 Italian opera composer
Giacomo Puccini; 1862 US baseball Hall of Fame executive &
player Connie Mack; 1888 English film magnate Joseph Arthur
Rank; 1890 French Premier Charles de Gaulle; 1899
pianist Hoagy Carmichael; 1899 aviation pioneer Wiley Post;
1902 WWII hero (liberator of Paris) Jacques-Phillippe Leclerc;
1907 actress Peggy Ashcroft; 1912 US first lady
Claudia A. "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson; 1913 English opera
composer Benjamin Britten; 1922 actress Barbara Billingsley;
1935 US astronaut John L. Finley; 1936 actor Hector
Elizondo; 1943 tennis pro Billy Jean King; 1945 ABC
news anchor Dianne Sawyer; 1948 (or 1955 or 1957 ??) actress
Lynne Thigpen; 1948 English TV personality Noel Edmonds;
1949 musician twins Robin & Maurice Gibb (the Bee Gees); 1960
Haitian artist Jean-Michael Basquiat
Thanks for reading Goodies to Go!