Goodies to Go ™
February 10, 2003–Newsletter #219
This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
Featured
this week:
* Goodies Thoughts –
Web Site Maintainability.
* 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 – |
Web Site Maintainability. |
This week I am concluding my series
about the early stages of a web site’s development
with a look at maintainability. I hope you have
found this series to be helpful and interesting.
While the primary purpose of this discussion is to
aid those who are just beginning in this type of
venture, it would serve those of us who are a little
more seasoned well to remember some of the points
raised. I know that writing these pieces has
reinforced in my mind some of the golden rules —
some of which are all too easy to gloss over as
tasks become more routine.
In case you’re just joining us – welcome! — you can
find the earlier pieces in current year’s Goodies To
Go Archives at
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/letters — this
series began in January with a look at "The
Importance of Design". These articles, together with
some other material, are also being incorporated
into a new section of the HTML Goodies website.
Dubbed the "Non-Tech Intro", it is designed to help
someone from the first idea of starting a website
through to where they need the primers to learn HTML
coding. If you know people who are starting from
absolute scratch, this would be a great place to
send them. Now, on to the subject at hand!
As you design and write your website, you become
very familiar with the structure you use, the layout
of the various pages and the manner in which you
tied them all together. Time goes by; you add a
little more here, a little more there and sooner or
later your site has grown into something huge. The
trouble is, after a while your memory of those early
details fades; you forget what this was for, what
that should be linked to, why these are here instead
of there. Now, when you make a small change, you run
the risk of all sorts of things falling apart! You
have entered the "Website Maintenance Nightmare"!
Please don’t let this happen to you!
There are three golden rules to help avoid the
nightmare, related to consistency, structure and
annotation.
First, be consistent! If you use one method and
style throughout your site, you will have only one
method and style to remember (or to relearn!) This
does not mean that everything has to look the same.
It means that you should apply consistent styles and
use a consistent method throughout. For example,
instead of applying font styles to each piece of
text on your pages, you would be more certain of
consistency by applying a style sheet to all your
pages and keeping your styles in it. If you don’t
know how to do that and are just starting out, don’t
worry for now – just remember it’s something you’re
going to want to do. If you need to find out more
right now, check out the tutorial at
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/design/css-html-text-color/
Another example is the use of frames. If you decide
to use frames, use the same frame structure
throughout. It’s not wise to use a frames page here
and tables there, accomplishing a similar layout.
Choose one, and use it throughout. Again, if you are
new to site design, just hang on to this thought.
When you have gone through the tutorials, you will
have encountered both frames and tables. A little
experience will give you a feel for the virtues of
each and you’ll be able to make your choice. The
trick here is to stick with a consistent method.
This of course, does not mean that you should not
use both frames and tables. It means you should not
use both to accomplish the same thing. For example,
don’t create a table on one page to hold a menu on
the left side of your page (like the one on the
Goodies site) and hold it in a frame on another
page. As you develop pages, you will know when you
are encountering something similar to something you
have already done. When you do, do it the same way
(or, if you have found a better way, change every
instance to the new way!)
The structure of a site is usually determined by the
nature of its content. The trick here is to create a
folder (directory) structure that matches the
content structure. For example if you are creating a
photo album and have different page sets for each
year, keep the sets in folders named for each year.
Remember to use consistent names such as
/1999/family and /2000/family and you will be able
to match your site navigation to your folder
structure. It is also a good idea to ensure that you
don’t crowd out a directory. Keeping certain files
separated helps. For example, if you use Server Side
Includes to help with consistency (a very good idea
– see
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/ssi.html) keep
all your "include" files in a folder named ssi – be
sure to include the path in references to them! I
also like to keep images in a folder of their own,
along with the pages that reference them. For
example, the folder /John contains pages about John,
and the folder /John/Pics contains the images used
in those pages. Jane’s pages and pictures would be
in /Jane and /Jane/Pics. (Note also that UNIX/Linux
systems are case sensitive – they see Jane and jane
as different things; Windows systems are not (by
default) case sensitive – they see Jane and jane as
the same.)
Annotation is simply the use of comments. Don’t get
caught in the trap of thinking that comments only
explain your methods to strangers for them to copy.
The "stranger" who will learn from the comments is
most likely going to be you, a little while after
you wrote the comments, when you have forgotten why
and how you accomplished something but now need to
change it. Trust me, you will thank yourself for
leaving yourself notes! This holds especially true
for programming in such languages as JavaScript, PHP
and Perl. Things have a tendency to wind up with
names that seem brilliantly enlightening when
written, and virtually meaningless a few of months
later!
If some of these notions don’t make much sense to
you at this point, don’t be concerned. Try to keep
the concepts in mind though, consistency, structure
and annotation — you will be your own best friend
if you do!
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. How do I put an image on the
very edge of the screen? Using the align="left,"
I still get a space to the left and top of the
image.
A. What you’re seeing is the page margin.
You can set those either in a stylesheet, or in
attributes of the body tag. For example, in the
body tag add:
marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" topmargin="0"
leftmargin="0"
The reason for specifying it two ways is some
browsers understand one way, and some the other.
The zeros specify the number of pixels between
the screen and the edge of the page. In a style
sheet, add:
body {margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 10px}
This specifies that the page starts ten pixels
from the top and left edge.
Q. I’m setting up a news-type site, where we
will be displaying articles on the main page. I
want to be able to have a ‘Comments’ link near
the article where readers can submit comments or
questions relating to the article and have them
automatically displayed on a ‘Comment Page’
instead of having questions and such emailed to
us and manually placing them on the site. I’m
not sure how this can be achieved. I’ve seen it
on several other sites, but I don’t know if they
use HTML, CGI, or something else. I only ‘know’
HTML and CSS, which is probably why I don’t know
how to go about setting this up.
A. What you descibe sounds like a guestbook
with a different name. Yes, you need CGI or
something like it, ASP or PHP. There’s a
guestbook tutorial on the Goodies site, and some
script sites may have a free guestbook. https://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/perl/perl03.html
Q. I am beginning a website design
project and want to make sure that the site is
written in standard code that will run in most
configurations, and will be easy to maintain for
the client. I am considering using some version
of Dreamweaver (I am currently using
Arachnophilia, which is wonderful but not
WYSIWYG. Will Dreamweaver, in any form, create
real code that can be maintained without having
access to the software? Also; is there a way to
allow the client to easily update information
and/or post a monthly newsletter to the site
without knowledge of HTML?
A. Dreamweaver will create the correct
code. To maintain a web site or page, doesn’t
require anything other than Notepad. If you know
HTML you can code the page by hand using a
simple text editor. So the answer to your
question is yes but a web editor like
Dreamweaver makes it easier for those who do not
know HTML.
To maintain the pages, there are ways to create
a site that can be managed through web forms,
but again you must have the knowledge to create
them first. There are newsletter applications
that you could install that the client can
update by using forms. I use a newsletter
application that I reconfigured to act like a
"Featured Product" tool. The client logs into
the administration area and can create, edit and
delete news and featured products. This, then
shows up on the designated area on their
website. You can see it here:
http://www.rayburnmusic.com/stage Keep
in mind that it is still a site in progress. The
area on the right under NEWS is driven by a
database that the client can update. If you
click on the BRASS link, you can see the
"Featured Product" area on the left. To use that
particular application your site would have to
support Active Server Pages(ASP), but there are
others. The server will have to support some
kind of scripts because a database has to be
accessed.
Q. Is it possible to have a date field
automatically filled with today’s date?
A. This tutorial explains how to write
the date with JavaScript,
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/jsp/hgjsp_3.html
Q. I’m trying to get a text block to
appear over a link when the user hovers a mouse
over the link. If you got to
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors/ and
hover your mouse over the HTML Goodies logo at
the top of the page a little box appears with
text in. How do I do that?
A. You can do it without javascript by
using the title property like this:
<A HREF="somepage.html" TITLE="Some Text">Click
Me</A>
or for an image That is linkable you could do
this:
<A HREF="somepage.html"><img src="pic.gif"
border="0" alt="Some Text"></A>
You could also use the title property in the img
tag, but the alt property will work in older NS
browsers where the title property will not..
Q. Is there any way that a web page can
be updated by using a simple form button? For
example: a school wants to post that their
school is closed by going to a page and clicking
the "school is closed" button, which updates the
home page.
A. You could have the part of the page
where the closing notice would appear be pulling
code from a server side include, and let someone
have access to just that file where they can
change the text. If you use the form, the form
could write to a database and the display page
pulls data from the database. Perhaps a server
side script could write a file, which could then
be picked up as a server side include. If you
decide to go with a form, you’ll have to use
some server side script and perhaps how to hook
up to a database. You would need to find out
from your host what languages they support.
Having users directly update the include file is
the simplest to set up. This tutorial explains
it:
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/ssi.html
News Goodies
Internet Access Via Power Lines
[February 10, 2003] The Power Line
Communications Association (PLCA) is building
bridges between all of those who might get involved
in providing Internet service over electric power
lines.
Click
here to read the article
Macromedia Unveils DevNet, Freehand MX
[February 10, 2003] The Web graphics software firm
rolls out a subscription-based sales program and an
upgrade to its flagship Macromedia MX product suite.
Click
here to read the article
Verizon-RIAA Dispute Heads Back to Court
[February 10, 2003] The phone and ISP giant
appears in court Thursday, hoping to convince a
judge that it should not be compelled to reveal the
name of subscriber who allegedly downloaded
copyrighted songs.
Click here to read the article
New Chapter in the Tale of the Booksellers
[February 10, 2003] Overstock.com takes aim at the
King of the Hill in online book sales and undercuts
Amazon.com’s prices by 20 percent or more.
Click here to read the article
Pentagon Moves to Revive Funding for Data Mining
Program
[February 10, 2003] Military says its will
establish an internal board of senior DOD officials
and an external civilian advisory committee to
oversee controversial Total Information Awareness
program..
Click here to read the article
Intel Powers Down its Chips
[February 10, 2003] The No. 1 chipmaker rethinks
power-hungry circuits, spurring a new 5GHz Floating
Point MAC as well as a 1.5GHz third generation
Itanium 2 with on-die cache.
Click here to read the article
Nokia Engages New Game Platform: N-Gage
[February 5, 2003] The cell phone maker plays the
part of manufacturer and game producer on its new
wirelessly networked game platform all before
Christmas. T-Mobile signs on for service.
Click here to read the article
Online Sales Tax? No Big Deal
[February 5, 2003] Despite all the moaning by e-tailers,
such a tax is inevitable and will not impede the
growth of e-commerce, says a new industry study.
Click here to read the article
Study: Online Hotel Booking Problematic
[February 4, 2003] Report from a U.K. online travel
consulting firm finds that many sites produce
uncertainty for consumers; a check of major U.S.
sites finds clarity, however.
Click here to read the article
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
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors/
Feedback from within the ranks this week! Wally
Bamberger, one of our Mentors, noticed an error in
his reply to a question and wanted to share the
correction with you, rather than leave you possibly
mystified over a bug. Writes Wally:
In my response to a mentor question on drop down
menus and the use of js files which was reproduced
in the Goodies to Go #218 newsletter, item 2 was
reprinted accurately as follows:
2. Insert the following (you can change variablename
to whatever you want)
into the js file:
var variablename=" "document.write(variablename);
Unfortunately, for the lack of a very important
semi-colon, this will break the script.
This is the way I should have written it:
var variablename=" ";document.write(variablename);
That semi-colon between the " and document.write()
is needed to isolate the document.write() statement
from the rest of the code and document.write()is
what places the contents of the js file on the page.
– Wally Bamberger
I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to
our mentors. They volunteer their time and expertise
to help our readership with their questions. I for
one, greatly appreciate their kindness and know that
our readers do too.
Thanks also to all who sent me compliments this
week. It is heartening to hear from you.
Top
And
Remember This . . .
On this day in…
1992: Alex Haley Dies at age 70
The author of "Roots" died on this day in 1992 in
Seattle. His book was made into a TV mini-series of
eight parts which aired in 1977. The last episode of
the series was watched by more than 130 million
viewers – about half of the entire US population at
the time. The series which was aired on eight
consecutive nights was the most watched show in TV
History. It inspired a fresh increase of interest in
black history and heritage.
And a Happy Birthday today to Jimmy Durante (1893-1980),
ragtime piano player, band leader, singer, actor,
comedian and beloved entertainer. Happy Birthday
also to singers Roberta Flack (1940 – The
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Feel Like Making
Love, Killing Me Softly With His Song) and Donovan
Leitch ("Donovan" 1946 – Mellow Yellow,
Sunshine Superman, A Gift From A Flower To A Garden)
Thanks for reading
Goodies to Go!