Goodies to Go ™
January 5, 2004–Newsletter #266
This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
Featured this week:
* Goodies Thoughts – A Resolution for
the New Year
* 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 – A Resolution for the New Year
Today is the fifth of January so if you’re much like ninety-nine
plus percent of the population who made a New Year’s Resolution, it’s ancient
history already; broken, shattered, scattered and forgotten! Ah well! Promise
yourself you’ll do better next year (which, like the rest of us, you won’t!)
So what do you do when you feel like you’re failing and you need something new
to try? You turn to HTML Goodies and the Goodies To Go Newsletter, of course!
And so, here we are with an offering of a resolution you can live with. It’s not
the kind of New Year’s Resolution you are used to; but then, they’ve not been
working too well for you, have they? This is about screen resolutions.
Naturally. This newsletter is about the web after all. But we’re going to help
you set a resolution you can keep, change at will, and still keep!
You create web pages. This means that you probably have a 17 inch or bigger
monitor (15 inch for a TFT/LCD screen) with you display resolution set to
1024×768 or larger. This "wild" assumption is based on a variety of surveys that
have been looking at the type of computer equipment that people have and the
uses they put it to. Those of us who use the Internet enough to be interested in
creating web pages usually have equipment that is a little more modern than
some, and has a better than average display capability. Larger pixel counts (aka
"dot resolution" or a variety of similar expressions) show more items on the
screen, but with everything a little smaller. A larger screen compensates for
the smallness of each item, making everything comfortably visible to the eyes
again. Higher pixel counts (and greater color depth, aka "number of colors")
require more video memory and a faster video card to keep up with changes. Even
fairly modest modern computer configurations are easily capable of 1024×768
pixels at 24bit or 32bit color depths. this is very readable on a 17" CRT or a
15"LCD screen.
Why is this important to you? I’m so glad you asked! When you create a page,
it’s important to you that the person you intend to look at the page gets to see
it in all its glory. You have to check it. To do that you must know what they
will be looking at the page with and you must be able to look at it the same
way. Since we’ve already covered the equipment you probably have, we need to
discuss what your visitor will be using. If, by the way, your PC doesn’t have
the capabilities I’ve described here, you could always resolve to get yourself
some new gear this year. That shouldn’t be too painful!
For a considerable time Web Wisdom has said that a designer should design their
pages to an anticipated screen resolution of 800×600. This is based on the idea
that this is the resolution most web surfers are using. It is less and less the
case, however, as people are getting newer and better equipment to take
advantage of all the exciting new things the web can do for their lives. If your
site is to target a younger audience (teens to young parents), the chances are
they’ll use 1024×768 or better. Some of their elders still prefer the larger
images that go with the lower resolutions because that’s easier on their eyes.
You’ll have to decide for yourself which is better. Lower and higher resolutions
than these two would only really be needed in special circumstances.
To see what your page is going to look like at the different resolutions you
don’t have to keep changing the resolution of your desktop. Instead, you can say
a quick "thank you" to Bob Conley, one of our mentors (see
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors) for this neat little idea which appeared
in a recent Goodies To Go Q&A section. In your browser’s address bar type:
javascript:resizeTo(640,480)
Press your enter key and the screen will resize to 640×480. Save it to your
Favorites (Bookmarks). Do the same with 800×600 and 1024×768 resolutions and
save them to your Favorites. Now you can click on the link in your Favorites to
resize your browser without having to change your settings. If you’re using IE6
you can also drag the "e" icon in the address bar to your "Links" menu and drop
it. You will get a message warning you about saving an "unsafe" URL because it
contains JavaScript. You can ignore the warning because you know it’s safe. I
prefer to keep these setting in the "Links" list because I keep tool type things
there, but that’s just me.
So now you can keep your resolution, at least your screen resolution, while your
try out other resolutions to see how you like them. I hope everything turns out
to be that easy you in this new year!
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 am fairly new to website design and need to design a
site in FrontPage 2002 to sell a book. The book will be sent as an e-mail
attachment after customer has paid through our merchant account. The order form
when the website is set up will go through to our bank merchant account on a
secure server and the e-mail should be automatically attached. Could you direct
me to a tutorial somewhere that gives me information on how to do this?
A. I would buy a pre-built e-commerce application to handle this for you.
There are many out there, but it depends on what your server will support. I use
Active Server Pages(ASP). It runs on Windows servers. I also use a shopping cart
called VASP (www.vasp.com) and
it handles exactly what you are looking for. Others do also but I am familiar
with that one and can tell you that it is a very nice cart for the money.
Another I would suggest and is a bit cheaper is ClickCart (http://www.clicktech.com).
This one I believe handles eBooks but I am not 100% sure. Send an email to the
Leo, the owner and I am sure he can answer your questions.
Q. II am just curious as to how some web pages get that small icon to the
left of the URL in the Address window when you visit their site. If someone know
how that’s done I sure would like to know.
A. That is called a Favicon and you can find out more about it here:
http://www.favicon.com
Q. How do you set up a forum?
A. Instead of creating one from scratch, you should look into the many
free forums available on the web. If your server supports Active Server Pages go
to http://www.aspin.com and
do a search for "forums". If your server supports PHP, go to
http://www.code4u.com and
choose a site to visit from there.
Q. I am looking for JavaScript help in order to pre-select a option in a
select field inside a form. I am using server-side scripting (PHP) in order to
provide the selected value.
A. You could use PHP to create your option tag and select the option you
want that way. I have a small Help Desk application written in PHP that I have
set up dropdowns to select the date. I have them default to the current date.
Here is an example of the dropdown for the
month:
<select name="beg_req_month">
<?php
for($i=1;$i<=12;$i++)
{
if($i==$prob_month)
{print "<option value=’" . $i . "’ selected>" . $i .
"</option>n";}
else
{print "<option value=’" . $i . "’>" . $i . "</option>n";}
}
?>
</select>
The variable $prob_month is set to the current month in some previous code. For
JavaScript to set the selected option you would use a statement like this (which
sets the first option tag to selected):
document.form_name.select_name.options[0].selected=true
Q. I’m trying to set up an email form. How do I send form data to an
email address instead of a file? My email form just brings up outlook; how do I
get it to send email directly? When I get data to me email address it is in an
attachment with an ".att" extension — what is this and how do I read it? How do
I get my email form data to be formatted as text instead of being full of stuff
like "1=on&2=on&3=Better+Management"?
A. To get rid of the .att extension (and formatting problems) add enctype="text/html
to the form tag like so:
<form action="mailto:somebody@somewhere.com" method="post" enctype="text/plain">
NOTE, HOWEVER:
Version 6 (and above) browsers do not support email forms (action="mailto:…
etc.) Instead, it is necessary to use CGI scripts (PERL, CGI Shell Scripts, PHP
etc.) Alternatively, if your server supports FrontPage extensions, there is a
"WebBot" in FrontPage that automatically handles sending form data to an email
address (as an option to, or in addition to saving it to a file.) Also, take a
look at:
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/articles/emailforms1.html and
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/articles/emailformphp.html
Q. I have taken over responsibilities for an inhouse intranet site and when
users access a certain page, I want to have a "pop-up" page come up that gives
specific information or instructions, and I would like to have it close itself
after a certain amount of time. Any suggestions?
A. Try using a timer to execute a self.close command. You might find a free
script that does this already at
http://www.javascriptsource.com or
http://webdeveloper.earthweb.com, and there are other free script sites that
might have something.
Q. How can I force a user to submit a form by clicking the "Submit"
button only and not by using the "Enter" key?
A. This script had the desired effect, but not in all browsers. It worked
in Netscape 7 and IE 6, not in Opera 6 and Netscape 4.
<script language="JavaScript">
<!– ;
function showAlert() {
alert("don’t do that");
return false
}
// end hide –>
</script>
<form action="http://yourcgiscript" method="post" onKeyPress="showAlert()">
<input type="submit" value="default value">
</form>
News Goodies
IT Giants Return Home For the Money
[January 5, 2004] Broadband, wireless, digital content and
PCs turned home entertainment hubs have tech heavyweights at CES
taking a fresh look at the consumer market.
Click
here to read the article
Chipmakers Give Thanks for November
[January 5, 2004] Worldwide sales figures from an industry trade group show
a continued interest in chips for PCs, cell phones, consumer devices and
cars..
Click here to read the article
Macromedia Updates Director for Internet Age
[January 5, 2004] The latest version of the Web graphics software maker’s
mainstay product adds support for JavaScript, Flash MX 2004 content,
DVD-Video.
Click here to read the article
PayPal Readies European Subsidiary
[January 5, 2004] The online payment service (and eBay’s) expansion into
Europe has hit a new gear.
Click here to read the article
First 2.5-inch SATA Drives On the Way
[January 5, 2004] UPDATE: Fujitsu’s 2.5 inch mobile hard drives are geared
for laptops in the early stages.
Click here to read the article
RIAA Lawsuits Chilling Illegal Downloads
[January 5, 2004] The music industry may have lost a recent
round in court over its crusade against file-swapping, but a
new study shows that it’s got the edge in the war.
Click here to read the article
Grand Central’s Next Stop: Improved Web Services
[January 5, 2004] Business integration services provider’s new 4.0
platform promises a complete stack for companies deploying Web services.
Click here to read the article
CA Drivers: Eyes Off That Laptop
[January 2, 2004] If you’re a California driving Web-surfer, it’d better be
in the back seat after passage of AB 301.
Click
here to read the article
Intel Readies Prescott for a Street Fight
[January 2, 2004] The company prepares its next-generation Pentium
desktop chip to deflect interest in AMD’s Athlon 64.
Click here to read the article
MSN Messenger Worm Making Rounds
[January 2, 2004] Jitux.A worm uses the popular IM network to spread itself.
Click here to read the article
Every week a site is selected for review. Each week,
reviews of the previous week’s selected site are chosen for
publication on the HTML Goodies website.
The current week’s selected site is published in Goodies To
Go and in the Peer Reviews section of the website.
Current contact email addresses for submitting your site and
for submitting reviews are published in Goodies To Go.
If you would like to have your site reviewed, sign up for
the Goodies To Go newsletter in the Navigation Bar on the
left side of this page.
For full details about this program, see
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/peerreviews
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/
For those who are missing Peer reviews: we are once again
revising the Peer review program in the hopes of creating a
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:
Introducing ADO.NET and the Typed DataSet
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/031223.htm
Thom Robbins explains how DataSet object features can be
combined with XML to create a new type of object called the
typed DataSet, which simplifies the task of data navigation.
Top
And Remember This . . .
On this day in…
1643 The First Divorce in the Colonies
Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was granted a divorce
from her husband, Denis Clarke, by the Quarter Court of Boston,
Massachusetts on this day in 1643. Dennis admitted abandoning his
wife for another woman. Had had two children by his wife and two
more by the other woman. Because he also refused to return to Anne,
the puritan court had no choice but to punish him by granting Anne
the divorce. The Quarter Court’s final decision read: "Anne Clarke,
beeing deserted by Denis Clarke hir husband, and hee refusing to
accompany with hir, she is graunted to bee divorced."
Today was also the day that: in 1066 King of England Edward
de Belijder the Confessor died in the Battle of Hastings as William
of Normandy (William the Conqueror) invaded England; 1709
1000’s die in sudden extreme cold in Europe; 1809 Britain and
France agree to the Treaty of Dardanelles; 1914 Ford Motor
Company hiked up wages from $2.40 for a nine hour day to $5.00 for
an eight hour day; 1919 the German Farmers’ Party formed –
later known as the National Socialist Party or Nazi party; 1930
Moa Tse-Tung wrote "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire";
1945 Pepe Le Pew debuts in Warner Bros. cartoon "Odor-able
Kitty"; 1968 Dr. Benjamin Spock was indicted for conspiring
to violate draft law; 1970 soap opera "All My Children"
premiered on ABC TV; 1971 US Heavyweight Boxing Champ Sonny
Liston was found dead; 1972 NASA announced the development of
the Space Shuttle; 1981 the "Yorkshire Ripper" Peter
Sutcliffe was arrested for, and later convicted of the murders of 13
women; 1998 vandals decapitated Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid;
Born today were: in 1592 Mughal emperor of India and builder
of the Taj Mahal Shah Jahan (or Jehan); 1787 genealogist
(Burke’s Peerage) John Burke; 1855 safety razor inventor King
Camp Gillette; 1909 mathematician Stephen Cole Kleene
(regular expressions); 1923 publisher Robert Bernstein
(Random House); 1928 42nd US Vice-President Walter Mondale;
1928 Pakistani Premier Zulfikar Ali Khan Bhutto; 1931
choreographer Alvin Ailey; 1931 actor Robert Duvall; 1938
Spanish King Juan Carlos I; 1946 actress Dianne Keaton;
1958 actress Suzy Amis; 1963 singer Rick Ambrose; 1969
singer Marilyn Manson;
Thanks for reading Goodies to Go!
