Goodies to Go ™
July 7, 2003–Newsletter #240
This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
Featured this week:
* Goodies Thoughts – Net Work Unbounded!
* Q & A Goodies
* News Goodies
* Goodies Peer Reviews
* 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 – Net Work Unbounded!
Picture in your mind the classic computer fanatic. Now let me see how many
details of your image I can get right! He’s a he, in his teens, wearing thick
rimmed glasses and with a bit of an acne problem that he doesn’t really care too
much about since he spends so much of his life glued to his monitor and
keyboard. Close? Not so close? Either way, I imagine we can all agree about that
last part.
Certainly for me, I seem to spend an inordinately large portion of my time in
front of my monitor. I spent a bit of money on it so that I would have a nice
one to look at, but out of the corner of my eyes I catch glimpses of the world
outside. I get up and go over to my window and look longingly at the picnic
table that sits, speckled with leaf-filtered sunlight, under the oak tree and
tantalizes me with the promise of fresh air and bird chatter.
Something had to be done!
Technology, of course, leaps right to the rescue. What I need is a notebook PC
and a wireless network. These days, this can be had for not to much money.
First, the notebook. If you’ve already got one, you can skip this paragraph if
you wish, though you’re welcome to read it if you would like to know how I got
one. I have always had a hard time justifying the expense of a notebook for my
needs because I am almost always at my own computer at home or at the office.
That sunlight, however, will justify some expense all on its own! I need to have
a reasonable decent screen. The processor doesn’t have to be lightning fast; the
drive doesn’t need to be massive, and I only need enough memory to keep XP
happy. Onto the on-line auctions and a few minutes later I have "buy-it-now"ed a
Dell 500Mhz notebook with a 14.1 inch TFT screen, 30GB hard drive, CD-RW and 256
MB Ram for $400. I’m starting to fell that sunshine already!
Then the wireless network. My business partner has a D-link wireless network in
his house — he’s fond of emailing my "from the lanai" (I used to feel that
twinge of jealousy!) I spoke to a few associates about these devices and the
consensus was that the D-link sometimes has some compatibility issues with other
manufacturers’ hardware. Whether this is true or not, I don’t know — if I try
it one day I’ll be sure to tell you — and I don’t think it would really matter
in my circumstances. Based on the consensus of opinion, however, I bought a
Belkin Cable/DSL Wireless Router and notebook adapter, both capable of the
802.11G protocol, which they called the 54G because of its 54Mbit speed
capability.
I followed the golden rule, which is, as I am sure you already know, DO NOT SET
UP A WIRELESS NETWORK WITHOUT SETTING THE ENCRYPTION ON! (Yes, it is so
important that it should all be capitalized!) "Out-of the box" defaults leave it
off. You must turn it on yourself.
I did notice one undesirable effect, however. The network would establish nicely
enough, but would intermittently break, saying that the wireless network was not
available, then reconnecting after a minute or two. I called the Belkin
Technical Support line a couple of times and after spending a while on hold was
connected both times to individuals who seemed to know less about the product
than I did — one of them actually spent a lot of time arguing with me over what
was printed on the outside of the box; as if I cared! Giving up on their TS
people, I went to their website and found new versions of the router’s firmware
and new drivers for the adapter.
The new drivers supported WPA, which was also the subject of a recent automatic
Windows XP update from Microsoft (you can also get it manually from Windows
Update.) With all the downloads in place, and the network changed from WEP to
WPA-TSK with TKIP encryption (all of which is a subject for another discussion)
my wireless network is up and running flawlessly. The range is great too — I
can easily take my notebook over to my neighbor’s house without losing my
connection. That’s more than I actually need!
So now I sit out here, under my oak, sun patches dancing over my picnic table
and me, birds singing away (maybe they’re impressed with the technology too —
and maybe not!), unshackled from my chair, unbound from my monitor, with my
network working for me as I write to you. I hope the weather is this nice where
you are; and I hope you can wander around your place wirelessly also!
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 creating a form and I would like the mailTo for the form to be
determined by selecting from a list. I’m trying to use radio buttons with the
e-mail address as the Value, but I don’t know how to tell it to use this as the
mailTo. Could you tell me how to do this, or whether there is another way that
would be better?
A. Here is an example of one that I put together a long time ago that
might fit the bill:
<html>
<head>
<title>Test</title>
<script language="JavaScript">
function FormCheck()
{
var chk = ‘n’
nameval=document.myform.name.value
if(nameval.length==0)
{
alert(‘Please enter your name!’)
document.myform.name.focus();
return false;
}
else
{
if(document.myform.email.value.indexOf("@")==-1 ||
document.myform.email.value.indexOf(".")==-1 ||
document.myform.email.value.indexOf(" ")!=-1 ||
document.myform.email.value.length<6)
{
alert(‘Your Email address must have a @ sign,r a period and be
at least 6 characters long.’)
document.myform.email.focus();
return false
}
else
{
for(i=0;i<=1;i=i+1)
{
if(document.myform.eMail[i].checked)
{
document.myform.action="mailto:"+document.myform.eMail
[i].value
chk=’y’
}
}
if(chk==’n’)
{
alert(‘must check at least one’)
return false
}
}
}
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload="document.myform.name.focus()">
<center>
<form name="myform" method="post" action="" enctype="text/plain"
onsubmit="return FormCheck()">
<center>
Name: <input type="text" size="30" name="name" maxlength="30">
<br>
Email: <input type="text" size="30" name="email" maxlength="30">
<br>
<textarea name="txta" cols="30" rows="4" WRAP="hard"
onfocus="document.myform.txta.select()">Please keep your message 70 characters
or less!</textarea>
<br><br>
<input type="radio" name="eMail" value="my@email.com">Email Me
<br><br>
<input type="radio" name="eMail" value="email@me.com">Email Me
<br><br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">  <input type="reset"
value="Reset" onClick="document.myform.name.focus()">
</center>
</form>
</center>
</body>
</html>
Q. I’ve just created a website with a feedback page. At the moment it
mails their submission using Outlook, which can be a bit annoying for some
people. I was wondering how you make it just submit without that- do you need to
use CGI? I had a look at the tutorial for this but it looked really confusing
and I wasn’t sure if there was an easier way to do it.
A. Using the user’s email client not only can be annoying, it may not work
for a couple of reasons. If the user does not have an email client like Outlook
set up on their computer nothing will happen. And I believe the newer web
browsers do not support that type of link. So using a form that will email right
from your website would be the smartest thing to do even if the task seems a bit
daunting. Your web host may offer some kind of CGI for this. They may even have
something already set up to it for you. Check with them first. If not then you
are going to have to find out what your web server supports. For instance if it
supports Active Server Pages then you can use ASP to send the email. PERL and
ColdFusions are other technologies that can be used if the server supports them.
Ask your web host what it supports and then you can decide what to use.
Q. How do you print a frame other that the one you the window.print()
command is in?
A. Sometimes you need to place focus on the frame that you want to print
before issuing the window.print command. Try setting up a function like this:
function FrPrint()
{
parent.middle.focus()
parent.middle.window.print()
}
Then call the function like this:
<input type="button" value="Print" onClick="FrPrint()">
Q. I have just registered a domain. (howardsantiquelighting.com). I’ve been
using for years (HTTP://bcn.net/~iromla/). I want to have the two connect to
each other, so that my new domain will go to my present HTTP: How do I do this?
A. You will be able to point "howardsantiquelighting.com" to "HTTP://bcn.net/~iromla/)"
but not the other way around. Your site on BCN is in a subfolder on the BCN
network. So they are allowing you to use space on their servers using their
domain name. You own "howardsantiquelighting.com" which is sitting on Network
Solutions network (the place you registered the name). It is a top level domain
and can be configured to point to another web address. Network Solutions offers
this for an additional $12 per year. Log into your account manager at
NetworkSolutions.com and request that your domain name be forwarded to your
present web address. It takes about 12 to 48 hours for this the name to resolve
itself after they make the adjustment.
Q. I have a piece of Java script I got off the HTML goodies page to open a
new window. It works well enough but what I want it to do is to run from an
onClick event handler. How do I get it to do this.?
A. You will have to place the window.open into a function and then You
can call the function either by using the onClick or by placing the function
call in the "href". Here is an example:
<html>
<head>
<title>Open new window</title>
<script LANGAUAGE="javascript">
function OpenWin()
{
MessageWin=window.open ("http://www.wsabstract.com", "newwin",config="location=no,status=no,directories
=no,toolbar=no,scrollbars=no,menubar=no,resizable=no");
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<center>
You can do it this way:
<a href="JavaScript:OpenWin()">Click here</a> <br>Or you can use the onClick
event:
<a href="#" onClick="OpenWin()">Click here</a>
</center>
</body>
</html>
This is but one example. You can also set up the function to accept a variable
that contains the link you want to open up in the new window like this:
<html> <head>
<title>Open new window</title>
<script LANGAUAGE="javascript">
function OpenWin(linkid)
{
MessageWin=window.open
(linkid, "newwin",config="location=no,status=no,directories=no,toolbar=no,scroll
bars=no,menubar=no,resizable=no");
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<center>
You can do it this way:
<a href="JavaScript:OpenWin(‘https://www.htmlgoodies.com’)">Click here</a>
<br>Or you can use the onClick event:
<a href="#" onClick="OpenWin(‘https://www.htmlgoodies.com’)">Click here</a>
</center> </body> </html>
This will allow you to use the same function for multiple links.
Q. I have been looking for some script to put a find facility for a page
(same as Ctrl + F). Can you help?
A. I found this script over at Dynamic Drive:
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex11/findpage.htm
News Goodies
Microsoft Said to be Mulling $10B Dividend
[July 7, 2003] The software giant considers a massive one-time dividend
to appease shareholders.
Click
here to read the article
RealNetworks Adds SMIL Code to Helix
[July 7, 2003] Helix Community developers can use SMIL to create multimedia
presentations that integrate streaming audio and video with images and text.
Click
here to read the article
Overture Extends MSN Deal Abroad
[July 7, 2003] The new agreement extends Overture’s listings deal on
browser search in six countries, and adds MSN Web search in Italy.
Click here to read the article
Pogo Linux, MySQL Team on Open-source Appliance
[July 7, 2003] Pogo Linux will become MySQL’s first certified hardware
partner in an attempt to cull market share from database server appliance
makers such as Oracle and Network Appliance.
Click here to read the article
Sprint Expands Business With Bloomingdale’s Parent
[July 7, 2003] Federated, a Sprint high-speed data, audio conferencing and
international voice customer, taps the carrier for call center services.
Click here to read the article
HP Pads ‘Adaptive’ Strategy with Acquisition
[July 7, 2003] The computer and printer maker takes over SelectAccess
identity management software from Baltimore Technologies.
Click here to read the article
Juniper, Siemens Bring DSL to Vietnam
[July 7, 2003] The companies win a contract from the state-owned carrier to
build the country’s first broadband network.
Click here to read the article
SAP, Sharp Go in a Linux, Java Mobile Direction
[July 7, 2003] Global deal will be for software, hardware in corporate
wireless environments, and based on open-source operating system Linux.
Click here to read the article
RioPort Online Music Service Shuttered
[July 3, 2003] San Francisco-based Ecast pulls the plug on a B2B that let
companies sell digital downloads to consumers for .99 cents per song.
Click here to read the article
Wine on the Web: Lower Prices, More Choices
[July 3, 2003] FTC study finds that direct shipping is
beneficial to consumers and does not lead to minors buying
wine online.
Click here to read the article
Every week a site selected each week 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
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If you would like to have your site reviewed, sign up for
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For full details about this program, see
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/peerreviews
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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
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Please don’t send your questions to this address.
They should be sent to our mentors: see
https://www.htmlgoodies.com/mentors/
Last week’s blank Q&A caught a lot of attention. Thanks for
all the humorous responses – I got quite a chuckle out of
them! I particularly liked Mark Hamilton’s memory of an exam
question from his University days, where the examiner
instructed him to "devise a suitable question and answer it
well." He tells me that it was a lot harder than I would
think. I doubt it, Mark; I thought about it for a while and
I believe it is quite a challenge. So here it is,
readers…..
Devise a suitable Q&A question and answer it well. Send it
to nlfeedback@htmlgoodies.com with "A Suitable Question" as
the subject. I’ll publish my favorites!
The Mentor Community is being revised. If you are interested
in beconing a Mentor and answering the kind of question you
see published in the Q&A section, please sent an email to
nlfeedback@htmlgoodies.com with "Mentor Volunteer" as the
subject.
Thanks again for all your feedback!
Top
And Remember This . . .
On this day in…
1941 US Moves Into Iceland
On this day in 1941, the US occupied Iceland, taking
over the British bases and bringing in its ships. After that
day, the US took over the protection of North Atlantic sea
routes from the British, freeing up their ships to reinforce
the Mediterranean effort. The US tracked German submarines
and reported their positions to the British. Later that
year, the US formally entered the war after the Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7th.
Born today were: in 1860, musician Gustav Mahler;
1887, artist Marc Chagal; 1922, designer
Pierre Cardin; 1927, trumpeter Doc (Carl) Severinsen
(& band leader of The Tonight Show Band, The Tonight Show
starring Johnny Carson); 1940, drummer Ringo Star
(Richard Starkey) (The Beatles); 1949 actress Shelley
Duvall; 1970 actress Cree Summer;
Thanks for reading Goodies to Go!