Goodies to Go ™
May 10, 2004–Newsletter #284

This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
 

Featured this week:

* Goodies Thoughts – Content Rules
* 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 – Content Rules

There are so many things that are so important for making a
great website that sometimes it just isn’t possible or practical to make sure
that every aspect is at its peak. When this happens, and something has to be
left out or not given all the attention it deserves, are there some aspects
which can be more safely skipped or skimmed over than others?

It’s not possible to answer with one rule for all sites. Neither is it possible
to answer without treading on somebody’s toes — there is always an exception
and some things a re more important to some people than others. There are,
however, a few thoughts than can help to guide those who find that something is
going to have to give.

A frequent reason for needing to skip some of the work is time. Since time =
money, we’ll say that a lack of time and a lack of money are the same thing in
the developer’s world! If you don’t have time to do something, you could always
pay someone else to do it, unless……

I’m not the world’s greatest graphic artist. I have a hard time coming up with
ideas that actually work (i.e. look good) when I put them into practice. I have
seen graphic artists take a concept, work with it for a few minutes, and come up
with a great looking graphic that depicts the concept perfectly. That’s not me.
So when I have to cut time, one of the first things to go will be graphics. I
don’t want to make the site dull or unappealing, so I’ll use photos or clip art
to brighten things up, but that’s not quite the same as a good graphic piece. If
a picture is worth a thousand words, a good graphic is worth a thousand specific
words. However, a lot of time can be saved by reducing the amount of graphical
work needed in the site’s creation, and careful use of photos and/or clipart can
replace the more labor intensive work.

Fancy navigation systems are also very useful, but may not be entirely
necessary. While a nice hierarchical menu system can be a great way to organize
the ideas being presented in a site, there may also be quicker, simpler
solutions. (BTW – if you need a hierarchical menu system, check out

http://www.hiermenuscentral.com) A well organized list of links with one or
two space indents can accomplish the same thing. True, it won’t have quite the
pizzazz, neither will it be so condensed, but it will get the job done and it’s
quick and easy to do. There is a discussion of methods to make maintenance
easier when using the simpler menu techniques in an earlier issue of Goodies To
Go (find it here:

https://www.htmlgoodies.com/letters/231.html)

Bells and whistles, music, flash (or Flash!), pizzazz, all are features that can
be (and in many cases, should be) reduced. Simpler and easier both lead to
quicker and cheaper!

Ultimately, when a visitor arrives at a website, they are there because the site
has something to say that they want to hear. They are there for the substance of
the site, not the fluff. The substance of the site is its content. Content
should not be removed! Obviously, if the site is about graphics, then graphics
are the substance and so graphics could not be eliminated, but this is not the
common occurrence. Spend the majority of available time on content, and only add
the extras if time permits.

Two weeks ago (see

https://www.htmlgoodies.com/letters/282.html) I mentioned the Chernobyl
accident and last week (see

https://www.htmlgoodies.com/letters/283.html) I mentioned a site created by a
girl who rides her motorcycle through the Chernobyl "Dead Zone". If ever there
was a site that illustrates my point that site is it (see
http://www.kiddofspeed.com)
The site tells a story in just a few words with a series of photographs. The
site has the simplest of navigation systems, no graphics and the most basic of
website structures. It is also one of the most powerful websites I have seen in
a long time, and if you read it, the story it tells will haunt you for a long
time. It completely exemplifies my point that content rules.

Take away anything you like, except the content. Make it the best it can be and
your site will be a winner. It’s not how you say it; it’s what you have to say.

Thanks for Reading!
 

– Vince Barnes

Top

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. (Code sample attached) I would like about 10-20% of the blank area
(the top of it) to be used for a banner that I have created already. The bottom
90-80% of the blank space I am using for my main area – the links I will be
using are on the right. Right now, it is a lot of tables. I would like to keep
the format, but how can I get my links on the right to open on the main area
(the 90-80%)? I’m pretty sure I should use a frame – whether it be normal or an
inline frame – but how would I set it up?

A. You are on the right track. You would use an INLINE FRAME. I believe
what you are missing is using the TARGET attribute to tell the link where to
open in.

The
Now, target a link on your page to show up in the frame:
Link One
Link Two
Link Three
Now you have to create the other pages to show in the IFRAME when the user
clicks on the links.

Q. When I made my site, I viewed it through IE with the view/text size
set to "smaller". When someone views my page with it set to another size, it
displays my site wrong. Is there an HTML or CSS code to combat this problem?

A. Set your desired text size in the using CSS(Cascading Style Sheet).

It might look something like this:

If the text is in a table you may not get the desired size. You would need to
create a class and apply it to the tag.

Q. I have html pages that are run from the local hard drive and interact
with a backend SCO Unix server. In some pages I store filenames to be used as
bookmarks. Just for reference, here is the code that stores the bookmark…

I have a link to take the end user back to that bookmark. Unfortunately, the
page that is saved is contained within a frameset. Here is my code that opens up
a bookmarked page…

Here is my problem…the page opens just fine using the filename I am saving,
but I need it to open up within the main frame of my frameset. How can I open up
a frame set and target one of the frames with a variable that stores a filename
as it opens?

A. To target a frame in a frameset you will need to reference the name of
the frame you want to affect. Try this and see if it works:
parent.mainframe.document.write("Try out our self-paced lessons to get up to
speed quickly on your software.");
"mainframe" would be the name of the frame you want to target. You can also
perform a function in the other frame by doing this:
parent.mainframe.function_name()
You can also populate a variable in the other frame this way:
parent.mainframe.variable_name="some value"
Or a form element this way:
parent.mainframe.document.form_name.element_name.value="some value"

Q. I am trying to find a script that will resize the page in a web from
one size to another! I designed the site in an 800X600 Resolution and when
someone with a 640X480 Resolution views it, the frames page creates 2 scroll
bars instead of just one. I need the web Page to resize the window/web
page/browser depending the user’s resolution.

A. You could check the width and height of the screen when the page loads
and the resize it this way:

Q. I was wondering if there is anyway to place text on top of pictures
with html.

A. Here is the link to see how its done:

https://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutors/textonimages.html

Q. Is it possible to change the link color with the onMouseOver command?

A. I have done it using JavaScript. There is also a way using CSS, but
here is my JavaScript version (you will notice that for IE5+ and NS6+ it is
quite simple, but for NS4 version browsers it requires some complex coding — if
you don’t care about NS4 I would suggest you leave that part out):