April 30, 2001

Random topic of the day...

Let's build some web pages using .asp - first assignment, if you should chose to accept it, is to read up on the basics:

WebmasterBase - Getting Started with ASP




Now, you've read the tutorial and it's time to create a simple page using .asp

We're going to do something similiar, but slightly different than the example given (just to make a point that there are many ways to write your script and still have the same end result).

In my example, the code is embedded in the middle of a HTML paragraph:
<p align="center"> Greetings! The time is exactly <% Response.Write Time %> on this server. </p>

Click here for the sample page (go ahead and peak at the source code too).




When you're ready, read on to something more advanced:

WebmasterBase - ASP Language Basics




Random link of the day...

A brief overview on how spiders work and how you can benefit from them.

TECHNOLOGY: Are Web Spiders Beneficial?



April 28, 2001

Why, how, and where to make your site copyrighted ... http://www.lawgirl.com/copyright.shtml#why

April 26, 2001

Kudos to Sarah for bringing up the issue of web site accessibility! I recently joined the HWG AWARE Center as a volunteer.

The "Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education" Center is a great resource for learning more about this important topic.

AWARE Center Homepage -- HTML Writers Guild

April 24, 2001

Random link of the day...

Is that web site you're designing this month a target for a lawsuit? Which software package did you use to create your graphics? Food for thought.

Burn All GIFs

April 23, 2001

Another random link...

jonathonrobinson.com. Button monkey?



Random links of the day...

An interesting concept, which I suppose evolved from The Blair Witch Project, is being used to promote a movie being released this summer, A.I.. Now, the official movie web site doesn't really provide much information, neither does the Dream Works fan site. But, apparently there was a clue in the trailer and billboards promoting the movie, which led you to call a phone number, which led you to... Well, you get the idea. Curious? Check out this guide (caution: the guide gives away most of the clues, so don't read too far if you want to try and follow the trail on your own).



postscript
So, what does all of this have to do with web design? Well, is this a new genre of entertainment? Is it a big waste of bandwidth and network resources? Is it a good way to promote a product? Food for thought.


April 21, 2001

Hey everybody! This is my first post :-) It's nice to be on board.

For those who don't know, April is Accessibility Awareness month....visit the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative page, to learn more about making your web site accessible! Contrary to popular belief, accessible web sites do not have to be completely text based, and they can, in fact, be very visually appealing. The more you learn about accessibility, the more you'll find that making a site accessible really involves coding properly. This means not misusing tags to achieve special effects, and most of all, learning to separate layout from content. More accessibility links from me are on the way...so stay tuned!
Random topic of the day...

Let's talk popup windows and see if we can get those pesty little boxes to work the way you want them to. For example, the one I'm using on this page (see the left border) doesn't seem to work on a Macintosh, but it's just dandy in a browser running under Windows (go figure).

Let's start with a couple of tutorials:

Crashcourse in JavaScript - Part One: Pop Up Windows

Web Resources | Tutorials | JavaScript | Popup Tutor




More detail and a little bit of troubleshooting:

Managing JavaScript "popup" windows //codestore


This describes a popup that loads automatically when someone views your page:

Smart Computing | HTML JavaScript Popup


Shoot, why try and figure it out on your own? This script by Michael Wieck does all the work for you:

JavaScript Popup Window Code Generator

Here's the code I get when I use Michael's script:

<a href="javascript:window.open('linktous.html', 'SiteWindow', 'toolbar=0,location=0,directories=0,status=0,menubar=0,scrollbars=0,resizable=0,width=400,height=400')">

Link to Us

Click it and see if it works. :)




So, have you figured out how to do it? Here is what I finally came up with, and yes, it works in both Windows and Macintosh browsers. :)



Random Geek link of the day...

Microsoft Kills SP7 for NT4

April 20, 2001

Well it feels wonderful being part of such a great organization! I hope I can contribute to this site as much as I can :D And Darrell.. if you want a layout done for this blog, let me know :D


That goes for anyone too! If you want a layout for your webpage or blog, then please contact me! Depending on the project, I may not bill. I sometimes like to do things for free! But if it's a big project, then we can definitely negotiate a more than fair price! :D *sells herself* If you would like to see some examples, check out my site and a site I am maintaining (new design created by John Momot).


Ok I'm done promoting now LOL :D


Random help links coming soon!

Hey, the team is getting impressive! Welcome our new member Kym

Random geek links of the day...

What's the free world without a little competition? For those enterprise-wide projects, developers may have to choose between these two camps: Sun's Open Net and Microsoft's .Net.

The Big Picture (Web Techniques, May 2001)

Digging into .Net a little deeper:

Applying .Net to Web Services (Web Techniques, May 2001



April 18, 2001

and for something off topic...

Ok, I try to keep on the subject, but this one is for the real 'blogging fan:

Metafilter - "more addictive than crack"

More random sites...

Here's an challenge if I ever saw one: The 5k: an award for excellence in web design and production where "all HTML, script, image, style, and any other associated files must collectively total less than 5 kilobytes..."

the5k.org

And then from there I found a link to Eric Costello's site:

Glish.com

which has an excellent section on CSS Layout Techniques. Check out Eric's weblog while you're there, too.






Random link of the day...

Have you been following the saga of Napster? Ever hear of Gnutella? Has the World Wide Web grown so commercialized that it's no longer the free exchange of thoughts and ideas as it was intended?

P2P, or Peer to Peer applications have no central authority and the computing power is distributed between the users of the application. Here's a couple of places to read more:

OpenP2P.com

Gnutella

April 15, 2001

Random link of the day...

I have no clue how I stumbled onto this site, but there is a wealth of articles and product reviews here! Highly recommended.

Web Page Design for Designers by Joe Gillespie

Welcome to our newest team member, Sarah.

And while on the topic, e-mail's are welcome from anyone that would like to be hosted for free. All you have to do send an e-mail to darrell@randompsycho.org and be sure to include a paragraph on how you would contribute to the team and perhaps an URL or two of sites you've designed.



It's 3 a.m. and I'm surfing web sites again...

Back to the subject of web design, this site features a tutorial on "Designing for Search Engines." Good article to read, especially with splash pages becoming so popular lately. Keeping a high placement in the search engines is getting harder and harder these days.

Digital Web Magazine

DirWeb is for the vast legions of Macromedia Director users / abusers / wanna-be's, un-flashable, die-hard zealots of the ultimate multimedia authoring tool in this or any other universe. Content is free, dynamic, bannerless, and subtly opinionated. ;-) ....

Thank you for playing !!!

Director Web