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Net4TV Voice sidebar

MouseOver Alert & Other
Snazzy Things

ADH-HH's Tips & Tools editor: ericB

Basic Tip: Vertical Table Spacing
   ~submitted by:  AJ  [ email ]~
Build a "table" around tables. Each of the "tables" must be placed in separate table data cell <td> within a separate table data row <tr> .... like this:

    <table width=200 border=5 cellpadding=10 cellspacing=10>
    <tr><td align="center">
      <table width="200">
      <tr><td align="center">

      Whatever's in inset table #1 goes here

      </td></tr></table>

    </td></tr>
    <tr><td align="center">
      <table width="200">
      <tr><td align="center">

      Whatever's in inset table #2 goes here

      </td></tr></table>

    </td></tr>
    <tr><td align="center">
      <table width="200">
      <tr><td align="center">

      Whatever's in inset table #3 goes here

      </td></tr></table>

      .
      .
      .
    </td></tr></table>

You can continue this type of stacking to suit your purpose, we only use four stacked tables here. Here is an example of the above in action:

Crazy mouse dancing gif (13.9k)
animated 
ball gif (3.1k)

Welcome to ADH-HH ...

Blinking eyes gif (1k)


Here are some other tips we came across while browsing various posts & newsgroups.


Intermediate Tip: MouseOver Alert
We've discussed how to place text in the status window that will give information on the <a href> link over which they have placed their cursor, or to tell them where they will be taken if they click on it. Sometimes, however, you want to make absolutely sure they are aware of the link's purpose. For this, you might want to use the MouseOver Alert.

Place cursor here: important message!!

If alert did not appear: or cmd[R] until title appears below; then retry the alert.

The code:

<a href=http://adhhome.cjb.net onMouseOver="alert('Hey, don't forget to visit our ADH-HH home page, a great source of info & home page design help! Okay?')"><i><b><font color=plum>Place cursor here:</font> important message!!</b></i></a>

As anyone who has "call waiting" activated on their WebTV unit knows, constant interruptions while surfing can possibly be quite annoying. Likewise, having the above type of alert popping up constantly could be pretty annoying to your visitor. Therefore, we advise using it sparringly.


For reference, an example displaying all of the <body> attributes we've covered so far in our columns:

<BODY bgcolor="black" background="stars.gif" text="white" link="purple" vlink="gray" credits="https://www.tripod.com/~myname/mydir/mycreditsf ile.html" logo="mypage.jpg" instructions=/~myname/mydir/myinstructsfile.html transition=wiperight>


Intermediate Tip : "Radio Button" Menu
Again, this would probably best be placed between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags; however, it could be placed anywhere above the point where you want the menuu to appear if it fits your page structure better. Be advised, however, any JavaScript not placed within the <HEAD> section will result in an eror message when you try to run your page thru a validator.

Here's the menu:

[ Net4TV Voice Main Page ]
[ Net4TV Live Chat Enter ]
ADH-HH Home Page/Web Site
ADH-HH Members (Gallery)
ADH-HH Help Teams: Lists
ADH-HH Help Desk Contact
ADH-HH Construction Crew

Here's the code:

[ note: This part would be placed in the <HEAD> section; so we'll display it as such here. This section defines the various buttons. In place of the 'URL#1', etc., place the actual destination URLs.] :

<HEAD>

    <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> &lt;!--// Hide from older browsers function button1() {if (document.menu.choice) location='URL#1'} function button2() {if (document.menu.choice) location='URL#2'} function button3() {if (document.menu.choice) location='URL#3'} function button4() {if (document.menu.choice) location='URL#4'} function button5() {if (document.menu.choice) location='URL#5'} function button5() {if (document.menu.choice) location='URL#6'} function button5() {if (document.menu.choice) location='URL#7'} // stop Hide from older browsers --> </script>
</HEAD>

Then, in the location where you'd like the menu to appear, you would use the following code [ note: since the type of button is too small to have the value of the button actually written on the button, you notice the value of each button is placed in text right beside what each button does. You would decide what "title"/designation to use for each button.]:

    <FORM NAME="menu"> <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="choice" onClick="button1()">TITLE of URL#1 <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="choice" onClick="button2()">TITLE of URL#2 <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="choice" onClick="button3()">TITLE of URL#3 <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="choice" onClick="button4()">TITLE of URL#4 <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="choice" onClick="button5()">TITLE of URL#5 <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="choice" onClick="button5()">TITLE of URL#6 <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="choice" onClick="button5()">TITLE of URL#7 </FORM>



Now, some more tips submitted from our readers.


Basic Tip: Checking Guestbook Entries
   ~submitted by:  Annette  [ email ]~
Just a simple tip for those who have several web sites & several or even just one guest book. Place the "view your guestbook" page(s) in a "favorites" folder. Then you can easily check to see if anyone has signed your book, instead of having to goto your site(s) & check the book(s) from there.

Basic Tip: EZ Spellcheck Your Site
   ~submitted by:  Frank Lunger  [ email ]~
"For webtv users who know how to use copy/cut/paste, here's a great way to check spelling on your home page. Just "cmd-A" then "cmd-C" and go to your mail. Select "write" and use "cmd-V" to paste the text of your home page into the message area. Use the spellchecker to correct spelling..." Make a note of any misspelled words & the correct spellings. "...Then erase message and correct any misspelled words on your home pages."

ADDITIONAL INFO   The above method would work best if the starting point is "viewing" your home page. If you instead start by doing the "cmd-A" & "cmd-C" from within the editor of your homepage server, it would be a bit different. In that case, after pasting your home page coding into your e-mail message area, you could actually correct each misspelling via your mail's spellchecker, then c/c/p the code back over to your editor. Knowing the frequent occurrences of "This Page is Too Big To Be Shown Completely" messages, if you follow this method, be sure to actually "bounce-mail" the corrected version to yourself. Then, if you get the "too big..." message & have to power off, you will still have a copy of your corrected home page ready to c/c/p back into the editor.

If you have been surfing or editing for any length of time, unless you have a very "small" page, you will probably at one time or another get the "too big..." message using these methods. This is true for both the Plus & the Classic. Eventually, the cache just gets too full!!

By "bounce-mail" we mean the following:
After you have made all the corrections, enter your own addy (or any addy for that matter) & erase the last leter (the last "t" in "webtv.net"), & send it. The mail server will bounce (return) the mail back to you, indicating no such server. In the message will be some info on the server, what it tried to do, two buttons, & the content of your mail. Click on the "Edit" button & your mail will open into it's message area, ready to be c/c/p'd.

corrections:
re: last article's mention of max points plottable on a polygon in a client or server-side image map to be 10 .... I've since seen such polygons with up to 20 points being plotted, more may be possible.

About Alt.Discuss.Homepage-Homepage Helpers

The alt.discuss.homepage newsgroup is a great source of help if you are just beginning or run into a snag when creating your home page. Each issue, we will focus on one or more tips that will help your home page design. You can visit our home page at https://members.tripod.com/adhhh/ & request more one-on-one assistance. Our Help Teams (which can be directly contacted via our new He lp Desk) include: Tutor Team; Construction Crew [if you have a particularly complex design problem]; & Image Researchers. Also check out the collection of various home page building resources in our Resource Center.

Have a tip, idea, tool, or shortcut you'd like to share & see featured in the next or subsequent article? Submit your tip to our ADH-HH Tips & Tools Committee.