HTML for Technophobes: Chapter Eight

HTML for Technophobes.

©David Knopfler/Willa Cline 19th September 1998

Chapter Eight: Miscellaneous Information.

This is intended as one of those repositories (that's repositories, not suppositories) where tips can be helpfuly inserted. Any items not covered elsewhere would be welcome, as and when the thought arises. If you feel you have a quick one paragraph idea you'd like to contribute we'd be pleased to accept your submission. Please use the form provided below

DK Footnote1: Grabbing images from the web, or from your email, is simplicity itself - but since we don't assume anything here at technophobes inc, this is how you do it:
From within your browser single click the image you want (right button for PC users) and hold the mouse button down - you'll get a list of options show up on a drop down menu. The one you want to select is "save" - this should allow you to save the image to your own cpu - or if you're in a hurry - single click the image and drag it onto your own window from the browser - should produce the same effect. If you want to be exravagent and show off to friends select "save as" instead - you can then rename the image or change it's format on the fly as you trawl it in. "Dad, what's a format ..?"

DK Footnote2: What's the difference between .htm and .html? "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." However, as far as I know there is no reason for choosing one tag over another - it's like having coffee instad of tea - sometimes a change is welcome ... and it helps keeps "the acolytes" from seeing the levers behind the curtain ;) I am the mighty Oz .. whiz clang whir...

Another good ploy for web designers who like scaring their clients for the sheer "because we can" hell of it, is to vary the following suffixes at will: .gif .GIF .jpg .JPG and always make sure only some of the images go into the images folder, whilst others stay with the html file, so the poor punter will never know if the link is something logical like images/image1.gif or the more direct, but more confusing, Image_1.JPG. The point being, you can use whatever you like - all will work, but if you work to a system, and one you can readily remember, you are, in the end, less likely to trip yourself up.

File sizes: Footnote3: Before sending someone an email with a file attachment - look at what size the attachment is - If it's more than 100k (100,000 bytes) then write first and ask if it's okay to send it - some people - not too suprisingly - feel a bit pissed off at having their mail box trashed by unsolicited images.

Footnote 4 Why are my hyperlinks all underlined?
Courtesy of the new CSS (cascading style sheet ) protocals you can get rip of unwanted underlining by adding the following code to the offending web page

<STYLE TYPE="text/css">

</STYLE>

The "hover" attribute is not strictly speaking necessary. In fact, that aspect works only in I.E. When you mouseover a link, it changes color. Change the color to suit yourself.

Footnote 5
Here's a very simple but useful one - want to ensure that all your hyperlinks open in a new window leaving the old one intact? Use <BASEtarget= "_blank"> and whack it in just before the </HEAD> command.

> <TITLE>untitled</TITLE>
> <BASE target="_blank">
> </HEAD>
> <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">

Form:

1. Your email address i.e me@myaddress.co.uk

2. Your tip

3. Your name