Here are some questions that i frequently answer on various mailing lists and in Real Life. They are listed and numbered below in no particular order. To search for keywords, try hitting CTRL+F.
What is the code for a NON underlined link?
To remove an underline from one link:
<a href="#" style="text-decoration: none">Click here</a>
To take the underlines off a whole page of links: (this goes *before* the <body> of the document)
<style type="text/css">
<!--
a { text-decoration: none }
-->
</style>
How can disable right clicking on a website to prevent people from saving my images?
You can use the following Javascript in your HTML page. This goes in the <head> of the page.
<script language=JavaScript>
<!--
var message="Sorry, this function is disabled. Please don't steal our copyrighted material.";
function click(e)
{
if (document.all)
{
if (event.button == 2)
{
alert(message);
return false;
}
}
if (document.layers)
{
if (e.which == 3)
{
alert(message);
return false;
}
}
}
if (document.layers)
{
document.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEDOWN);
}
document.onmousedown=click;
// -->
</script>
Is it possible to have an image button function as the reset button in the form?
Your button should use this Javascript function in the HTML:
for a reset button:
<a href="javascript:document.form.reset()"><img
src="myimage.gif"></a>
for a submit button:
<a href="javascript:document.form.submit()"><img
src="myimage.gif"></a>
This works where "form" is the name of your form like this:
<form name="form">
Is there such a thing as software that generates CSS where you have different formats saved and you can apply them to a given page?
I tried TopStyle for a while, and i think it's really cool. You select what styles you want in your stylesheet and it previews how those formats will look on an HTML page. It's nag-free shareware, i believe. It's website is at http://www.bradsoft.com/topstyle/
Dreamweaver is expensive, but it also generates stylesheets along with HTML. It's the best WYSIWYG editor i know of, and although it's stylesheet interface takes some getting used to, it does a great job. You can get a trial version on Macromedia's website, at http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver.
I usually generate CSS with the badass text editor i use for everything else, UltraEdit, but using UltraEdit to write stylesheets isn't much different than using Notepad. It's shareware. It's really awsome ... a text editor / hex editor / html editor / FTP program all rolled into one. It's website is http://www.ultraedit.com.
What are current web freelancing rates?
Try this chart: http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/98/44/index4a_page5.html?tw=jobs (You'll probably want to check out the rest of the article, too. It's a good one.) Another good resource is http://www.realrates.com.
How do I make a link that closes a popup window?
Use this code:
<a href="javascript:window.close()">Close this window.</a>
How do I buy a domain name? What does it cost? Who should I buy it from?
There's a guide that answers all these questions (and more) at http://www.domainnamebuyersguide.com.
Why do my images look terrible in AOL's browser?
From AOL's FAQ for webmasters:
Q: Why do my images look more blurry on AOL's Browser and why
do some have black bars on them!
A: America Online utilizes graphics compression software that speeds up the
delivery of web pages to it's members by compressing images and various multimedia
applications. Images that are BMP, GIF or JPG are converted into the proprietary
Johnson-Grace image format .ART. All AOL members have the option of deselecting
"Use Compressed Graphics" in their Web Preferences.
In AOL's browser, If you turn off "Use Compressed Graphics" and clear your cache you should start seeing the page normally.
Because you will probably have visitors from AOL, you should fix your images. Things that cause your images to look bad in AOL include using the "Save Preview" option when saving JPGs in Adobe Photoshop and using images that are more than 640 pixels in length.
AOL has more info on what to do about your web pages sucking in their crappy
browser here:
http://webmaster.info.aol.com
Is there any reason not to use table cell background images?
If you have a page with a black background then put dark text in the table cell over a light image. Then when someone has images turned off, they won't be able to read the text. To get around it, set a bgcolor and a bg image. Also, when you set a table background image the image doesn't span correctly in versions of Netscape earlier than 6.
I made my website in Microsoft Frontpage. It looks great in Internet Explorer and awful in Netscape and AOL. What happened?
Microsoft Frontpage generates proprietary code that won't neccessary look good in non-Microsoft browsers. You can find a good resource for fixing you FrontPage pages here: http://www.prowebsites.net/frontpagehelp/.
A method i have used in the past to clean up FrontPage HTML is by opening the program in Macromedia Dreamweaver and selecting Commands > Clean Up HTML.
Does the <noedit></noedit> tag work in FrontPage?
The syntax is <!--NOEDIT--> ... <!--/NOEDIT--> for code that you don't want to be edited by FrontPage. I've never used it myself, so i don't know exactly how the software reacts.
I want to use the Javascript function self.close() to close a window. On a PC, I am getting errors that are asking the user to confirm that the browser is closing and opening a new window. Can i get rid of this message?
Unfortunately (for you) you're not allowed to close the original browser window without permission from the user. I think this is fair -- users would be annoyed with you for closing their original browser window. By doing this, they would lose their default window size and the ability to hit the BACK button.
I want to disable the browser's BACK button on my web page. How can i do it?
Well ... you don't. Whatever you try will just end up annoying your users.
Besides, what's the point? If a user tries to to leave your web site and can't do it, the person won't just continue browsing your website like nothing happened. The person will get frustrated and close the browser window, and probably won't come back.
If you were going to try doing this, your options would be:
Any of these methods are really annoying and confusing to the user. There's no way to simply gray out the BACK button in the user's current window. That's because web pages and scripts are disallowed from modifying the browser's History.