wdvltalk Roundup June 2002 - Page 25

I need to be able to open an image from a thumbnail page and have it open in an IE window . I require the window to open outside the thumbnail page and the resulting window being automatically the same size as the image ( jpg files ) and without any menus / buttons / address bar etc.

• This is the code you want:

  <a href="fullsize pic name"
    target="_blank">
  <IMG SRC="thumbnail name" 
    border="0"
    width="thumbnail width"
    height="thumbnail height"
    title="Click for larger picture"
    onClick="window.open('fullsize pic
  name','newWin','width=fullsizewidth
  height=fullsizeheight'); return false;">
  </a>
  

  If JS is enabled the onClick will open the sort of window you want. If not, the <a href> link will still open the pic in a new window, but without JS you can't control what size or whether it has controls.
  
  As for the picture sizes, there's no way in HTML or JS to find out what the size of a picture is. If you don't want to have to open each graphic in something like Paintshop Pro, note the height and width, then code them into the link for that thumbnail, you'll have to use a PHP or Perl script to generate the page code...

Does ASP run on Linux? ... probably not, knowing my luck!

1. Instant ASP http://www.halcyonsoft.com/products/iasp.asp

2. Chill!ASP http://www.chilisoft.com/

I'm using a form with action as mailto:someone@someEngine.com . Now it is mailing all values filled in the form to the mentioned mailing address but it also mail the control names along the and it sends the whole data in one line. Now I want it to be formatted as it is in the Form. Is there anyway of doing this?

• You'll have to use a CGI script to do this, using the mailto: action is a bad option - it's not reliable for starters, and it doesn't provide control over what gets sent and how it's formatted.
  
  I personally like the BNBForm handler from BigNoseBird (see http://www.bignosebird.com/carchive/bnbform.shtml) - it's powerful and configurable, and has been very reliable for me.

Does someone knows a good mailing list software?

• I use and like a small program called Group Mail.. http://www.infacta.com/gm.asp I've also played around with one called ListMan
• Microsoft Word's Mail Merge feature really works quite well. It builds a small Access database, dynamically inserts content like names, and sends one email per recipient (no long list under the "To" header"). Go to Help and search for Mail Merge.
  
  As a web developer I'm prone to looking for web-based solutions, when often there is a non web-based answer right under my nose. I was about to build our own little mailing list web-app when our networking guy reminded me of Mail Merge.
• If you use a Unix/Linux server then you can you sendmail or formmail.

Can anyone suggest me whether Java Applets buttons are better or normal image buttons? What is the disadvantages of using Java Buttons (applet) for site navigation? I am not familiar with JAVA applets hence any suggestion would be appreciated.

• 1. Well if you believe the statistics there are a significant number of surfers out there who don't have Java enabled so images would be safer
  
  2. If you are at all concerned about page weightings and download time you could of course simply use text buttons rather than images, which is my preference for the standard site navigation.
  
  3. I do use images for "special" links but keep them to a minimum
• You can create nice roll over effects with CSS see www.irishmountain.net or www.msn.com

How can I easily make the menu show the current page the user is on?

• Breadcrumbs
  
  Map:Guest:Quotes
  or
  Map>Guest>Quotes
  
  http://www.evolt.org/article/Breadcrumbs_for_All/17/4428/
  
  You can use Perl or PHP and SSI to do this dynamically

Can someone please remind me how to get rid of borders in table cells? I want a border around the outside of the table but not around each cell

• Best way to do this, without using Browser specific table cell attributes , is to enclose the Table inside another single cell table. The outside table set to using a border. This trick will make the effect render in older browsers as well.

  <!--- open table to use for outside border --->
  <table border="1"><tr><td>
  
  <!-- Table you want to enclose ---->
  <table border="0"><tr><td></td><td></td></tr></table>
  
  <!--- close table used for outside border --->
  </td></tr></table>
  
  

• Or you can use the "rules" attribute of the <table> element:

  <table width="100%" border="1" rules="none">
    <tr>
      <td>Hello</td>
      <td>World!</td>
    </tr>
  </table>
  

  Not sure what browser support for this is like, but it's been part of the HTML spec since December 1999: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/tables.html#h-11.3.1
• You can have:
  rules="none" (no borders apart from the outside one)
  rules="rows" (only borders between rows, and the outside one)
  rules="cols" (only borders between columns, and the outside one)
  rules="all" (borders galore!)
• Like most things that look great there's a catch; it works in Explorer but not in Netscape (4 anyway, don't know about 6)
• Sadly,'rules' doesn't work with Netscape 6 or Opera 5 either.

wdvltalk Roundup June 2002 - Page 24
wdvltalk Roundup