Survey on Line

Test the wind electronically

Surveys can be used to appraise the sentiments of your audience, or just to gather data.

Here is a tutorial about how to use the Expression Web tools.

"Designing surveys is an art unto itself, requiring careful analysis, skill, and an absolute attention to detail. On the other hand, coding or developing a Web page that contains an electronic form that collects the data from a willing participant is often just as arduous.

Expression Web/FrontPage makes developing and publishing a Web form or survey a breeze. Moreover, it doesn't require that you know any programming or scripting languages that interactively collect and dynamically display results from a database as you will see in this tutorial."

Creating Online Surveys

by William C. Jeansonne


Also:

Survey Forms


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Border Magic with CSS

Consistent formatting

Cascading Style Sheets can be helpful in applying dependable format characteristics to web sites. Like Styles, CSS provides a reference point when a certain look is called for.

Stu Nicholls provides directions for "Fluid" borders:

"If you resize your browser window you will see that these borders are fluid and stay in shape. Resize the text and they will also stay in shape."

Even in this static shot, you can see some nice possibilities.

Fluid Borders to with CSS


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Web Magazine

The difference between a blog and a magazine is thin

Here's on online mag that collects information, direction, and designs for web sites

"A List Apart Magazine (ISSN: 1534-0295) explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on techniques and benefits of designing with web standards.

Steal our code? Copy our content?

ALA's content is protected by copyright shared jointly by the magazine and its writers, but our source code is freely available to all."

A list Apart


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More CSS

Can't get enough

Demonstrations, Layouts, Menus


This site provides a wealth of examples about how to use Cascading Style Sheets.

Poke around and then come back when your project calls for something different.

"Because my site deals with experimental CSS that is exactly what you get JUST CSS, no javascript or any other programming language has been used in any of the demonstrations."

CSS Play by Stu Nicholls


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History of the Internet

Time passes quickly

You can defend the Internet beginning in the early or late 60's. This link follows the history back to the invention of the "computer" in the 1700's to today.

Netcraft survey reports there are more than 74 million web sites online, while in 1993 only 130 web sites existed online.

A Computer History of the Internet Timeline

Also:
Here's a nice site:
The Living Internet

The Internet SOCiety:
History of the Internet

Also:
Internet History


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Web Queries

Do You Question the Web?

This feature can make data acquisition a lot easier than Copy-Paste-Reformat-Try again.

"Generally, though, people tend to overlook the option of using the Web as a data source for Excel, be that source the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, or a Web Service. But they shouldn't. Web queries are an easy, yet remarkably flexible and predictable way of bringing data into Microsoft Excel from anywhere on the Web. You can point a Web query at any HTML document that resides on any Web server - or even on a file server, for that matter - and pull part or all of the contents back into your spreadsheet...When you start using Excel's Web queries, you will realize they are almost as limitless as the Web is.

Well Kept Secret

On the menu bar, go to Data>Import External Data. (In 2007-10, Data>Get Extrnal Data>From Web). Then, select Import Data to use an existing Web query or select New Web Query to build a new one.



Also see:
Vertex42.com:
Excel Web Query Secrets Revealed

Integrate Far-Flung Data into Your Spreadsheets with the Help of Web Services

And:
Web Queries and Dynamic Chart Data


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Seniors Surf Too

No Internet age limit

You don't have to show a drivers license (expired or not) to wander through cyber space,but. . .





As the oldest Baby Boomers turn 60, marketers and the media are waking up to the power of older consumers. Unlike today's seniors, Boomers are dedicated Internet users and broadband fans. As they approach the next phase of their lives, they will challenge companies to keep up with their ever-demanding ways, both online and off.

Also see:
King County Seniors on line

Pierce County Seniors


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Hot Spot in Your Pocket

Or at least nearby

It'll cost about $1,000, but think about the bragging rights!

"I love the fact that more and more devices are sporting built-in Wi-Fi. The lone hitch: Wi-Fi is useless without a hotspot.

What if you could marry the short-range power of Wi-Fi with the huge coverage areas of high-speed cellular services such as EV-DO to create a portable hotspot?
Since EV-DO works at freeway speeds, you could even give Internet access to an entire road-trip caravan.

Now I can surf for as long as three hours without being tethered to anything but a cell signal. The project isn't cheap, but prices for the components and service are sure to come down in the next year or so. In the meantime, you can find me in the hills around Southern California. I'll be the one surrounded by PSP-packing hikers."

Popular Science:
Be Your Own Hotspot
By Mike Outmesguine


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Form Design

Fancy functionals

Here is a discussion about how to design a form for use on the web.

"Computers are supposed to make our lives easier, not more difficult. As usability-conscious designers, we can make our users' lives easier by thinking about the way people interact with our websites, providing clear direction, and then putting the burden of sorting out the details in the hands of the computers—not the users.

It's that last part that we're going to focus on here. We've all heard and read about big usability mistakes time and time again: "Don't use images or flash for navigation," "Don't use Javascript for links," and I certainly hope we're all applying those lessons in our work. It's often the smallest usability quirks, however, that create the biggest annoyances for users, especially when it comes to HTML forms. Follow these guidelines, and you'll be off to a good start."

• Use the right field for the task
  
• Give them room to type
  
• Shorten your forms and question "mandatory" fields
  
• Mark mandatory fields clearly
  
• Provide descriptive labels for all of your fields
  
• Let the computer, not the user, handle information formatting
  
• Use informative error messages
  
• Don't return users to an altered form

Sensible Forms
Brian Crescimanno


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RSS with Your Web Site

Roll your own

If you like the idea of building your own RSS feed, read on.

"Learn about RSS and how to programmatically create an RSS file for your FrontPage 2003 Web site. The download that accompanies this article contains a VBA project and an XSLT file that you can use to generate and display RSS feeds.

If you spend any time on the Internet, you have probably heard of RSS, and you may decide that you need an RSS feed for your Web site. An RSS feed is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file that people can use to keep up to date with the content on a Web site. RSS feeds are frequently associated with weblogs (blogs), but you can use them for any Web site.

If you have a Web site that contains content that you frequently update, such as articles or stories, you may want an RSS feed to help your customers keep up with your updates. This article explains the XML behind RSS and provides a Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) project that you can use to programmatically generate an RSS feed for your FrontPage Web site. The download for this article includes an Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) file that you can use to display the RSS XML file in a browser."

Microsoft Developers Network:
Creating an RSS Feed for Your Web Site


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Photo Gallery

A CSS exercise

FrontPage had a Photo gallery template, and you can also save a PowerPoint show as a web page.

For another take on the problem, here are the instructions needed to create a gallery using CSS.

Click here to see what it might look like:



How to Create a Photographic Gallery Using CSS
By Stu Nicholls


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Internet 099

Basics and Beyond

A San Francisco company called Learn the Net has produced a basic on-line tutorial about the Internet.

If you need a fundamental primer, this might be a place to look.

It is not a series of scaled down "baby talk" lessons. You can drill down though the meaning of 403/404 error codes and links to WW3 Generic URI Syntax (RFC 2396) standards.

That is if you know how to drill down.

"Throughout Learn the Net--in fact on most web pages--you will see words that are in color and often underlined. By clicking on these words, known as hypertext, you jump to other places on the page, to other pages on the site, or to other resources on the Internet."

www.LearntheNet.com


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Graphics from the '50s

Remember it the way you want to

Original fifties clipart? Just in time for the holidays, some Ozzie and Harriet style pics.

"Most communities in the fifties had small town print shops that doubled as printers of local news and advertising papers. These printers could not afford graphic artists so they used stock clipart supplied by large companies who distributed common graphics for use in advertising sections of the papers. They were provided for the printer in lots of categories to meet any advertiser's needs."

Retrographix.com


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Java ans All That Jazz

Free code

One way to jazz up a boring web site is to use scripting to present random images or create interesting menus. You could learn to do it yourself, or borrow from the stars.

JavaScript-2.com is a source for free JavaScript Codes.

Find FREE JavaScript codes quickly and easily with the only search engine that searches all the top Java Script libraries, offering a total of over 8,000 free JavaScripts.


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Send the Viewer on Their Way

Move on

If you have an old site that people still address, or a web page that has been moved, see this code and the explanations.


<html>

<head>
<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="3; URL=http://WWW.MiniByteTech.com">
</head>

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">


The operative line is:

<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="3; URL=http://WWW.MiniByteTech.com">

The value of content is in seconds.
The new location for this web site is WWW.MiniByteTech.com! You will automatically be redirected in 3 seconds. If your browser doesn't automatically load, click <a href="http://WWW.MiniByteTech.com">HERE</a>.

</body>
</html

PCMag.com:
Routing Your Web Site Visitors

Help2Go.com:
Redirecting a Web page

ISiteBuild.com:
How to Redirect a Web Page Using a 301 Redirect

This tools help you determine if the redirect you have created is Search Engine Friendly:

WebConfs.com:
Redirect Checker


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Slide on a Web Page

Make it an Internet show

A little bit ago we talked about putting a live web page directly on a slide:
Web Page on a Slide.

This hint is about converting your PowerPoint show into a web presentation.

Here's a slide show on the web showing how it's done:

EllenFinkelstein.com:
Publishing a Presentation to the Web

Also:

Indezine.com:
PowerPoint 2002-2003 Web Options

RDPSlides.com has this article:
PowerPoint on the Web

Web and PPT 2007:
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Office.Microsoft.com:
Show slide animations during a Web presentation


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Privacy and the Net

What happens on your computer, stays . . .

Here are some protection suggestions:

"Links to numerous pages on the Web where home users can find software and information relevant to Windows PC privacy and security.

It also contains a rudimentary "checklist" of basic steps that home PC users can take to enhance their privacy and security while using the Internet.
Finally, you'll find a set of resources developed by the author of this site to help you protect your privacy and security on the Internet, including information about Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and the Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG)."

Protecting Your Privacy & Security

by Eric Howes
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Also:
Microsoft:
Security at home

Also see:
Security and the Net


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Pictures Toolbar

Control your graphics

You may have used this toolbar in other applications; you may want to get to know it even better.

These tutorials looks at the toolbar which includes several easy-to-use features to tweak, enhance and position graphic images after they are inserted into a Expression Web/FrontPage web page.


Pictures Toolbar

• Insert an Image from File also insert images from the Clip Organizer or obtain free clipart online at Microsoft's Design Gallery Live
  
• Text can be placed directly on a GIF image.
  
• Automatically create a thumbnail of a larger image.
  
• Position Absolutely
  
• Bring Forward/Send Backward
  
• Rotate Left/Right
  
• Flip Horizontal/Vertical
  
• More/Less Contrast
  
• More/Less Brightness
  
• Crop
  
• Line Style
  
• Format Picture
  
• Set Transparent Image
  
• Color
  
• Bevel
  
• Resample

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Look at Yourself

Information on line

Here is a site that will test your connection speed, tell you your latitude and longitude, IP address and more.

They provide a one stop location to validate email addresses, locate the host server for a domain, plus trace, ping etc.

You can also find out what information your browser is broadcasting to the world.


Internetfrog.com


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E-Mail Delivery Design

Don't look like spam

A discussion:

"Transactional email can be a website's customer service ambassador, but messages must first survive a ruthless selection process in the user's in-box. Differentiating your message from spam is thus the first duty of email design.

Email is one of a website's most powerful tools for strengthening customer service and increasing users' confidence and trust in the site. Confirmation messages and other automated transactional email can complete the user experience: they reach out to customers in ways that are otherwise impossible for websites, which must sit still and wait for users to approach."

From Dr. Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox

Automated Email From Websites to Customers


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