No Home in IE

Blanked out

You can open Internet Explorer to a blank page.

Sometimes your normal home page may be too busy, or slow to load when you just want to pop out to a different location.

This trick will give you a blank slate to paste in a new URL.

1. Create a new Desktop shortcut
   (Right click an empty spot on the desktop and choose New>Shortcut)
   
   
2. Copy the following, and paste it as the target for the shortcut:
   
   
   

   "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" nohome

   
   
3. Name the shortcut something like Blank IE

See all Topics internet

What's the Expression

FrontPage, we knew you well

Microsoft has retired FrontPage in favor of an application called Expression Web Designer.

It is part of four programs that will make up the Expression suite.

Channel9.MSDN.com has a series of videos on the quartet.

Here's the one on FrontPage/ Expression
Expression - Part Four: Web

Also:
Expression - Part One: The Overview

Expression - Part Two: Design

Expression - Part Three: Blend


See all Topics internet

Color News

A multidiscipline subject

Here is a study about how color effects a reader's choice of concentration.

It was intended for newspaper publishers, but the same knowledge can be used in Web design, PowerPoint, or any other reporting application. Word and Excel will also benefit.

Color, Contrast, and Dimension in News Design

Color Project

The Poynter Institute is a school for journalists, future journalists, and teachers of journalists.
Poynter.org


See all Topics internet

Cheap Certification

Bargain deal

Becoming certified can be expensive and time consuming.
Here's a way to be certified as an HTML Developer, or ASP Developer.

• Study and train for your certificates at no cost
  
• Study and train for your certificates when it is convenient
  
• Study and train for your certificates from your own computer
  
• Complete your studies in a few weeks
  
• Take your exams over the Internet

W3 Schools

Even if you don't take the test, the tutorials are free!


See all Topics internet

Plan for Your Site

Outline then do

Always a good idea. Pre-plan and then do. Too often projects are started without a plan and too often plans are made and not carried through.

"When creating a website there are several different tools and methods available, but it is important to plan the steps. This guide will help outline the important steps required for website creation and promotion. Information in this document should help readers avoid many pitfalls and save time throughout the process."

1. Inception and Planning
   
   
2. Design
   
   
3. Construction
   
   
4. Promotion

CompTechDoc.org:
Website Creation Tutorial


See all Topics internet

Update Excel on the Web

Auto Republish

You can save an Excel file as a Web page and makes it easy to update data in a worksheet that has already been saved to the Web.

Here is how to save an Excel file as a Web page and set it up it for automatic updates:

1. Click Save As Web page from the File menu. (click the Office logo in 2007+)
   
   
2. In the Save As dialog box, click the Publish button. (click Publish, Create Document Workspace in 2007+)
   
   
3. Use the drop down arrow beside Choose to select what you want to publish.
   
   
4. In the File name field, enter a file name.
   
   
5. Place a check beside Auto Republish every time this worksheet is saved. This way the data will be updated each time you make changes to the worksheet.
   
   
6. Select Open published page in Web browser to view the data in your Web browser after you click Publish.
   
   
7. Click Publish.

Lockergnome.com:
 Save Excel as Web Page

DevX.com:
 Four Ways to Use Excel on the Web

Penn State:
 Interactive Excel on the Web


See all Topics internet

Unicode is Huge

More symbols and letters

This free download lets you see and select more characters in the Unicode set. The Unicode Character Grid shows all assigned characters and private use characters in Unicode 6+.



BablePad

Here's a blog covering Scripts, Unicode, Character Encoding and BabelStone Stuff
BableStone Blog


See all Topics internet

Who dat

And Where

Let's say you wanted to set up a web site for your friend Bob, who lives in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Would you know that the root zone code was .ba and that the contact person has an office at:

Universtiy Telinformatic Centre (UTIC)
Zmaja od Bosne 8 (objekat 33)
Sarajevo 71000
Bosnia-Hercegovina

See:
International Assigned Numbers Association:
Root-Zone Whois Information

There is also a page that defines such top level domains as .COM and .NET.
Generic Top-Level Domains

BTW.
Sorry feline fanatics,

"The .cat domain is reserved for the Catalan linguistic and cultural community and is sponsored by Fundació puntCat"

See all Topics internet

Relative Font Sizes

What size are your relatives?

Relative font sizes make websites more accessible and easier to read - but they're not much help unless the person using the site can find a way to actually change text size.

Here's a simple solution for text resizing:

Power To The People: Relative Font Sizes
Article by Bojan Mihelac

Original link from Lockergnome


See all Topics internet

HTML Tutorials

How to HTML

Expression Web/FrontPage can quickly create good looking web sites. If you want more versatility and the ability to edit the underlying HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language ), look at these sites:

HTML Code Tutorial (NCSA )

And others:

FrontPage Solutions


See all Topics internet

Animated GIFs

For use on the Web or PowerPoint

• Harry the cat.com
  
  3,000+ Royalty Free Copyrighted Animated Gifs for non-commercial use
  
  
• Fg-a.com
  
  Free Gifs & Animations, also editors, guestbook's, etc.
  
  
• Gifs.net
  
  1,500 FREE Animated Gifs and many other items (gifs, jpgs, letters, buttons, backgrounds, etc.)
  
  
• Web Developer.com
  
  There are more than 300 of them from which to choose.

 

See all Topics internet

Test Your Web Site

How does your site score?

Here are a collection of tools that can be used to analyze your web site for validity.

Sorry, it doesn't check for source information reliability.

Readability Test

The readability test analyses a Web page to determine how readable it is.

CSS Analyzer

The CSS analyzer tests for basic accessibility errors such as color contrast and units of measurement.

Luminosity Contrast Ratio Analyzer (Beta)

Tests whether foreground and background colour combinations are sufficient using a new algorithm developed by Trace R&D Center.

Color Contrast Analyzer

The color contrast analyzer tests whether the contrast between the background and the foreground is sufficient.

Image Analyzer

The image analyzer tests Web pages to ensure that images have been specified properly.

Link Analyzer

The link analyzer lists all links on a page with an icon to indicate whether or not the link resolved successfully.

Juicystudio.com:
Quality Assurance


See all Topics internet

Automated Newsletter

ASP and HTML

Pre-RSS, the predominate method of communication for members of a like minded group was through an emailed newsletter.

Word actually works fine with mail merge to email, but if you want to combine the data gathering and the distribution in a neat package, take a look at this tutorial.

Step 1 : Create a simple HTML Form where users can insert their email addresses and an ASP page which will receive the Form email address from the HTML page and insert it into the database.

Step 2 : Create a simple Access database to store user's email addresses.

Step 3 : A simple admin ASP page from where you can send email messages to all the users whose email addresses are present in the database.

Step 4 : An ASP page from where the users can delete their email addresses from the database if they later choose to.

Scripts20.com:
An ASP Tutorial to create your own News Letter


See all Topics internet

Access-Excel-XML-HTML

Transfer data

XML makes data transferable between applications.
Here is a tutorial with downloadable files.

Some simple guidance of how to transfer data from Excel or Access into HTML web pages using XML data files. VBA programs can be used to export data tables from Excel or Access into simple XML files. There are several examples of using different methods to display the XML and XSL files on web pages in order to quickly share your data with others.

An introduction to Excel and XML data files

 Also:
Some nice photos and calendar layout:
Monthly calendar with photos


See all Topics internet

CSS, PHP, and all that jazz

Collections of suggestions

Under the belief that more information leads to more understanding, here is a site that may help you round the corners of web design and function. Besides CSS templates there are PHP code nibblets.

In 2003 artypapers was created by R. Marie Cox as a springboard for ideas and a working space of technical implementation -- a place to test and build an extendable collection of core classes (alliteration!) that acts as an application framework for a diverse set of projects and applications.

artypapers.com

Also:
Links and Discussion About the Best CSS Resources Available on the Web.
CSS Help Pile


See all Topics internet

30 Days Hath

One Day at a Time

Here's how to add a calendar to your web page.


Publishing Outlook Calendars on the Internet or an Intranet
(From THE definitive Outlook/Exchange site - Slipstick.com.)

Other methods:

Htmlgoodies.com
It's actually just a simple table with a couple of additions. (free)

HTMLCal
HTMLCAL is a Web calendar maker and editor that lets you maintain a group calendar for your Web site or intranet.
This software will let you maintain live calendars on your site that anyone can view or update from any Web browser. ($25)

Htmlcalendar.com
HTML Calendar Maker Pro was designed with ease of use in mind. Now you can type your events quickly and easily and they will be transformed into a customized and professional monthly calendar within seconds. Simply follow the on-screen tutorial to create your calendar and then place the finished web page on your site. It's perfect for planning for the weeks ahead or noting past historic events. ($26.50 +)

All about Calendars by:

Claus Tøndering


See all Topics internet

Scripts you can use

DHTML, Javascripts, PHP

Dynamic Drive provides original DHTML & Javascripts to enhance your web site.

There is an extensive collection as evidenced by this TOC.

• Calendars
  
  
• Date & Time
  
  
• Document Effects
  
  
• Dynamic Content
  
  
• Form Effects
  
  
• Games
  
  
• Image Effects
  
  
• Links & Tooltips
  
  
• Menus & Navigation
  
  
• Mouse and Cursor
  
  
• Scrollers
  
  
• Text Animations
  
  
• User/System Preference
  
  
• Window and Frames

From

DynamicDrive.com


See all Topics internet

Preview Resolution

Browser View

To see what your web page will look like in other browsers, go to File>Preview in Browser.




See all Topics internet

Unicode and other Characters

Why's A 65?

Underlying the intriguing prose spread across the monitor screen are numbers and more numbers.

Joel Spolsky, a New York software developer has written a combination history/tutorial about this numeric-literary liason.

He calls it:

"The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!)"

Unicode and Character sets


See all Topics internet

Clocks - Time Flies Like an Arrow

Fruit Flies Like a Banana

• Human Clock
• Official US time

Here's a collection of clock sites.
There are also links to code to add a clock to your web site.

 Internet Clocks, Counters, and Countdowns


See all Topics internet