Code Tips :

How do I stop the adverts my host puts on my site?

Here's a list of sites that may be able to help you, some haven't been updated for a while though.

If you use any of the codes provided remember that your host may well disable your site or delete your account altogether.

Best Scripts

Cexx

Cexx Boards

Gameconn

A lot has been written about web design and standards. My own opinion is it's your site so you can make it look how you like. Be sure to make the pages navigable though and keep clear of site designs like Webtek Systems - no-one's site should look like this.

Writing the pages on your own computer means that you can test them before uploading them to the server. If you make the layout of the site the same on your computer as it is on the server there is less chance of files being uploaded to the wrong place.

To get the files from your computer you'll need a FTP program. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is a program and a method to transfer files from one computer to another. I use SmartFTP but there are loads of others available. Some hosts don't let you use FTP directly but make you use a FTP uploader. These are fine, but usually limited in some way.

Reusing code on multiple pages

Suppose you want to want a piece of text or an image to appear on a page multiple times or even on multiple pages. There are a couple of ways you can accomplish this. You could always use the same code over and over but even cutting and pasting that would be duplicating the effort. A much simpler way would be to use JavaScript.

Write the code that you want repeated in a plain text editor such as Notepad. Here's an example ...

<p align="center"><img src="unionjack.gif" alt="Union Jack" align="middle" width="200" height="100"></p>
<p align="center">The British and American flags</p>
<p align="center"><img src="usflag.gif" alt="Old Glory" align="middle" width="200" height="100"></p>

Use the JavaScript document.write syntax to encase the text ...

document.write('<p align="center"><img src="unionjack.gif" alt="Union Jack" align="middle" width="200" height="100"> </p>');
document.write('<p align="center">The British and American flags</p>');
document.write('<p align="center"><img src="usflag.gif" alt="Old Glory" align="middle" width="200" height="100"> </p>');

In case you have trouble seeing it, the syntax is ...

document.write('Whatever you want here');

Save the text file with a .js extension, in this example I'll call it flags.js

Where you want the code to appear on your page(s) simply put a reference to it, like this ...

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="flags.js"></script>

In this example, the following result is achieved ...

If you need to change the code, then rather than change the code on all the different pages then you simply edit the .js file.

If you want an image to appear on multiple pages, but may want to change the image at some time in the future then place the image code on each of the pages but use a generic name such as logo.gif. If you want to change the image, just upload a new image with that name. However, if the image needs to be resized then you'll have to edit the code wherever it appears.

One prime candidate for using JS files like this is for menus. As you add more pages to your site it's far easier to have the menu's in one reusable file rather than have a copy of the menu on each page. There are several ways of using the menu, depending on how you want your page to display. The following examples use files named jsmenu1.js and jsmenu2.js

The following code uses jsmenu1.js and shows a menu suitable for adding to a page, even in a table cell that runs down the page.

The following code uses jsmenu2.js and shows a menu suitable for adding to a page, even in a table that runs across a page.

If you've Common Gateway Interface (CGI) access then you've many choices about which language to use. A lot of hosts don't allow CGI access because of security concerns but if they do you should be able to write CGI scripts in whatever language you like. See http://www.jayeckles.com/cgi/language.html for an article on what to use.

Perl is pretty commonly used and uses a simple PRINT command to get text into HTML pages. See http://www.pageresource.com/cgirec/ptut2.htm for how to write a simple Perl script. Using CGI should be better than JavaScript, because depending on the language it should be faster than JavaScript. It is also faster because the processing is done on the server so only the finished HTML pages are served. With JavaScript both the HTML and .JS files have to be downloaded to the client, the processing speed (negligible in simple cases) depends on the client computer and JS has to be enabled on the client machine. JS is however slightly simpler to implement and test.

Using server or client side code aren't the only methods. You can use frames or iframes to display one or more HTML pages inside another. Personally, I don't like frames, badly coded frames mean that ...

1) You cannot go directly to a bookmark on a page by typing the full URL in the browser address bar.

2) Every page shows the same URL, the one that you entered the site on.

3) Because of 2) the browsers back and forward navigation buttons no longer work properly.

4) Because of 2) the browsers refresh button does not work properly

5) External links often open inside a site's frame structure.

Far better are iframes. These address the problems caused by frames and I find them very much better.

Here's the code to produce the iframe ...

<p align="center"><iframe name="I1" src="imenu.htm" width="90%" height="10%">
Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames.</iframe>

The menu displayed in the iframe is a simple HTML page named imenu.htm This is a normal HTML page. To make the links open in the main browser window then write the link in the form

<a href="web1.htm" target="_parent"> or <a href="web1.htm" target="_top">

If you don't include target="_parent" or target="_top" the page that you link to will open inside the iframe - something that is probably not a good idea. If you're really masochistic then click on the link "Don't click here!" in the iframe below. You can get back to normal by clicking on the browser back button.