Babble v1 158

babble-digest Saturday, January 24 1998 Volume 01 : Number 158

In this issue:
possible java?
RE: list FAQ
Re: java script question/height&width of pop window
Re: targeting frames
Re: targeting frames
Size matters
Questionnaires
No subject was specified.
digitizing video
Mac-PC graphics woes

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Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 13:47:35 -0600 (CST)
From: "Heidiho:)" <hlhaas@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu>
Subject: possible java?

Hey all got a prob.. is there any way to detect (using javascript or
whatever) if a browser has a set backgroudn color instead of usign the
default and document overwrite? I use a background
image for my map with transparent images with a rollover... been having a
few people complain that they are missing half the page... so any help
would be much appreciated! :)
Heidi
(the page i'm talking bout is here: http://www.crs.ilstu.edu/)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived" - something to always remember!!
homepage : http://www.ilstu.edu/~hlhaas (go here to get to the others!)
********************************************************************************
Heidi L. Haas | e-mail addresses:
Industrial Technology | hlhaas@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu
Illinois State University | HAAS_HL@indtech.it.ilstu.edu
heidiho@geocities.com

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Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 14:46:53 -0600
From: "Chris Kaminski" <ckaminski@genoabusforms.com>
Subject: RE: list FAQ

>My feeling is that there are enough resources that cover the basic issues
>that, as long as the FAQ can point people to them in appropriate places,
>it doesn't need to rehash all that material.

Great idea. The links themselves would be a terrific resource,
particularly to stumblebums like me who's knowledge tends to be fairly deep
in one spot and almost nonexistent in a related area.

Chris Kaminski
Intranet Developer
Genoa Business Forms, Inc.
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Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 15:43:36 -0600
From: Jonathan Magee <spirollel@thegatlinggroup.com>
Subject: Re: java script question/height&width of pop window

in my experience with Javascript pop-up windows, the minimum
dimension in Navigator is 100 pixels. You will most probably
have to modify your design to accomodate this because i
haven't yet found a way around it.

eternally,
jonathan magee

- --
[ http://www.thegatlinggroup.com/~spiro ]
.< <<spirollel[graphic]

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Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 00:22:35 +0000
From: "colin robertson" <c.z.robertson@mail.ndirect.co.uk>
Subject: Re: targeting frames

> I have had a few responses about the targeting of specific pages,
> whilst still being held within their original framesets...
>
> everyone has resigned to telling me that I need to build a frameset
> identical to the original but specific to that page!!
>
> Is this really true..?

If I understand what you mean (I can't find your original post) it
might be possible with javascript by putting something like this in
the frameset file:

frame1.location.href=
location.search.substring(1,location.search.length)

where "frame1" is the name of the frame you want the specific page
in, and then calling the frameset like so:

frameset.html?specific_page.html

There are, however, problems and possible problems with this. The
most obvious is that for the last 30 minutes or so I've been trying
to work out where in the frameset this code should be placed. Before
the <frameset>...</frameset> it complains that frame1 doesn't exist,
and, if I put it after, the code doesn't run at all. (Is there an
onLoad event or something that I should be using?) Also, since I
haven't got it to work, I don't know whether there are any other
problems. And it's now Saturday morning so, despite not actually
solving the problem, I'm going to give up and hope that someone else
can work out whether I was on the right track or not.

colin

PS. There are possibly three occasions where I have successfully
used javascript, so don't make the mistake of trusting me on this.

__________________ c.z.robertson@ndirect.co.uk ___________________
rational: http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~s.robertson/
arthur kitching: http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~s.robertson/kitching/

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 19:52:59 -0500
From: Porter Glendinning <pglendinning@cen.com>
Subject: Re: targeting frames

To do it this way you should write a function to change the content of the
frame and put it in the HEAD. You then can call that function from an
onLoad event handler in the FRAMESET tag.

NOTE: Be aware that the search property of the location object
(location.search) isn't defined in IE3 (not sure about 4), but you can get
the same effect by parsing the location string for '?' and taking
everything after it.

ALSO NOTE: IE3(4?) and NN3+ support the location object differently. In
NN3+ you access the href property of the location object (location.href) to
get the string value of the location. In IE3 location.href isn't defined,
but you can get the location string by accessing "location" directly.

To see a demo of this type of parsing check out the source of this page:
http://www.serve.com/apg/babble/singleFrameset/frames.html

The full demo is at:
http://www.serve.com/apg/babble/singleFrameset/

- - Porter

At 12:22 AM 1/24/98 +0000, you wrote:
[snip]
>frame1.location.href=
>location.search.substring(1,location.search.length)
>
>where "frame1" is the name of the frame you want the specific page
>in, and then calling the frameset like so:
>
>frameset.html?specific_page.html
>
>There are, however, problems and possible problems with this. The
>most obvious is that for the last 30 minutes or so I've been trying
>to work out where in the frameset this code should be placed. Before
>the <frameset>...</frameset> it complains that frame1 doesn't exist,
>and, if I put it after, the code doesn't run at all. (Is there an
>onLoad event or something that I should be using?) Also, since I
>haven't got it to work, I don't know whether there are any other
>problems. And it's now Saturday morning so, despite not actually
>solving the problem, I'm going to give up and hope that someone else
>can work out whether I was on the right track or not.
[snip]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 17:12:11 -0800
From: "KatGrl" <KatGrl@goplay.com>
Subject: Size matters

What are the guidelines for warning audiences of image sizes?
For instance, if a link takes you to a 2KB .gif, there's no
need to announce that, but if the image is 4MB, you should.
What is the cut-off?

I work primarily with intranets where users have direct access,
so size isn't an issue. But I'm wondering for designing outside.

- ------------------------------------------------------
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------------------------------

Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 10:16:24 +0800
From: Gary Sweeting <gary@neuronet.com.my>
Subject: Questionnaires

Time to pick the minds of the collective :)

In Malaysia, we are generally able to produce sites & complete projects on
time due to a combination of patience and sheer hard work - however, with
the general malaise in the economy it has been decided that we need to
become a little more efficient. The proposed panacea? well, a questionnaire
for starters.

The plan is that by sitting down with clients and pretty much forcing them
to fill out a questionnaire, we shall be able to get a better idea of what
the clients want and save a lot of time - since at present weeks are wasted
on prototyping and amendments during production. It will also help the
suits get the black and white earlier.

Now, I have heared much of D.Siegal's book on Project Management (which
elicited an array of opinions) but I have two questions really:

(1) Are there any resorces that may have questions that would ease the
process, so that we would be able to walk away with a clearer picture.
Failing that, have any of you babblers come up with your own questionnaires
that you may or may not have given to clients but have in your head as a
list of things you must know before you can even start the prototyping.

(2) Is this the way to go? I appreciate this has a bunch of limitations
(but the hope is that by going through the questions with the client we can
educate them at the same time.)

Thanks in advance,

Gary.

- -----------------------------------------------------
http://www.tanjungrhu.com.my - "Heaven on Earth"
- -----------------------------------------------------
Enterprise Solutions
WebMaster & Information Architect :)
- -----------------------------------------------------
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------------------------------

Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 18:50:17 +1000
From: Caleb Fuller <email@calebfuller.com>
Subject: No subject was specified.

Subject: Now that there is a color chart board...is there a...
...I was wondering if there is a giant board I can put in my office
that has the uniform JavaScript code that is the same in IE and NS...

Better yet, a site creation package providing a customizable javacript
application template - plug together javascript modules that can be combined
to make a web application viewable on any fourth generation browser...

THAT would be the first page creation software I'd buy,
Caleb Fuller
analog creation | for the digital world
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------------------------------

Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 19:20:32 +1000
From: Caleb Fuller <email@calebfuller.com>
Subject: digitizing video

>But is there an
>economically priced tool that will capture (and edit) clips, sounds and
>still pictures from both a camcorder and a VCR (as well as CD ROMs)?

A Mac...sorry, not in any way the start of a platform war, it's just that I've
been doing exactly that for the past two days on my Mac...standard out of the
box hardware.

Caleb Fuller
analog creation | for the digital world
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------------------------------

Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 19:48:40 +1000
From: Caleb Fuller <email@calebfuller.com>
Subject: Mac-PC graphics woes

>Any body have any tips on how to maintain color integrity of graphics across
>platforms?
>A coworker is creating graphics in Photoshop, on a MAC, to be used w/in a
>customized application. Problem is the application is to run on Windows
platform. >He's tried a number of different things but the colors turn screwy
when he runs
>the app. on a PC. He finally just created the graphics in Photoshop on a PC.
>But was this really necessary?

My graphics have looked as good as they'll ever be on any PC I've viewed them on.
If the PC is running in 16 or 24 bit color mode, you simply should not have
this problem, so I am assuming it is running in 8 bit (256 color) mode. My
guess is that the colors are being mapped to the Mac system palette... If they
need to go 256 colors the best thing is to map them to an adaptive or exact
palette. It is also possible to map to a Windows system palette. If your
version of Photoshop doesn't provide this feature, try something like
GraphicConverter from Lemke Software, which will convert anything to anything
and can alter palettes and colors and stuff with ease. Also having an image
dithered generally gives better results when palettes may shift a little. Non
dithered palette reduction can result in large blocks of one color, and if
this shifts it can really throw the image. The effect would be even worse if
the Windows machines are running only 16 colors...in that case you'd need to
map the graphics EXACTLY to the Windows 16 color palette. I can provide RGB
values for this if necessary.
If this doesn't help, provide some more info, as I'm only guessing at the
moment. What format are the graphics in? What color modes are being used? What
is being used to view them? Does the viewer provide niceties such as dithering
and palette adaption?

Hoping this helps,
Caleb Fuller
analog creations | digital media
email@calebfuller.com
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End of babble-digest V1 #158
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