Question:
Dear Dr. Website:
I have a page with a drop down list of about 55 items. The problem is that intemittently the page will display without the list showing. I think this must be a memory issue since it happens only on older machines, but not consistently; and when you display the page source you can see the HTML for the list. Is there something I can do to make the list take less memory? Or tell if there is not enough so I can shorten the list or display text boxes?
Answer:
Remember that the idea of the web is to let the user control the experience. Add to that the fact that there are a multitude of different types of computers out there, and that you have no control over how much memory each of them has, and no way to tell how much memory they are using to control the web page. That means you need to create your page with the average user in mind. If this is only happening with older computers (although you didn't mention specifically what type of computer you're talking about--100Mhz, 333Mhz, 600Mhz, what is considered "old" these days), I wouldn't worry about it as much, since the majority of your users should be able to view the page. As a test, I would try to view the page from several different types of computer. Perhaps your friends, family, relatives, etc. can check it out for you and let you know if they encounter the same problem? Thanks,
Thanks
--Dr.Website
Question:
Dear Dr. Website:
About a week ago I submitted a request for help printing pages from a
website in a different format from the view on screen.
I've subsequently solved the problem, and have included the workings here...
Thanks for the service anyway!
Answer:
Each section is /$section/index.html with header, advert, and footer server
side includes.
The printed version should be plain, whereas the screen version should be nicely laid out.
Apache is set up to server-side parse html files, and treat index.html as an index file.
The print style is applied whenever "?print" is added to the url.
eg /news/?print will display the print view of the page.
See the example at www.worldwidepcrentals.com
///// from /news/index.html
<!-- if in print mode -->
<!--#if expr="$QUERY_STRING = 'print'" -->
<!--#include virtual="/print.html" -->
<style
type="text/css">@import url( /printstyle.css );
</style>
<!--#else -->
<!--#include virtual="/header.html" -->
<style type="text/css">@import url( /style.css );
</style>
<!--#endif -->
/////// from header.html
<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
function printurl(sURL){
printwindow=window.open(sURL,"newwin","scrollbars=no,
toolbar=no,directories=no,menubar=no,resizable=no,
status=no,width=5,height=5"); setTimeout ("printwindow.print()",1000);
setTimeout ("printwindow.close()",2000);
}
document.write('<a
HREF="javascript:window.printurl(\'\\?print\');"');
document.write('onMouseOver=" window.status=');
document.write("'Print This Page'; return true ");
document.write('"onMouseOut=" window.status=');
document.write("' '; return true ");
document.write('">Print this page</a>');
-->
</script>
Thanks,
--Dr.Website
Question:
Dear Dr. Website:
We have an FTP site that requires users to provide a user ID and a password. We don't require an account number. However, some of our users have also been asked for an account number. Why are thy being asked for an account number when we don't normally require one. Could this account number be on their side of the connection and not ours.
I would appreciate your help with this matter.
Answer:
The information that is requested from users when they visit an FTP site is dependent on the FTP server itself, as well as the server it resides on. An FTP server usually asks for a login and a password, and not an account number. I'm not aware of any server issues that would request an account number either, btw, but you may want to contact your host to see if it's something on their end. Additionally, I don't know of anything on the user's end that would ask for an account number...it's most likely on your end. Thanks,
Thanks
--Dr.Website
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
