Step 3

...now browsing by tag

Step 3.2 – Website Software Cont.

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

Step 3.2 – Website Software Cont.

When you are working in html code (or almost any other kind of computer code, for that matter), there is a never-ending list of so-called “snippets” that you can place on your page to do various repetitive chores without having to “re-invent the wheel” each time. Most html editors allow you to store the snippets on the editor so you can find them easily. These are really little pieces of code, or large sections, like for a complicated advertisement that you want to put in a number of places on your website. Here are a few examples; you can search the Internet for others or write them yourself – after all, if it works, use it! Please note that snippets that work in html sites may not work or not work correctly in xml and php websites (and blogs) and vice versa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Product:

“Special font large, coloured, bold, italics, underlined”

Snippet (for this WordPress blog):

<br /> <h2><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></p> <p><span style="color: #00ff00;">Special font large, coloured,</span></p> <p>bold, italics, underlined</p> <p></span></em></h2> <p>

Special font large, coloured,

bold, italics, underlined

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Product:

“Image frame on left side of text”

Here is the snippet:

<br /> <table align="left" border="0" width="130"> <tr align="left"> <td align="left"> < "there is a long piece of code here that comes<br /> from the supplier of the advertisement - in this case Amazon"> </td> </tr> </table> <p>

What you see on the page is:

texttexttexttext texttexttexttexttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext. texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext. texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext. texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext. texttexttexttexttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext texttexttexttexttext. texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext texttexttexttext

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you get into visual items on your website (and who doesn’t), you will want a decent graphic editor or photo editor – I use MS Photoeditor for most things because it’s integrated with all my MS products and it’s a no-brainer for most chores. Other people like other products – and that’s fine, too. I have a little piece of software that can record a text and also put it over music (go to http://www.jimmycraigaffiliatepage.com/_index.htm and listen to the introduction) that I can pass on – the almost-free version only has about 20 music clips, but if you just record the music on your microphone (that’s what I did there) you can use anything as background! The paid version (yes, Virginia … ) allows you to put your own music clips on as background via the software. Anyway, the software is called “Impact Web Audio” and it’s easy to use. Send me an email at jimmy@craigspage.info and I will send you instructions on how to pay the $5.00 charge by credit card or PayPal (the charge is required by my license) and I will send it to you by email. All you need is a microphone and some way to listen to the playback (speakers, headphones, whatever).

It’s also easy to embed video in a website these days – find what you want to show at YouTube and company, and they will show you the embedding code (it looks like this, more or less:

MWSnap015 2010 08 14, 22 32 28 Step 3.2 Website Software Cont.

And the results come out like this:

Now, why do you imbed the video instead of actually putting it in your website? The answer is “space and time”; “space” because we’re talking about some megabytes that the video requires for storage, and “time” because it would take longer for your website to download to your viewer than the video does, and your viewers can watch the video while it’s loading, but that’s mosty not the case with your website. The inevitable result? they leave! Solution? Store the big stuff somewhere else – like YouTube and others who have the space and super-fast servers to download the material faster than most Internet connections can take it. This is also true with large pictures, if you want to use them. Some programmers go so far as to have their large graphics (and we’re talking 2+MB here) stored on a separate hosting service that specialises in fast downloading of large files. Your website would then call out the graphic from the other server, just as though as it were on your own server, and the viewer never sees the difference, except that it’s faster.

Stay tuned for Step 4 – it’s about all the critical items that need to be resolved before you turn your record-setting website loose on the unsuspecting Internet audience. smiley emoticons biggrin Step 3.2 Website Software Cont.