Jason Elliot Benda's Useful Files: Web Utilities


Web Site and Internet Utilities

The old "Useful Stuff" page talked about how to create a web site on various academic servers. Of course, that was back when this page resided on one of the UIUC servers in Urbana. Now it is on an AT&T server. Here are several utilities which are useful for AT&T WorldNet subscribers (like me) for creating and working with Web pages (as well as other things on the internet account):
The above utilities combined eliminate the need for uploading files and directories with an FTP client; however, when uploading many, many files (like all of JEBHP 5), an FTP client is far more useful. As far as actual design of Web sites themselves, many resources exist to help in creating a pretty site. The pioneer is NCSA's document
A Beginner's Guide To HTML, from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Two things to note about that document: it is old, and it is copyrighted (by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois). It also does not have a list of tags. I used to use a tag list that no longer exists, but the providers of that list gave me a link to W3Schools, which is "a collection of free HTML, CSS, JavaScript, DHTML, XML, XHTML, WAP, ASP, SQL tutorials with lots of working examples and source code." (It says so. Right here.)

As long as they bring up source code, you should, too. If you see an effect on a page that you like, check the source code to see how it was done. For example, say you like the color-block calendar effect on a page from JEBHP 8 (that looks something like this:)
AWAY HOME Non-conference games are in white DuPage Valley Conference games are in color
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
26




27 28 29 30
Streamwood
Sabres
5-0 | 16-0 (5)
31 01
Hinsdale S.
Hornets
1-2
30




01 02
Wheaton N.
Falcons
6-0
03
Wheaton S.
Tigers
3-14
04
West Chicago
Wildcats
1-4
05
Wheaton N.
Falcons
1-0
06
Naperville C.
Redhawks
6-3
21





22 23
Joliet
Steelmen
0-9
24 25
IHSA Regional Quarterfinal
at Wheaton-Warr South
vs. Wheaton S. Tigers
0-1
26 27
IHSA Regional Semifinal
at Naperville North
10:00 | 12:00
So go look at the code. It looks like this:

<table align=center border=1 cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 bordercolor=darkgray align=center>
<tr valign=center align=middle>
<td bgcolor=navy>AWAY</td>
<td bgcolor=orange>HOME</td>
<td bgcolor=darkgray>Non-conference games are in <font color=white>white</font></td>
<td bgcolor=darkgray>DuPage Valley Conference games are in <font color=orange>c</font><font color=navy>o</font><font color=orange>l</font><font color=navy>o</font><font color=orange>r</font></td>
</tr></table>
<table align=center border=1 cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 bordercolor=white align=center>
<tr valign=center align=middle bgcolor=navy>
<td width=10%><font color=white>Sunday</font></td>
<td width=15%><font color=white>Monday</font></td>
<td width=15%><font color=white>Tuesday</font></td>
<td width=15%><font color=white>Wednesday</font></td>
<td width=15%><font color=white>Thursday</font></td>
<td width=15%><font color=white>Friday</font></td>
<td width=15%><font color=white>Saturday</font></td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top align=right nowrap>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>26<br><br><br><br><br></td>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>27</td>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>28</td>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>29</td>
<td bgcolor=navy><font color=white>30<br><center>Streamwood<br>Sabres<br>5-0 | 16-0 (5)</td>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>31</td>
<td bgcolor=orange><font color=white>01<br><center>Hinsdale S.<br>Hornets<br>1-2</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top align=right nowrap>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>30<br><br><br><br><br></td>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>01</td>
<td bgcolor=orange><font color=navy>02<br><center>Wheaton N.<br>Falcons<br>6-0</td>
<td bgcolor=orange><font color=navy>03<br><center>Wheaton S.<br>Tigers<br>3-14</td>
<td bgcolor=navy><font color=orange>04<br><center>West Chicago<br>Wildcats<br>1-4</td>
<td bgcolor=navy><font color=orange>05<br><center>Wheaton N.<br>Falcons<br>1-0</td>
<td bgcolor=orange><font color=navy>06<br><center>Naperville C.<br>Redhawks<br>6-3</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top align=right nowrap>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>21<br><br><br><br><br><br></td>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>22</td>
<td bgcolor=orange><font color=white>23<br><center>Joliet<br>Steelmen<br>0-9</td>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>24</td>
<td bgcolor=black>25<br><center><font color=white>IHSA Regional Quarterfinal<br>at Wheaton-Warr South<br>vs. Wheaton S. Tigers<br>0-1</td>
<td bgcolor=powderblue>26</td>
<td bgcolor=black>27<br><center><font color=white>IHSA Regional Semifinal<br>at Naperville North<br>10:00 | 12:00</td>
</tr>
</table>

So you can see that the key to changing the color of each cell in the table is the attribute bgcolor=_color_ in the table cell definition tag <td>. I actually learned that from a trip to the web site of the New York Yankees, where they use color for their April schedule. Note that I do not advocate the theft of copyrighted material; I did not (and would not) copy any scripts, animated images, or other fancy copyrighted stuff from the Yankees or anyone else. I did use the Yankees site as an example to show me how to write the code, but I then wrote my own code anyway. I have no problem with that, and I am sure that neither do the New York Yankees.


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This page last modified 09:53 05Feb01.