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Adding news ticker / scrolling test marquee to basic web site

Discussion in 'Other PC Software' started by stelliger, 2006/01/10.

  1. 2006/01/10
    stelliger

    stelliger Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    What's the best way to add a "news ticker" to a web page? The little horizontal scrolling text...

    I am managing this simple little website and would like to add one. I'm basically familiar with web design but my tools are a bit primitive and I've done very little with java and such routines. I have Front Page 2000 included in Office 2000.

    Anyway, I imagine there are some freeware java or similar routines out there for download. I just need to know where I could find such a routine and how to insert it.

    Oh, while I'm at it I might as well ask where I might find "bulletin/discussion board" routines for basic websites and low traffic. This will come later though, after the news ticker.
     
    stelliger,
    #1
  2. 2006/01/10
    SpywareDr

    SpywareDr SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    SpywareDr,
    #2


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  4. 2006/01/10
    irdreed

    irdreed Inactive

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    stelliger, You may not be aware of it, but both items you're inquiring about are available in FP2000.
    In FP2000 go to Help>MS Front Page Help>Answer Wizard Tab: Type in your Query and several responses are available for you to select.

    HTH
     
    irdreed,
    #3
  5. 2006/01/10
    stelliger

    stelliger Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks! No - I was unaware of the marquee being in FP2000. Somehow I'd missed it.

    As for their help screens, I usually use them only as a last resort. MS Help pages are usually dreaful and full of all kinds of superfluous information while amazingly leaving out the very information you need :)

    Admiettedly, I need to learn some more of the FP features; I just have never really had the chance and never had a book that was any good or any friend who knew it well enough to ask questions.

    Anyway, I will have to search a little more for the discussion board components, I didn't find that yet.
     
    stelliger,
    #4
  6. 2006/01/11
    irdreed

    irdreed Inactive

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    stelliger,
    For more info help on "How To" for FP2000 I offer these:
    Front Page 2000 Tutorial (Download) Lot of good info so I printed mine out & put it in a binder for easy future reference.
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=299DFA4E-8BEC-4A9D-9F8A-277F43EE8EF6&displaylang=EN

    List of the Knowledge Base articles that discuss Web publishing with FrontPage 2000
    http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=301988

    Microsoft® FrontPage® 2000 At a Glance
    Excellent Book put out by MS Press (Author -Stanley L. Nelson)
    http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/2315.asp

    Create Discussion Forum in FrontPage 2000/2002/2003
    http://www.webworksite.com/discussionforum.shtml

    If you need more Info I have many more reference helps.
     
    Last edited: 2006/01/11
    irdreed,
    #5
  7. 2006/01/20
    stelliger

    stelliger Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks. Sometimes those tutorials are quite pains but I will check it out and hope it's better than most. Often, there's no way to really REFERENCE your specific question and learn "how to" do a certain thing. Rather, they want to hold your hand and walk you through, at length, doing things from sqaure one. It takes you hours to get to the one little iota of information you really NEED.


    I still have two questions:

    1. I created a "form" in FP2000. It was setup fine but when I loaded the page to the web, trying to submit it yeilds "page not found ". How to I upload the various component features (from scripts to other) without having to create a "FrontPage WEB" from scratch? I have a single page. I want to add components. How?

    2. I still haven't seen anything about "dicsussion boards" in FP2000. Even if it has one, I know there are fewware discussion board utlities out there. How do I implement one?
     
    stelliger,
    #6
  8. 2006/01/20
    stelliger

    stelliger Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Update about the forms

    OK... I made a "web" in FP2000 out of the pages I'd created manually.

    I saved the form again and uploaded everything, directories and all, up to the site. Well, I had to remove the option to EMAIL results to myself (server extensions and all) which is fine, I can simply have these things in a text file.

    The problem? I have no text file being created where it's supposed to be. I see a little "error on page" when I try submitting the form on the site.

    So what does it take?

    Over time I will read the tutorial but after browing thru it I didn't see the answer to this question. It just goes on and on about creating webs from start. I have a basic and specific question I need to address before learning all the filler info.

    Thanks!
     
    stelliger,
    #7
  9. 2006/01/21
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    free scripts:
    http://dynamicdrive.com/

    web forms:
    a form must be submitted to an application on the server, such as an email script, a database, or the form must utilize the server's nuilt in functionality such as creating files, images or other documents. A web form requires at least 2 separate things, the form itself and the form handler. The form handler is the application, script or program that resides on the server. A form can also utilize the viewer's client program, such as an email form that automatically opens the viewer's email program.

    discussion boards:
    thesre are simply programs that reside on the server, usually a set of scripts in a certain language like php, perl, etc., and they are accessed via the browser and modified using forms. A discussion board also requires a database on the server, such as mysql. The web form submits the info to the database via a script. example:

    on the page used to post a reply in a thread at windowsbbs, the form is submitting the info to a script called newreply.php. <form action= "newreply.php "...>

    newreply.php takes the data from the form fields, connects to the mysql database, inserts the info into the db, queries the db to get the whole thread data, and displays the thread with the updated info (your reply).

    It is also possible to have a small discussion board or guestbook that stores the form input in a flatfile (text file) instead of a db, but this type of application is inefficient and limited in features. As the flat file grows in size, the time it takes for the server to disply the results increases proportionately.
     
    TonyT,
    #8
  10. 2006/01/21
    stelliger

    stelliger Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    << a form must be submitted to an application on the server, such as an email script, a database, or the form must utilize the server's nuilt in functionality such as creating files, images or other documents. A web form requires at least 2 separate things, the form itself and the form handler. The form handler is the application, script or program that resides on the server. >>

    Thanks. The concept of the TWO elements is easy enough to understand in theory. I pretty much presumed something similar was the case. HOWEVER - this doesn't really help me with HOW it's done.

    For instance, when I create the form in FP, why are these elements not added? If it's a script which must be run, why is the script not PART of the page? I presume any script being run is via the server?

    This is the one black hole with my web page knowledge. Understanding HTML is easy. But I've never really learned scripts or how FP deals with them.
     
    stelliger,
    #9
  11. 2006/01/21
    irdreed

    irdreed Inactive

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    stelliger,
    Is it a possibility that your ISP does not have FrontPage Server Extensions?
    I believe this is a requirement since FP can create the scripts that handles the forms automatically.

    I believe I had in a previous Post (see Post #5 above) I had mentioned the Excellent Book put out by MS Press (Author -Stanley L. Nelson). See Section 9 page 153 for further explanation.
     
    irdreed,
    #10
  12. 2006/01/22
    stelliger

    stelliger Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    It's possible. But understanding how this works, just on a basic level, would be nice. Anyway, I don't know why the web host would HAVE to have FP extensions to make a script work. Can't a script work by itself? Or is FP simply a proprietary piece of software where it depends on servers having FP extensions to do most basic functions?

    I created the form in FP. If my web host has FP extensions, how do I access them? And if not, how do I do a form anyway? This is the basic question I am really trying to get at throughout this entire thread.


    Yes, and I appreciate the suggestion of the book. Maybe someday I'll get it. But for now I can't look up "section 9 page 153 ". Right now I'm not trying to get everything answered, just some basic concepts about how to use scripts with FP.

    I downloaded the FP Tutorial but after looking through it for 30 minutes I still didn't find the answer I'm looking for. At some point I will work my way through it but for now I wish I could just get a simple answer :)

    Thanks!
     
    stelliger,
    #11
  13. 2006/01/22
    irdreed

    irdreed Inactive

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    stelliger
    That's the whole concept of these tasks we try to do.......work thru them. It's wonderful when you succeed.:D

    It only took me two years or so to figure out some of FP's tasks and I also had some formal training, and in spite of all this I'm still learning.

    I didn't write the FP Program so I cannot answer that. All I do know is the Instructions do state the ISP has to have FP extensions to accept scripts.

    That's why I got all the Books I could find on the FP....to find out how to make it work. I also went on line and searched for tutorials , FAQ's, and FP Forums, then printed out all the gathered information. I guess I don't know any other way.

    Anyway Good luck on your quest for FP. I'm Gone.

    BTW Thanks TonyT.
     
    Last edited: 2006/01/22
    irdreed,
    #12
  14. 2006/01/22
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    FP is a proprietary software, not all hosts have FP extensions installed. FP extensions are in fact a minority service overall. Most hosts that have scripting support are supporting perl, php, asp, jsp,etc.

    FP is meant to be an 'out of the box' solution if using a FP enabled host. But one can do far more w/ for example php, but php requires that one manually code the scripts & pages, or at least use the copy+paste scripts.

    To use a form with any scripting language, be it FP extensions, php, perl, one needs a basic understanding of html forms and how they do what they do. It works like this:

    1. a form is used to collect user input.
    2. the form data is submitted using either <form method= "post "> or <form method= "get ">.
    2.a. GET sends the data as part of the URL. The amount of data that can be sent with a URL is limited. GET is good for short forms.
    2.b. POST is the preferred method for sending lengthy form data, user does not see the form data that was sent.
    3. the submitted form info is then stored in the server's memory and can be used for whatever comes next in a script or program.
    4. examples of "next" are:
    - data formatted and sent in an email message
    - data used in a shopping cart-purchasing system
    - data sent to a database, stored there & freed from server's memory.
    - displayed in a web page such as a guestbook, etc.

    The form can be in one document and submit the form data to a separate script or program, or the form can be included in the script itself when using a scripting language that is capable of having html content displayed in a browser.

    The entire process can be split into many separate scripts, each doing something with the data posted into the server's memory, or the entire process can occur completely using 1 script that does it all. As long as the form data remains in the server's memory it can be used for something by the software installed on the server, such as FP extensions, php, perl, etc.

    If the form data is stored in a database, that info can be used at anytime later on by retrieving it using a form & a script coded to access the db and place the desired info into server memory, which can then be processed as in #4 above.

    Javascript can be used in forms too. But javascript is installed on the client's computer and it uses the form data when it is in the client computer's memory. examples are:
    - validating user input (empty fields, typos, etc.)
    - dynamically use the data somewhere else on the page

    Form fields have NAME & VALUE attributes. <input type= "text" name= "age" value=" ">. The value=" " is called a variable. The variable is what is submitted & stored in memory, and then used in some next thing as in #4 above. To get the variable stored in the server memory, the script must have a function in that does just that, such as the function POST.

    Each scripting language has its own functions to do specific things, they are sometimes similar from language to language. The variable is usually put into server memory by using the name attribute along with the value attribute. php exaple:
    $age = $_POST['age'];

    The script can now DO SOMETHING with the variable $age. ($age = the number the user typed in the form) The script could contain code to produce this effect:
    (note, this is not real php code in this rude example)
    IF $age > 60 PRINT "you are an old fart! "
    IF $age > 90 PRINT "you should be dead already! "

    A form all by itself can do nothing. The data entered into a form must be used by some other program or script.

    btw, the software installed on your computer works in much the same manner. The software contains code that enables you to open, create & modify a document or file. When doing this, the object (doc or file) is placed into memory and stored there until you save the doc or file to disk, afterwhich the memory should be freed up IF the software contains code to free up the memory it was using. A web form with no script associated with it is much like this:
    open a Notepad window.
    don't type anything.
    that's all there is!
     
    Last edited: 2006/01/22
    TonyT,
    #13
  15. 2006/01/24
    stelliger

    stelliger Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Irdeed: Thanks for your input. I appreciate whatever help I can get :)

    TonyT: Thank you very much for all the info! It helps. I guess I'm still trying to absorb just HOW FP talks to scripts and the FP Extensions on the server. It should be a basic concept but when I try reading I find PROCEDURES and HOW TO more than I find WHAT is happening. I've done just enough programming to know how some of the data moves, in theory, but I've never done any java nor much work with FP


    I actually found out there ARE fp extensions on the web host and I installed them. However for whatever reason, I get an error, still, when the form is submitted ( "cannot run the front page server extensions on this page "). Sigh. Anyone have an idea why this happens?


    P.S. Funny thing about the tutorials... I never mean to put them down even though it might seem like it. I find I'm a very good geometric / spacial learner but I **** at linear processes (mostly because my brain spends more time looking for the concepts than listening to the process). It's analagous to directions versus destination and maps. With most computer books, it's like reading directions without being told WHERE you're going LOL In other words, having to read "turn here, turn there, turn on this freeway, get off at this road" in order to figure out what city you actually want to go to but never being told the city, only the sequence of turns hahahaha
     
    stelliger,
    #14
  16. 2006/01/24
    irdreed

    irdreed Inactive

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    stelliger,
    It seems to me that this is what is usually refered to as the "Learning Curve ".

    When I first got instructed on a Main Frame System, it was given to us in Kibbles and Bits, literally. When we got to really "Chomp" on the machine we were able to figure out how "IT" worked. BUT.....the System and how it all worked together with all the other peripherals, that was another deal. Eventually one came to the conclusion that this Dual Processor Behemoth was really dumb. it only did things with ones and zeros.....when we told it, but oh so fast. Macros, Scripts, and Canned Messages, Programs, etc. eventually we tied it all together, but it took a few years.
    This was the learning curve...Learn by doing.

    I think we all have to go thru this on anything we encounter, in any field of endeavor.
     
    irdreed,
    #15
  17. 2006/01/24
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    TonyT,
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