OK, by now you've learned
a little HTML, you've found some nice webart, you've built and posted a
nice page. You have a counter on your site and maybe a guestbook
. . . but still something is missing. All that cool stuff that you
see on other people's pages . . . mouseover images, pop-up windows, silly
little toys . . . you want that stuff on your site, too, don't you?
Not a problem, we can do
that! It doesn't have to be difficult, but you will have to
actually deal with the code in your pages. You only need the most
basic understanding of it, tho, so don't be afraid. We are only going
to be cutting and pasting, not writing code.
Fortunately for us, people
who actually do understand code write scripts and make them available to
the rest of us. Just like the web artists are generous with their
work, coders can be equally accommodating. And just as you should
never swipe web art without permission, you should never swipe code.
Whatever conditions are required should be met. There is usually
a line in the code itself that identifies the coder who wrote it.
Sometimes that's all the credit they want. Sometimes a link back
is required.
The code that I am mainly
talking about is Java Script. Not to be confused with Java, which
is a whole differant animal. Java Script is very cool, because it's
really just like fancy html. There is no Java download time, no classes
or any other confusing and scary stuff. Java Script is a very simple,
very cool way to add a little pizzaz to your pages.
Often, where you find Java
Script, you will also find Java, along with CGI and maybe DHTML.
DHTML is potentially very cool, but the cross-browser problem makes it
not worth my while at this time. You may feel differantly.
CGI is pretty useless on the free servers because the server must run part
of the script and most wont. Those that do will only run thier own
scripts, none from the outside. This is a security issue. Accept
it.
As for Java, I stand before
you and freely declare "I don't do Java". Any Java Applets on my
site are really just linked (with proper credit). If you want to
do it, go for it. There are tutorials available from the Java Script
sites.
Many of these sites have
a method for you to easily grab the code, either a button you press to
display the code or or a file to download or something, but some don't.
Sometimes you have to copy the code from the source. There are usually
instructions on how to do this, but here is a brief explanation.
In the first place, you
should have Wordpad (or something to edit code) open. When you've
found some code that you want to use (and that is available for use, do
not steal code)
Click on the View menu of your browser (either Netscape or IE)
Choose 'Document Source' in Navigator; Choose 'Source' in IE
Use your cursor to highlight everything from <script> to </script>
tags, including the tags. Notice if this is in the <head> or in
the <body> because that's where it will need to be in your document.
Copy it all to the clipboard: Ctrl+C
Paste it into your document: Ctrl+V, and make yourself a note as to where
this script belongs, head or body. Some scripts (like the mouseover)
have a part in the head and a part in the body, make sure you get it all.
When you've copied and
pasted all of the script into a blank document, save the document as something
you will recognize later.
Now, you can copy and paste
from this document into your webpages.
Of course, any images that
are referred to in the code will have to be replaced with your own images,
unless the images come with the code. In this case you may
have to download each image separately.
You might be tempted to
use the 'open in Composer (or Front Page Express) and save the whole mess'
method, and this might actually work sometimes. But, in general,
it's best to keep the WYSIWYG editors away from Java Script.
Anyway, here are the sites
Everytime
I go to JavaScript Planet I get
distracted for hours! It's got a great setup that lets you see the
scripts in action and allows you to easily copy the scripts. Just
Excellent.
Bodo's
Lair is a cool site with Java Scripts and Java Applets. It was
one of the first Java Script sites I discovered and I keep going back.
It's where my Checkers game came from!
Website
Abstraction is one of the best. Lots of info, great scripts,
and tutorials, Website Abstraction
has it all.
Java
Script Made Easy! is another of my long time favorites, and another
site to plan to spend a long time exploring! This site is updated
pretty regularly.
The Groan Zone is one of those good-for-what-ails-you
sites. They have web art, Java Script, Cool Menuz (mouseover scripts
and the artwork to use it, all together in a usable page) and much much
more. You just can't go wrong at the Groan Zone.
Want to build your own
mouseovers? Check out the Mighty
Mouseover Machine the coolest of Builder.com's
Cool Tools.
