[web tips]

Web site tips

The following items are web-page tips that you can use in your web pages. Most are "cut/paste" for easy installation. Others are simple techniques to do various things. My efforts here may help you.

If you find any of these tips useful and want to repay me for my efforts, then provide a link from your site to mine and that will be payment enough. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Also remember that I do this for a living. If you see anything here that you want on your site, I'm available for hire. My rate is $100 per hour, but I usually work on a "per project" basis and most of the below would fall within a single hour charge.

I'm always in the process of adding to this page, so please check back often.

  • A great NEW horizontal drop-down menu

    If you want a NEW Great Horizontal Drop-Down Menu that is very simple to install, use and works in ALL IE's (6+), here's the ticket. This is the same menu as below but I fixed one small problem and made it much simpler to install and alter. The css file used in this menu is very well documented as to what you should (and what you should not) alter to get it to work as you want it. This is a much simpler technique than the old way. I had to learn something from all those post, right?

  • A great horizontal drop-down menu

    This menu works, but I recommend the one above for most people. I'm keeping this one online because of the number of post and the information that it provides. If you want a great horizontal drop-down menu that's simple to use AND will still work with IE (6+), then this is the answer. I have had thank-you's from hundreds of sites who use this menu and it works great.

  • A great vertical pop-out menu

    If you want a great vertical pop-out menu that's simple to use AND will work with IE's, then this is the answer. This menu works great.

  • The wonderful world of includes

    The most important technique I found in doing web development over the last 15 years has been knowing how to use the "include()" statement. If you can grasp how to use php-includes, then it will simplify your coding considerably.

  • Want rounded corners?

    Okay, out of all the round corners out there, I actually developed my own unique style. You can see an example here and all the code and css is there for you to enjoy and use.

  • A simple style-sheet switcher

    Okay, what is a style switch and why do I need one? A style switch is simply a script that will change the "style" of your site from one css script to another. If you don't know what a css script is, then don't bother. But, if you want to provide the user with a way to change language, or color, or size of something on your web page, then this is a slick way to do it.

  • A multiple style-sheet switcher

    Same as above, but allows for more variation..

  • Smart navigation

    Smart navigation -- what's that? One of the things that brother me in a web site is where you can navigate to a certain page and the navigation menu will permit you to click that page again causing an unnecessary reload of the page. Why would anyone want to reload that page again? If you want a refresh, then use the browser's refresh button. This will provide you the code to stop that.

  • Date and time examples

    Dates are useful in web pages. Automatic dates are even better and this is an introduction into how you can use dates in your web site.

  • How to use variables in CSS

    If you don't know css, then pass on this. However, if you do, then this is a way for you to use and organize your css like any other programming language. You can create variables for things that should be common throughout and assign values for them at one location. This great for colors. For example, you present one set of colors and then the client wants a different set. Using this technique, it's simple to change all the colors throughout all your css at a single location.

  • A cool Demo of CSS Image Replacement

    Of all the Image replacement techniques I've seen, this has to be the most striking. This is both an example of what can be done and is coupled with ajax for pagination.

  • Demo of text and image zoom.

    As the population grows older (you included) people's eyesight often require them to make web text larger by using their Browser's zoom. In other words, they increase the size of the text in their browser and if you haven't paid attention to that, then the layout your site may break. So considering how zoom levels may affect your web site makes sense. This gives you an example of how to make images also zoom in accordance with zoom levels. If nothing else, it can make your site look good at more than one zoom level.

  • Javascript Detection and Progressive Enhancement

    Quite often people want to add Javascript routines to their web site but don't consider what happens if the user doesn't have javascript turned on. In many cases, the user is confronted with a web site that either doesn't work or they are prohibited from viewing certain portions of it. Neither situation is good. This demo shows how you can detect if javascript is turned on and what to do if it's turned off.