Alerts

New Version of Email Script

I first wrote my form2mail script several years ago and it underwent many changes over the next few years. It hasn't seen any changes for about a year now but the wait for updates has passed. Version 4.0 of the Advanced form2mail script is now available with new features allowing you to format the page that displays the error messages as well as the opportunity to blacklist email addresses from being able to use any of your email forms should you need to (as I have done for AOL given that they send out bogus spam reports).

Colour Scheme Changes

I have updated the colour scheme for the site once again. The blue background behind the content has been made lighter once again (hopefully making the content easier to read). I have also changed the colour down the borders to one that is not quite so bright. Finally I have fixed the background image behind the header to correct the gradient.

Back Online

I have had my internet access back now for about a week after being without it for several weeks due to a lightning strike. I am slowly catching up with all the things that I have fallen behind with. Apologies to anyone who is still waiting for a response but I will get caught up eventually.

Lightning Strike

A bolt of lightning on the last Friday of October killed my internet connection ( and lots of other electrical items). I am still waiting for the insurance to sort it out. Meanwhile I am borrowing an internet connection to perform minimal updates and read emails. Apologies to anyone whose award submission or question has not yet been answered.

Email Backlog

If you have emailed me in the last three weeks and have not yet received a reply, it doesn't mean that I have ignored your email. I just have so much going on at the moment that I have fallen behind in answering emails.

New Alert Box

As I now have a new blog at felgall.net I have decided to reuse the old one I had built into this site to display important alert notices on the home page.

eBooks on HTML

My Word - August 2007 :

Finding web sites that actually offer electronic books that attempt to teach anything to do with HTML appears to be rather difficult. There are plenty of web sites around that provide information on HTML and how to use it but very few that offer the information in a format specifically designed to be printed out as a book.

In those instances where eBooks dealing with HTML are available (at least in so far as those that I have been able to find are concerned) the eBooks deal only with how to do specific things with HTML which are mostly related to marketing electronic products online. In addition the eBooks appear to have been written by people who themselves do not understand HTML properly and so these eBooks are mostly filled with information that is many years out of date if it was ever valid information in the first place.

continue reading

Password to where?

In looking around the internet to see what is available in some areas I frequently sign up for free membership of selected member only sites. Some of these sites confirm your email address by emailing you the password to use to get access. The problem is that some of these emails neglect to provide a link to the site that the password is for which tends to make the password rather useless. Something to think about if you ever set up a members area on a web site and intend emailing the password - include a link to your site in the email as well so people know where to use the password - otherwise the email is just junk.

Menu Changes

I have replaced the menu bar at the bottom of the header block so as to make the menu more accessible. Instead of displaying a link to the sitemap when JavaScript is disabled the menu bar now always displays the same main categories in all browsers (except Netscape 4). For all popular browsers except for IE6 the menu should still operate with JavaScript turned off. Clicking on the menu headings will bring up a list of all of the menu entries except for those that require JavaScript. The menu bar will remain visible with JavaScript enabled but will scroll with the page if it is disabled.

New Classroom Course

I have added a new College to the places that I teach at as well as offering an extended version of the "My First Web Site" course. The Bankstown Community College is offering my course there over eight weeks instead of the six weeks that I run it for at Macarthur. The extra two sessions allow even more time for getting your site set up properly with my assistance.

In the Classroom

If you live in Sydney then you might be interested in attending one of my computer classes. The information on classes that I am running in term two is now listed.

Members Area

While there are still a few things to be finished off and lots more ebooks and software to add - the Member's Area is now ready for you to join.

New Members Area

Just uploaded and still in development is my new Member's Area where you will be able to download ebooks and software related to web design, development, and marketing. As it isn't finished yet I am giving two months free access into part of the paid area of the site.

Script Forum

I have now added a selection of forums to the site where you can make requests for new pages that you would like to see added to the site as well as forums for discussing the various PHP scripts I have written.

Special Offer

For a limited time only I am able to offer a special bonus to purchasers of my Paypal IPN Script. The recently launched web site www.elistsecrets.com is currently charging $97 for a basic membership to their site which offers resources to help you build a mailing list of potential customers. This one off fee is expected to increase as more material is added to the site. You don't have to worry about the price though because I am giving the membership as my thankyou gift to purchasers of the PaypalIPN script.

Problem Sending Newsletter

The most noticable problem relating to my having changed web hosts earlier this month was a problem that I had with sending out the monthly newsletter. My apologies to anyone who ended up receiving multiple copies of the newsletter.

Email Script Updated

The latest update to my form to mail script includes the addition of an optional field that must be filled in with a specific value. The harder you make it for the spambots to work out what to put in that field the less spam you will get but the less convenient it will be for your legitimate visitors. You can use anything from fixed text displayed elsewhere on your page through to a CAPTCHA image system. I have even included simple image code that you can use if you decide you want to use an image and don't want to create your own.

Category Split

The HTML and CSS category was starting to get so big that I decided to split it into two. There are now separate cetegories for HTML and stylesheets. Much of the info still overlaps though so you may want to look in both places when searching for answers.

New Hosting

You hopefully wont notice anything different but I have now moved the site onto new hosting where I have much more bandwidth available to satisfy the growing number of visitors as well as greater access to server side features that will allow for future enhancements.

Site Search - New Version

I have just uploaded the new improved version of my site search script. The new version adds two extra optional search fields and also completely reworks the results page to allow you to customize the appearance of the page however you like.