The WebOnCD concept concerns putting standard HTML (hypertext mark-up language) pages on a local removable disc such as a CD ROM or DVD. Simple WebOnCD publications are very easy to create. They require little previous programming experience, and no special software. Any text editor such as Notepad for Windows, KDE KWrite or Kate for GNU\/Linux or EMacs text editor will create HTML. <\/b><\/p>\n
However, care should be taken using proprietary editors such as Microsoft FrontPage because these can create non-standard, vendor-specific HTML that may not appear as desired in all web browsers. And there are many other pitfalls one needs to be aware of in order to produce a high quality product.<\/p>\n
Using WebOnCD to manage large chunks of data from a local source such as CD actually has some distinct advantages over using the internet\u2026<\/p>\n
One important use of WebOnCD is in conjunction with a large existing web site. Big files that don’t need updating very often, such as MP3 sound samples, JPEG photographs and MPEG or MPEG2 video clips can live locally on CD or DVD, along with the main HTML multimedia publication. Smaller, text-based files containing data such as prices and frequently updated statistics can live on the web site. Simply clicking a linked word or graphic in WebOnCD HTML publication automatically connects the user the website – providing the user\u2019s computer is suitably equipped of course.<\/p>\n
For example, a company could produce a catalogue at regular intervals on CD ROM featuring high resolution images sounds & video to advertise its products. In the meantime, customers could use the CD to connect to this company’s website for latest prices, special offers and to order products on-line.<\/p>\n
Naturally, working with a large volume of data requires meticulous attention to file structure – ensuring files are in the correct folders, and that links between files work correctly. However, in developing WebOnCD, it was found that multimedia publications can be completed much more quickly in HTML than using proprietary multimedia authoring tools.<\/p>\n
However, to make a WebOnCD publication appear smooth and sophisticated to the end user does require some attention to the programming methodology. And due to the limitations of HTML, a little script programming can improve the look & feel of the end product.<\/p>\n
The HTML used today in WebOnCD publications on its HTML pages is to \u201cW3C HTML 4.1 Transitional\u201d standard.<\/p>\n
This standard allows both on-page formatting and the formatting by CSS (cascading style sheets). Many WebOnCD projects use CSS extensively, and keep the CSS information in separate \u2018*.css\u2019 files. This has several advantages for the developer\u2026<\/p>\n
Thus one line of code between the tags will link a style sheet to an HTML document. This example assumes that the style sheet called \u2018main.css\u2019 is in the same folder as the HTML document\u2026<\/p>\n
The style sheet itself can control almost all aspects of a page\u2019s design. These lines of code would determine the colour of the hypertext links, the body text, the page background colour and the \u2018H1\u2019 main heading font. Note the list of fonts defined for font-family<\/span>.<\/span> This tells the user\u2019s browser to substitute another similar font if the preferred one is not available on the user\u2019s system…<\/p>\n WebOnCD projects also uses a page design technique called \u2018frames\u2019. These pages are generally written to \u201cW3C HTML 4.1 Frames\u201d standard. However, additional non-W3C-compliant code is sometimes required within the tag to make the frames appear in a similar manner in both Internet Explorer & Mozilla-family browsers, or to customise the look of frames\u2019 borders.<\/p>\n Indeed, the Frames method is not without its shortcomings. In developing WebOnCD, three problem areas were identified which were potentially very annoying for the end user\u2026<\/p>\n So some simple JavaScript scripts were developed to overcome these problems. All WebOnCD frame-tweaking scripts appear between the tags and do not prevent pages from loading if browser does not support JavaScript.<\/p>\n This is in case the user double-clicks on the child HTML page instead of the parent \u2018index.htm\u2019 page. NOTE: one has to substitute the real name of the child page in the script for ‘template.htm’. It also requires a script in the \u2018index.htm\u2019 parent frames page in order to function correctly\u2026<\/p>\n If the WebOnCD contains a lot of data then a search engine is desirable. However, this needs to be platform independent. So a method was chosen that is JavaScript based. However, to write this script manually would be time-consuming and error-prone. So instead, WebOnCD uses search script generated automatically by a piece shareware called SearchMaker Pro. Current WebOnCD variants are using scripts generated by version 3.2 of this software. The software does not need to be distributed with the WebOnCD disc \u2013 only the JavaScript code it produces. Whilst SearchMaker Pro is a Windows product, the JavaScript-based search engine it produces will run on all major computer platforms. This latest release of SearchMaker Pro also provides search capabilities for non-HTML documents such as PDF\u2019s.<\/p>\n Additionally to make project management easier, WebOnCD deploys a special feature of SearchMaker pro that enables it to produce the JavaScript separately from the HTML code needed for the search form. This enables the developer to design a highly customised search form whilst the search engine JavaScript is produced automatically by the software.<\/p>\n \u201cWebOnCD\u201d is a registered trade mark belonging to Garfield Lucas and registered with the UK Patent Office, REF2005500668. So please feel free to use the idea – but not<\/b> our trademark!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The WebOnCD concept concerns putting standard HTML (hypertext mark-up language) pages on a local removable disc such as a CD ROM or DVD. Simple WebOnCD publications are very easy to create. They require little previous programming experience, and no special software. Any text editor such as Notepad for Windows, KDE KWrite or Kate for GNU\/Linux…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nA:LINK{\r\n text-decoration: none;\r\n color: #3333FF;\r\n}\r\n\r\nA:VISITED{\r\n text-decoration: none;\r\n color: #3333FF;\r\n}\r\n\r\nA:HOVER{\r\n text-decoration: underline;\r\n color: #FF9999;\r\n}\r\n\r\nA:ACTIVE{\r\n text-decoration: none;\r\n background: #FF9999;\r\n color: #FFFFFF;\r\n}\r\n\r\nBODY{\r\n background: #FFFFFF;\r\n color: #666699;\r\n font-family : verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\r\n font-size: 12px;\r\n padding: 5px;\r\n}\r\n\r\nH1{\r\n font-size: 32px;\r\n color: #666699;\r\n font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\r\n}<\/pre>\nFrames<\/h2>\n
\n
Scripts used in ‘index.htm’ frames page<\/h2>\n
This script in the header section ensures that WebOnCD frames page is not loaded inadvertently in another frame…<\/h4>\n
<script language<\/span>=\"JavaScript<\/a>\">\r\n if (parent.frames.length > 0) {parent.location.href = self.document.location}\r\n<\/span><\/script<\/span>><\/pre>\nThis makes WebOnCD ‘index.htm’ frames page fill the user’s screen. First it moves the window to the left of the screen. Then it makes this window fill the user\u2019s screen.<\/h4>\n
<script language=\"JavaScript\">\r\n self.moveTo(0,0); self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight); \r\n<\/script><\/pre>\n
Script used in child pages<\/h2>\n
This script in the header section forces child pages to load in WebOnCD\u2019s ‘index.htm’ parent frames page.<\/h4>\n
<script<\/span> language<\/span>=\"javascript<\/a>\">\r\n<\/span> if(self.location==top.location)self.location=\"index.htm?welcome.htm\";\r\n<\/span><\/script<\/span>><\/pre>\nThis line of HTML ensures linked pages end up in the correct frame…<\/h4>\n
<\/span><base<\/span> target<\/span>=\"_self<\/a>\"><\/pre>\nScript used in contents page<\/h2>\n
This script in the header section forces WebOnCD\u2019s entire parent ‘index.htm’ frames page, including \u2018contents.htm\u2019 frame to load, not just the contents frame on its own…<\/h4>\n
<script<\/span> language<\/span>=\"javascript<\/a>\">\r\n<\/span> if(self.location==top.location)self.location=\"index.htm\"; \r\n<\/span><\/script<\/span>><\/pre>\nThis ensures linked pages land up in the main frame…<\/h4>\n
<base<\/span> target<\/span>=\"main<\/a>\"><\/pre>\nSearch Engine<\/h2>\n
References<\/h2>\n
\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.w3c.org<\/a><\/li>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.wessex.org.uk\/dental\/<\/a><\/li>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.wessex.org.uk\/cdrom<\/a><\/li>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.javascripter.net<\/a><\/li>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.searchmakerpro.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nEnd Note<\/h2>\n