Webmaster forum - Can I change this without using Dreamweaver?

Author

Can I change this without using Dreamweaver?

paramindsoftware@gmail.com

2007-03-28, 4:18 am

I'm taking out some side menu elements on:

http://www.ghostnets.com/

She wants two elements taken out, cities and oceans will come out.
Its image map stuff.
I code more simple html by hand not sure if I can do this without some
kind of program
because the coordinates look too odd. When I take things out, it
doesn't seem to line
up.

--
Robert Pearson
ParaMind Brainstorming Software http://www.paramind.net
Creative Virtue Press/Telical Books/Regenerative Music
http://www.rspearson.com

John Hosking

2007-03-28, 7:19 pm

paramindsoftware@XXXXXXXXXX wrote:
> I'm taking out some side menu elements on:
>
> http://www.ghostnets.com/
>
> She wants two elements taken out, cities and oceans will come out.
> Its image map stuff.
> I code more simple html by hand not sure if I can do this without some kind of program because the coordinates look too odd. When I take things out, it doesn't seem to line up.

It's not so much that one needs Dreamweaver, but one has to have a
better understanding of the code than you apparently do (not a criticism
or slam, Robert; I can't fix it right now either).

The main problem (as I see it) is that the page isn't designed to be
worked on (like automobiles which are designed for assembly, not for
maintenance). The navbar on the left is a table, not a list, of images,
not texts, and all of the images are interdependent. Also, the images
are not of uniform size.

Fundamentally (short of a complete redesign) I would remove the table
row containing the Cities & Oceans stuff:
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><a href="cities.html" target="None"
onmouseout="MM_swapImgRestore();"
onmouseover="MM_swapImage('index_new_r3_c1','','images/index_new_r3_c1_f2.jpg',1);"><img
name="index_new_r3_c1" src="images/index_new_r3_c1.jpg" width="246"
height="132" border="0" id="index_new_r3_c1" alt="Cities & Oceans of If"
/></a></td>
<td><img src="images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="132" border="0"
alt="" /></td>
</tr>

And insert a new row (start with the Cities row you just deleted, then
clean it up) at the bottom of the table. There ought to be an (empty,
non-clickable, non-swapping) image of the water where Virtual Concerts
is now.

The area coordinates would need to be adjusted (shifted, mostly) to make
the links work.

Note that the images are of various heights, so the table won't be
filled exactly unless you calculate the total height of the images
actually used. this will affect your coordinate re-jiggering.

All of the images from Cities (well new, Bio) on down would have to be
redone (twice for the rollovers) so they match the adjacent water.

But the nav images are messed up already, anyway. So maybe there's more
work than you're ready to do personally? Maybe you need to ask a more
experienced person (esp. if they'll let you look over their shoulder).

It's not Dreamweaver itself, it's the code the designer let Dreamweaver
produce.

> --
> Robert Pearson

Just a small tip (about usenet, not site design): add a trailing space
to the sig separator before your name, so it's dashdashspacereturn. This
lets newsreaders hide or otherwise style the sig separately from the
message text (Thunderbird makes it gray), and when I reply, your sig is
automatically trimmed. Thanks!

Good luck with the site.
--
John

Andy Dingley

2007-03-28, 7:19 pm

On 28 Mar, 05:21, "paramindsoftw...@XXXXXXXXXX"
<paramindsoftw...@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote:

> She wants two elements taken out, cities and oceans will come out.
> Its image map stuff.

Redesign the page and ditch the ghastly, ghostly imagemap crap. Use
standards-based and SIMPLE HTML markup instead. Apart from working
better, it's trivial to maintain it.

It's possible to minimally modify this page and preserve the old way
of working. However, as you've seen, it's horribly inflexible to
support afterwards. That's enough reason to do a big redesign.

Otherwise find some reason to not change things at all. Re-write the
copy to fit the old menu structure.

The little lost angel

2007-03-28, 7:19 pm

On 27 Mar 2007 21:21:03 -0700, "paramindsoftware@XXXXXXXXXX"
<paramindsoftware@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote:

>I'm taking out some side menu elements on:
>
>http://www.ghostnets.com/
>
>She wants two elements taken out, cities and oceans will come out.
>Its image map stuff.
>I code more simple html by hand not sure if I can do this without some
>kind of program
>because the coordinates look too odd. When I take things out, it
>doesn't seem to line
>up.

This is a pretty classic case of somebody taking a print design and
transplanting it wholesale into a webpage. Done without consideration
for the differences between the two medium, you get what you have now,
a major PITA to update/change things.

If you're getting paid to do this, like others have suggested, then
redo the whole code instead of trying to force fit the changes. This
will make life easier for you in the future.

Incidentally, the rollovers does not work properly, the wrong images
are used, at least in Firefox.

--
A Lost Angel, fallen from heaven
Lost in dreams, Lost in aspirations,
Lost to the world, Lost to myself