|
|
|
Supreme Being
Group: Administrators
Last Login: Today @ 11:26:39 AM
Posts: 1,953,
Visits: 16,290
|
|
I just wanted to jump in and a post a little note for clarification and suggestions.
Tickers and offsite graphics CAN slow down a page from loading. When you put in an offsite graphic a user's browser not only needs to open the main page, it also needs to open graphics from the external site. A user's connection to the M-TEC site might be fine, but they could have a bad connection to the external graphics server (or the external server might be busy or slow for them). That type of a situation would slow down the loading of the M-TEC page.
As I mentioned before turning off all pictures isn't going to be feasible for users who want to post and take part in the discussions, since the Add Topic and Add Reply buttons are graphic in nature. However, if you use Firefox there is a setting that will allow you to turn off images that don't originate from the current site. To get there just go Tools | Options | Web Features. Put a check in "Load Images" and also put a check in "for the originating web site only."
Of course, not everyone is going to want to use Firefox on the forums because a lot of the other page elements, like the clickable smilies, don't work when posting.
Another thing to remember is that this message forum is the first place a lot of people get a real feel for the school. The webmaster can only control what happens on our site. We have no control over the slowness or bandwidth issues of other sites. An error message or slowness from an external graphics site would appear to a typical user to be a problem with our site and that may reflect badly on the school itself.
As an example of how this happens I'll relate an issue we had at MTChat.com a few months ago. Someone had linked an avatar to an AOL page. The avatar was set by the AOL page to download to the user's hard drive. For most users this wasn't a problem. One user didn't have their firewall configured correctly and thought that MTChat.com was trying to gain unauthorized access to their computer. In another instance, the site hosting an external graphic ran out of bandwidth for the month. So any time a visitor tried to view a post from that user they got an error message the server was out of bandwidth. Of course, they thought the error was coming from MTChat.com's servers not the server hosting the graphic.
This is getting too long so I'm going to post the rest of what I have to say in another post. Stay tuned. 
Mike DeTuri
M-TEC Technology Instructor
http://www.deturi.com
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Being
Group: Administrators
Last Login: Today @ 11:26:39 AM
Posts: 1,953,
Visits: 16,290
|
|
In the other topic, someone mentioned how tickers were a great personal motivator. That got me wondering if there was a way people could get their motivation without having to use a lot of external graphics links in posts. The solution I came up with is to make a personal home page that you can keep on your own computer. Then whenever you start browsing the Internet your personal home page will display.
The easiest way to do this is to download and install a free HTML editor. Nvu is free and very good. Here's a link:
http://nvu.com/download.html
Download the Windows version and open the EXE file to install it.
Once it is installed open it and you'll see a confusing and cryptic interface.  Make sure the HTML Source tab at the bottom is the one out in front. Highlight and delete everything you see there. Now paste in the HTML from the Ticker Factory site. Make sure it's there by clicking the Preview tab.
If you want to add anything else to your page you can add formatted text and links to sites and pictures from the Normal tab. Add the links and pictures by positioning the cursor where you want them to show up and then click the Link or Image button at the top of the screen.
When you are done save the file to a location on your hard drive. Now go to that location and double click the file you just saved. You can set this the home page in your browser by following one set of the directions below.
For IE users:
1. Open the Tools menu then Internet Options.
2. Click the Use Current button.
For Firefox users:
1. Open the Tools menu then Options.
2. Click the Use Current Pages button.
With this method you can have inspirational messages, pictures of family and friends, your favorite sites, and a ton of other stuff all at your fingertips whenever you get on the Internet.
The best thing of all is you just learned how to make your own web page.
If you have any questions on either of these two posts please write me.
Mike DeTuri
M-TEC Technology Instructor
http://www.deturi.com
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Being
Group: M-TEC Graduate
Last Login: 7/12/2010 5:26:09 PM
Posts: 407,
Visits: 221
|
|
Mike, thanks so much for the clarification and explanation on the tickers and for the info for making a webpage to keep my ticker on. I will definitely follow your instructions and get this taken care of so I can take my ticker out of my signature and then put my aviatar back up! Is there a place to put up personal webpages that might be better than others? I think yahoo has free webpage space and I know GeoCities does... do you have any suggestions on this part of it?
_______________Debbie Kean, AHDI-F Military Spouse Liaison Past President, OA-AHDI2006 Postgraduate of the Year, OA-AHDISemper Fi
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Being
Group: M-TEC Graduate
Last Login: 7/22/2006 11:14:41 PM
Posts: 601,
Visits: 1,324
|
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Being
Group: M-TEC Graduate
Last Login: 9/12/2005 2:58:59 PM
Posts: 85,
Visits: 3
|
|
Hi Mike,
You said: "However, if you use Firefox there is a setting that will allow you to turn off images that don't originate from the current site. To get there just go Tools | Options | Web Features. Put a check in "Load Images" and also put a check in "for the originating web site only."
AHAA! This did the trick! Pages are loading much better. Thanks!
LindaB
"A woman is like a tea bag--you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water."
--Eleanor Roosevelt
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Being
Group: M-TEC Graduate
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 3:37:40 PM
Posts: 1,908,
Visits: 890
|
|
Thanks for the reminder Mike that this is here.....bringing it back into sight again. See if you just hit post since my last visit then these stickys do not show up.... Prudence
Prudence, MLS, MT, ISC, SE
Mistakes are rare, but dead is dead!
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Being
Group: M-TEC Graduate
Last Login: 10/15/2007 10:09:21 AM
Posts: 294,
Visits: 1,103
|
|
I have to tell you that when I decided to put in a ticker, I accidentally typed "tickLER" into my search......you can just imagine the stuff that came up in my search.
 If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.--Henry David Thoreau Making a Decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body--Elizabeth Stone, Author
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Being
Group: Administrators
Last Login: Today @ 11:26:39 AM
Posts: 1,953,
Visits: 16,290
|
|
I forgot to mention in my post above that the best place to test tickers, signatures, and avatars is in the Avatar Test Zone in the General Discussions forum. We clean the test posts out of that topic periodically so it's the best spot. 
I'm going to delete the ticker tests from this topic.
Mike DeTuri
M-TEC Technology Instructor
http://www.deturi.com
|
|
|
|