A reader writes:
Can I place a Microsoft Word doc on my website for download? It works when I
test it on my hard drive; but doesn’t work once I FTP it to the website.
Nifty online utility for building Favicons
if your browser shows the little icons next to URLs – in which case you should see a lightbulb next to the booktalk URL right now – then you might be asking yourself how you build these favicon.ico graphics and incorporate them into your own Web site.
Unix environment for Windows?
A reader writes:
“At the end of TYU24, you mention MKS as a Windows-based shell. I checked their website as an avenue of learning Unix/Linux without resorting to dual-boots, or multiple systems (I’m a little short on space to accomidate another tower, and short on cash to build a new micro). While they do offer evaluation versions, and educational discounts, they are still a little steep on the price range. Is there another package that may
follow GPL (GNU Public License) or maybe a more cost effective package for
home use?”
Thanks, Apple, for the plug!
Here’s what Apple Computer had to say in their latest Apple Developer Connection newsletter:
“Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther” Released by O’Reilly
This compact book by Dave Taylor and Brian Jepson provides a
user-friendly tour of the Mac’s UNIX base for the uninitiated.
Readers can safely explore Terminal and familiarize themselves with
the command line, learning about the hundreds of UNIX programs that
come with the Mac.
New book: “Linux for Dummies, 5th Ed.” released
My congratulations to author and friend Dee-Ann LeBlanc for this new book, which includes Fedora Core (aka Red Hat Linux) on a DVD – the first book I have with a DVD included! My relationship to the book? I was technical editor. So you can be sure that it’s all accurate! Check it out at
Interesting JavaScript code example: finance calculator
I’ve been building a financial calculator that lets you enter a monthly payment, an interest rate level and an overall debt level, then tells you how long it’ll take to pay off the loan and how much interest you’ll end up paying. It’s fairly self-explanatory, I think, and interesting to read.
First off, here’s the JavaScript:
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
// Script written by Dave Taylor based on some math suggested by
// Bennett Haselton @ Peacefire.org. Thanks Bennett!
function centNotation(value)
{
// return the value in normalized dollars.cents notation
dollars = Math.floor(value); // chop floating point portion
cents = Math.floor((value % 1) * 100); // and chop everything else
if (cents < 10) cents = "" + cents + "0";
return(dollars + "." + cents);
}
A cautionary tale about xhtml validators
I’ve been continuing to tweak the pages at RealLifeDebt.com and have wanted to ensure that the xhtml coding was all proper and correct. So, logically, I turned to the W3C online validator, but kept hitting this one error:
Below are the results of attempting to parse this document with an SGML parser.
An experiment in xhtml and css: real-life-debt.com
Exploring some of the ideas discussed in the upcoming “Creating Cool Web Sites” book, I’ve built a new Web site worth visiting called Real Life Debt. View source while you’re there and see how it’s a nice combination of xhtml and Cascading Style Sheets. In fact, you can pop open the style sheet and see how CSS helps quickly create an attractive design.