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Rather than continuing to mix the web design articles and reviews in with the problem solving articles, I have now split these out into their own topic page.

Web Design

Using JavaScript with drop down lists is not the most obvious of interactions to code. In this article we look at the JavaScript code needed to copy the entry selected from the drop down list into an adjacent input text field. It would of course be just as easy to use the value retrieved from the drop down for whatever other purpose you require.

Copying from a Drop Down List

I have spent the last week or so setting up a new web site. The new site is basically a forum with the same categories listed on it as I cover on the main site and here in the blog. If you can’t find the answer you are looking for anywhere else on my sites then you can ask your question in the forum.

New Forum Launch

When coding your C or C++ program (or any related language for that matter) you will need to specify that the files that you read and/or write be opened either in text mode or in binary mode. In this article we examine what the difference actually is between these two modes.

The Difference Between Binary and Text Files

The old DOS operating system used a file system called FAT (file allocation table) which came in fat12, fat16 and fat32 variants. Windows NT introduced a new file system called NTFS (new technology file system) and that’s the preferred file system for the newer versions of that operating system such as Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Vista. These systems still support FAT though for backwards compatibility and in some instances someone configures the system to actually use FAT rather than the better HTFS. All is not lost though as you can actually convert your drive from one file system to the other as this article describes.

Converting to NTFS

Some web hosts who allow you to have multiple domains on one account treat one differently from the rest. Your “main” domain uses the top level of the account while all the add-on domains go in folders. This arrangement makes sense for the many who only have one domain on their account since it saves them going dowen an extra level every time they want to access their domain content. For those with multiple domains a few lines of extra code in your .htaccess file (assuming you are on Apache) will move the main domain into a folder just like the add-on domains.

,p>Redirecting a Domain into a Folder

Modern browsers support SVG but Internet Explorer doesn’t. IE however has its own alternative way of creating colour gradients. By combining both we can create colour gradients that can be resized as needed and which don’t require conventional images.

Gradient Backgrounds Without Images

Not a new web page but a brand new version of my advanced form2mail script is now available. The new version adds the ability to wrap error messages inside of your regular page header and footer so that it still looks like it is a part of your site. It also provides for a blacklist array to be entered that will disallow any email addresses that contain any of the strings in the array from appearing in any email address that is specified for either the destemail or replyemail fields. For example I have placed @aol into the blacklist array which prevents any AOL addresses being used to send me emails (and hence should reduce the chances of bugus spam reports).

Form2Mail Script Version 4.0

p.s. I have now switched to a different ISP who assures me that they will actually examine any emails reported as spam before taking any action rather than shutting down internet access every time they receive a bogus report. I am still not prepared to receive emails through the forms on my site from AOL though so as to reduce the possibility of their sending out more bogus spam reports about my emails.