Navigation List: Giving user option of where to open pix?

[(Pete Cresswell)]

I'm pretty sure I already know the answer ("No!")....but here goes anyhow.

I have a plain old HTML screen that offers up two panels: lefthand panel a slim
list of pictures (thumbnail + filename), and a large righthand panel that
displays the full-sized pic of the thumbnail clicked on.

Can I add a checkbox or something on the parent/root screen so that the user can
elect to have each full-sized pic opened in a new window if they so desire? If
so, that would imply some kind of "IF/THEN/ELSE" capability plus the ability to
reference a field on the parent screen by the HTMO on a panel within that
screen...both of which I am, of course, totally innocent of at this time...

 

[rf]

(Pete Cresswell)" wrote

I'm pretty sure I already know the answer ("No!")....but here goes anyhow.

It's not no but it may not be what you'd expect

I have a plain old HTML screen that offers up two panels: lefthand panel a slim
list of pictures (thumbnail + filename), and a large righthand panel that
displays the full-sized pic of the thumbnail clicked on.

Can I add a checkbox or something on the parent/root screen so that the user can
elect to have each full-sized pic opened in a new window if they so desire? If
so, that would imply some kind of "IF/THEN/ELSE" capability plus the ability to
reference a field on the parent screen by the HTMO on a panel within that
screen...both of which I am, of course, totally innocent of at this

time...

You can, if you have access to server side scripting. You would create a
session cookie to record the choice and then the server side script would
build an appropriate page with target="_blank" in the links.

If you do not have acces to server side scripting then you could build two
versions of the site, one that behaves normally and one that opens in a new
window. Your root page then directs the viewer to one of the two versions.

If you are using frames (is that what you mean by "panels"?) (IMHO you
should not be using frames anyway) then a little bit of javascript could be
used to remember the choice in the thumbnail frame. Then, you would need to
replace the normal links with javascript (hopefully javascript that falls
back gracefully if javascript is not available) to either open the image in
the other frame or a new window. A simple arrangement.

However, are you Really Sure that your viewer wants the images to open in a
new window?

The easier alternative is:
<p>To view these images in a new window hold down the shift key (IE) or the
Ctrl key (Mozilla) or ... while clicking on the link (or whatever works with
your browser)</p>

 

[Karl Core]

I'm pretty sure I already know the answer ("No!")....but here goes anyhow.

I have a plain old HTML screen that offers up two panels: lefthand panel a
slim
list of pictures (thumbnail + filename), and a large righthand panel that
displays the full-sized pic of the thumbnail clicked on.

Can I add a checkbox or something on the parent/root screen so that the
user can
elect to have each full-sized pic opened in a new window if they so
desire? If
so, that would imply some kind of "IF/THEN/ELSE" capability plus the
ability to
reference a field on the parent screen by the HTMO on a panel within that
screen...both of which I am, of course, totally innocent of at this
time...

Is it possible? Sure.
Naturally, since you're wanting to use checkboxes, you'd set up the script
for the form to create an array that carried the values of the image names.
Then, create a loop so that for each image name in the array, open window.

But, if you think that your users want you to vomit a bunch of new windows
on the screen, you're out of your mind. Users don't even like ONE window.
Putting even three new windows on their screen is sure to piss people off.

-Karl

 

[(Pete Cresswell)]

RE/

(IMHO you
should not be using frames anyway)

A couple of posts have mentioned this. Compatibility?

 

[rf]

RE/

A couple of posts have mentioned this. Compatibility?

Google for "frames are evil", both web and groups.

 

[brucie]

In alt.html rf said:

Google for "frames are evil", both web and groups.

or:

http://david.us-lot.org/www/frames/
http://html-faq.com/htmlframes/?framesareevil
http://www.karlcore.com/articles/article.php?id=2
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/l_vajzovic/tom/web/frames.html

 

[(Pete Cresswell)]

RE/

The easier alternative is:
<p>To view these images in a new window hold down the shift key (IE) or the
Ctrl key (Mozilla) or ... while clicking on the link (or whatever works with
your browser)</p>

The idea here was not that most users would want separate windows - just that
some might have a big screen and want to see a few pix side-by-side.

I like that idea of just telling the users how to do it themselves......KISS and
all that. And Shift seems to work with both Mozilla and IE. Also, it's on a
picture-by-picture basis and a little bit of new windows goes a long way - as
Richard observes.




As far as "access to the server side" goes, I'm not sure. This is a CD of
photographs, so I don't know what constitutes the server. If it means updating
something on the CD, of course, that's out of the question.