Bordered Box

I like that box border with the dots. How do you do that?

With inline style. The DIV tag.

Copy and paste (or type) this code in your blog or HTML page.

<div style="width:200px;text-align:left;
padding:5px;background-color:yellow;
border:1px dotted black;font-size:12px;">

YOUR TEXT GOES HERE

</div>

We like using style because it's free. No graphics to load.

So, let's play with some colors using color names like we did with YELLOW.

Replace the YELLOW with any named color from the color chart.

Oh, here's a nice color - LAWNGREEN.
Uh, my lawn is not that color. Is yours? More FAQs...

Dotcrazy

In the aftermath of the dotcrazy world we are all left wondering where will the Internet go? Well, we aren't too worried. It's the big guys who crashed and burned. We are here for fun!

Corrections

GrinningIdiot was kind enough to send us this correction

In your July blog post you have a minor typo in the last paragraph, "When an individual logs on we check their group and then present sreens based ... ", unless, of course, it may be that I'm not up to date on the latest jargon and sreens are the latest interfaces utilized by the non-tech employees who never manage to "c" what they are supposed to.

Blogathon

Don't forget the Blogathon! Last years Blogathon raised over $20,000 for 77 different charities. This Blogathon should raise substantially more, especially with popular bloggers like Grinning Idiot. If you do decide to sponsor a participant you might want to consider sponsoring Grinning Idiot.

way to go Grinning Idiot

And, thanks for the white-out. Sponsor is spelled correctly on this one, right? Ah, you'll let us know.

Do a Google

We did a google and found the

Top 10 Gaining Queries

Week Ending July 15, 2002
1. bill porter
2. loveparade
3. big brother 3
4. isla perejil
5. red hot chili peppers
6. rod steiger
7. devdas
8. northern snakehead
9. pfizer
10. bruce springsteen

And for June 2002, the Top 10 Gaining Queries were

1. world cup
2. fifa
3. coupe du monde
4. wimbledon
5. wm 2002
6. neverwinter nights
7. big brother
8. mundial 2002
9. american idol
10. the who

Oh, I'm so glad everyone wants to know about the Who. Love 'em.

Don't even try to read or make sense of the following. It's a quick attempt to use a number of words someone kindly provided to us.

You don't even need to know what kazaa means, and if you want screensavers, games, realplayer, movies, music, or other furn and downloads you need to learn how to look. When you look for a driver you will want to also put PC or Nascar in the search. For music realplayer, morpheus, and others are popular tools. And, it is simply amazing how many of us want the lyrics to our favorite song. Games like grand theft auto 3 are fun to buy for friends. Or tickets to see spiderman, but we heard it sucked. We don't have cheats here but I think some of our hits on gator are for the playstation game, and not the pop-up gator. Nah, when you use a search engine, even as sophisticated as yahoo, it still expects you to know how to narrow your search. Maps are easier to find; jokes, poems, and more. But, how to we find only the best? We were looking for spiderman and your results are dependent upon finding it under that exact spelling, not "spider-man" with the dash. And, you want to look up how to spell a word in the dictionary? Gee, we haven't found the easy way yet. There's a ludacris amount of freeware, so much that we are overwhelmed. So, we go find a new desktop theme and set our font to pink. Pink is so "this week", hey we should add that as one of our quotes. The trip to Florida is next week and the weather forecast is for rain. We'll sit and take pictures of rain. Gee, from there we can't even do our music downloads. Should be take the CD burner with us on vacation? Oh, we all need new jobs.

What do you do?

Software specialist or senior programmer analyst or whatever hat we wear today. 113 emails in the in-basket. Rebooting the test PC and preparing to speed kill and respond to emails. Let's see if the email has any new jargon we can throw around today.

so you want my job, eh?

Oh, how funny. The email has my new position statement...let's see if my boss knows what I do

Under general direction of the SSS III , Network Systems Group, Telecommunications Division, provides a variety of customized software based on internal and external customer needs and ensure that software is produced in a timely manner and results in customer satisfaction.

Substantial skill in programming in multiple languages on multiple platforms...more and then

Ability to program in MVS, VM/CMS, and Windows environments.

Hey, I don't do VM/CMS anymore. Stop it. This is 2002, not 1995. Oh no, they cheated and used the position statement I wrote years ago. I snuck "ability to maintain a sense of humor" in the task requirements just to see if anyone ever reads them and there it is and so I will. LOL! Read what Webmonkey says about DNS
IP Address is still the most searched for term at Webopedia.
Is it online or on-line? We think it is online while it isn't exactly incorrect to spell it on-line if used as and adjective or an adverb. Internet spelling for dummies anyone?

Personas

The Persona technique is a new term for an old concept. When we design applications we interview people who will eventually use the software to solve some specific problem. We then group them and include each group's needs in the design process, knowing that their needs are not all the same.

new jargon, old concept

When an individual logs on we check their group and then present screens based on how their "group" uses the system. The User Interface experts have recently named this old group concept Personas. It's a nice word. Sounds more intense and cutting-edge than grouping. We'll use it along with "goal-directed design".

cutting edge is no longer cutting edge

What do you on that computer?

Annie wants to know what I do on the computer all the time. She's on the Mandarin site right now and I'm showing her how she appears in sites around the world. Our sweet Annie.

Pumpkin posing

Annie and I waited and watched the hummingbirds, bluejays, finches, cowbirds, and others at the feeder this morning, waiting to see if Pumpkin would visit today. Oops, there he is...click click

pumpkin posing...

Yes, the pretty birds get more attention.

back to work tomorrow...

Free Criminal Records?

Yes, unlike all of those junk mails it looks like this one is free. US Residents check out Criminal Records. You can look view federal inmate histories, most states databases, specific jails by county, and more. Sex Offender Registries are also online. A free resource that might keep you from hiring the wrong person.



Gary Turner is an interesting blog.

Cheap Web Tricks

The Shadow Filter

The shadow filter looks a lot like the glow filter. And, it's just as easy to code.

Here's the code if you want to copy and paste it (or type it) into your blog.

<TABLE STYLE="filter:shadow(color=lightblue)">
<TR><TD>
<big>The shadow filter looks a lot like the glow filter. 
And, it's just as easy to code.
</big> 
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>

Site Stats?

BostonBluEyes

it's the little things

It's the little things that count. Guess that's why people do like to count visitors. We don't usually do any stats or look at who visits. Mostly in fear that nobody knocks at our door.

that count

But for grins we added a counter and we clicked on one of the hits that came from BostonBlueEyes. And there we read

"Thanks to Meg (her site is on my blog) for the glow filter and how to create bordered text. She has a really cool blog."

Now, wasn't that nice? The fellows name is Colin, it says, and he has quite a few good links. Thanks Colin. I hope you stumble across our site again, read this, and know how much that little kindness helps us to keep on truckin'. Your site is great! Thanks for the link.

For a fun trip visit the blog of Gary Turner. As you know, I have no sense of humor. Still the site made me laugh. Not sure what that means.

Greatest Fear Revealed

It's a sick day today, working from home, and am not very inspired to write. But yesterday, in the emergency room was a book. A simple little book peeking out from under a stack of papers.

Surgery for DUMMIES

I suddenly felt well enough to go home.

Error Message

I just got this error message

You have entered a command that has defrosted your refrigerator

That must have been written by a very old programmer. Aren't refrigerators all frost free?

Looking for Weblogs to read?

You can find recently changed weblogs at Weblogs.com How do they know when you update? Well, we are doing it the low-tech way. We use the Ping Site Form they provide.

so many bloggers, so much time

check referrers today

Let's try blogchalking

This is my blogchalk: Michelle lives in United States/California/Sacramento and speaks English. Spends 60% of daytime online. Works in the IT world and uses various connection speeds. She is a programmer, not a magician
Last years Blogathon participants raised over $20,000 for 77 different charities. This Blogathon should raise substantially more. If you do decide to sponser a participant you might want to consider sponsoring Grinning Idiot.

way to go Grinning Idiot

You send your pledge directly to the charity they selected Doctors Without Borders. Go for it!

way to go Grinning Idiot

We are going to steal Grinning Idiot's idea (that's mostly what we do, steal ideas) and participate next year. Hey, they let you select the charity of your choice. Then Grinning Idiot will have to post to his blog every 30 minutes for the 24 hour event.

way to go Grinning Idiot

But next year watch out. We are typing fools and would love to have a charitable excuse to sit and type and talk about mindless things for hours and hours. Good luck Grinning Idiot!

How did they do that?

This image from CNN.COM is only 4K. How did they do that? We have the right tool, Adobe Photoshop, but obviously haven't learned the tricks. Guess that is why we need the graphics experts.

so you want my job, eh?

Whoa, the inbox at the day job is 110 unread. This is the filtered in-box, no spam. In the other in-basket we'll find too many do deal with.

The hats we wear

We wear the hat of a programmer analyst, Internet Web developer, software specialist, and more. Many who plan careers in IT don't have a full understanding of exactly what they will be doing. This is just one job

he's back...

Your so vain, I bet you think this blog is about you Don't you? Everyone treats you like the high and mighty, bow, and wait for another diagram that you so carefully. I've heard the brightest say "he's light years ahead of us".

disillusioned

Well, lately your questions are trivial and calling the data incorrect because you are trying to use it in a way that it was not intended to be used is disappointing. You are welcome to use the data, it was written to IBM's specs for a large project several years ago. It met their needs. Now we are digging up bones. When one begins to use one-time extract data written to load a database it's different than looking at live database tables. Yes, you need to understand the data and know what to discard for your personal use. We both need a vacation.

check referrers today Ping Site Form for Weblogs.com. Click when you update.

Have you been banned from Tag-Board, yet?

We are starting a top-ten list of anyone who claims to have been banned from the Tag-Board. Tag us to let us know and we will add you and a link to your site!

Free link here!

We have a grandmother, a priest, and a rocker so far. Stay tuned! We should have 10 by tomorrow.

Free link here!

If you have any idea why you were banned include that too. We know that most of you don't have a clue why they do it. Hitting the wrong key or saying goodnight? Or not answering the dominators. It's a mystery. LOL

Free link here!

What is Tag-Board?

It's the board you see on this site to the right. It's free. The insults and banning are free too. For the unsuspecting it can be an "ouch". If you were banned it is not likely due to anything that you did "wrong". It's a place for kids and run by kids who misunderstand intentions and language barriers sometimes. So, don't feel bad. You get a free link here!

Free link here!

Popularity

Wow, we just learned about Alexa last night and the results are very interesting. You can add an Alexa toolbar or link to automagically see the statistics on the site you are viewing. Very interesting results. Sneak a peek of Mandarin Design on Alexa

Punching the Page

Need images?

We updated the Mandarin Gallery today. Any photo or image in the Gallery may be used without our permission. No link required.

The Glow Filter

You don't need images for this effect, just a STYLE tag in your blog or HTML page.

This is the glow filter.

Here's the code if you want to copy and paste it (or type it) into your blog.

<TABLE STYLE="filter:glow(color=yellow)">
<TR><TD>
This is the glow filter.
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>

Have a great weekend!

Link to Daniel Cronin * note, will add this to comp.html page later.
zonkboard is another place ywhere you can get a free board. Check out the site recommended by a tagger The Mandarin colored finch is already out feeding this morning. The forecast today is for a high of 108 degrees HOT! No suits today, not even for the "suits". Off to find some flip-flops and shorts...

the day job...

a day in the IT trenches

Nobody at the day job really knows what I do. The day starts by getting wasted on Pepsi.

a day in the IT trenches

Today, already high on Pepsi, starts with a new user in an application. Nah, not my job but the request came in yesterday and the students didn't get to it so tag, I'm it.

a day in the IT trenches

A vendor needs to see how the files that we FTP from the mainframe to the LAN look like. Better than a fireworks show :)

a day in the IT trenches

Now opening the mail I see a forwarded note reads "you need to contact Michelle Goodrich, she would coordinate that". How do these people find me?

he's back...

Everyday he has a question that baffles the mind. Today it's

"why does the data contain a row for each port on a Router even when it is Ethernet or Token Ring attached and doesn't have a circuit? "

answer please...

Because.

Oh darn, he wants a longer answer...uh, thinkity, thinkity. Something theoretical might work.

"IBM was trying to account for each port. Those programs were written so long ago, years ago, but I do recall that the LTF2RU records or the DEVICE records are tossed in the load process. "

Whew, that required hard thinking and he left to go ponder that one.

customer in the hall...

Hey, can you set it up so that I can see my coworkers work in the QC app? We talk, he's satisfied for today. I need a smoke to go with the Diet Pepsi and Babyruth. It' s now 10:41AM.

customer call...

Ah, how nice. He called to say thanks for the quick turnaround and stay cool.

data transfer...

OpenView discussion continues. How to get the data from here (mainframe) to there. What programs and processes do we need?

Customer calls...

Return from smoking break. Janitor says phones kept ringing, so he transferred them to cafeteria lady. I like this guy.

Breakroom

My password isn't working on the microwave. It must be time to go home.

Sort through snail mail

Just a bunch of magazine subscription offers. Hardcopy magazines for professional programmers. Hey, we read everything online and your free magazines already overflow our in boxes.
whatever

Curious about what a site knows about you?

What is your IP Address?

so you want my job, eh?

This morning I'll meet with a vendor to determine what data we can transfer into their product. The scheduling and platform (mainframe or PC) will be decided and the specs refined. Fielding questions from others about databases, where circuit data is located, or what projects are off each router will fill the rest of the morning.

so you want my job, eh?

We have over 1500 routers now that serve about 2500 sites, that connect to about 200,000 end-user devices. Tracking the details is becoming more complex every day. They tout us as "the largest network west of the Mississippi". Ah, we can't be. Is it true? Is your network bigger? Are you west of the Missippi? This afternoon we'll talk about feeding some data into OpenView from the same data sources.

so you want my job, eh?

In the background there is always the QC application that our customers access via the Web. The ColdFusion server pukes now and then. Back to work...

Qoöl

Is your programmer out playing?

"Your ip address has been banned from posting by the board administrator."

That's how the kids play. If you are a grownup they figure it out and keep you from posting. They don't want Mom or Dad reading what they say.

so you want my job, eh?

The banned message from the Tag board of course is a fake. Only the innocent can be "banned". The fake is that they can't ban anyone by IP address who doesn't want to be banned. Their magic wand doesn't work in the real world.

The bad guys use dynamic IP addresses from multiple providers. And, a lot of you are assigned dynamic IP Addresses from your provider. AOL assigns a new IP Address for each session.

no trespassing

IP banning will keep a few kids out. It functions like a "no trespassing" sign where the good guys obey and the bad guys are challenged.

so you want my job, eh?

Help us find the best tag board! eotnetworks.com? We met some very interesting folks on the board we tested and tagging was fun.

interesting taggers

We had tags and emails from a number of taggers and all were polite. Many are still trying to learn. Hopefully we helped a few through the beginning frustrations of building a Web site.

so you want my job, eh?

In summary, you might want to consider where you get your free or cheap software. The administrators may be just kids (script kiddies) who disappear or play with your settings.

professional and reliable

We'll find another tag board and share it with you when we know it is professional and reliable. We could use your help in finding the best tag board. So send the suggestions in!

some call it a Honey Pot

Some free or cheap tools are merely Honey Pots. They give you a small something (software) and in return they have your userid, password, IP address, and so much more. The sole purpose of their being is to collect information about you.

Stupid Web Tricks

The Shadow Filter

The shadow filter looks a lot like the glow filter. And, it's just as easy to code.

Here's the code if you want to copy and paste it (or type it) into your blog.

<TABLE STYLE="filter:shadow(color=orange)">
<TR><TD>
<big>The shadow filter looks 
a lot like the glow filter. 
And, it's just as easy to code.
</big> 
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>

You learn something old every day...

...a day ahead...

You're a day ahead of the rest of us

There is always someone out there in the development world who is a day ahead of you. What's new to you is "so last week" to some observers.

so you want my job, eh?

No, the job that pays the bills is not the glitter and shine of the rainbows or deciding whether Frontpage or Dreamweaver is the best tool. Notepad and UltraEdit both work well with HTML, Perl, ColdFusion, and PHP so we stay with it for now. Fast typing for fast coding. No time for switching from one interface to another or for mouse clicks, drags or drops.

so you want my job, eh?

We have heard others say that Dreamweaver or Frontpage can speed up the process, but I haven't personally ever heard a developer say it. If you are a developer and know of a tool that's faster than NotePad let us know. It's a serious question and we don't have time to try out each tool.

so you want my job, eh?

What is the development tool that would save us time and grief? Is there a silver bullet we don't know about?

Web page loading too fast?

Is your Web page loading too fast? Want to slow it down a bit? Add a Tag-board with JavaScript that runs at another site and then add a counter with script that runs at another site.

Your page is now dependent upon the speed of your host, the Tag board server, and the counter server. If any go down or are running slow then your page will slow down. A quick cure for those pages you wrote that load so lightening fast.

Site of the Month

What a treasure we found to share with you this month. The site of Buzz McAdam.

Art, design, comics, and more! Buzz is a full-time Graphic Designer and illustrator, both for Government and Corporate business.

Study it,
savor it,
and learn.

Go to our Web Help section to see other featured sites, new tips, and frequently asked questions.



We still haven't checked out Magitek designs. Some sites that look very nice in the end have taken their layouts from Magitek. Perhaps a good place to start? We'll see. Blurtit has a random list of blogs and tags you can visit.

have a great 4th of July!

Your IP Address

Here's a little ditty we wrote so that you can see what a site knows about you.

Curious about what a site knows about you?

Some Web sites you visit will use the IP Address to identify an individual PC. That works well to identify many of you. It tells us where you are located and more.

AOL IP Address

If you use AOL you are using a proxy server so your IP Address changes each time you logon.

I don't want them to know who I am!

There are privacy surfing tools you can use that change your IP Address every time you click. That way you can't be identified, except with cookies.

Cookies Anyone?

Many sites use cookies to identify your PC. When you go to amazon it know who you are because it stored your information on your PC. How to get rid of the cookies? Go to your temporary internet file folder and delete them all. Cookies aren't a bad thing usually, but you can turn cookies off.