Forum Moderators: mack
Any and all help is MUCH appreciated. Thanks.
Adding:
regarding your background - there is something in the code causing it. Most likely a spacing issue.
regarding sending image files - there are various ways this could be done, do you mean via your website? do you want the image emailed to you or included in a database and uploaded from the site?
regarding your 'club': do you mean forum? There are so many different ways to go about this it's kinda hard to give you any specific answers.
As for 'print and online viewing' where are they printing from? the site or something that your office prints and mails out? If it's from the site - basically every browser has a print function.
[edited by: crash at 9:37 pm (utc) on Oct. 2, 2002]
<added> found it here [office.microsoft.com ]
lol... that should be renamed!
Word is NOT a web page editor. It never was meant to be and it really renders awful web pages.
As has been indicated, Word really isn't the tool for the job.
Now might be the time to start educating your boss - if he wants you to be the webmaster, then he needs to allow you to BE the webmaster... which includes being able to tell him how things should be done :) (it's my favorite part of my job).
What are you using to write your pages?
There's multiple chapters in a couple Word "how to" books that say Word can be used to create web pages and have them match the handouts we print to give out. That's where he's coming from and says I'm just not doing something right "cuz the book says..." I even saw an entire big book at Barnes & Noble on creating web pages with Word. From what I've seen, I agree with you all and think they are crazy. But only if I get something up and running at all is he going to listen to me that we'd be better off improving it with something else. Paradox. But where I have to start.
We have an 11 page handout of information and prices that is an existing Word document with 3 to 6 small tables per page, paragraphs of description inbetween. That's what he wants online with essentially no modifications and to only change prices in ONE document and have it reflected both in our print out and web page. From what I've read, it sounds like eventually we need to move to a database driven site, but I have to do something he likes before he'll listen to me and make changes.
Another reason he wants to use Word is because IE offers the "edit with MS Word" option on the File menu, so he insists its meant to work and that way other employees can change the prices when necessary instead of me being the only one with some other web page writer.
We have equipment that prints images on products. He just bought a software package from that manufacturer that stores and organizes the images for the production runs. I'm supposed to figure out how to let users email their image files from our web site to this server.
The "club" is really just a list of email addresses to send announcements and specials to. Right now, I have just an email link. That will work, but he envisions something more "form" looking. This is the lowest priority of the things I'm listing. Getting the site up and presentable fast is #1. Users ability to send image files thru the site is #2.
Regarding the "clean up Word html" links: do you mean I save the page as html in Word, then run this mini-app on the Word created html file before I upload it? I guess that brings me to another question. Word creates a confusing folder and renames all the images used to numbered files in the html doc's folder. Is this standard? Do other web authoring tools do this too?
Deejay asked what I'm using to write the web pages. Word is all I have now, that's the problem I posted about. Is there something else I could use fast?
thanks again everyone!
I've reviewed a an online program that generates search engine optimized Word pages. I took an example of one of those pages and ran it through the W3C validator. Eek, over 100 errors on a page that could have been built with 2 or 3 tables (for the beginner).
I think you might want to investigate the FrontPage Sharepoint Team Services. It sounds like that aspect of the program will serve your needs and be more compatible with a broader audience. At the same time, you'll have a user friendly WYSIWYG interface to work with.
Good luck! ;)
P.S. I end up taking client supplied Word documents, cutting and pasting them into Notepad (lose all formatting), then cutting and pasting into FP using my preset preferences which produces valid html. Then I have to format based on the original Word doc. Not difficult at all once you get everything in sync.
Good luck with it. It will cost you and him hundreds of hours to fix the mess. Glad it's not me.
As for another tool to write your pages on, I would suggest Dreamweaver as a beginner's tool.
Then tell him that just because you can boil an egg, this doesn't qualify you to cook meals at a restaurant. And just because you're computer literate, this doesn't qualify you to design and code a web page.
No offense, but it's not fair for you to buy a book on html and then expect you to whip up a web page. This is much different that using excel or knowing how to swap out a hard drive. It takes more than a couple days to learn the hundreds of nuances of building a web page.
For the amount he's paying you, your boss would be better off paying a student to do it.
As for another tool to write your pages on, I would suggest Dreamweaver as a beginner's tool.
beginner's tool?
It beats most of the WYSIWYG's I've seen out there!
The javascript is pretty bloated, but once in place, it gives a perfect starting point to learn and explore.
I learned ASP from UltraDev. Now I hardly open Dreamweaver anymore, having gleaned the basics from the program.
It's rather pricy, but you can still download the 30 day trial. Take the tutorial, make some pages, then you might not ever need the program again.
Changing one document once is a goal familiar to all of us using dynamic pages (includes and CSS, etc.) so we know where the boss is coming from. If I was convinced of that so-called option (MS Word to HTML) I'd go to bed at night confident the fairies were taking care of everything too. And I'd be right pi**ed-off at any gnome telling me otherwise the next morning. Unfortunately the gnome's going to take the heat when the magic slippers don't fly.
I think engines's suggestion (a .doc or .pdf download option) is the most likely to satisfy both your boss and your customers for the time being. As for the MS option - "tell 'im 'e's dreamin'!"
