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THE INTERNET TUTOR
January 11, 2007
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To see more issues like this visit: Internet Tutor Archives
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This week...
- Webmaster Tip: CSS Basics
- Surfin' the Web: The Concert Vault
- Software Spotlight: CSS Master
- The Oddball Wall: Today in History
- Computer Tip: Spyware
Some friends of ours were trying to teach their young son a
Christmas song last month but it went a little unexpectedly.
The first line in Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is, of course,
"Hark, the herald angels sing" ...but not necessarily when
it comes out of the mouth of a 4-year-old. Instead, the first
time he tried it, it came out, "Hark, the hairy angels sing."
Maybe you had to be there, but the video was pretty funny.
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There's No Better Time To Join (for free) Deal Of The Day..
WHY? Because for the next month you'll be able to save more
than ever on items that MUST be marked down due to over
buying for Christmas.
Five days a week you'll get an email with an item and a
discounted price... in many cases these are selling at
less than our cost. We simply must get them out of our
warehouse.
Join the Deal of the Day community that focuses on selling
cool stuff cheap.
You can subscribe to this fun and money saving ezine for free.
Visit: Get the Deal of the Day free ezine
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WEBMASTER TIP - CSS Basics
Note: In code examples I add a period after each left arrow
bracket so the code can be viewed in all e-mail programs. If
you copy and paste, be sure to remove the periods or it won't
work.
Question: You often give snippets of CSS in your tutorials.
That's great for those that just want code to use, but it
doesn't help much for those of us that want to understand it.
How about a tutorial on what CSS is in the first place?
Simon Says: You got it! Although there isn't space to go into
great detail, I can give you a rundown on the basics.
CSS, short for Cascading Style Sheets, are rules that control
the display of a web page. These rules are created by you,
the webmaster, but you must use the correct syntax for the
browser to understand the rules you create. HTML defines the
structure or layout of a page, and CSS defines how the HTML
elements look.
So what does a rule look like? A basic rule consists of three
parts, a selector, a property, and a value. The syntax is
like this:
selector {property: value;}
The "selector" identifies which HTML element you want to
create a rule for. The selector can be any HTML element,
such as: <.body>, <.div>,
or <.p> tags, for example.
The rule declaration tells the browser what to do with the
selector. The declaration consists of two parts, the property
and the value.
- The "property" identifies which part of the HTML element
the rule should be applied to. The property is comparable to
an HTML attribute.
- The "value" of the property works the same as the value of
an HTML attribute; it tells the browser what affect to apply
to the property of the chosen selector. For example, this
rule:
body {font-family: Verdana;}
...tells the browser that in the body (the selector) of the
document, it should render text using the font-family (the
property) of Verdana (the value). So the body is the selector,
the font-family is the property, and Verdana is the value in
that rule.
The rule declaration is always enclosed in { curly braces }.
The property is separated from the value by a : (colon), and
a ; (semicolon) signals the end of the rule.
Since this is an important subject in web design, I'll
continue this tutorial in the basics of CSS in the next few
issues to give you a better understanding. Stay tuned!
PS - For those that prefer an easy way to create CSS code
and don't want to learn all the nuts and bolts, I've arranged
for a 15% discount for you on CSS Master. See today's Software
Spotlight for details.
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Will YOUR Name Be Announced At The Academy Awards?
Have you ever seen a commercial and thought you could
do better? Well now is your chance as Dove is running
this exciting contest. Just click on the link for a simple
tutorial and start creating. That’s not all. The winner
will be announced during a special break during the
Academy Awards airing Feb. 25. For more details Visit:
Dove contest
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SURFIN' THE WEB - The Concert Vault
The Concert Vault bills itself as the world's greatest
collection of vintage concert recordings. Whether it is or
not doesn't really matter. What does matter is that you can
listen to vintage rock and country concert tracks.
Registration is required, but it's free. The only real knock
I have about this site is that when you click the Vault Radio
link to listen to the music, it only shows four songs. You
have to click an arrow to scroll the list, one song at a time.
There seems to be no way to search for songs or artists, and
no other to access the available concert tracks to quickly
find something you want to listen to. While that's a major
drawback to this site, you can't complain too much when it's
free.
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/
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GopherCentral's Question of the Week:
Do you agree with Saddam's hanging?
Please share your opinion, visit: The Question of the Week
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SOFTWARE SPOTLIGHT - CSS Master
CSS Master's easy, fill-in-the-blanks approach makes it dirt
simple for even novice webmasters to quickly create the
wonderful kind of style sheets needed to take a web site
beyond plain HTML to just plain cool. You can create a style
sheet in minutes using CSS Master. I use it myself because
it saves times and I don't have to try to remember all the
correct syntax.
Very fairly priced at just $13.00, you can even get 15% off
of that already low price if you order by January 15th. To
get the discount, use coupon code: tutor
...when you order. If you've never used a coupon code before,
it's very simple. You place your order as usual, and on the
page where you fill in the details just enter "tutor" into
the form field that asks for a coupon code. The 15% discount
will automatically be applied.
http://htmlville.com/web_design_software/css_master.shtml
Note: I do not provide support for the featured software.
Contact the software vendor for support. No warranty is
made or implied as to the usefulness or appropriateness of
featured software.
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MicroGrip Non*Slip-Pads
The concept product our cars have been waiting for
MicroGrip Non*Slip-Pads are state-of-the-art technology.
Securely hold objects in place through sharp turns and sudden
stops. No more stuff flying in the back seat.
Millions of microscopic grips act as invisible suction cups,
without glue or sticky tapes that melt in the sun.
MicroGrip works on any surface in any temperature and humidity
level. Hold cell phones, coins, garage door openers, IDs,
wallets, PDAs, portable CD players, glasses & more. Only $5.99
or 2 for $4.99 each. Visit: MicroGrip Pads
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THE ODDBALL WALL - Today in History
A lot of things happened on this day in history, but nothing
that I want to build an entire quiz around. So, today I'm
doing something different and will feature nine trivia
questions about nine different things that all happened on
this day. The topics are vary widely, so you'll have to be
on top of your game to score well.
1) On this day in 1998, what team beat the San Francisco 49ers
to win the NFC Championship?
a. Carolina Panthers b. Tampa Bay Buccaneers c. Green Bay
Packers
2) On this day in 1997, what entertainer won the 23rd Annual
People's Choice Award?
a. Bill Cosby b. Tom Hanks c. Garth Brooks
3) On this day in 1984, the highest scoring game in the
history of the NBA was played. The Denver Nuggets scored 163
points while the losing team scored 155 points. Who was the
losing team?
a. Chicago Bulls b. San Antonio Spurs c. Seattle Seahawks
4) On this day in 1978, for the first time in history three
spacecraft linked up together in space. What country accom-
plished this feat?
a. United States b. Russia c. Japan
5) On this day in 1973, which event in sports occurred?
a. The American League adopts the designated hitter rule in
MLB.
b. The NFL adopts the "in the grasp" rule to protect quarter-
backs.
c. The NBA adopts the 3-point line.
6) On this day in 1969, the song "Hooked on a Feeling" peaked
at #5 on the Billboard Record Charts. Who sang that song?
a. The 5th Dimension b. Peter, Paul, and Mary c. BJ Thomas
7) On this day in 1966, "Daktari" premiered on CBS. What was
this program about?
a. Cowboy shoot 'em up b. African adventures c. Amazon
tribal life
8) On this day in 1787, Titania & Oberon, moons of Uranus,
were discovered. This same astronomer also discovered Uranus
itself, two moons of Saturn, and infrared radiation. Who was
this famous astronomer and music composer?
a. William Herschel b. Johannes Kepler c. Tycho Brahe
And now for one that's sure to blow your top...
9) On this day in 1693, this volcano in Sicily erupted...
again. It is the largest active volcano in Europe, and is
one of the most active volcanoes in the world. It's one of
only 16 volcanoes designated as a "decade volcano" for its
history of large, destructive eruptions and proximity to
populated areas. What's the name of this super-volcano?
a. Mt. Vesuvius b. Krakatoa c. Mt. Etna
Answers below, here's the scoring:
9 correct: Perfection!
7-8 correct: Outstanding
5-6 correct: Very Good
2-4 correct: Fairly Fair
0-1 correct: Turn the TV off
Answers:
1) c. Green Bay Packers
2) a. Bill Cosby
3) b. San Antonio Spurs (the Seahawks play football, did I
getcha?)
4) b. Russia (Soyuz 27 linked with Salyut 6 & Soyuz 26)
5) a. American League adopts designated hitter rule in MLB.
6) c. BJ Thomas
7) b. African adventure series
8) a. William Herschel
9) c. Mt. Etna
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COMPUTER TIPS - Spyware
A great many Internet users have spyware on their computers
and don't even know it. Spyware usually infests a computer
secretly when you install certain freeware programs. Don't
think it won't happen to you unless you never use freeware,
because there are well over 2,000 software programs that
have secret spyware in them. Here's a pretty good list of
spyware programs:
http://www.spywareguide.com/product_list_full.php
Besides the ethical issues, spyware is bad if for no other
reason than it slows your computer down. When my daughter
complained her computer had slowed down enough to become
an annoyance just use, I found she had over 100 spyware
programs on it!
Getting rid of spyware is no easy task if you try to do it
manually, but it's a fairly simple process if you use soft-
ware utilities made just to locate and remove spyware on
your system. These programs can also help prevent reinfec-
tion.
Two of my favorite programs to remove spyware are Ad-aware
and Spybot. You can download regular updates just like
with antivirus programs and get rid of the spyware on your
computer. Best of all, both of these programs are free.
Ad-aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/
Warning! These are the programs I use because they work well.
Be careful in choosing anti-spyware programs because some are
fakes that either install spyware or nag you to buy upgrades.
Disclaimer: Advice in this column is presented as informational
and is true to the best of my knowledge. Any decisions to follow
this advice is your responsibility. Your computer, your choice.
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Until next week, ponder these words of Stephen Vincent Benet:
Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day
by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.
Have an interesting day, Simon
Questions? Comments? Email me at: tutor@gophercentral.com
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You can discuss this latest issue in the new Internet Tutor
forum. Check it out here... Internet Tutor Forum
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