Catchy Pages

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 11:40 pm

Ok I'm trying to figure out this html stuff so I can make better cache pages. I learned some basic commands to make paragraphs and insert the WGA logo. But how do people make cool pages with graphics and everything? Some that come to mind are Jeff Thorson's and SBHTT Glow in the Dark 2 page. Do people use software programs to design these pages? Can you make a page on something and then switch to a mode where you see the code page so you can copy and paste it to the GC submit box?

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 5:19 am

These have amazed me as well. I took a look at "view" "source" from the tool bar on some of these pages and found so much detail that it I couldn't decypher it. So I resolved to sit back and enjoy the work that other cachers are so adept at. I can give my pages a few tweeks as you have suggested above, but for the most part, mine are rather vanila. ~tb

Joined: 2003-09-10 Posts: 1263 Location: Bristol WI

Code writers are funny, in that they take what could be very simple, and make it confusing. Maybe it's self-preservation.

I have learned the little bit I know by studying the source code that TB reffered to. Here's a couple basic ones that provide most of what a cacher needs-

To insert and image on a page use the line- <image src="http://www.wi-geocaching.com/banners/banner-large-border.gif" border="1" align="left">

Broken down, the image tag is telling the browser that there is an image to be loaded, and the src tag is followed by the actual url to fird the the image to load. In this case, the image is located at- http://www.wi-geocaching.com/banners/ and the filename of the image is- banner-large-border.gif. Following that is the border tag, which is just that; it specifies that the image should have a border around it and the number "1" specifies a fine border. A "0" would mean no border, whereas a "5" would be a thicker border.
Again the align tag is just that, specifying where the picture should go on the page- left, right, or center.

To change the page background, use the tag-
<BODY BACKGROUND="http://www.wi-geocaching.com/banners/banner-large-border.gif">
filling in the url to match that of the picture you want to use as a background.

Any pictures you use on a web page must first be uploaded to a web server. If you do not have space on your own isp's server, you could upload the picture to your geocaching.com photo gallery (if it is small) or to the WGA photo album, which is accessed through the WGA homepage.

The formatting of these tags is very important! One missed slash or misspell, and it won't work.

Hope this helps!

[This message has been edited by Cathunter (edited 01-11-2004).]

Joined: 2002-02-18 Posts: 3399 Location: West Allis, Wi

It would probably be usefull to purchase a book on HTML. I bought one at Office Max a few years ago. The book I have is "Read Less, Learn More, HTML" It's one of those basic idiot type books, but not the annoying "For idiots" brand. The book I have even came with a CD-ROM with helpful software. You just look in the idex for what you want to do, and the book will provide step by step instructions, with illustrations.

I also enjoy reading the source code of some of the pages that cachers submit. You can learn a few tricks from time to time. By adding some simple code, you can make your cache pages look really cool. There a bunch of caches that I would nominate for cache of the month, based purely on the quality of the cache page!

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 8:58 pm

quote:
Originally posted by GrouseTales:
It would probably be usefull to purchase a book on HTML.

Another tactic is to consider going to the web (http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/index.html) to learn about programming the web. Good luck.

Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:41 am

It's not difficult at all, really. you DO need to know basic HTML tags to do it, because you have to make the description in HTML.

For Lessons in Modern Cartography, for example, I used a background image of a generic map. First thing I did was upload an image. You can upload an image into a cache page, or you can upload it into your gallery, if you want to use it on more than one page. Then you should click on the image to see what the path is. You need to know the image path.

Here's the code part that i put in for Lesson 5, simplified to show the important html bits:

<BLOCKQUOTE><body background="http://img.groundspeak.com/user/25695_600.jpg">
Lesson #5: Cleanup. 
 
a paragraph of description of the cache. 
 
another paragraph of description. 
 
more description. 
 
and some more description. 
 

[This message has been edited by hermione (edited 01-12-2004).]

[This message has been edited by hermione (edited 01-12-2004).]