Deslok

I'm assuming that the shoutbox is JS. I was wondering if there is a BBS format that updates like the shoutbox. That is to say that you have all the topics and they instantly update when someone posts.

Also, js seems to not be quite perfect yet. What are the limitations and concerns of it? I have a project in mind and I've been reading through my huge book of java tips. It's an intimidating book and I'm really just looking for examples of code to lift to see if I can even implement this idea.

Any knowledge that anyone can share would be greatly appreciated. Thanx!

__________________

Arik

Such a thing would only really be useful on a busy board, and it would be too expensive to implement on that large of a scale. The shoutbox doesn't update when you post for everyone...it checks the database every once in a while to see if there have been new posts.

Your assumption is half correct, by the way. There is a javascript component to it, but on the backend it's all PHP. The technology that powers it is called AJAX. (AJAX is also behind some of the other upgrades around here...)

Javascript is a client side scripting language. The benefit it provides is that it makes (what would have been) static HTML pages dynamic. The biggest downside to it is that the implimentation isn't exactly the same across all browsers. But, if the choice is to either have it or not, that may not be a downside.

Brikar

I keep telling myself, I want to learn some of this Javascript and HTML stuff, but it's just one of those things that never happens.

__________________
"A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown."

http://olympusmans.blogspot.com
http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

Space Goat

Start with basic HTML and progress from there.

Although, having an incentive to learn--e.g. wanting to create a specific website--helps a lot. Necessity is the mother of effort, to borrow from a proverb.

__________________

Deslok

Right, I'm aware of that aspect of this. I can't understand why more people don't use firefox. I've been studying the implications of the whole java thing. I'm not a programming genius but I think there may be a way to make any website worth the effort. If my hunch is correct, there may be a way to implement this idea directly into FireFox. This could effectively eclipse MS/IE (delusions of godhood on my part maybe, but maybe not)

I'll give you some details when (and if) I get some results.

__________________

Brikar

Well, back when I was still putting crap up on my Yahoo!Geocities page, I did learn a lot of the basic tags and such, but never progressed beyond there because I was usually updating quickly and mostly just used Netscape or Frontpage because I was never doing anything terribly complex.

__________________
"A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown."

http://olympusmans.blogspot.com
http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

Deslok

HTML is easy by comparison to js. JS is so much more specialized IMO.

__________________

Space Goat

Well, yes. I'm just saying, starting from the basics is far less daunting, and it makes learning the scripting languages easier.

__________________

Deslok

I've enjoyed teaching myself programming languages since I was in high school and all we had were the old Tandy TRS-80 computers and the language was BASIC. I created a weak dungeon crawl and a buggy space invaders type of game where it was just a big alien walking toward the bottom of the screen.

__________________