EZINE KICKSTART
The Introduction Column!

Hello, and welcome again to the most off schedule ezine on the web! 

I'd again like to take a little bit of space to thank everyone that's been writing in; the response rate has been phenomenal and very encouraging. But more than that, your letters have helped to influence the format of this newsletter, and the content of the network sites themselves.

If you would like to become further involved in our community, then I would like to extend out an invitation to all 82,764 subscribers to drop by http://www.htmlforums.com. Our growing webmaster forums are the perfect place to get answers for any and all questions that you have as a webmaster, a developer, a graphic artist, or as a desktop publisher. It is also an excellent place to showcase your work, and to meet with others in the same field. If you haven't yet visited the forums, take advantage of the opportunity!

Lastly, I'd like to introduce a new weekly feature beginning this issue, called "TIDBITS". This column will provide a little webmaster tip or goodie each week that will hopefully prove to be insightful.

Jason M. DesRoches
Big Resources Ezine editor in chief
editor@bigresources.com

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WHAT DO YOU THINK?
The Reader Input Column!

Last week, I asked you if you thought that the programming language PERL was in trouble of becoming outdated by the rising popularity of PHP. Well, I received mail from many fans of PHP boasting about it's speed, and ease of use, but I received one email in particular that I feel summarizes the situation perfectly.

Daniel Brooks writes:

"It might be possible to think that a powerful, resourceful and capable program could be put to pasture by a smaller, more compact, more user friendly program, but I don't think so.  PHP lacks some of the high end programming capabilities of PERL.  COBAL and FORTRAN stayed around for a long time, waiting for the likes of C++ and SQL to show up.  PERL should be around for a while."

Well said Daniel! However if someone out there thinks that they have a strong counter point to Daniel's argument, I'd be willing to extend this subject another week and publish your thoughts.

As for this week's question, I'd like to get your opinions on the domains .tv and .ws. The .ws domain is the sponsored by the country Western Samoa, and the .tv domain is sponsored by Tuvalu. However the .ws domain is currently being marketed as WebSite, and the .tv domain is being marketed as TeleVision. So my question is, do you think that either of these campaigns have been successful, or do most surfers merely see the domains as just a country's domain? In the end, will either prevail and reach popularity among the general surfer population?

I want all of you out there to tell me, What do you think?

To reply to "WHAT DO YOU THINK", write to: editor@bigresources.com.

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TIDBITS
The Little Goodies Column

Serif vs Sans Serif

This week, I was doing some research on font faces (I am currently in the process of categorizing all of FontFiles.com into face categories). Needless to say, I learned a great deal about font types.

Most of you have probably heard of the font classifications of "serif" and "sans serif", but might not really understand the difference.

It's actually a very simple distinction. First the serif font, a perfect example would be:

Times New Roman

I'm sure that you are all familiar with this font, but what makes it a serif font? Simple, it's the hangy things at the end of the letters. The word "serif" actually refers to the hangy things themselves.

Next, a popular sans serif font would be:

Arial

This newsletter is composed in the Arial font. This is a "sans serf" font simply because it lacks the hangy things. Sans is just a Middle English word for "without".

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BIGRESOURCES.COM UPDATES
The Resource Update Column!

A1JavaScripts.com (http://www.a1javascripts.com)
A1JavaScripts.com is the network's JavaScript and DHTMLscript depot filled with hundreds of free cut and paste scripts with live working examples.

5 new scripts have been added this week to round out A1JavaScripts new "redirection" category:

Language Redirection Script
by Stephen Shellard 
This script will redirect visitors to a defined page depending on what language their browser supports, any number of languages can be entered. There are 3 in this script, English, German and Spanish.

Redirection on Day
This redirection script will redirect you to a new page for each day of the week. 

Browser Redirection
by Stephen Shellard
This script will determine which browser you are using and form a link to direct you to a specified page. It has two links set up, one for Internet Explorer users, and the other for the rest.

Java Redirection
This script will redirect users to different pages depending if they have javascripting enabled or java compatible browsers. If not, they are presented with a link they can click on to direct them to another page. 

Delayed Redirect
by Stephen Shellard
This script will redirect a visitor to a page of your choice with a delay. It includes a countdown timer and the delay can be adjusted to any given time. 

For the rest of the scripts in A1JavaScripts redirection category, visit:
http://a1javascripts.com/redirection_scripts/

123Webmaster.com (http://www.123webmaster.com)
123webmaster offers the largest free resource index of tools for your website on the planet, and hosts helpful tips on promoting, building, managing, and profiting from your website.

Create a "Close Window" Button
by Candice Pardue 
If you are using a pop-up window on your page, this "close window" button may help with your visitor retention. 

New Links Added
As always 123webmaster has updated with many new free resource links to it's large directory of 3194 FREE Resources to help you grow your site.

FresherImage.com (http://www.fresherimage.com)
FresherImage is your source for free clipart, graphic design tutorials, and artist interviews.

Plastic Text in Macromedia Fireworks 4.0
by Lars Østergaard 
You might have seen that in Adobe Photoshop, you can create very stunning text or buttons with a realistic plastic material surface. You can do the same in Fireworks4, and even easier. 

114 Banners Added
by FreeWebTemplates.com
We've opened up a new Banner category to accommodate 114 new advertising button and banner templates that you can customize fully with your own information for free.

72 new Navigation Buttons Added
by FreeWebTemplates.com
72 new web page navigational images gave been added to help you add some zest to your webpage.

FontFiles.com (http://www.fontfiles.com)
FontFiles is host to thousands of free PC TrueType and Mac fonts for download, and use anywhere!

25 New Fonts Added
25 new fonts have been added to our font archive this week. Some of the more interesting fonts to be found in this update include: 

DavysKeyCaps
This font nicely mimics the computer keyboard including the F keys, alt, delete, insert, home etc, as well as a complete set of capital letters.

DeRoos
This is a "Black Letter" (Old English style) font which is printed nice and clearly. It is hollow in the middle and provides much easier readability than many other fonts in it's face family.

Elzevier
Another "Black Letter" font. This one is highly decorative, which makes it somewhat more difficult to read. However it is an excellent choice for an elegant first letter of a paragraph.

Dingies
A dingbat font with a wide selection of well drawn icons. The detail on each of these dingbats makes it a good choice for page decoration, even as a substitute for using clipart.

To view the rest of this week's font update, please visit our New Fonts page.

HTMLforums.com (http://www.htmlforums.com)
HTMLforums is our free webmaster help community, and offers assistance in the departments of developing, designing, promoting, and profiting from your website.

New Introduction Forum
Newly registered members now have a place to formerly introduce themselves to the rest of the forum. Why not register yourself and drop by to say hi?

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LAST HEARD IN THE COMMUNITY
The Community Insight Column!

Battle Royal: PHP vs Perl vs JSP vs ASP vs.................
Posted by Dr Web (Guru/Moderator)
This poll posted by Dr Web proposes a theoretical fight between the web's top server side programming languages. Who do you think would win?

Stickiness
Posted by Nephthys (Adept Level 5)
In this thread, Nephtys asks the forum where he can acquire page tools to make his site more "sticky". The stickiness of s site refers to it's ability to retain a visitor's attention. I choose this thread for the ezine, because I feel that stickiness should be an objective for all sites.

Generating textboxes at random
Posted by Unregistered
Hard core javascript programmers should find great interest in this thread. Find out if it's possible to dynamically call up a particular number of text boxes based on the value in a drop down box.

Get a FREE review of your website!
Need peer opinions on your website? Stop by our free review forum at HTMLforums.com for advice from seasoned webmasters on how to tweak up your site!

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WEEKLY FEATURE
The Heavy Reading Column!

Create a "Close Window" Button
by Candice Pardue
http://www.justforwebmasters.com

Previously, I wrote an article revealing how to cause your web page to open up in a new browser window by inserting a special html link code. 
If you missed that article, or forgot about it, you can read it online by following the link below: 

http://www.webmastercourse.com/articles/open-new-window/ 

The "Close Window" button allows your visitors to return to the previously viewed web page by clicking the button instead of clicking on the "X" at the top right corner of the browser window to exit the page. 

Having a button that says "Close Window" will highly increase your return rate to the previous page.  This simple button gives the customer little choice but to come back to the previous page he/she was viewing.  It aids in helping you reach your goal with your visitors and building an effective website presentation. 

To view a real working example of the "Close Window" button feature, follow the link below: 

http://www.webmastercourse.com/test-page/ 

Simply click on the link available at the sample test page number 1 and a web page will open up in a new browser window containing the "Close Window" button for you to test out. 

When you click on the "Close Window" Button, notice that you'll automatically return to the previous page naturally (Test Page 1). 

This prevents awkwardness for beginners who may be visiting your website.  You'd be surprised at how many online viewers still don't know how to close browser windows and open up new ones. 

The CODE: 

Insert the following code "as is" into your web page html using copy and paste where you would like to position your "Close Window" button on your web page: 

---Begin Code--- 

<form method="post"> 
<input type="button" value="Close Window" 
onclick="window.close()"> 
</form> 

--- End Code--- 

I realize that I take many things for granted online because I've been surfing the net a while and designing web pages also.  But, there are many beginners online who don't know the first thing about surfing the net. 

Keep this in mind while designing your website and create an easy to navigate, simple site that beginners will appreciate. 

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WHY SUBMIT?
The Begging for Your Help Column!

Why should you submit original content for us to publish? Check out what Corbbmacc O'Connor from http://www.justforwebmasters.com had to say about it, after submitting an article to us for publishment: 

"You recently featured my article in The BIG Resources Newsletter. The article was called How to Build a Database-Driven Site Using SSI. I would like to thank you very much for doing this. I have received subscribers to my newsletter and have received a lot of hits to my web site. Thanks again!" 

Get in on the great exposure we offer, submit your work to us! We're looking for original articles, tutorials, and product review submissions to be featured in both our Ezine, and on http://www.123webmaster.com. If you feel that you are a talented web writer, and are knowledgeable with website promotion, webmaster tools, graphic design, webmaster tips, or web scripting (any language) then please send your article submissions to editor@bigresources.com. 

All approved articles will be published with full credit to their author (including a link, email address, and any other information that you would like included), and will be read by over 65,000 webmasters. Submit today, and get published! 

We are now also looking for graphic tip submissions for FresherImage.com, read the criteria for graphic tip submission here: http://fresherimage.com/Tips/Submit/.

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Questions about this issue? contact the editor at: editor@bigresources.com

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