Let others download from your Web page


Q Your Help Screen has been very helpful to me so far. Many thanks. I wonder if you have the solutions to my questions this time?

1. I know how to create pop-up windows using JavaScript, but I don't know how to make them disappear automatically after, say, 5 seconds. Please show me, or do you know any site that can help?

2. I have a Web site. How can you make a particular file on your hard disk available for download when someone visits your site?

- Terry Lee

A Pop-up JavaScript windows can be automatically closed using, not suprisingly, JavaScript. This type of script is complex, and since there's little point in reinventing the wheel, head on over to www.javagoodies.com/hellogoodbye.html, where you can grab a free script that will close JavaScript windows. Once you've copied the script to your Web page, you can adjust the length of time the window stays open before closing. Instructions for doing this are at the Javagoodies Website.

When it comes to putting files on the Web, any type of non-html file, from spreadsheets to multimedia presentations, can be placed on your Web page for visitors to download. This is possible because of the way that Web browsers and servers handle files. Most files are given a file name extension by the program that created them. When a server sends a file to a browser, it attaches some information called a MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) code, which is based on the file extension, and indicates the type of file that it is sending. If the browser recognises the MIME type, it may load and display the file itself, or it may download the file and use the MIME type to pass it to an appropriate helper application. If the browser doesn't recognise the MIME type, it may display a dialogue box that asks the user if they want to save the file or open it.

Here's how to put a non-html file on your Web page:

1. Check that you have saved your file with the proper file extension, so that Web browsers and servers will know how to process it. The default file format from most programs is usually OK.

2. Move the file from your hard disk to a directory on your Web server.

3. On your Web page, make a link to the file using the <A> tag and the HREF attribute. For example, <A HREF="zoom.mpg">Download file</A>. "Zoom.mpg" is the name of the file, and "Download file" is the text that will appear as the link on your page. You may need to specify a directory before the file name according to the directory structure on the Web server and the location of your file. So if zoom.mpg is located in a directory called "movies", the link becomes <A HREF="movies/zoom.mpg">Download file</A>.

- Belinda Taylor


Category:internet
Issue: December 1998

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