Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with web and page

Cool, easy tattoo parlor website template?

Gucky — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:56:47 -0800

What should I use to set up a simple, cool-looking small business site for a non-techy friend? I bought my cousin-in-law 2 domains for Christmas related to his tattoo parlor. (I searched his small business and found that they didn't have a web page and some other business took the most obvious way to spell their URL.)

I've only hand written a webpage in HTML before or grabbed one of Dreamhost's default WordPress themes.

I don't want to become the business's tech support.

I just want to hand him a paper with a URL and a user name and password and there will be an easily update-able web page with the business, address, link to Google directions and blog and/or Twitter feed and a gallery (possibly a Flickr pull in?)

Do I use Google Sites? Is there a theme that is suitable for a pretty tough tattoo crowd that's easy to use?

Do I host it on my own Dreamhost with a WordPress theme? Is there a WordPress theme you'd recommend?

Low effort. Cool enough. Doesn't require a regular outlay of cash or tech effort. Help?

What software should I use to design a Webpage logo?

hellodonna — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:09:42 -0800

I am trying to create a professional looking logo for a Web site. I am using GIMP but finding I am very limited in terms of what I can do with it. Is there a software package that I should be using that will allow me to create a good looking logo/header image? I understand Photoshop is the best however, it's really expensive (700.00). Are there any software alternatives or do I just have to pony up for Photoshop? By the way, I have a PC.

How do we make web-based scheduling available to patients?

blueberry — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:31:48 -0800

Looking for a way to allow people to schedule their vet appointments via the web. My friend is setting up an animal acupressure business out of her home. While she is like Dr. Doolittle when it comes to animals, she's like John McCain when it comes to HTML.

We want to set up a pretty basic web site for her: main page, FAQs page, maybe a page with how-to-get-here directions... however,

here's the gist of the question:

She would like to have a page with a calendar so that people can see appointment availability and also make appointments via that same page (that is, say a client sees there's an opening from 2pm to 6pm on Tuesday, so they click on something and then are able to make an appointment from 2–3pm). The calendar could show a month or a week at a time, but would need to have a "next week/month" and "previous week/month" so people could schedule weeks/months in advance.

Once clients filled out the "schedule appointment" form
(which would ask for [day/time], name, phone number, email address)
and clicked submit, the schedule calendar would be updated so that that block of time would no longer be shown as available for other people to make appointments.

If it matters. there are only two durations of appointments that would be needed: 90 minutes for new clients, and 60 minutes for previous clients. It would be nice if she could somehow tell the scheduling software that after a 90-minute session, she'll need 30 minutes to take care of all of her notes (so she would be unavailable for other appointments), but maybe that's too intricate and she'll just have to book 2-hour slots and then tell the people that it'll actually only be 90 minutes in-office.

Finally, there are two forms that new clients need to fax in before their appointment (an intake form about their animals various info, and a form that just needs the signature of their veterinarian). I was thinking that it would be good to have an automatic confirmation email go out right after the person makes their appointment—the email would say hello, list their appointment date and time, and include a reminder about the need to fax in the two documents.

Is there some sort of web plug-in or something out there that can do this calendar-scheduling this for her?

Right now she has no web page, so if your suggestion requires something specific ("...Such-And-Such requires that your web host be running Apache v4.3 with the retro-encabulator and prefamulated ammulite..."), please let me know so we can choose the proper hosting place.

Also, she's on a Mac, so if you happen to know of any WYSIWYG web page builders out there that would allow her to easily set up something like this on her own, please throw those suggestions my way too.

So just to recap: web-based calendar/scheduling program that she can embed in a page and doesn't need to touch or fiddle with—just look at to see her schedule.

Thanks in advance!

Cached Web Pages

kjl291 — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:15:01 -0800

Is there any way to find a cache page of a website that was taken down within the past day? I have tried the major search engines with no luck... The site is fileinc.com. fileinc.biz is the same site and is still available, but I'd like to get the .com page as well. Any google-fu ricks that I am nt aware of?

How can I "tail -f" into a constantly updating web page?

kuperman — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:34:19 -0800

How can I effectively "tail -f" into a constantly updating web page? I've got a log file that I need to have visible in a web page, constantly updating, kind of like doing 'tail -f logfile' in a console. I've seen this done before (e.g. the Shoutcast server has a built-in cgi routine that will constantly update the page with the contents of the sc_serv.log file) without having to manually refresh the page. A meta-refresh won't work because you'll lose your place in the log (the page may rescroll to the top).

The caveat is that I'm using IIS5 on Win2k. I can't install PHP or Perl (policy), otherwise this might be a walk in the park.

Any ideas? Got two seconds to give me some awesome code, or link me to something where this has been done before?

How does this translate into money?

Oriole Adams — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:31:21 -0800

Explain Web Commerce to me in simple terms. Does a web site make money just by virtue of people going to it? For example, if the company I work for sends a regular end-of-month email to the employees (this is a relatively small compoany, less than 50 employees) enthusiastically showing we've had over a million page visits, does that automatically translate into revenue? Or do visitors have to click on an ad or actually purchase something from the Web store for the company to make any money? If that's the case, why all the enthusiasm for the amount of traffic to a company site?

How do I legitimately hijack website content?

jedicus — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:25:07 -0800

HTML/Javascript: I need to "hijack" website content so that it appears to be hosted by a different domain (with the full knowledge and cooperation of all parties). My boss maintains a website at, let's say, boss.example.com. He has an affiliation with another organization with a nicer domain name, let's say, fancyexample.com

He would like to allow users of fancyexample.com to go to fancyexample.com/boss and see all of his boss.example.com content as though it were hosted on fancyexample.com. So if a user went to fancyexample.com/boss/homepage.html they would see that in the address bar but the content would be pulled from boss.example.com/homepage.html

Ultimately, I want to write a small shell page to place on fancyexample.com that "hijacks" the boss.example.com content in as seamless a way as possible. I believe that this can be done very simple using javascript and a frame but I don't have much web programming experience.

Again, don't worry, my boss, boss.example.com, and fancyexample.com all know about this and approve completely.

web-based business

bethrossrn — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 04:28:17 -0800

I have an idea for a web-based business and not only need a web page but a program to keep track of units/credits, no money involved. It would involve marketing/advertising which I have experience in but no experience in computer programming. Where do I go from here?

How do I get MS Access to create organized web pages?

Servo5678 — Mon, 14 May 2007 10:18:02 -0800

How can I make Microsoft Access 2002 crank out organized web pages that conform to my design ideas? I have a database of project information. I have no problem formatting the report templates to get the look that I want for the output. Web pages, on the other hand, seem to be locked into a specific design that I cannot modify beyond moving elements around. Is there a way to create a web page in Access that resembles the report format I've created? I want the web page to consist of a single list of information, not this kind of thing. Any help would be much appreciated.

Deamweaver "Site Definition" question

orlin — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:25:52 -0800

Help, Help !! If anyone has experience with Dreamweaver and setting up the “Site Definition” settings; either basic or advanced mode for “Remote Info” I desperately need your advice and it would be very much appreciated. Runbox is my web host and I use “cPannel” to manage my web files. I can’t figure out what settings to use for “FTP access”. What would my “FTP host” be and what should I put in there this field? To be honest, I’m not quite sure what a FTP is although to use Dreamweaver’s functions, I need to set this up and have not been successful. Next question; Am I correct in saying the “Host Directory” would be in the “public_html” folder in cPannel that all my web page files are located? Any advice would be appreciated. I’ve tried multiple times and days to set this up, but I must be doing something wrong. Thank you in advance for your cooperation…Orlin

timed screen grabs of web page image

sharksandwich — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:49:44 -0800

Is there a Mac application out there that will take a screen shot of a web page graphic that changes frequently? Something that will run in the background (grabbing then adding to a folder) once I set the URL?

How do I disable frames in a website I'm viewing?

spacewaitress — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 10:44:43 -0800

How can I view the contents of a website or link to individual pages without using frames? I HATE frames!!! I'm restricted to Internet Explorer 6 right now since I can't use Firefox at work. (I did a search for this on Ask MeFi and Google and haven't found anything relevant in the first few pages of searching.)

How can I find out who is behind a Web page ?

plumberonkarst — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 09:14:23 -0800

How can the identity of a web page creator be discovered?I have a problem with a local web page that is letting out sensitive cave locations and I want to try to contact the owner and let them know and perhaps inform/convince them to remove the problem. The web page is rather odd for 2 reasons.

1) There are many spelling mistakes and the offending data is in the background images. The web page creator states emphatically that they will not give out the locations ,yet they inadvertently do with the background. This makes me think it is a neophyte web user and new cave explorer who is just enthusiastic about the caves. The fact that is in an Angelfire host adds to my neophyte thoughts.

2) Some of the terminology used on the web page indicate a very high level of cave and karst knowledge. I rarely use the terms and I work with cave scientists/geologists daily.

This leads me to believe the web page is created in a neophyte style to cover for someone in the "know" to disseminate information that should not be shared. Caves unfortunately can have a lot of politics and some disgruntled people will purge information in retaliation for real or imagined "slights"

This web page has become a problem for a few reasons.

1) Damage has already increased dramatically due to extra traffic in these rare and fragile examples.

2) The caves are partially on private property and the posting of the locations is severely threatening years of negotiated access.

3)Directions shared on the page lead to certain locations where severe bodily harm can easily happen due to certain biological elements and as well trespassing instructions.

I will not post the web page as that would add fuel to the fire. Does anyone have any legal methods they can recommend to perhaps find this persons email/method of contact?

Help picking web page applications please !

orlin — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 14:26:53 -0800

I'm asking for advice on which web applications you would recommend to a person wanting to start their own web-page. I am new to web-page design and want to get up and running on a simple web-page relatively quickly and easily. I'm not afraid of trying to create some of my own design as I know a little HTML and the bare basics of web design - CSS etc -- it's just I haven't used it in real life yet. My e-mail provider (runbox) provides free web-site hosting and I needed to buy a domain name which I did. I want to start my own web page for personal use on items such as pictures, surveys or polls, blogs, discussions etc. My domain provider uses the following applications and I'm asking for advice on which applications a new user, relatively green on the tech side, should use. See below for the list of supplied web applications (if that is what you call them). Here is the list. I'm confused as to what I should use, or even more importantly, what not to use. Any and all recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance...

Navigation
Fantastico Home
Control Panel Home

Blogs
b2evolution
Nucleus
pMachine Free
WordPress

Content Management
Drupal
Geeklog
Joomla
Mambo Open Source
PHP-Nuke
phpWCMS
phpWebSite
Post-Nuke
Siteframe
TYPO3
Xoops

Customer Relationship
Crafty Syntax Live Help
Help Center Live
osTicket
PHP Support Tickets
Support Logic Helpdesk
Support Services Manager

Discussion Boards
phpBB2
SMF

E-Commerce
CubeCart
OS Commerce
Zen Cart

F.A.Q.
FAQMasterFlex

Guestbooks
ViPER Guestbook

Hosting Billing
AccountLab Plus
phpCOIN

Image Galleries
4Images Gallery
Coppermine Photo Gallery
Gallery

Mailing Lists
PHPlist

Polls and Surveys
Advanced Poll
phpESP
PHPSurveyor

Project Management
dotProject
PHProjekt

Site Builders
Soholaunch Pro Edition
Templates Express

Wiki
TikiWiki
PhpWiki

Other Scripts
Dew-NewPHPLinks
Moodle
Noahs Classifieds
Open-Realty
phpAdsNew
PHPauction
phpFormGenerator
WebCalendar

Extras
Language
Side menu appearance
Email notifications
Installations overview

How to get individual (permalinks) to work in Wordpress?

TrueVox — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 12:02:40 -0800

WordPress Filter: I've set up my wordpress site in a hosted enviroment (SSH access, FTP OK, etc). I had it running as truevox.nfshost.com/blog while the domain was resolving, then recently I switched it over to just truevox.net. Now, the main blog comes up, but no indiviual pages. As usual, there is I've checked my .httaccess and as near as I can tell it's ok (I can include it if it would help anyone, it's pretty basic). For some reason, no matter what I set permisions to, Wordpress can't write to the .httaccess (even with 777, let alone 666, or better, 664!). I don't know if that would matter, because I think I just put what it tells me to into the .httaccess manualy.

Beyond that, I can't imagine what could be wrong. Is there anyone who can tell me?

Thanks! If need be, I may be able to give out temp. FTP access. Oh, and the host is Nearlyfreespeech.net, if'n it matters.

Web development woes.

sandra_s — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 20:16:51 -0800

A client's website keeps losing its changes. I put together a small (6 pages),simple site for a client. HTML based, No flash, or bells and whistles, and created with Dreamweaver. Nothing I haven't done for dozens of other small clients.

The reason for the simplicity of the site is that the client wanted to eventually be able to change the text (via Frontpage) of some pages occaisionally. No big whoop.

The site has ben hosted on godaddy for about 6 months now. Only in the last month or so have they started to make changes (prior to that, they would send me the changes to make).

I explained to them that they should edit the local files (on their computer) and then replace them on the server and they seemed to understand it.

The problem is that the changes they are making appear on the site for anywhere from 6 hours to a couple of days, then the site reverts back to the way it was prior to them making the change.

I dont know if it is reverting when they are updating via frontpage or when its just sitting there by itself.

I dont think it is godaddy because I have about a dozen or so others who use godaddy with no problems, and I was updating their site just fine for 5 months.

I think the problem lies somewhere in their use of Frontpage. Because I'm a Dreamweaver user, I just dont know enough about FP to offer a recommendation. Heck I dont even know if FP is the problem.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Web Page Form Handling

SparkyPine — Mon, 09 May 2005 08:57:40 -0800

I want to be able to provide a form with a "submit" button on a web page. I host my own web servers with two websites. I want to be able to add custom form (the content of which could change regularly) and have that data sent to me, email or whatever. For some reason, this seems like a big mysterious concept that only people with PERL or JAVA or whatever coding language du jour are capable of. Is there a simpler way to achieve this for someone who does not know coding? I am running these servers on Win2k Server with the built in IIS.

Either a 3rd party program that will do it for me or a website/tutorial on how to cook something up would be great!