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"How do I.... Create a marquee that automatically changes"

I'd like to write a bit of code that will create a scrolling message which changes depending on the date.

So I need to:
Get the current date
Find out if there is a specific message for that date (or between 2 dates) such as "Happy Christmas"
If not, display the default message, such as "Welcome to this site".

Is that possible?

I also need to find the easiest way to include a big box of formatted text that can be altered by anyone who has a password. This is for a weekly newsletter which is in word format that needs to be pasted on to a website every week.

I'd like to write a bit of code that will create a scrolling message which changes depending on the date.

So I need to:
Get the current date
Find out if there is a specific message for that date (or between 2 dates) such as "Happy Christmas"
If not, display the default message, such as "Welcome to this site".

Is that possible?

I also need to find the easiest way to include a big box of formatted text that can be altered by anyone who has a password. This is for a weekly newsletter which is in word format that needs to be pasted on to a website every week.

Hi pb, don't often see you over here ;¬)

What you are after is all possible but if may be more complicated than you were hoping for...

I manually update my 'news ticker' to keep things simple, here a demo:
www.hmmm.ip3.co.uk/ticker


All for now, I'm late...!
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As Hmmm... already stated very possible but perhaps a bit trickier than you'd like.

For the Marquee, just had a quick search, best I can find that does most of what you wanted is this.

As far as updating content, the easiest way might not be the most pleasant. You could have a simple script that just includes a file thats been FTPed onto the server. And the file can be simply your word document saved as a webpage. However one thing to remember, if your word document contains images then things get more complicated. Images wont be part of any copy/pasting you do and would need to be handled manually.
The more complicated options include installing a CMS, plenty of them have user management that allow you to configure what people can update. Some even come with WYSIWYG editors that let you copy/paste directly from Word (still the image problem though). The barrier with that option is probably creating a template for it so it looks like your existing site.
There are other options (mostly lesser CMS) but it depends on how much formatting you need as to whether they are appropriate.

Thanks, both of you.

The marquee thing doesn't look so bad. The FTP idea sounds the best, I can always do without pictures if it makes things easier, though it probably relies on me doing any uploads.

The site is actually for the local church. They've asked me to do it as a favour, so I'm not in any hurry, but I'm using it as a learning experience for building a website.

Of course, if they paid me I'd do it all properly and get a freeola site with a decent domain name! ;)

Well one thing I would add is be wary of maintenance. I've maintained a homeless charity's website for several years now. And its fair to say I've spent many many hours updating it for them (which of course I've never been paid for). So it may well be worth the extra effort now to get something in place they can update themselves.

I'd agree with that...
I've recently done a mental illness charity site as a favour thinking it was a one-off, but they keep on coming back for more!

The problem with Content Management Systems(CMS) is that apart from the application itself (free/open source/paid) you may need to have MySQL as many require a database.

If you want more information just let us know. For example there are simple free non-database(SQL) CMS applications available...

A "Freeola Instant Site" which anyone can create and update could be an option for £3 a month!

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Hmmm... wrote:
>> A
> "Freeola
> Instant Site" which anyone can create and update
> could be an option for £3 a month!
>
> Search Freeola
> Chat
> My Freeola Instant
> Site

Somehow, I knew you'd get that in somewhere. Well done on the advertising, at least you're trying! :D

If it was up to me, then yes, but I don't think the church will pay as they want to use the space they have with BT.

If I think of something to build a site for myself, though, I'll be right there.

Try freewebs.com or even http://geocities.yahoo.com/v/pb.html
I mean look at the url on that one, pb.html, its a sign!!

Garin wrote:
> So it may well
> be worth the extra effort now to get something in place they can
> update themselves.

definitely.
i`m looking into something similar for a site i`m building, except that i`ll need information from a form to be put into the marquee.

my theory is to use a script to add the info from the form into file, then use php include to put the file inside a marquee.

can anyone see any potential catastrophes that may arise from that method?

Very_Metal wrote:
> can anyone see any potential catastrophes that may arise from
> that method?

Hi Very_Metal,
Make sure your form is secure!!!

Not a 'catastrophe' but how are you intending on getting the old messages removed?

Also, If you get it working please update this post with some code tips as this could be a useful script...



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