By Shelley Lowery
If you've been on the Internet for a while,
you've probably seen numerous examples of JavaScript use.
JavaScript is a powerful scripting language used to create
special effects on your website, but did you know it can
also be used as a very powerful web design tool?
Have you ever joined a new affiliate program
or created a new publication that you wanted to add to your
existing navigational set up, but dreaded having to manually
add the links to every page on your site?
You can use JavaScript to enable you to
dynamically update every page on your website with just
one file. This technique is the same technology used by
numerous syndication services on the Internet. It enables
them to deliver dynamically updated content to every website
in their program.
Before we begin, if you'd like to see an
example of a navigational system that is dynamically displayed,
visit http://www.web-source.net/.
This website has over one thousand pages and each and every
one of them displays its navigational system using JavaScript.
If I want to add an additional link, I simply update one
file and every page on the site is automatically updated.
The first step in setting up your JavaScript
feed is to create the file that will contain your content.
To do this, open a text editor such as NotePad and simply
copy and paste your existing navigational setup into a new
page. There is no need to begin the page with <html><head>
etc., as you are only creating the feed for one section
of your existing web page which already has those tags.
Once you've created your new page containing
your navigational HTML, you'll now need to add some additional
JavaScript coding to each line of your HTML.
The first line of your new file will look
like this:
!--
The next line will begin with "document.writeIn('"
and end with "');" (without the beginning and
ending quotes). Your first line of HTML will be placed between
the beginning and ending coding. For every line of your
original coding, you'll need to add the above-mentioned
codes before and after.
Note: Make sure you don't add any extra
spaces, including at the end of each line, as JavaScript
is very sensitive. Your new file will end with //-- on the
last line.
Here's how your code might look:
Please note: The following code should be
enclosed with < at the beginning of the first line and
> at the end of the last line. These brackets have been
removed to enable you to view the code properly.
!--
document.writeln('<TABLE BORDER="0" ALIGN="Center">');
document.writeln('<TR>');
document.writeln('<TD>');
document.writeln('Your table content');
document.writeln('</TD>');
document.writeln('</TR>');
document.writeln('</TABLE>');
//--
Each backslash (\) should be preceded with
another backslash.
Example: \\
Each apostrophe (') should be preceded with
a backslash.
Example: \'
You can include most HTML and JavaScript
coding; however, you cannot include JavaScript that must
access another file.
After you've created your content and added
the special JavaScript coding, you'll need to save your
new file. Try to select a name that reflects your file such
as navigate.js and make sure your filename is no longer
than eight letters.
Next, you'll need to create a new directory
on your server where you store your HTML files. Name this
directory "content" (without the quotes) and upload
your new .js file in ASCII.
Here's where the magic occurs... Place the
following code in your HTML pages where you would like your
navigate.js content to be displayed. Make sure you change
the URL and direct it to your new .js file. The following
code must be displayed exactly as it appears. Make sure
there are no spaces after the first line of code.
<SCRIPT language="Javascript"
src="http://www.yourdomain.com/content/yourfile.js">
</SCRIPT>
If you've followed the above steps correctly,
your navigational system should now be displaying on your
web page. If you are receiving a script error message, most
of the time, it's due to an extra space at the end of a
line or an extra or missing character. Make sure you go
over your code very carefully. Once you've created your
content feed and it is displaying your content, updating
your file will be simple.
If you'd rather not have to code the JavaScript
yourself, I use a great script called, Master Syndicator
which will code your content for you. http://willmaster.com/master/
Using JavaScript to display your navigational
set up can not only enable you to instantly update the content
on every page of your website, but can also save you hours
of valuable tim
