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18 Jan 06 - 06:12 AM (#1650760) Subject: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: greg stephens I am at this moment accessing Mudcat using ntl cabletv internet access. That is to say, I have no computer, I am looking at my TV screen, and Mudcat is coming out of a little black box sitting on top.I have a remote control keyboard, which has a few computery looking keys that I dont know anything about: eg ctrl and alt. Now, I would like to make a blue clickie, but as far as I can see this is not possible without a computer. Now, there are clever people out there who might be able to tell me I am wrong, and show me what to do. Any offers? |
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18 Jan 06 - 06:46 AM (#1650769) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: JohnInKansas People have complained about the limitations of cableTV access in the past, and no real help seems to have come from their comments. Since I know virtually nothing about how it works, of course I'm fully qualified to offer blithering opinions. I have no idea if I can offer anything helpful. If you see text and, as is obvious from your post you can write text, it should be possible for you to write the text for a clicky if you have the characters required. The normal and vastly oversimplified pitch on how it all works, is that you send plain text to mudcat, and it's the html wizard at mudcat - and at the machine that receives and reads it - that turns the correct text into a clicky. The "strange" characters you need to be able to "type" are just < and > and /. If you can type: <a href="TheURLforTheLinkYouWant">WhatYouWantToShow</a> in theory, you should get a clicky when it's posted at mudcat. Your screen should show somewhere the "URL" for the thing you want to link, probably labelled as an "Address" for the site you want to link to. The "WhatYouWantToShow" is what will be blue - and what others will click on - to go to your link. Note that I don't really have any idea whether this will work, but its a good theory to start with.(????) Perhaps one of those with a similar setup will be along in a while. John |
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18 Jan 06 - 06:49 AM (#1650770) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: Rasener Greg Sent PM Les |
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18 Jan 06 - 06:58 AM (#1650774) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: greg stephens No PM come in yet,Villan.John from Kansas: I dont fully.understand your instructions. eg I know the address for the forum is mudcat.org/threads.cfm So what exactly would I type to make a blue clickie appear in a post I make here, that would appear as the words"mudcat forum" in blue? My keyboard has got a < and a > |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:04 AM (#1650776) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: JohnInKansas If you type: <a href="mudcat.org/threads.cfm">Mudcat</a> hopefully, when it's posted, readers will see: Mudcat As Joe O likes to point out, the quotes ("") aren't absolutely necessary here, but it's best to use them if you're linking from another site. Some sites get along without them and some don't. Just make sure if you use one of them that you get both of them in - or leave them both out. John |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:08 AM (#1650778) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: The Fooles Troupe "the address for the forum is mudcat.org/threads.cfm" no it's really http://www.mudcat.org/threads.cfm (in full - leaving ooff bits may mean it won't work!) you put this in the "TheURLforTheLinkYouWant" bit and something to show in blue (e.g. The Mudcat) on the screen in the "WhatYouWantToShow" in John's answer above of 18 Jan 06 - 06:46 AM Robin |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:22 AM (#1650783) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: Rasener The world waits with bated breath to ee if Greg becomes the wonder boy :-) |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:23 AM (#1650784) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: greg stephens Thanks now I understand it. I will have a go. So, if anybody wants a bit of help in life, go to http:\\www.mudcat.org<\a> Alternatively, if I want to be cleverer and call it by its name If you want some help, check out the mudcat forum |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:24 AM (#1650786) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: Rasener Whoo hooo there's no stopping Greg now :-) |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:31 AM (#1650791) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: greg stephens OK I made a mistake there, I'll try again. But we are getting somewhere You can do this go to http:www.mudcat.org/threads.cfm or you could say(if you want to be chattier and less computery) go to the friendly helpful mudcat forum |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:34 AM (#1650793) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: greg stephens Wow I did it! With the huge help from John in Kansas, the Villan and Foolestroupe. I am empowered. In future all my posts will be absolutely full of blue clickies pointing people to all sorts of incredibly boring sites about bluegrass banjo playing or the Iraq war. |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:35 AM (#1650794) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: Rasener smart arse :-) |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:38 AM (#1650796) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: JohnInKansas Good point Robin. This thread, right now, shows in my browser address bar as: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=88141&messages=6 To link to this thread, from a post on another website, I would need to type: <a href="http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=88141&messages=6">Tech:Cabletv internet/blue clickie</a> and it would show, theoretically on any site where I posted it as: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie It may be worth noting that some websites will automatically convert anything in a post that "looks like a web address" to a link. You also may receive email where the sender just typed the URL, but your email program made it into a link. I'm not sure I agree that's always a good idea; but you do need to be aware of the "traditions" on any site where you may want to post. (whb - ignore the following for now if it's confusing:) IF I were posting here, on mudcat, a link to this thread from some other thread, I could shorten that to typing: <a href="/thread.cfm?threadid=88141&messages=6">Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie</a> The "leading slash" would tell my browser that it's a local link on whatever site I'm on when I click it. The link would look the same, but the address it's using wouldn't work if it was posted anywhere except at mudcat.org. If you use the complete web address, it will always (never say that) work, posted anywhere on the internet, or in some cases "posted" in a document on your own computer. Anything less than the complete address is only good for jumping around within a given server after you're there. John |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:44 AM (#1650799) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: JohnInKansas whb - You solved the problem while I was looking at source code to see what you typed. A simple matter of typing \ instead of / in one place in the first try. I'm immensely relieved that your webTV actually works as "expected." Several previous queries on the matter gave up before a solution was found. John |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:45 AM (#1650801) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: The Fooles Troupe The link that John gave in the message of 18 Jan 06 - 07:04 AM when clicked on, caused my PC to lock the window. It is only possible for me to unlock it by shutting down MSIE completely, and that is only possible by using the Vulcan Nerve pinch to get the task list and kill the offending process. Sometimes the PC locks up so well, that I can;t even get to the process control window. As I said, leaving bits out of the full URL may cause problems, depending on whether the PC trying to view the link has been set up to automatically include some bits left out of the URL. This does not apply to 'relative URLs", as as when linking to another thread inside mudcat eg http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=87713&messages=48 is the full one, and will take you to the last message number mentioned, but you only need http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=87713 and really only threadid=87713 for relative addressing, just in case the messages are ever moved from www.mudcat.org, as I seem to remember happening with the 'back door'. |
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18 Jan 06 - 07:58 AM (#1650810) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: JohnInKansas Using the full address for links on mudcat was more of a problem in the past than now. When there were multiple servers, using the full address in a link to a thread usually would take you to the server on which the original link was posted. If that wasn't the one you were on when you clicked, it meant backing out and reconnecting. If the other server was down, it meant losing the connection completely. A local link would take you to the thread, on whichever server you were currently on. Since we really only have one server now, it shouldn't cause a real problem to use full links now, although it may be a minor traffic hit for the 'cat. (Someone who knows how the 'cat server works may have an opinion of another sort.) Note that most people do use local links within mudcat, so you usually can't "copy" a link to post on some other website. John |
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18 Jan 06 - 08:11 AM (#1650823) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: JohnInKansas Robin - Sorry about the link. I just made a link from the same text that was posted, as a "how to do it" without trying to make it real. My IE gives me a page not found, but doesn't lock up on the link. (I usually "open in new window" for suspicious things like that.) Perhaps you're short enough on RAM that you're getting some memory overwrite. That seems to be the most common cause of program locks. The 'cat does occasionally try to hang when there's traffic going in and out. I've suspected that my long delays on page loading may have something to do with changing pages while a post is in process, and IE is "unresponsive" during the delays. I usually find that the "Stop" button - the red "X" toward the left on the IE toolbar - will unlock things, although it may leave you unconnected in hyperspace. Once the "hang" is resolved, the Back button usually (not always) gets back to the real world - such as it is. Your mileage may vary, of course. John |
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18 Jan 06 - 08:21 AM (#1650830) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: greg stephens I'll tell you something very interesting. Or very boring. If you type http://mudcat.org or http:\\mudcat.org it doesnt matter. BUT if you type it's not the same as <\a> Weird eh? Also, I'm now going to do one more little test which people should ignore unless they want to know a lot about a fiddler called William Irwin |
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18 Jan 06 - 08:25 AM (#1650835) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: The Fooles Troupe 512 Mb RAM I Gb PIII 98SE I opened in another window - lockups are not unusual for this box. "I've suspected that my long delays on page loading may have something to do with changing pages while a post is in process, and IE is "unresponsive" during the delays. " I feel that may be something to do with the TCP/IP frame getting lost - a check of my System Monitor reveals lots of CRC errors, incomplete frames, and overrun errors on my dialup link. The Stop button usually has no effect. Sometimes my background dnlder (FDM) seems to hang a bit, and shutting it down eases the hang - sometimes I have to VNP the mongrel, as it seems to shut down according to the screen, but is still sitting in the task list un-responding. My ISP and phome line - Optus cable (digital) gets bursty interference, the spped can run from 50,000 down to 1200 baud and bounce back up in a session sometimes - I have a self adjusting Woomera modem. |
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18 Jan 06 - 08:29 AM (#1650837) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: Rasener This is a very valuable thread on how to do a link without having to go through the blue clickie process. As for Greg, there's no stopping him now that he has his new toy :-) |
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18 Jan 06 - 09:43 AM (#1650852) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: GUEST Re the links. It is best to omit the htpp://www bit in INTERNAL links to Mudcat. The reason for this is that Mudcat has in the past and may in the future have more than one address for the forum. If (using a real example from the past) www.mudcat.org was down and loki.mudcat.org was being used as a backdoor, any link given in full for www would fail but a relative link would work. In: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=87713&messages=48 Unless there is a fairly recent change, the messages parameter does nothing in terms of taking you to a specific post in a page. All it did/does is gives a unique link for the thread with that number of posts so you see a blue link again when a thread you have visited has a new post added. A very crude but effetive all the same method. I'll tell you something very interesting. Or very boring. If you type http://mudcat.org or http:\\mudcat.org it doesnt matter. It does matter. Some browsers may convert \\ to // for you but otherw will not. The correct and only method is // . |
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18 Jan 06 - 09:47 AM (#1650855) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: GUEST In fact, those links with \ in give me: 400 Bad Request Request cannot be handled by the server. Reason: URL has unsafe spurious path elements. Cannot continue. |
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18 Jan 06 - 09:55 AM (#1650859) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: greg stephens Re \ or /. It must have just been my broswer: certainly I typed them the wrong way round when experimenting, and it didnt make any difference. |
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18 Jan 06 - 10:10 AM (#1650869) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: GUEST I think you will find that IE copes with them. I'm guessing but a possible reason for some browsers being tolerant with these incorrect URLs is because of Microsoft file/path names. Other systems, certianly Unix types, in common with URLs, use the forward slash (/) in file names wheras MS uses a backslash (\). |
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18 Jan 06 - 11:29 AM (#1650929) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: JohnInKansas The backslash (\) in DOS filenames has often been cited as the " *stupidest thing BG ever did " since by using the character that most other systems used for the "Esc" (Escape) character, there was no simple way to insert an Esc char in a script. Since most printers and modems in the early DOS era required the Esc character in scripts to get them to work, I presume I am not alone in having compiled my own several pages (and several versions) of "100 or more ways to enter the Esc char" as a ready reference tucked in the rack where the fanfold paper for the printer came out. * This particular "stupidest thing" certainly has been displaced by more recent ones, so please - no arguments about which is the current one. John |
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18 Jan 06 - 11:55 AM (#1650945) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: Bill D *smile*...Welcome to the Blue Clickie club, greg! Ain't technology fascinating? I remember when I first started to do this, I kept a copy of the little 'formula' and just copied and pasted it in, then filled in the relevant parts. Then one day I realized I knew the formula, just as you know guitar fingering after doing it awhile....so I just started typing it. You can do the same thing with underlining, italics, bold, ...and that's a great article, by the way! |
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05 Feb 06 - 02:12 PM (#1662230) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: greg stephens Ignore this post,everybody please, I'm just trying out a suggestion Go to Penkhull Mystery Plays |
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05 Feb 06 - 05:35 PM (#1662397) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: Kaleea For some odd reason, I rarely am able to make a blue clicky on the 'Cat. The only time I remember being able to was immediately following having to reset my 'Cat cookie. |
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05 Feb 06 - 06:56 PM (#1662438) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: JohnInKansas Kaleea - There may be some mysterious reason, but it's probably just that you haven't trained your muscle memory to hit the right keys. Since guests can post here, you obviously don't have to have a cookie, and it shouldn't affect a post even if yours is a bit crumbled. Best way to figure it out is to look at one of your own attempts that doesn't work, fugure out what's wrong with it, and then you'll probably remember how (or at least how not the make the same mistake. If you click (put an x in) the "preview" box, when you hit the Submit button, the "how it will look" will have your clickie - working or not - in it. If you right click on the clicky in the preview box, and "open in new window," you get to test whether it works without losing what you did in the original input box. If the clicky works, close the new window, hit the submit again and post. If it doesn't, go back and see if you can figure out what went wrong. Note: you can "test" as many times as you want if you make sure the preview box is checked each time, and then just delete everything from the input box and try another - and click out (back button or click another link) without posting when you're done if it was just practice. There also are a couple of "Practice" threads for testing, if you want to study up. If you go ahead and post one there that doesn't work, you'll likely find someone who can look at the source code for what you did and help with what went wrong. <a href="url">display</a> url is the address that you usually can copy from the top bar on your browser in the web page you want people to go to. display is what you want to say in what turns blue. Just in case, you can use the form: <a href="url">url</a> (i.e. just paste the address both places) and usually even if the "clickie" doesn't work the url will be displayed so people can find where you wanted them to go. A side note - if you type into your word processor and then paste here, sometimes "curly quotes" (.". ".)are not recognized by html processors. You should use "straight quotes" in html. John |
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05 Feb 06 - 07:01 PM (#1662447) Subject: RE: Tech: Cabletv internet/blue clickie From: JohnInKansas I see from my last post that the 'cat converted the curly quotes in my "example" to straight ones, although it did display curlies in the preview. Not all websites are as considerate, so it's best to turn off the curlies if you're doing html input in a word processor. John |