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Fri, Oct 2nd - 1:03PM
Transferred Site Repair Tutorial #3 - Buttons
Now that we have backgrounds taken care of, it's time for us to deal with navigation buttons.
Even if you didn't use a template to create your GeoCities site, you most likely did make use of the available buttons.
What is a "button"?
When it comes to websites, a "button" is exactly what it sounds like - something you push to make something happen.
The most common buttons found on GeoCities sites are as follows:
In most all cases, buttons on GeoCities sites act as a form of navigation that allows visitors to move around on your site.
What Will Happen if You Don’t Fix the Buttons?
As with any other graphic element, your GeoCities buttons will disappear once they close down. You could choose to do nothing about your buttons and your visitors will still be able to navigate your site.
Here are the most likely results of not fixing your site buttons by the closure date:
- In most cases, a broken image symbol will appear on your site.
- In other cases, the "alt" tag will display within the broken image symbol with some text that tells your visitors what the linked missing image will do, like "Go to homepage."
- If you're really lucky, only the alt tag will show without the broken image symbol.
In all these cases, your visitors will still be able to navigate your site.
The Simple Fix - Text Links
The easiest way to fix your soon-to-be missing buttons is to get rid of the image altogether and replace it with a simple text link. It's not the prettiest, but it will do the job.
Here's what you need to do:
1. Open your Webspace CMS.
2. Open the page you wish to edit.
3. Activate your browser's Find function and search for "geocities." (For help on steps 1-3, click here.)
4. Keep clicking the Next arrow until you find a geocities URL that is located next to an "href=" tag. Here's an example:
Did you spot that signature "clipart" parameter in the GeoCities image URL?
5. Highlight and delete the entire img src URL.
6. Type the text you want to appear in the space you just deleted.
For this example, we have changed the button on altonbcc's Webspace to a simple text link. Here's what his site looked like before making the change:
Here's what it looks like after making the change
Like we said before, it's not pretty but it will work. In altonbcc's case, he used tables to build his site. This one could be improved by widening this cell.
The Challenging Fix - Replace Buttons
Text link not going to cut it for you? Want something a little more spiffy on your site. Then you're going to have to search for some replacement buttons.
Once you find something you like, simply upload the images to your Webspace folder or designated subfolder. Then change the URL of the link we deleted in the Simple Fix option above to the new image's location.
- If you put the image in your top level Webspace folder, you will change the URL to "picture.jpg."
- If you put the image in a subfolder, you will change the URL to "subfolder/picture.jpg"
Note that both of the examples above do not contain an initial forward slash "/" or any of the remaining URL parameters http://webspace.com/people/wa/altonbcc.
For help with uploading images and changing your page's code, see this tutorial.
To find images, search WebRing for related rings or do a search using your favorite search engine, like Google, Yahoo, or the newly launched MSN Bing. We recommend starting with the keywords "free website buttons."
The Ultra-challenging Fix - Create New Buttons
If you're up for the challenge, you could create your own buttons. We did this for altonbcc's site.
Here's what we did:
- Viewed the button image at http://www.geocities.com/clipart/pbi/buttons/Generic/click1.gif
- Took note of the image's width and height (53x27)
- Created the new button image using Photoshop.
- Followed the steps in The Challenging Fix above.
After making these changes, here's what altonbcc's page now looks like:
If you don't have Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, we recommend the free-to-use and very powerful Aviary.
Next, we will bring you "Transferred Site Repair Tutorial #4 - Bullets"
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