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Snippets possible with HTML and scripts?

by Phil
4 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
Hi,
I have been asked to create a site using snippets of articles on the
homepage to draw visitors to the actual articles on the site.

Is there a simple way of doing this with html? Does anyone know of
a script which could create this functionality? Or does the site have
to be in php?

My expertise doesn't stretch to php, and nor does my client's budget,
so I am hoping I can find a compromise. The client has suggested they
would instead create the snippets and place them each time a new
article went on - but I think that's a terribly awkward way of doing it
and probably would end up in difficulties along the line.

If my hopes aren't possible, perhaps there is a template I could use.
Anyone now of one? Client specifically doesn't want Wordpress or
Joomla - so that's ruled out.

Any ideas, suggestions, etc, much appreciated.
Phil
#html #scripts #snippets
  • Profile picture of the author Niche Kid
    Hi Phil,

    I think this will be harder not using php. You could display the snippets by grabbing them from an RSS feed. If you go to dynamicdrive (dot) com and search for "snippet" or "rss" you can find ready made javascript functions that will do this for you.

    The hard bit will be creating your RSS feed without using php. If you search google for "how to create rss feed" you will find online apps that will create it for you... but this method seems a bit tedious as you will have to manually enter each article snippet.

    Sorry, I can't think of anything better at the moment...

    cheers,
    Simon.
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  • Profile picture of the author wayfarer
    If your client's budget doesn't extend to programming, I would just let them do it their way. Snippets generated by JavaScript aren't going to be viewable by search engines (if that is what you are even after).

    If you can upsell your client, I would outsource it, since you don't know PHP. There are plenty of short-term coders from around the world that would be willing to do a simple task like this at a reduced rate.
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  • Profile picture of the author xga
    If you only have a few articles, then manually creating the snippet is possible. For large number of articles, some form of programming has to be involved. If it is not PHP, then it will probably be something else. But doing it in PHP is probably the most straightforward.
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  • Profile picture of the author Phil
    Thanks for your responses.

    The problem with the RSS Javascript solution, I think, is that my client
    wants small thumbnail images next to each snippet, and not just a feed
    list. Maybe there is a sophisticated Javascript out there that would allow
    me to specify article urls where it would draw a headline and first 200
    characters - but then there would be the need to create and store a
    thumbnail somewhere - being a bit limited when it comes to Javascript
    I would need a useable script ready to go.

    And it would have to be fairly straightforward for the client to be able
    to update it himself. Usually, Contribute is the simplest solution - but
    I'm not sure if, or how, it would handle this kind of detail.

    Phil
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