Making Something Stand Out Let an announcement be seen constantly

[mrdee 1]

I have been thinking about a solution for the following:When I announce something on my website, an event that is some time away, how can I make it re-appear, without having to constantly repeat the post?To make things a bit clearer: my (static) page is laid out with a table on the left, whe the menu resides, and then on the right, I have the main body, where separate articles appear, one above the other, every time with a separate table for a new article, made up by date (see attached screenshot).Obviously, as new articles appear (and I update daily), the announcement is going to be pushed to the bottom more and more, and after a few days, it probably will not get noticed anymore.I am not keen on using a pop-up, as many people have pop-up blockers in place, which might still make many people miss the announcement.Is there a way I could let the announcement stand out every time someone visits the page in question, eg. by making the article 'float' over the main body of the page or something like that?Any suggestion is,of course welcome, I am sure many knowledgeable and more experienced people than myself will probably have a solution in mind.Thank you very much in advance for any useful suggestions I may receive.

[Indego_Media 1]

why not go back to some old school webdesign such as a scrollilng banner across the top of your page with a link to another page with the full even details.you could also incorporate a calendar style area that again could be linked to the event.either of these will work but I have a preference for the old school scrolling banner simple and very effective at getting the attention of vistiors new or regular.Anyway hope it helpsCheersJase

[mrdee 1]

Yes, Jase, that has helped for sure.Why on earth did I not think about that. am going to make work of it right away the scrolling banner, that is).Thank you so much for your very valuable advice.

[Indego_Media 1]

Yes, Jase, that has helped for sure.
Why on earth did I not think about that.

am going to make work of it right away the scrolling banner, that is).

Thank you so much for your very valuable advice.

MrDee, pleased I could help you out, sometimes the simplest things are just out of our sight. but they make the biggest difference in life.

[mrdee 1]

True, we always seem to overlook the obvious, don't we?Nevertheless, thanks again.

[anwiii 17]

well do you use a content management system? i know wordpress has a sticky feature which can sticky a post. also, there are a couple plugins that can do what you are asking.

[mrdee 1]

No, I don't, anwiii.I did start testing Wordpress but I could never get it to work properly, so I stuck to static pages.

[anwiii 17]

well i tried to search your site for the page with the articles you are talking about and couldn't find it. it's still a little vauge to me since you aren't using a cms platform for your articles. so are you going to write a script using a database or are you going to hard code your articles directly in the html? obviously, if you're writing your articles directly in the html, then it realy fairly easy to have an anouncement always stay on top. so i am assuming you are planning to build the page using a database? if so, what script are you using to do this? there is a reason why people use a cms for this sorta stuff ya know :)i highly suggest installing wordpress on one of your pages where you are writing your articles. it would make things a lot easier. i suggest wordpress because the other content management systems don't offer as much support or addons and plugins

[mrdee 1]

The page you were looking for is http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ .It is plain old HTML, as I have not made anything like commenting o posts etc. available.I will just do a scrolling banner on top.

[web_designer 7]

if you want the "oh dear" topic to stay in the main page. "this is what i understood i hope it is right " you can use CSS with HTML static pages. just add a div under the header and put your code for thr post there inside the div tag and be sure to write all your posts under it. i think it is much more simpler and look prettier than the scrolling idea even it is a good idea too. but i always prefer using CSS you know, any way, it is another solution i hope it may help you, good luck.

[mrdee 1]

Hello again, web_designer,always good to hear from you.Sorry, once again I should have been a little bit clearer.It is not about the "Oh Dear" post, however, your advice is also very sound and I will try it out.My question concerned a post, which is not visible on the English news page, because it concerns an activity which is being held in Flanders, so, not much point in advertising it on the English page.You can go and look at the solution I used, at http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ used a marquee that scrolls a text at the top and it also contains a hyperlink to send people to a page where they can get more info.The post about this is also on the page, but has obviously began to scroll down now, hence the scrolling advert.However, i will try out your suggestion too and see what it does for me.Anyway, go and have a look on the page I just posted here and let me know what you think about the solution (It is in Dutch, but you should get the gist, as I just explained.Thank you for your help.

[web_designer 7]

Hello again, web_designer,always good to hear from you.

Sorry, once again I should have been a little bit clearer.
It is not about the "Oh Dear" post, however, your advice is also very sound and I will try it out.

My question concerned a post, which is not visible on the English news page, because it concerns an activity which is being held in Flanders, so, not much point in advertising it on the English page.

You can go and look at the solution I used, at http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

I used a marquee that scrolls a text at the top and it also contains a hyperlink to send people to a page where they can get more info.

The post about this is also on the page, but has obviously began to scroll down now, hence the scrolling advert.

However, i will try out your suggestion too and see what it does for me.

Anyway, go and have a look on the page I just posted here and let me know what you think about the solution (It is in Dutch, but you should get the gist, as I just explained.

Thank you for your help.

WOW, i really liked the music in your home page. it has something that so fit with your site. and about the marquee, it looks fine and neat with the overall look. and if you want the whole post be in the main page you can use my suggestion, just by adding div tag in the same place where the marquee is, it should be something like this in your main page:

<div id="static_post">your post goes here</div>

and in your css file, you should add something like this:

#static_post {   width:900px;   border:1px solid #000000;}

by not setting height then the the div will expand with the length of your post, also you can add a specific font color to the post or any further property.

this is only an example in case you wanted to try it but you did fine there with the marquee. so it is all up to you. good luck and if you need any help just let me know.

[mrdee 1]

Thank you for the compliments web_designer.The powerful piece of music you hear on the home page (the one at the very beginning where you choose the language) is called "De Vlaamse Leeuw" (The Flemish Lion) the national anthem of Flanders, referring to the lion on our flag.My site is a Flemish-nationalist site which aims to help to achieve independence for Flanders, independence from Belgium.The music you hear on the news page is something unique too typical Flemish, only Flanders has carrilons in its bellfries.A carillon is a set of bells (like church bells) which are played from a console a bit similar to an organ, with a manual and a pedalboard, except, of course that the keys on the manual are hit with the fists rather than played with the fingers.I used a sampled sound set from a real Flemish carillon placed in the bellfry of Ghent if you like I will upload a picture of the console.Anyway, I went a bit off-topic, but you showed an interest in certain parts of my website so that I felt I owed you some further explanations.Also once again thanks a lot for your good advice I shall bear the <div> solution in mind too.

[web_designer 7]

Thank you for the compliments web_designer.The powerful piece of music you hear on the home page (the one at the very beginning where you choose the language) is called "De Vlaamse Leeuw" (The Flemish Lion) the national anthem of Flanders, referring to the lion on our flag.

My site is a Flemish-nationalist site which aims to help to achieve independence for Flanders, independence from Belgium.

The music you hear on the news page is something unique too typical Flemish, only Flanders has carrilons in its bellfries.

A carillon is a set of bells (like church bells) which are played from a console a bit similar to an organ, with a manual and a pedalboard, except, of course that the keys on the manual are hit with the fists rather than played with the fingers.

I used a sampled sound set from a real Flemish carillon placed in the bellfry of Ghent if you like I will upload a picture of the console.

Anyway, I went a bit off-topic, but you showed an interest in certain parts of my website so that I felt I owed you some further explanations.

Also once again thanks a lot for your good advice I shall bear the <div> solution in mind too.

thanks for the explanation, it was really interesting reading those information that are most of them new to me . i googled most of you said to understand you better and i found new things to know. maybe when you have time post more detailed information about that, i know i will enjoy reading more about your culture .

and in general i don't consider that as an off-topic, because choosing good music that fits your website is very important thing i guess. when you add music to your site it should be related to your contents or at least represent something about you or your site. or else, it will make your site noisy and unprofessional and will make the visitors run away right?? so it is all connected to web design eventually .

[mrdee 1]

thanks for the explanation, it was really interesting reading those information that are most of them new to me . i googled most of you said to understand you better and i found new things to know.

No need for all the Googling.Just use the menu to have a look at the pages "Persons", which shows you information about famous Flemings, from freedom fighters and martyrs to scientists, artists and sports people. When you read that information you will see in some of the topics the things that rotten state Belgium has done to Flanders in its short existence (only since 1830).
Please also feel free to give me any suggestions if you feel the page could do with improvement in some way. I will be updating that page soon and, to begin with, add an alphabetic search feature.

maybe when you have time post more detailed information about that, i know i will enjoy reading more about your culture .

Also have a look at the page "Flanders", where you can find a political, historical, geographic and ethnic insight into that beautiful piece of land.This is going to be updated soon too, but will need a lot of work as it is the most complex and extensive topic of the website.

and in general i don't consider that as an off-topic, because choosing good music that fits your website is very important thing i guess. when you add music to your site it should be related to your contents or at least represent something about you or your site. or else, it will make your site noisy and unprofessional and will make the visitors run away right?? so it is all connected to web design eventually .

Thank you for that advice and compliment as well, I am also very proud with the piece of music I put on the persons page.
I thought that was very appropriate for a page where you intend to remember people.
Let me know what you think about this too please.

And further, as you saw already, there are regular news updates, on the media page you can see videos and listen to music, but you can also see clips from the TV news and clips that are relevant to the site.
Then, further, there is an opportunity to send e-cards free of charge, I am in the process of adding to that too.
Feel free to use it.
Also feel free to leave a comment in the guest book, or, if you want to comment on the site, you can use the "Comments" link to fill in a form.

And finally, just keep your suggestions coming.

Oh, yes, almost forgot, one more question about the HTML code you suggested:
How do I get the box with the text centred?
I tried with <div align="center">
<div id="static_post">

your post goes here

</div>
</div>
And that centred it, bu also the text inside the box, I then tried:
<div id="static_post" align="center">

your post goes here

</div>

And that left the box on the left, with the text centred, I would like to know (not strong with <div>) how I can get the box centered, with the text inside it left aligned.


Thank you again.
Edited May 20, 2011 by mrdee (see edit history)