Welcome to the HTML help section. The use of HTML on your DataPitStop web site is fairly straight forward. There are a few exceptions however. This overview will outline these exceptions and also give you a few pointers when using HTML on your web site.

Quick Jump

Tag Exceptions

This is a list of forbidden HTML tags for DataPitStop. You do not need to use these tags. If you do, they are simply stripped out when your page is rendered. The following is a list of the forbidden tags and workarounds where applicable.

<HTML></HTML>
We take care of all web page creation. You simply provide the content. You will never see these tags anywhere on our site unless you view the page source. If you place these tags in any box that allows HTML, they will be stripped and ignored when the page is rendered.
<HEAD></HEAD>
The use of the HEAD></HEAD> tags, as well as any tags that reside within these tags, are not needed. We realize the contents of these tags are important, so we have provided alternate ways for you to specify this data.

<TITLE>
We realize your page title is important, so we have provided a way for you to set it. The title is constructed in 2 parts.

The first part of your title is your "Company Name." The company name is set when you log into your administration page. Under the first section titled "Member Administration", you should see an option for "Member Information." On the "Member Information" page you should see the first box labeled "Company Name." This is the first part of your title.

The second part of your title is the name of the "Menu Item" you are currently on. When I say "Menu Page", I am referring to an actual web page. The easiest way find this out is to login to your site, then scroll down to the bottom section labeled "Current Web Pages." See the names associated with your pages? These are the second part of your page title. They also happen to be the names that show on your menu.

To give you an example, lets say your company name is XYZ Corporation and you have a web page that you named "About Us." The title that will show at the top of the browser will be "XYZ Corporation, About Us".

<META>
Like your page title, Meta Tags can be an important tool for you to have. You have the ability to specify Meta Tags in 2 different ways.

The first option you have is to set global Meta Tags. Global means that you create the tags once, but they automatically used on all of your pages. In order to set global Meta Tags, you need to login to your site, then click on the "Configuration Settings" option under "Site Administration." On this page there is a section called "Meta Tags." You simply need to enter in your tags here. Whatever you enter here will be carried over to all your web pages.

The second way to specify Meta Tags is via each individual web page. Whenever you create a new web page, or edit an existing web page, there is a special box called "Meta Tag Information." This box allows you to enter Meta Tags. Just remember they are limited to the current web page only.

<BODY></BODY>
The <BODY></BODY> tags are not used. Like the <HTML></HTML> tags, we provide these for you and you will never see them. If you include them on any HTML box they will be stripped out when your page is rendered.


Using Images

Using images with your DataPitStop web site is a little different than using images with standard HTML. It is important to note that right after you upload an image for a web page, Calendar Event, etc, the image will immediately be displayed on your page. Images are placed at the bottom of your page by default. This is called Standard Image Placement.

If you do not want to have your images automatically placed at the bottom of the page, you will need to embed them on your page. This is the normal procedure when creating a standard HTML page. We have created 2 special HTML tags that will enable you to accomplish this. This is only meant to be a quick explanation on what these 2 new tags are and how they are used. You will need to refer to Using Images for detailed information. These 2 new tags are:

[!IMAGEL:24!]
[!FILENAME:18!]
The first tag, [!IMAGEX:X!], will enable you to embed images anywhere you wish. It was designed to be easy to use. It completely replaces the <IMG SRC=""> HTML tag which is probably what you are familiar with. It is also easier to use.

The second tag, [!FILENAME:18!], is meant to be used with the standard HTML tag <IMG SRC="">. Wherever you place this tag, the full path to your image (on our sever) will be placed. This enables you to do something like <IMG SRC="[!FILENAME:10!]">. This tag can be used anywhere that required you to specify the full image path.

One final note on using these 2 tags. The first one, UPLOAD, enables you to use all of the image features such as Weblink, Description, Full Size Images ,etc, which you specify when you upload the image. The FILENAME tag does not. The reason is simple. As stated, the FILENAME tag simply places the full path to your image wherever you place the tag. It doesn't do anything else. The UPLAOD tag on the other hand places the image on your page for you. It reads in your image preferences and applies them accordingly.


HTML Editors

Lets face it, for most people, HTML editors make web page creation much easier. Not everyone has the time or patience to learn HTML. Fortunately, you can use HTML editors such as Microsoft Frontpage or Macromedia Dreamweaver to create your web pages. You can copy and paste the HTML your editor created right into one of your DataPitStop pages. This not only includes actual web pages, but also News Articles, FAQs, and even Calendar Events, among others. As with most things in life, there are exceptions.

We only support standard HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Editors that are part of a larger software bundle, such as Microsoft Frontpage, sometimes use proprietary features. In Frontpage's case, it can use Frontpage Extensions. Notice I said "can". You do not have to use Frontpage Extensions with Frontpage. You can create standard HTML web pages. The point I am trying to get across is that we do not support anything that is not standard HTML, CSS, or Javascript. All proprietary, third party software is unsupported.

If you read the "Exceptions" section at the beginning of this document, you know that some HTML tags are forbidden. Your HTML editor surely will use these tags in your code. You don't need to remove them. Just copy and past all of the code onto your page. The tags you cannot use are simply ignored.

Again, if you read the "Exceptions" section at the beginning of this document, you know that the way you work with images is a little different. Unfortunately, this part of your code will need to be changed if you included images. I suggest in this situation, that you use the FILENAME tag. That way, all you have to do is replace something like <IMG SRC="my_image.jpg"> with something like <IMG SRC="[!FILENAME:10!]">. You could even just replace the entire <IMG SRC="my_image.jpg"> tag with just [!IMAGEL:10!]. You have a few choices on how to deal with this but it is very easy and will not take much time.

The following is a list of HTML editors. We do not endorse any of these, this list is a means for individuals to identifying some of the common editors.

  • Accella
  • AceHTML 5
  • Adobe Page Mill
  • Coffee Cup HTML Editor
  • Cute HTML
  • Flex Site
  • Macromedia Dreamweaver
  • Meta Products Web Studio
  • Microsoft Frontpage
  • Namo Web Editor
  • Quickie Web Page
  • Ring HTML
  • Sothink HTML Editor
  • TopStyle Pro
  • WebDwarf