Photo Calendar Input Form
The input fields on this form control the information displayed on the finished
calendar page. Keyboard conventions for entering data depend on the browser you
are using. The following description is based on my experience using the
Mozilla/Firefox browser. Keyboard conventions on Internet Explorer are slightly
different.
The tab key will shift keyboard focus foreward from one input field to the next.
Pressing shift and tab together moves keyboard focus backward. Any change to a
text input field will be applied after it loses keyboard focus.
Select Year and Month
Click on the year or month choice box for a drop-down menu of choices. Scroll
down and click on the desired entry. The calendar block will update to reflect
any changes.
After you have made a selection, the choice box retains keyboard focus. You can
use the up-arrow and down-arrow keys to scroll through the choice list.
On Mozilla, you must press the Enter key (or shift keyboard focus out of the
input field) to change the selection.
The "+" button is a quick way to select the next month. Once this button has
keyboard focus, pressing the space bar will advance the month selection.
Select Photo
Select the photo that you want on the current calendar page. The file must be
in a graphical format that your browser understands. There are three methods
for selecting an image file.
1. Manual Entry
Click on the Photo text input line and type in the file pathname. To replace an
existing entry, double click (triple click on Internet Explorer) to select the
whole line then type in a new pathname. To modify an existing entry, click to
position the text cursor then Backspace to erase text. Alternatively, click and
drag the cursor to select text then type in replacement text. Press the tab key
when finished to input the modified line. Entering a blank file name will reset
all text input fields to their default state.
2. Browse
Click the Browse button to bring up a file selection dialog. Traverse the
directory hierarchy to find the image file you want. Double click the desired
file to end the dialog (or click the Open/Save button). The file pathname will
appear on the text input line. Click the Select button to update the Photo
selection.
3. Drag and Drop
On Linux, you can use drag and drop to select an image file. First clear the
Photo text input line by double clicking and pressing Backspace. Click on the
desired image file in another window (e.g. a directory listing), drag the
cursor over to the Photo text input line and release. The file pathname will
appear as text on the input line. Press the Tab key to update the Photo
selection. The default drag and drop behavior on Microsoft Windows is not
useful.
Enter Caption and Copyright
After selecting your photo, tab down to the Caption line and type in the
desired photo caption. Tab again and enter the copyright name. A blank entry on
either of these lines will suppress output on the calendar page, leaving more
space for the photo.
Select Calendar Notations
The lower right frame contains a list of calendar notations. Click on the
checkboxes to toggle notations on/off. The calendar block will update to reflect
your changes. Once a checkbox has keyboard focus, pressing the space bar will
toggle that selection.
There is generally room for only two or three notations in a date cell. The
browser will enlarge a cell to accommodate its contents. However, this creates a
non-uniform calendar block and may overflow the bottom of the page when printed.
Choose Formating Options
The format of the calendar block is controlled by these options. Click on the
checkbox to toggle an option on/off.
1. Start of Week
Traditional calendars start the week with Sunday. Starting with Monday groups
the weekend days together in a more convenient scheduling block.
2. Overflow Week
Most months need five rows for the weekly display. Depending on the start day,
there may be one or two days that overflow into a sixth week. The overflow week
is typically merged by double stacking the extra days. This gives all the
calendar blocks a uniform height. However, it also reduces the space for
notations. If a stacked date cell contains more then one notation, it is better
add a sixth row. The photo space will be reduced to accommodate an enlarged
calendar block.
3. Color Date Cells
Coloring the date cells highlights the difference between weekdays and weekends.
It also uses up a lot of blue ink! When printing on Mozilla, you must enable
background colors from Page Setup. I'm not certain how to print background
colors on Internet Explorer. It may be in Tools->Internet Options->Advanced
under Printing.
4. Show Day of Year
For business purposes or date calculations it may be useful to show the
day-of-year number on each date cell. For example, if you receive a 60 day
layoff notice, you can easily determine your termination date by adding 60 to
the current day number.
Display Calendar Page
Click the DISPLAY button to display the finished calendar page in a separate
window. There are several choices for saving or printing.
1. Save HTML Source
Use the File menu to save the HTML source for the calendar page. You can open
the saved file as a regular browser page. Edit the HTML source if you want to
add special effects not directly supported by the calendar program. The
repetative table layout is easily modified.
2. Print Page
Use the File menu to print the page. You should first use Page Setup to remove
unwanted notations from the page header and footer. Also enable printing of
background colors.
3. Print to File
On Mozilla, use the Print to File option in the File Print dialog to save the
page as a PostScript file. This is a convenient way to save the calendar page
for later printing or to distribute the file to other people. On Internet
Explorer, the Print to File option produces a .prn file, which is probably not
exportable outside of the Microsoft environment.
Persistent State
The principal state parameters (photo, caption, copyright) are saved in a
browser cookie for each calendar month and year. The expiration is set at 400
days. Notation settings and formatting options are saved for the duration of
the current browser session.
Additional Information
The calendar program can be customized with personal notations like birthdays
and anniversaries. For further information refer to the
calendar customization page.
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