splitting the screen

guzmere
23 May 2013, 08:28
Really sorry to bother you all again but does anyone know a way to split the screen so the top half stays static and the bottom half scrolls underneath. Or if anyone can suggest a good book on learning html and css. I've tried the web tutorials but haven't seemed to grasp the concept. Thanks Terry :D Happy Adventuring :D

jaynabonne
23 May 2013, 09:34
Here is one way to do it.

Quest already supports a panel for an image, but there is a general interface to setting content in it (which can be HTML!). The problem is that it assumes it's only being used for that image, and keeps turning the panel off if there isn't one. So you first need to add this to your game file:

<function name="ClearFramePicture">
</function>


This is an override of the core function that clears the frame picture on each turn. By making it empty, the panel will now not go away (unless you make it).

Then you can simply do:

request (SetPanelContents, "This is some panel content!")


to set what you want. (What goes in the string can be whatever you want. In my game, it's an entire CSS tag plus enough HTML to make your eyes glaze over.) Pass an empty string ("") to make the panel go away.

Enjoy! :)

guzmere
23 May 2013, 10:16
We are not worthy. we are not worthy Oh worshipful one. thanks Jay I can see the potential in that magic thanks again Terry . I'l get off my knees now :lol: :lol: :D Happy Adventuring :D

guzmere
23 May 2013, 10:35
Jay is there a book you can recommend for learning the html at all? Terry :D Happy Adventuring :D

jaynabonne
23 May 2013, 10:49
I'm afraid not. I've never read one. But there should be lots of info out on the internet.

If you're absolulely new to HTML, here is one that might be of use:

http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html ... -start.htm

If you know some - enough to understand the general way things work - then I'd recommend doing what I have done: try to make something work, look up how to do it, and research or ask questions when it doesn't. :)

Feel free to ask any HTML questions. There are a number of knowledgable people in these forums.

guzmere
23 May 2013, 13:08
thanks Jay it's not not that I don't understand the basics of computer programming as I used to program in depth in basic on the c 64 back in the days of yore even to point of making a program for a video shop and saving data on a drive. It's just the syntax of the html that eludes me. It won't seem to sink in. Terry :D Happy Adventuring :D

jaynabonne
23 May 2013, 13:23
Yeah, HTML is more a markup language than a procedural language. Quite a different mindset. :) More a definition of "being" than "doing"...

Writing more modern HTML code (not that I'm more than a novice in it myself) is largely defining container elements (e.g. divs, spans, etc) and then applying styles to them to layout and format the contents. It's all very indirect and can be frustating (I have found).

Fortunately, almost any question I have, I type it into Google, and someone else has asked it as well. :)

Liam315
23 May 2013, 14:05
I've only just started learning HTML from a completely non-coding background. A friend of mine showed me this and I've found it incredibly instructive:

http://www.codecademy.com/learn

It's interactive in nature rather than just explanations, it teaches you how to do something and you work through a couple of examples. I find that being able to see the results of what you're coding step by step is a big help. Obviously it's only the basics, but for a grounding in syntax and common tags then I highly recommend it. The first one, Web Fundamentals, covers HTML and CSS but there are course tracks for jquery, javascript, php, python, ruby, and APIs.

guzmere
23 May 2013, 19:44
Thanks Liam I'll look into that. Terry :D Happy Adventuring :D

Sora574
24 May 2013, 01:03
:shock: Liam -- Thanks for that link.
I didn't realize how easy it was to animate things with jQuery... I'm going to have to start learning that.

Most of what I learned about HTML was from w3schools.com but I don't think I ever bothered learning about jQuery, but either way, I like the hands-on experience codecademy gives.