Sun Zoom Spark
Wed, 24 May 2000 15:58:16 -0700
This message continues the thread on remotely-hosted resources. ABOUT THE OPEN DIRECTORY PROJECT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Open Directory is a large directory of Internet links maintained by volunteer editors. It is generally considered second in importance to Yahoo, which has many more commercial links. For other types of links, it is probably better. Statistics published earlier this year suggest that the ODP has approximately: 1,700,000 sites in 250,000 categories and 24,00 editors. It is free for use by any organisation or individual, provided that the ODP is acknowledged. The ODP is the source of the directories published by Netscape, Lycos, AOL and hundreds of others -- including InternetTrash. ODP URLs -- http://dmoz.org/ http://dmoz.org/about.html INTERNETTRASH OPEN DIRECTORY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ InternetTrash offers members a customised version of the ODP. However, you cannot configure it by email. There is a further disadvantage -- InternetTrash puts a large banner ad at the top of each directory page. COMMON WAYS OF GETTING THE ODP ONTO WEB SITES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Very large organisations periodically download the entire ODP database, then reformat it for their own needs. The size of the database is more than 100 Mb, and growing fast. It's not something we can handle with ACCMAIL methods. A good alternative for webmasters who can install Perl scripts on their servers is to use a script that 'scrapes' pages from the ODP, then reformats them dynamically when requested by a user. If you are using Lena's FTP-by-email method, this might work for you. The most popular of these Perl scripts is POD (http://grohol.com/downloads/pod/). Others are listed at http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/WWW/Searching_the_Web/Directories/Open_Directory_Project/Use_of_ODP_Data/Upload_Tools/ In practice, most members of this list will need a simpler method ... DIGITAL WINDMILL SCRIPT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Digital Windmill (http://www.digitalwindmill.com/) provide a very easy, free method. There is no need to signup or register, or even visit their web site. It requires just one Javascript statement ... <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="javascript" SRC="http://www.digitalwindmill.com/direct/directory.asp"> </SCRIPT> That really is all you have to do. 'directory.asp' is a call to a database on the DW server. It pulls data directly from the ODP, reformats it, then sends to it your visitor's browser. It looks exactly as it would if you had the entire ODP on your web site. There are some slight disadvantages due to the use of Javascript, and the interaction with the DW server ... * Old browsers don't support Javascript * Recent browsers support it, but the visitor may have disabled it, so nothing will happen * Web-to-email servers don't support Javascript, so you will not see it yourself. * Conventional navigation between pages using 'back' and 'forward' buttons does not work -- the user must use the directory menu. If you think the benefits of the DW resource outweigh these disadvantages, you should try it. EXAMINING THE DIGITAL WINDMILL SCRIPT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First of all, you will want to see what DW is serving up. Use your favourite ACCMAIL method to retrieve http://www.digitalwindmill.com/direct/directory.asp You will get back a long line of HTML code which you can paste into an HTML body. It displays the ODP top level categories. To get any of the lower levels (which is where all the links are) by ACCMAIL requires some persistent hacking. We have saved you the trouble. Use your favourite ACCMAIL method to retrieve http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/dwexample.txt When it arrives, paste it into an HTML body. It displays the 'Javascript' category. Look carefully at the code, because this is exactly what Digital Windmill delivers. There are a few things you should notice ... 1. The HTML code is broken (we have added comments to show where). The error is not serious. 2. Many of the tags have style classes. 3. Everything is enclosed in a table. 4. The bottom row of the table contains the acknowledgement to the ODP. 5. DW does not insert adverts (although that could change). You can use this example to work out where to position the ODP on your own pages. The appearance of the ODP table can be controlled by an internal or external style sheet. DW offer a style sheet customisation form at http://www.digitalwindmill.com/customize.htm but the results are not very good. Here is our style sheet, which we think is much better ... <STYLE TYPE="text/css"> A:hover { color:#FF0000; background: #FFFFCC; text-decoration: none; } .hyperlink { font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: #0000FF; } .listitem { font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: normal; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; } .menulistitem { font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; } .italic { font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; } .smallprint { font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; } .homeheading { font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; } .defaultpage { font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: normal; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; } .maintitle { font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; } .powered { font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: normal; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; } </STYLE> To see how we have used this category on a complete web page, use your favourite ACCMAIL method to retrieve http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/dwexample.html Ensure that the method you use retrieves the unmodified source HTML. You may also wish to compare it with the raw ODP category http://dmoz.org/Computers/Programming/Languages/JavaScript/ USING THE DIGITAL WINDMILL SCRIPT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The best reason for using this resource is if the main subject of your web site coincides with, or is close to, an ODP category. To open at a specified category rather than at the top level, create a directory page containing the script as above (line 67 of this file), then link from your main page like this ... <A HREF="http://www.digitalwindmill.com/direct/default.asp?host=URL&t=directory&d=PATH"> Category</A> where URL is the location of your directory page, and PATH is the path to the specified category. For example ... SZS has created a directory page at http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/directory.html It contains the Javascript as above (line 67 of this file). To get the directory page to start at categories ... Computers Computers/Internet Computers/Internet/E-mail Regional World ... we have inserted these anchors in the main page (http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/index.html) <P> <A HREF="http://www.digitalwindmill.com/direct/default.asp?host=http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/directory.html&t=directory&d=/Computers/">Computers</A><BR> <A HREF="http://www.digitalwindmill.com/direct/default.asp?host=http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/directory.html&t=directory&d=/Computers/Internet/">Internet</A><BR> <A HREF="http://www.digitalwindmill.com/direct/default.asp?host=http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/directory.html&t=directory&d=/Computers/Internet/E-mail/">Email</A><BR> <A HREF="http://www.digitalwindmill.com/direct/default.asp?host=http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/directory.html&t=directory&d=/Regional/">Regional</A><BR> <A HREF="http://www.digitalwindmill.com/direct/default.asp?host=http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/directory.html&t=directory&d=/World/">World</A> </P> If you are not clear about this, retrieve the source of http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/index.html http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/directory.html to see for yourself how they work together. FINDING OPEN DIRECTORY CATEGORIES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The best way to find which ODP categories are close to your your web site topic, use ODP Advanced Search. Use your favourite ACCMAIL method to fetch and return the form. GetWeb works very well, so we use it in this example. The Advanced Search URL is http://search.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/search?a.x=0 Insert your keywords (in the example the keyword is 'email') Check Advanced Search Check ALL (meaning all categories) Check the 'Categories Only' radio button Check 'Only show ODP listed sites' ................................................ [[email]] [[X]] Advanced Search: check preceding box, forward entire document to GetWeb Only show results in category: Choose exactly one: [[X]] ALL OR [[ ]] Arts etc Search: ([[X]])Categories Only ([[ ]])Sites Only ([[]])Sites and Categories [[ ]] Sites must match all search terms. [[X]] Only show ODP listed sites. ................................................ You will get back a list of categories that fit your keywords. The list may extend over several pages. Retrieve the pages that might fit your web site. Look at them carefully: Would they enhance your web site? Would they be useful to your visitors? The judgement must be yours -- some ODP categories have attained almost 100% cover of their topic, while others (usually those without active editors) may have been neglected for a long time. A FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Q. Can I just copy ODP pages that are relevant to my web site, and reformat the links to fit my own requirements? It would be much easier. A. Yes. That is exactly what Lycos and AOL do -- but they copy all of it. You can copy as much or as little as you choose, but you MUST first read the license agreement at http://dmoz.org/license.html, and on each insert the code at http://dmoz.org/become_an_editor/ Would it really be easier? Using a script to generate pages dynamically ensures that your directory is up to date, and enables your visitor to go anywhere in the directory -- all 250,000 categories are available. Copying static pages is easier only if you wish to limit yourself to a small number of pages. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please report successes and failures. .............................................................. For list info & help, including subscription options, email message "intro website-by-email" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web URL is http://www.netnormal.com/users/websitebyemail/