----- Original Message -----
From: "RoseW" <wd****@gmail.com>
(snip)
>
I suggested to a friend that a css controlled table would be
preferrable to
the existing chart produced in Excel stored at
http://www.delmarcottages.ca/cottage...gebookings.htm
They mentioned that the Excel chart is not appearing with columns
correct when viewed with Firefox.
My suggestion is stored at
http://www.delmarcottages.ca/cottage.../booking2.html and the
booking2.css is in that directory also.
(snip)
They are not skilled in any html or stylesheet stuff. I wondered if
this routine was simple enough
(snip)
Rose,
Even though they are not familiar with HTML, they should be able to detect
the repeating patterns in the markup and do a cut and paste as you suggest.
To make that a bit less confusing to them, I'd suggest adding new CSS
classes, rather than using inline styling, thus:
In the CSS, add:
td.booked {
background-color: #508fc4 ;
color: white ;
}
td.month {
background-color: #508fc4 ;
color: black ;
font-weight: bold ;
}
td.week {
font-weight: bold ;
}
In the HTML, replace:
<td style="background: #508fc4" ><b>Aug</b></td>
with
<td class="month">Aug</td>
and replace
<td><b>18-25</b></td>
with
<td class="week">18-25</td>
and replace (this is the most important one):
<td style="background: #508fc4;color:#FFFFFF">booked</td>
with
<td class="booked">booked</td>
In each case you would be specifying a styling class with a name that is
meaningful to the user, instead of technical style info that is likely to
confuse them. This also fulfills the philosophical goal of separating the
content (in HTML) from the styling (in CSS).
If this still proves to be too complex for the user, you could annotate the
source such that for each booking (and I would update the page as bookings
came in, not just monthly...) they changed only one obvious line, something
like:
<!-- To specify a slot as booked, replace the current line with the
following one. -->
<td class="booked">booked</td>
<!-- To cancel a booking, replace the current line with the following
one. -->
<td>available</td>
:
:
:
<tr>
<td class="month">July</td>
<td class="week">7-14</td>
<!-- Week of July 7-14, Cottage 1 -->
<td>available</td>
<!-- Week of July 7-14, Cottage 2-->
<td class="booked">booked</td>
<!-- Week of July 7-14, Cottage 3 -->
<td>available </td>
<!-- Week of July 7-14, Cottage 4 -->
<td>available</td></tr>
<tr>
Advantages to the user:
1. Will work in all modern browsers.
2. Significant reduction in file size (less storage space, faster upload
to server, faster response to clients)
3. Improved confidence that they are in control, not the stupid
technology.
And if all else fails, get them to use Word instead of Excel; there is
nothing here that warrants using a spreadsheet.
Chris Beall
