New Pictolink ™ technology makes your web site links more compact, informative, and effective!
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How Pictolink™ Presentation Works
A Pictolink mosaic is presented within a host web page by the Pictolink server under control of two lines of directives added to the host web page. The actual Pictolink data resides on the Pictolink server and are controlled by JavaScript code — also loaded from the Pictolink server by directives embedded in the host web page. Following is a brief summary of how this interaction works:
Additional Features
A Pictolink mosaic has a number of options configurable by the host site administrator:
Note: The Pictolink mosaic presented on these pages has both random display order and positioning, a 100 ms presentation interval, and a 2 second Pictolink swap interval. The individual thumbnail images are 31 pixels square, arranged in a 3 column by 12 row mosaic. Since more than 36 Pictolinks are included in the downloaded data, previously undisplayed Pictolinks are randomly swapped in every two seconds. Additionally, while the Pictolink server logs all Pictolink accesses in order to compile performance statistics, it normally "blurs" the accessing IP addresses to eliminate the possiblity of identifying the exact source of the accesses. What Needs to be Added to the Host Web Page to Display a Pictolink Mosaic
There are only two one-line insertions that need to be placed into the host web page in order to display a Pictolink mosaic, a <div>tag that specifies where on the page the mosaic is to be placed, and a <script> tag that loads the JavaScript code that manages the mosaic. The Inserted <Div> Tag
A <div> tag of the following form must be placed into the HTML code for the web page at the spot where the mosaic is to appear. The loaded JavaScript code looks for a <div> tag with an id value of "pl_mosaic_div" and inserts the mosaic inside it. <div id="pl_mosaic_div" style="height:YYYpx; width:XXXpx"></div> The entire style="height:YYYpx; width:XXXpx" section can be omitted for simplicity. However, its inclusion with dimensions customized to be equal to the size of the displayed mosaic can reduce "jitter" during page loading. The Inserted <Script> Tag
A <script> tag of the following form must also be placed into the HTML code for the web page. When the browser encounters this <script> tag while loading the page, it loads and begins initialization of the JavaScript code that manages the mosaic. <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ow-service.net/pl-app-a/pl_setup_XXXX-NN.js"> </script> The "XXXX" is to be replaced by the organization id, which is assigned by Pictolink to a participating organization or person. It will be the same for all web sites and web pages managed by the organization. The "NN" is to be replaced by the page id, It identifies the web page onto which a mosaic is to be placed, and thus the characteristics of the mosaic. It is assigned by the user during the online configuration process. If the organization uses only one mosaic type, the "-NN" component may be omitted. The placement of the <script> tag is not critical, since it mostly just loads the mosaic manipulation JavaScript files, and processing is defered until the main page finishes loading. It can be placed immediately following the <div> tag for simplicity, or it can be placed just before the closing </head> or </body>tags. Mosaic Configuration
Placing the above tags in the HTML code for the host web page merely identifies the mosaic which is to be presented on it, and not the actual configuration and content of the mosaic. The task of performing this configuration and specifying the Pictolinks to be presented in the mosaic is performed by a host site manager by online interaction with the Pictolink server. Details of how this is performed are "to be provided". |
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