Scrolling message board problem

[krofunk]

I am just going to throw my problem out there and see if anyone knows a solution. I have been asked to make a message board at work (that displays in a browser) ..this is not a problem

What is a problem is that the other staff want to use a word document for editing the message boards content. They also want the content to automatically scroll when it contains more info than will fit on the display.

I have been messing with this for weeks, so far the best I could come up with was a an iframe displaying the word document with java script that detects the height of the iframe and then adds in a marquee tag if it is bigger than the display. (this is hacky and unreliable)

is there a chance that anyone knows of a better solution?

 

[krofunk]

So nobody has any ideas on this one?! I am fresh out of inspiration when it comes to solving this problem.

 

[matt_a_nice_guy_200061]

I am just going to throw my problem out there and see if anyone knows a solution. I have been asked to make a message board at work (that displays in a browser) ..this is not a problem

What is a problem is that the other staff want to use a word document for editing the message boards content. They also want the content to automatically scroll when it contains more info than will fit on the display.

I have been messing with this for weeks, so far the best I could come up with was a an iframe displaying the word document with java script that detects the height of the iframe and then adds in a marquee tag if it is bigger than the display. (this is hacky and unreliable)

is there a chance that anyone knows of a better solution?

Okay, this question sucks.

It's lacking any specific question people can actually answer.

Data input, they want to input via a word document. Personally I'd argue that this should be questioned, and perhaps a basic web based interface would surfice, they're probably only asking for word because they feel comfortable with it.

If they really want to input via word, then use the word COM objects to open the word file and extract the data you're going to display.

Your real issue seems to be "How do I automatically get something to resize to display all the text that's being inserted into it"

Say you have a multi-line block of text, do you really want that scrolling across the screen, if so, how fast is it going to be, as some people read faster than others.

If it's only a single line you want, then you're right, you can't use the marquee tag, it's not html, it's IE specific, although IIRC I think FF have adapted it.

So the crux of your question appears to be "How do I get text to scroll across the screen" - well you seem to know that you need to use javascript, but then, that'll only work if people have javascript support, and/or javascript turned on.

What is the actual problem you're having? Lean to ask better questions, you will get better answers. People with the knowledge to help you, can rarely be bothered to spend time trying to work out what you actually need help with.

 

[cybrax]

Those few people who have javascript disabled for whatever reasons fall mostly into just three groups,
the paranoid, site-scrapers and those with special accesability needs eg: partially sighted, hackers & web devs.

However as most good screen readers are not troubled by in page scripting unless you are pulling in content via an AJAX call I would not be overly worried coding something for them unless specifically requested.

With whole pantheon of javascript scrollers (& slideshows that can handle text ) now available leaves just one problem.

How to give 'staff' access to the editable content without letting them loose with the FTP access codes.

For a ready made solution I would suggest Nuggetz though there are several other basic CMS systems out there this one is bare bones more easily tweekable than a full blown multipage system.

The WYSIWYG interface means users will already be familiar with the editing tools and would allow staff to log in via any web browser to ammend content from wherever they are without any specialist knowledge or software nor can they cannot wreak havoc on the server.

http://demo.nuggetz.co.uk/ username: admin password: password
http://www.nuggetz.co.uk/ for the free demo download link

 

[krofunk]

I would like to think that a CMS would be the best option, however I am dealing with people that are 'difficult' to work with when it comes to changes. (The move from xp to 7 was horrible) as matt_a_nice_guy_200061 said the staff are comfortable with word and would like to use it for the message boards. Javascript is not an issue as all the machines that will be displaying the messages belong to the school and are setup by me.

I will look into Nuggetz as it would make my life easier to have something pre built and supported by someone else, I am an admin..not a programmer.

Thank you for your advice.

 

[misson]

[...] the other staff want to use a word document for editing the message boards content.

When you have a hammer...