Forum Rules -- Read First

**djr33** · 09-19-2007, 05:20 PM

Just some basic guildlines to speed up answering your questions:

1. See if your question has been answered
Please look through the forums first to see if your question already has an answer. There are really a lot of threads out there. Odds are someone has asked about something similar in the past.

2. Post in the right section
This area is to ask about new scripts that you need or help with a project, etc. This is not a place to ask about an existing script in the DD library or a general question about HTML, Javascript, CSS, PHP, etc. Please post those in their correct forums.

3. Post a descriptive title!!
The most frequent problem in here is that so many threads are titled "help" or "looking for a script" or "help" or "question about a script". So frustrating! We know that. You're posting on a web design support forum-- you need help, you're looking for something, or have a question about a script, etc. Give us some information so we know what you are asking.
Someone might even ignore a thread if they don't think they can help because your title was vague (ie asking "how do I make a menu" might draw them in whereas "looking for a script" will be ignored), and it will be very helpful in finding your thread a second time or for others searching for similar requests.

4. Describe your problem thoroughly
We can't guess what you want. Post information so we can help.
A) Give us enough information to work with-- pictures, descriptions, links to your existing pages, etc. are all very helpful. Did you try to figure it out yourself? Post some code.
B) Give us an example if you can.
C) Just telling us "it should be a script that does _____" or "I want a _____ script" won't help. We know how to write code, but we may have never seen the type of script you want. Tell us what a [your term here] is.
D) Tell us how you want it to work. Do you need it to be javascript? Do you have PHP installed on your server? Etc.
We can't write or find a code in a void. Frequently it will need to be integrated with your page, your site, your layout, your graphics, or need certain features that you may or may not have.

Hope we can help!

**boogyman** · 09-19-2007, 06:01 PM

I could not have explained it any better myself. very well put... now just to force new users to read this thread

A) Give us enough information to work with-- pictures, descriptions, links to your existing pages, etc. are all very helpful. Did you try to figure it out yourself? Post some code.

one of the most useful portions of a help post.
even though some of are reluctant, editting "disastrous" code is alot more likely then you telling us what you want and hoping that one of us will complete it for you.

A good thing to note on when you actually do attempt to create your own code think of it in very simple terms.
1) What needs to be done.
2) What steps need to be completed to accomplish this goal (create mini goals)
Example: AJAX programming.
you could have the best and most completely thorough processing code anyone has ever created, but if javascript is not enabled, the user will not benefit at all. So step 1 is to make sure that javascript is available step 2 is to make sure the HTML Object can be accessed.
3) Do not worry about combining your code, clean-up and elegance can be added later
4) If you get stuck on 1 portion, try to write some pseudo code
Example: Onclick Action
<a href="page.html" onclick="getPage(); return false">Link</a>
getPage = This is going to be looking to get a page from the server and creating a popup.

As djr said, the more descriptive you are the better and more thoroughly we will be able to help you the FIRST TIME, which is obviously what you want since every question here is urgent to the user who posted it

myself included

and lastly what browser / version have you tested it on... up until IE7 was released it was okay to just say IE, because it was a fairly reasonable to assume it was on IE6, however with the release of IE7 just recently, you need to clarify, IE6 / IE7... This should be done for any / all browsers that you test on, but especially in Internet Explorer, as IE7 offers alot of drastic of changes in the way the content is rendered.

**tech_support** · 09-23-2007, 10:23 AM

5. Please be kind to the person replying to you!

We're humans to y'know. We take our time to help you guys out and what happens if you reply with a reply like "No, you stupid idiot" or "Just answer the freaking question", how do you think we'll feel? We might not even bother to help you ever again.

6. Don't PM/IM us for help

You might think we're smart, geniuses etc. but we don't know everything. Post and you shall have not one person to help you, but 22 thousand

7. Wait patiently for your reply

Don't bump the thread every hour. We need to have lunch, dinner, sleep etc.

**davyd** · 09-23-2007, 10:45 AM

Hi
Im davyd and im a bit of a newbie. Could you please advise me on how to post a problem?

Many thanks

Davyd

**Twey** · 09-23-2007, 11:05 AM

Post and you shall have not one person to help you, but 22 thousand

And the twenty-two thousand will also be able to read and benefit from your solution when it's found.

**Rockonmetal** · 09-23-2007, 01:34 PM

Hello davyd!

I usually go about asking questions on here by doing this:
First I think about what type of problem it is (html, css, asp, javascript, php, mysql, flash, or other) this usually takes me half a second...
Second:
I write the Title of problem (don't do this !!!!!!!!!!!!!) because it show's your a newbie and really need help fast and are most likely going to cuss all us out to get your problem solved.
What I want to happen, what is happening instead *if you don't know then say so...* then I provide the code thats causing the problem * if I need to...
Then I usually say thanks upfront...

As djr33 or boogyman said, provide all the code because you might be the best coder in the world... but sometimes it can be just one typo that doesn't let it work...

Just to let you know, I usually help out with HTML, PHP, CSS, and sometimes other, or flash...
Hope this helps...

**boogyman** · 01-10-2008, 03:58 PM

one thing that is not here and often times gets overlooked by new persons posting to these forums is the use of proper tags when posting computer code, so I will add it as rule 8.

8. Use Proper posting tags when posting code/quotes
To post an instance of computer code, use [code] [/code] tags. These are formated in a special way that allows the people that review and attempt to help out with some formating that is less confusing then a whole long string of "regular text". for instance

Code:

<p>This is some computer code</p>

To post an instance of a quote, without quoting the entire post use [quote=author] [/quote] tags, with =author being an optional addition. Again these are formated in a different way and allow viewers of that post / thread to treat it as such. for instance

Originally Posted by boogy

This is some quote I am making up as I type, so its really not a quote but hey its an example so sue me

A new code that was added recently is the edit tag or [edit] [/edit]. This tag was created to give the users a sort of explanation of what has been changed within a post, where before the only reference a person had was some type of optional description at the bottom of the post...

Last edited by user : date time.

for instance

Edit: This is an example of an edit tag