JavaScript

[The Man]

JavaScript isn't allowed in signatures. Apparently, my signature contains JavaScript, and I wasn't aware of that until about twenty minutes ago. I do one tiny thing with JavaScript in my sig: I make a link highlight when you run your mouse over that, like so:

<FONT COLOR="#00FFE8" :bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou:Over="this.color='#BFFFFA';" :bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou:Out="this.color='#00FFE8';">

That's all. And it does this. I hardly think this is too grievous a use for the language.

My question is: Why is JavaScript disallowed completely from signatures? If someone used it to do pop-ups or make scrolling text or something, that would certainly be excessive, but if it doesn't cause anyone any undue harm, is it really worth removing that much? I mean, sure, disallowing JavaScript altogether is a much easier way to eliminate the possibility of malicious things happening, since I could just as easily make other things happen with JavaScript, but if we allowed, say, changing the status of "this.color" with :bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou:Over and :bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou:Out, would that harm anything? The only reason I use those tags at all is because I want it to be obvious that my links are links, and using the standard-coloured links doesn't go well with my text. If they flash when the mouse goes over them, they'll clearly be links. The underline appearing when the user moves his cursor over my sig helps identify them as links, but it's easier to know that they're links if they light up when the cursor goes over them, too, especially since that's what links in general do.

I'm just wondering what the staff's position is on this. I know it would be complicated to make a list of "legit uses for JavaScript," but I think some people would have a much better time of it.

I'd use cascading style sheets for my links, but I don't know of any way to make that work.

Peace
Stuffed Manny

[Citizen Bleys]

I believe I already answered this question in another thread.

<Script language="JavaScript">

document.location("http://www.pornsite.com/");

</script>

Mouseovers and other tiny things like that are fine for the time being, as long as they don't affect load times--but if I stumble across a way to disable it entirely, I will do so--because inline javascript could just as easily be used to cause problems--i.e.:

<p :bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou:Move="document.location('http://www.pornsite.com/');">


That being said, it's quite obvious that anybody who puts a javascript redirect in their .sig to a pornsite will be immediately and permanently banned, but someone could say "what's the harm if it's not an offensive site?" and put a redirect to their webpage in. I don't know about you, but I don't want to visit *~ Seifer 9782 ~*'s DBZ site ever, let alone every time a page on EoFF loads.

EDIT: I hadn't read that Loony BoB had already laid down the law on that matter. I'll leave what I wrote becuase it's my honest position on that, but I am not overriding a decision made by another Staff member

[LH]

Originally posted by Stuffed Manny
I'd use cascading style sheets for my links, but I don't know of any way to make that work.

What is the problem? Is it that you don't know how to designate link rollovers for individual parts of a page with CSS?

[The Man]

The problem is that because the CSS entries are already defined at the top of the page, I can't define another, apparently. I'd like to make my own style sheet (namely, "ManlyGreen"), but I toyed around with trying that in a previewed post in this very thread, I believed, and it didn't affect the link. Yeah. If someone with a better knowledge of CSS would be willing to test things out in this forum and tell me how I could solve my problem, I'd certainly be much obliged.

Blah. I should probably be asking this in the Help Forum or something, but I've been given a statutory week to change my sig, and I'm too lazy to create a new thread at this particular instant. Maybe later. At any rate, if anyone has any ideas that would work, please post them, as it would make my life somewhat easier, I believe.

Edit: Er, now that I see what you were asking, yes, that's exactly what I don't know. I know how to make the link change colour from the standard link colouring with CSS formatting, or at least I could look it up very easily, but I don't know how to put the "highlighted link" formatting in there. So... yeah. If you just know the tag for that, my life would become far easier.

Peace
Stuffed Manny

[Loony BoB]

Could people please give me some information on how javascript affects loading time for someone on a slower computer? *dunno*

Anyhow, I'm not too fussed over the matter. If the admins are fine with your use of javascript, I don't give a damn, I guess. But in that case, I don't give a damn about anyone's use of javascript, so long as it doesn't do what Bleys mentioned earlier.

EDIT: Why did bennator0's javascript bother you, out of curiosity? That could have something to do with why it's not allowed.

[The Man]

Erm, he said other people were using JavaScript and it bothered him, but he didn't mention any names. He didn't specifically mention me, and I truly don't see how my link colouring could have been slowing down his computer, so I'm not worried at the moment. *shruggle*

Peace
Stuffed Manny

[Loony BoB]

Ah, sorry, I misread something in that thread. My bad.

[crono_logical]

Javascript doesn't slow down a computer, unless it's badly written and causes an infinite loop (or extrememly long loop) or something



I'd have preferred no javascript at all, same reasons as Bleys mentioned, as it can be easily abused to do undesirable effects.


But I guess if it's not going to be intrusive (like autoredirecting) or destructive (messing up the rendered page layout), or anything else which can be annoying, I suppose it could be done very discretely (roll over links, as one example) Rollovers that change text fonts or size, however, isn't good as it can mess up the layout in some browsers as they try to re-render everything around the new formatting on the fly.

[Loony BoB]

*thinks*... so... maybe members could ask for permission of javascript in their sig with an example of it, and saying what it does? Then we wouldn't have any problems. I think.

[The Man]

Heh. That's more or less what I wanted to ask, but I think I got sidetracked, or else I displayed my typical roundaboutness and didn't make it clear that that was what I was asking. *dies*

Peace
Stuffed Manny