Fwd: [WEB4LIB] RE: Photos on Home Pages

[Roy Tennant]

The random.pl program described below that will allow anyone without 
CGI capability to put images in random rotation on their home page, 
has moved to http://escholarship.cdlib.org/cgi-bin/random.pl . I'm 
very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. The script at 
the former location will be gone within the week.
Roy

>Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 14:23:45 -0800 (PST)
>Reply-To: roy.tennant at ucop.edu
>Originator: web4lib at webjunction.org
>Sender: web4lib at webjunction.org
>From: Roy Tennant <roy.tennant at ucop.edu>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
>Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: Photos on Home Pages
>X-Comment: Web4Lib Information - http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Web4Lib/
>
>At 11:31 AM -0800 12/12/01, Karen G. Schneider wrote:
>>  > have a random image appear on a web page -- any CGI script can do
>>>  that, even if the page where the random image appears is static (not
>>>  generated by a script)...
>>
>>To approach this diagnostically, it's my guess that many people
>>maintaining library Web pages aren't able to easily/quickly/flexibly
>>create, maintain, or update CGI scripts, nor are systems people breaking
>>down library doors to breathlessly offer support for these enhancements.
>>That isn't to excuse the use of Javascript, only to (possibly and
>>partially) explain it.  The appeal of client-side is you can do it
>>without begging and/or banging your head on the wall.
>
>Karen is exactly, and rather unfortunately, correct. But it has long 
>bothered me that the solution to this issue, which seems to crop up 
>on a regular basis, is really quite simple. So I decided to take 30 
>minutes and solve it. The result is a script that ANYONE can use, 
>without knowledge of Perl, without access to the server, without 
>anything except the smarts to follow a pattern in constructing a 
>URL. If that is you, read on.
>
>The deal is this. You make all the images that you want to appear in 
>a random pool, and put them in the same location on your server 
>(anywhere that is web-accessible). Then, wherever you want such an 
>image to display, on a random rotation, you drop an image tag as 
>specified by this page:
>
>http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/random.pl
>
>Voila! Random images for the masses. Yes, you are dependent on a 
>remote server, but it is better than being dependent on Javascript. 
>Consider this a service of Web4Lib.
>Roy