Jo's Photo Pages: Setup, JavaScript, HTTP

Setup for Jo's Photo Pages

Well, in theory JavaScript gives one all neccessary means to find out what screen the user has. So I can show my pictures to everyone in the optimal size and resolution. In theory.

But: The difference between theory and praxis is greater in praxis than it is in theory.

So first, to make it work, you have to take into account the different browser types and even their different versions. Then you have to test each version because the browsers are not yet able to read their own documentation - and therefore sometimes behave completely different as you expect them to. Additionally that has to be done under different operating systems. That's too anoying. I think you can help me a bit with this.

Second some people always what something else as you think they would. (I myself am that type of guy) They maybe say "make the picture even bigger as my screen - what do you thing I have these nice srollbars for?"

The solution is quite simple: set it up for yourself. This too gives you the chance to find out which setup maybe works best. Even better as than automatic setup can do.

Your setup will be save in so called "cookies" on your computer. So they are always there when you eventually drop in. If you visit this site from a different computer you will likely need a different setup. So saving it on your computer sounds quite reasonable. For this, cookies need to be enabled on your browser. (It will be sufficient to enable cookies to do the setup and disable it afterwards, if you dislike cookies for some reason.)

Important: After changing the setup you have to reload the pages to make it effective. (Most browser have a "reload" button for that purpose. ;-)

Setting: Browsertype/Script

With this setting you can override the automatic browser type detection, I put so much work in ;-). My script is able to detect two types of browsers only. And for safety reasons I activate it only from version 4.0 and above. But maybe it works in other cases too? Or it causes problems on some platforms I didn't test. For that reason you can switch it off without completely disabling JavaScript.

JavaScript will be used to size the windows to fit to the pictures. Additionally some unneccessary toolsbars will be hided.

Actual setting: not set, using: .

Value	Comment
delete cookie	detect browser automatically
netscape	Netscape (Mozilla), Version 4.x compatible script
iexplorer	Internet Explorer, Version 4.x compatible script
noscript	use no script = open standard browser window

Setting: Picture Size

The standard size is optimized for screens with 800*600 pixel resolution. Or for slow connections to the internet. The big size is optimal for screens with 1280*1024 pixel resolution or higher. And with adsl ;-). Pictures in portrait format will mostly be smaller, taking into account that most screens are landscape oriented.

Actual setting: not set, using: 1.

This image should have the desired resolution: test image

Value	Comment
delete cookie	= Standard
Size 1	Standard = mostly 720 * 480 pixel (about 80 kB per image)
Size 2	Big = mostly 1152 * 768 pixel (about 300 kB per image)

For those who are interrested

some backgrounds of this settings.

Some informations are sent to the web server whenenver the browser request a page. Unfortunatly one cannot rely on that information ether because not every browser really sends this information or it may be filtert or even altered by firewalls or proxies. That means if a browser states to be a netscape it normaly is one. If it doesn't state anything it may be a netscape to :-(. In this case it's better to rely on JavaScript - if it's enabled :-(. Nevertheless it's tricky but possible to design pages that look good on any browser.

This is what my server believes to know about you:

Host	www.jwiesemann.de
IP address:port	18.227.48.131:64779
Proxy	-
Browser type	claudebot
requested URL	/foto/setup.html
Refering URL	-
Accepted header	-
Accepted language(s)	-
Accepted charset	-

If the request is made via a proxy the informations about host, ip address and port are not about your computer but about the proxy. This additionally may tell whom the request is for. It also may suppress or even fake all other information.

If the request is made from a network with address translation (NAT or masquerading) the IP address is the translated one.