How do I add next and back buttons on a static website?

[yousellstuff]

I have a static website that I upload one new post a day, and I would like to add a next and back button but I am not sure how to go about that. I tried doing some research and some said I must use an RSS feed. Is this true? If so, how do I go about creating an rss feed from a static website (preferably free).

the website is www.thatsamusing.com

Thanks
Brandon

[xhtmlcoder]

RSS isn’t anything really to do with HTML navigation; are you just wanting to be able to go backwards and forwards through pages via a either a link, image or button or are you talking about feeds.

[Stevie_D]

@yousellstuff

I have a static website that I upload one new post a day, and I would like to add a next and back button but I am not sure how to go about that. I tried doing some research and some said I must use an RSS feed. Is this true? If so, how do I go about creating an rss feed from a static website (preferably free).

An RSS feed has nothing to do with back/next buttons! An RSS feed is about having people subscribe to receive updates when you publish new content.

For back/next buttons, that could mean one of two things.

1. Replicating the Back/Forward browser feature - ie, takes them back to the last page they visited, and then forwards again through their browser history. This is an utterly pointless thing to do (everyone knows how to use the back button in their browser), and if you make a feature of it as a main part of your navigation, it can be harmful as it draws people away from real navigation. Moreover, it relies on Javascript, so it fails gruesomely whenever Javascript is not running. Whoever first dreamed this up should be shot…

2. Making a ‘route’ through your site, so that people start at the first page, click ‘next’ to get to the second page, then ‘next’ again to get to the third page, and so on. If you have a site with that kind of linear structure, where there is a clear and obvious route to follow, this is a sensible way to organise the navigation. I guess this is what you are wanting to do in your Archive section. Then all you need to do is to put a simple <a href=“…”> link on each page with the filename of the previous or next page.

[Victorinox]

Unrelated to your request, but is the typo in the title graphic intentional? Whether or no, it wouldn’t hurt to include the text it contains in an alt attribute within its img element.

Also some HTML and [URL=“http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?profile=css2&warning=2&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thatsamusing.com%2F”]CSS validation errors that may repay attention.

[yousellstuff]

@Stevie_D

An RSS feed has nothing to do with back/next buttons! An RSS feed is about having people subscribe to receive updates when you publish new content.

For back/next buttons, that could mean one of two things.

1. Replicating the Back/Forward browser feature - ie, takes them back to the last page they visited, and then forwards again through their browser history. This is an utterly pointless thing to do (everyone knows how to use the back button in their browser), and if you make a feature of it as a main part of your navigation, it can be harmful as it draws people away from real navigation. Moreover, it relies on Javascript, so it fails gruesomely whenever Javascript is not running. Whoever first dreamed this up should be shot…

2. Making a ‘route’ through your site, so that people start at the first page, click ‘next’ to get to the second page, then ‘next’ again to get to the third page, and so on. If you have a site with that kind of linear structure, where there is a clear and obvious route to follow, this is a sensible way to organise the navigation. I guess this is what you are wanting to do in your Archive section. Then all you need to do is to put a simple <a href=“…”> link on each page with the filename of the previous or next page.

I would like it to go to a random page (any from the archive). If I have to just manually add the next page link then I will but I was wondering if I could have it be random.

@Victorinox

Unrelated to your request, but is the typo in the title graphic intentional? Whether or no, it wouldn’t hurt to include the text it contains in an alt attribute within its img element.

Also some HTML and [URL=“http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?profile=css2&warning=2&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thatsamusing.com%2F”]CSS validation errors that may repay attention.

thanks for that, I had to change the logo a bit and I totally miss that. I also just added the alt text.

[donboe]

@yousellstuff

I would like it to go to a random page (any from the archive). If I have to just manually add the next page link then I will but I was wondering if I could have it be random.

That is not possible with in just HTML. For such things you need either a server side scripting language (PHP, Coldfusion, ASP, etc) or Javascript.

[yousellstuff]

@donboe

That is not possible with in just HTML. For such things you need either a server side scripting language (PHP, Coldfusion, ASP, etc) or Javascript.

could you possibly point me somewhere on how to go about doing this?

[Stevie_D]

Try http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=javascript+random+link for a start!

[yousellstuff]

@Stevie_D

Try http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=javascript+random+link for a start!

\
thank you. I tried searching on google but I wasn’t sure what to search for. This made it easier

[my_misyel]

The best thing that you can do is manually code for it, creating a template to make everything much easier. However, if you want a more dynamic setup, then you need to do a few more work.