PITI Calculator

Frequently Asked Questions

URLs

A URL is a Uniform Resource Locator, which is the technical term for a link. A link is the internet address for a webpage, a graphic, or other file you want to download or view. People will often use both words "Link" and "URL" to mean the same thing.

The Address Bar in your web browser contains the link to the current page you are viewing. You can find the address bar near the top of your webbrowser. It will normally have a white background, and should begin with the text "http://".

Examples :

  1. The "Link", or "URL" to google's search engine is "http://www.google.com".
  2. The "Link", or "URL" to google's image that displays on their homepage is "http://www.google.com/intl/en_ALL/images/logo.gif".

URLs will differ on their exact look, but almost always should begin with "http://".

Cookies

A "Cookie" is a small piece of information that a website stores on your computer. Cookies are often used to store your user indentification number, otherwise known as your User ID. Every time your browser loads a page from the site, the site first requests from your browser if it has stored a User ID number. If your browser responds by sending the User ID, the site knows you are already logged in. If your browser does not send a User ID, the site will present your browser with the login form at the bottom of the site menu.

Occationally users will have trouble logging into the system. When this happens, often a user will enter their username and password, click the login button, and when the page refreshes it appears to have been a success. However, as soon as any function is attempted on the site they are presented again with the login form. This is caused by your browser not storing the user identifcation number. You must enable cookies on your browser.

Your browser does NOT have cookies enabled. If this is the first time you have loaded this page, please refresh once to test again.

Long Post or Blog Logs Me Out

The system automatically logs you out after 30 minutes of idle time. This means if you do not load a page for more then 30 minutes you will be logged out. This is what happens during some long posts or blogs. If a blog or post takes more then 30 minutes to write, you should make sure to copy the text into your computer's copy/paste buffer before you submit.

BBCODE

You can use special codes called bbcode to change the color and size of the text you write in forum posts, blogs, comments, and private messages. An example of the common bbcodes and their effect are give below :

Bold Text [b]Hello World[/b] Hello World
Color of Text [color=red]Hello World[/color] Hello World
Size of Text [size=18]Hello World[/size] Hello World
Link or URL [url]http://www.google.com[/url] http://www.google.com
Display Image [img]http://www.google.com/intl/en_ALL/images/logo.gif[/img]

If we want bold text then the "open" bbcode is [b] while the "close" bbcode is [/b]. All "close" codes are the same as their open counterparts but with a forward slash inserted before the code characters.

The order in which you open and close codes is important. The last code opened must be the first code closed. For instance, if you want bolded, italicised text, then you would use the bbcodes [b][i]Bold/Italic This[/i][/b]. Notice that the [i] code is the last opened and the first closed. To reverse the codes would work just as well. If we used the open bbcodes of [i][b] the same effect would be applied to the text, but you must make sure to now end the bbcodes with [/b][/i].

A Forum

A forum is similair to a public bulletin board, the kind you can stick pins in and leave short messages stickied up on. When you first view the forum, or bulletin board, you can view all the messages left by others. If you find one of the messages of particular interest, you can respond by writing your own message and pinning it up on the bulletin board.

Any topic that interests you can be written about in a forum. Some users find it adaquite just to introduce themselves and say little else.

Most websites have several forums, each catering to a specifc, or generic, theme.

On this website, besides having the normally defined meaning of a collection of posts and topics, forums also allow users to organize the blogs, images, pages and other items they create. Every image, blog, and page created are associated with a forum. Ideality, when creating these items you will instruct the system to place them into the forum you believe is most appropriate. This allows users some control (and responsibility) in how images, blogs and pages become structured into the site. The easiest way to select the correct forum for an item is to first Navigate to that forum before uploading or creating something.

Viewing the Forums
  1. Scroll up to the top of the page. On the right hand side of the page you will see the site menu. Click on the link titled "Forums". A new page will load with the forums.
  2. Near the top of the new page the most recent Topics will be listed, scroll down passed these and you will find the forums listed.
  3. Each forum will be listed by its title, which is clickable. Clicking on the title will load that forum, displaying a list of all the Topics.

Forum Navigation

One of the ways you can find something on the site is through forum navigation. Think first about the subject of the image, blog, topic, post, or page you are trying to find. If the subject has to do with weather, you will have a high chance of finding what you want by first navigating to the (fictional) "weather" forum.

Once inside a forum, you can view all images, blogs, posts, topics and pages that have been associated with that forum. Forum Navigation is "Subject" navigation.

You are always "in" a forum if you are on the site. To learn which forum you are in when viewing material examine the right hand menu of the site. A small dotted line begins the "Forum Navigation" portion of the menu. Beneath this line will be listed the current forum after the text "You are in the Forum:". After the description of which forum you are in (for our examples, we will assume you are in the "weather" forum), there is presented several menu choices to items contained in the forum. Below are the menu choices that you will see.

  • Home Page will load recent images, topics, pages and blogs assigned to the weather forum. This is where you will be able to post messages in the weather forum. This location will be your main interface to the subject of weather.
  • Images will load all images, and only images, ever assigned to the weather forum.
  • Topics will load all topics, and only topics, ever assigned to the weather forum.
  • Articles will load all pages and articles, and only pages/articles, ever assigned to the weather forum.
  • Blogs will load all user blogs, and only blogs, ever assigned to the weather forum.

To recap, if you started out wanting to find all the images the site contained of weather related events, you would first navigate to the "weather" forum, then select the "Images" menu choice.

See Also: What is a Forum?

A Topic/Thread

The words "Topic" and "Thread" are often interchangable and generally refer to the same thing. A Topic is a collection of Posts that are all dicussing the same specific theme. If a user wishes to discuss their favorite band, they would Create a new Topic on this band, expressing their excitement. Other users would view the "Topic" and respond with their own posts.

Create a new Topic

Don't be affraid to create a topic about anything you wish. You can ask a question, make a statement, or just ramble on about anything you would like a response to. If you have never created a topic before, consider using a new topic to introduce yourself.

  1. Navigate to the forum that best suits the topic subject you wish to create.
  2. Beneath all the existing topics click on the link titled "Create New Topic". A form will appear.
  3. Fill out the Title, Tags and Summary fields.
  4. Fill out the body of your new topic. The body is where you type your main text.
  5. Click on the "Create New Topic" button.

Remember that you can use bbcode to add style to your topic.

A Blog

A blog is a public journal. Just as you would write about the events of your life in a journal, you do so in a blog. The major difference, of course, is that a blog is public and available for the entire world to read. Thus some information that you may include in a private journal would not be suitable for your blog.

Blogs are generally inteneded for one way communication, though others are able to leave comments. If you desire instead to have a back and forth discussion, create a new topic in one of the forums.

Creating a Blog
  1. Scroll up to the top of the page. On the right hand side of the page you will see the site menu. Click on the link titled "Write Blog". A new page will load with a form that you will fill out.
  2. Fill out the Title, Tags and Summary fields.
  3. You can ignore the "Details" section, though if you want to examine them just click on the [+] plus sign.
  4. Use the main area beneath the "Blog" text to gush about your life or a particular topic.
  5. After you are finished writing then click on the "Update" button. Give the site at least 30 seconds to process your submission.

Remember that you can use bbcode to add style to your blog.

My Website

Your website is a page that you create on this site to tell the entire world about yourself and your interests. Your website is where others will go to send you a message, read your blogs, or find your images. You can send others to your website by copying and pasting your website's URL in an email sent to your friends.

Your website is automatically created for you after you have registered, though it is essentially empty until you type something interesting into it.

Viewing My Website
  1. Scroll up to the top of the page. On the right hand side of the page you will see the site menu. Click on the menu item titled "View My Website". Your website will load.

User ID

Every user account on the system is identified by a unique number. This is called your User ID. The User ID is important to many features of the site, and is also used by Cookies.

Creating My Website
  1. Scroll up to the top of the page. On the right hand side of the page you will see the site menu. Click on the link titled "Open Control Panel". Wait for your control panel to load.
  2. Scroll down to the "Your Website" section. This section has a blue icon of the world with a magnifying glass in front of it.
  3. In the "Your Website" section click on the [+] plus sign to the left of the text titled "Edit Your Website". A large text edit box will display.
  4. Click inside the text edit box. You are now ready to type up your website. Begin by telling others about yourself and your interests. You can continue writing about whatever you wish in your website.
  5. When you are finished typing then click on the "Update" button to save your website.

Remember that you can use bbcode to add style to your website.

A Webpage

A webpage is a document on the internet that displays text and graphics for the intent of being viewed by the public. You can create webpages to extend your website. If a subject becomes too long for your base website then its generally a good idea to move that subject into a seperate webpage.

Webpages are intenteded to be objective and "static". Static means that the content does not change often, and is not prone to become quickly outdated. Webpages should not be used to express your thoughts or feelings on current events; Blogs would be a better choice to do that.

Every user's webpages appear as clickable text links at the top of their websites.

Creating a Webpage

When you create a webpage you must first decide if you want this new webpage to appear as one of the main webpage links at the top of your website, or if you want it to appear as a link inside another existing webpage. By default, creating a new webpage will place it as a link at the top of your website. If you want your new webpage to instead be linked to from another existing page you must expand the "advanced" options during creation and select which existing webpage to attach the new webpage to.

  1. On the right hand side website menu click on the link titled "Open Control Panel". Wait for your control panel to load.
  2. Scroll down to the "Images" section. This section has a yellow icon of a painter's pallete.
  3. Above the "Images" section click on the "My Pages" text. This will display the "Pages" section.
  4. In the Pages section click on the text link titled "New Page" in the upper right corner.
  5. Fill out the Title, Tags and Summary fields.
  6. Click into the text box beneath the "Page" text and begin writing your webpage.
  7. When you are finished typing then click on the "Create Webpage" button to save your webpage.

Remember that you can use bbcode to add style to your webpage.

Image Graph

You can construct a graph image by entering special codes into the "graphing" textbox during a new image upload, or while editing an existing image. The checkbox must be checked in order to create the image. If you are editing an existing image, the original image will be overwritten and is not recoverable. There is no need to specify a file to upload if you are creating a new graph image.

The codes TYPE, LEGEND, LABEL, SIZE and DATA are required at minimum to successfully construct a graph. The following are codes universal to all graph types.

Code Value Example
TYPE This must be set to 'pie' in order to construct a pie chart. #TYPE;pie
LEGEND Names to display in the legend box. #LEGEND;Zinc;Copper
LEGENDHIDE Hide the legend box. #LEGENDHIDE;0
LABEL Labels for each item. The example shows how to display a decimal with one precision point. #LABEL;%.1f%%;%.1f%%
COLOR Color each item should adopt. #COLOR;silver;yellow
SIZE Size of the total image in pixels, width by height. #SIZE;575;400
TABLEHEAD Header labels assigned to each colum of data. This is the text used when the data is output in a table. #TABLEHEAD;Zinc;Copper
XLABELINTERVAL Internval of x labels should be displayed. #XLABELINTERVAL;1
XTICKINTERVAL Internval of x tick marks that should be displayed. #XTICKINTERVAL;1

Image Pie Graph

The following codes are specific to pie charts.

Code Value Example
PIEANGLE Angle that the pie chart should present itself at. #PIEANGLE;60
PIEHEIGHT Thickness of the pie chart in pixels. #PIEHEIGHT;30
PIESIZE Size of the pie chart as a percentage of the total image width. #PIESIZE;0.5
LABELPOS Position of the value displayed at each pie slice. 1.0 would place values at the circumfrance, 0 would place them in the middle. 1.1 would place them just outside the circumfrance. Optional #LABELPOS;1.1
DATA Values to be assigned. Each data line will be used to construct one of the pie slices. #DATA;Copper;140 #DATA;Silver;70

Complete Example : 

    #TYPE;pie
    #SIZE;575;400
    #COLOR;silver;yellow
    #LABELPOS;1.1
    #LEGEND;Zinc;Copper
    #TABLEHEAD;Metal;Price
    #LABEL;Zinc %.1f%%;Copper %.1f%%
    #PIEANGLE;60
    #PIEHEIGHT;30
    #PIESIZE;0.4
    #DATA;Zinc;140
    #DATA;Copper;28

Image Line Graph

The following codes are specific to line graphs.

Code Value Example
MARGIN Margins to surround the graph with. Graph title, x-axis labels, y-axis labels and the legend all will require some margin to print in. Margin sequence is left, right, top, bottom. #MARGIN;60;60;60;60
DATA Values to be assigned. The first item in the line will be assigned to the x-axis label. Our example uses the years 1900 to 1903. The data following are each plot points for that x-axis label. You can have graphs with multiple lines. Our example would create a small graph with two lines. #DATA;1900;140;28
#DATA;1901;150;50
#DATA;1902;140;90
#DATA;1903;170;80
DATACOLUMN Use a column from another dataset to fill a column in this dataset. You may also do such things as divide an entire column from two different datasets. Fill our second column (0 is first) with the dataset from image 4702, column 0, starting with row 0.
#DATACOLUMN;1;=;4702:0:0
Divide the previously assigned column (0) by column 1 from image 305 starting with row 0.
#DATACOLUMN;1;/;305:1:0

Complete Example : 

    #TYPE;line
    #TABLEHEAD;Date;US Dollars
    #COLOR;red
    #SIZE;575;400
    #MARGIN;60;30;60;60
    #LEGENDHIDE;1
    #LEGEND;US Dollars
    #DATA;1900;0.648
    #DATA;1901;0.558
    #DATA;1902;0.487
    #DATA;1903;0.560
    #DATA;1904;0.612
    #DATA;1905;0.655

Math in #DATA lines

Every element in a DATA line may contain the basic mathmatical operators *, /, +, -. Additionally, any element may reference the value of another element via the form =image #:row #:column #. An example referance would be =1234:0:0. This would reference the first DATA line in image 1234 and retrieve the first element of that line.

Title

The title is 3 or 4 words the quickly describe the content of the new item. Do not include quote marks in the title.

Examples :

  • For a blog: "My First Blog!"
  • For an Image: "A Great Sunset"

Tags

Tags are search words that allow others to find what you have created or uploaded. If you are uploading an image of the sunset behind a mountain range you could include the words "pic, sunset, sun, mountain". Do not include quotes in the tag field. Seperate all words with commas. Tag words do not need to be capitalized.

Summary

A summary is one or two short sentances describing what you have uploaded or created. Often times the site will only display the summary in place of the full body of text or image. It is recommended to type in at least a two sentance summary in order to earn points.

System Information

User Agent
CCBot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html)
IP Address
38.103.63.60
Languges
en-us,en;q=0.5

JavaScript

Javascript is a small programming language used by many websites to automate their features. Javascript should not be confused with Java.

Flash

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