# How to Do Signatures



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

By rights, this probably belongs in the "Web Site Help" forum, but lots of people are asking this ,and I figured it would be seen by more people here.


Don't ask me why, but there are two ways to get to your profile, and each will take you to a place with different options available.  Th first is accessed via the Drop-Down Menus under * Members | Edit Your Profile*.   In passing , the resulting page has four links, each with different options.  It's from the third link *Manage Profile* that you can set your time zone.


The second is accessed from *My Profile* at the top-right of each forum page.  It's here that you can set your sig and upload an Avatar.


The sigs use standard HTML, *not* the old forum code.  Here's my sig code...












Note that the *a  href* is written thus with a space in between the *a* and *href*, and that the SantaCruzLumberCo URL is enclosed within double-quotes.  Note also that the sig image URL is also enclosed within double-quotes, and that there is a space between *img* and *src*.


The font color is set the same way as within any web page. - with the *font color* tag followed by the hex value of the desired color contained within double-quotes.  The < b > tags (without the spaces) bolds the font between them, and the < U > tags (again without the spaces) underlines the text between them.


 


Any questions, email me or post them here and I'll try to help out.


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## stanman (Jan 4, 2008)

Dwight - I get the following error message when clicking on "edit your profile". It's preceded by a large red exclamtion mark!


  A critical error has occurred.
Argument 'Length' must be greater or equal to zero. 


 


I had earlier edited my signature, and was trying to go back and mess with it some more.


Any ideas?


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## Greg Stevens (Jan 3, 2008)

OK Dwight, what is an Avatar?


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

The Avatar is the little image under people's names. I used a small photo of myself 'cause I like to see who I'm talking to. hehehe


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Just a note: 

The image on the left (in the sig.) has to be as tall or taller than the number of lines on the right. Otherwise the lower lines will center in the whole space instead of under the upper lines of text.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight.


Sorry to be negative but that explanation is about as clear as mud.


If my old sig and pic come up OK then don't worry.


If they don't then I am in trouble.  In whch case is it possible to simply transfer the data from the old site to this.


Secondly how do you stop the double spacing between lines?


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

OK.  They didn't come up.


So where do you actually type in the info?


I clicked on "My profile" and couldn't see any obvious boxes to write in.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Note there are TWO places called "My Profile"... the one you want for this process is the one on THIS page you is a reading right now in the upper right area just above the text of all the messages. 

Dwight: If you would, please alter the image you used to present the code so that the spacing is more apparent. Some of the line breaks are necesary and others should not be there. 

Because my image file is "short" I had to remove the line break between the: 

align='left"> 

and
< *center>

statements.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

With the avatar, I wonder if I should put something different in the signature. Hmm, he doesn't have a "thinking" smiley. Perhaps he knows me too well/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/hehe.gif


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight: If you would, please alter the image you used to present the code so that the spacing is more apparent. Some of the line breaks are necesary and others should not be there.



Done.  I was trying for a larger text size. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blush.gif


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

OK. They didn't come up. 
So where do you actually type in the info? 
I clicked on "My profile" and couldn't see any obvious boxes to write in.

As Charles notes, you need to use the "My Profile" on the upper-right of this page (or any page for that matter). At the bottomn left, there is a link in small light-blue type that says "Edit Profile" - clicking that will show the sig box and Avatar stuff. 

I will work on your sig later today Tony, time permitting, and I'll email you the code to do what you had before. Right now, I don't have the access rights to directly alter people's sigs.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

I just discovered another cool feature. Highlighting the part of someone's message tht you want to quote and THEN hitting the "Quote" button on the Quick Reply at the bottom of the page inserts not only the quote tags, but the highlighted text as well.


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## dawgnabbit (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight wrote:
Highlighting the part of someone's message tht you want to quote and THEN hitting the "Quote" button on the Quick Reply at the bottom of the page inserts not only the quote tags, but the highlighted text as well.



Yes, that is _really_ cool...I had been trying to figure that out.  Thank you! 
Dawg


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Might change the 'avatar' to 'your pix' Jerry


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

test test


For some reason I can't get my Marty Cozad


 to show up over NTC in the sig??


10 trys  and refresh


 


Ok I got it, the words can't be on the same line is the center thingy.


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## ZachsPappaw (Jan 3, 2008)

happy new year /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif


have fun: Jeff


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## Big65Dude (Jan 2, 2008)

This is Jack's test reply


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## Big65Dude (Jan 2, 2008)

This is Jack's test reply 

************************ 

2nd Try: Sorry 'bout that. 

I submitted a test reply to see what it would look like, but now I can't figure out how to delete it once it's posted (as you could in the old forums.) 

************************ 

3rd Try: I then tried to edit it, but I could not submit the edited reply, much less delete it. I had to come down here to the bottom and post my edits in a new "Quick Reply." 

************************ 

http://www.mylargescale.com/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crying.gif


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## Becky Francis (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dwight Ennis on 01/03/2008 7:57 AM
I just discovered another cool feature. Highlighting the part of someone's message tht you want to quote and THEN hitting the "Quote" button on the Quick Reply at the bottom of the page inserts not only the quote tags, but the highlighted text as well.


*That is a cool feature.  /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/laugh.gif  It sure does save time.*


*Becky
*


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## MarkLewis (Jan 2, 2008)

This is absurd.


Before I did my signature yesterday, I saved the code I entered into the ediing box.


Today I tried some of the things "documented" in this thread.


After I could not get what I wanted, I pasted the code that worked yesterda into the editing box, updated my profile and got what appears to be junk.


I am going to let things settle down here before trying again. I can't pssoibly code a moving horse.


Mark


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Something is weird.  I tried and tried but can't get my signature to work.  I'm pretty good with HTML.  When I try to upload it in my profile, extra a href coding goes in and screws up the coding I typed.  Does this new forum support Firefox?


Oh man, I just tried a copy and paste and it says my browser (Firefox) doesn't support this.  Had to use the old ctrl c to copy.  This new forum coding is just as bad as the Trains.com forums when it comes to Firefox.  Too bad /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/ermm.gif


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

This is the code that ends up in your posting for your sig.  I had to stick lots of "*" in it to make it show here and not execute... Ignore them.


Matt


I see some mismatched anglebrackets and some empty items.


The "img src=" has no closing ">" associated with it.  I am not sure about the "a href=" following it, (or is that the source of the image?)


Maybe that opening angle bracket for the "a href=" should go away?


I don't see a closing "/hr statement for the "hr noshade" portion.


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## jwvine29 (Jan 2, 2008)

* I Give Up For Now, Had it now its gone, Just the codes showing.*


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

OK. I got the avatar to upload OK.


I can't get the sig to work correctly.


I inserted the text and the gif link and when it updated the sig box now contains a whole heap of gobbledygook that makes no sense to me.


Plus I can't get pics to appear in a post even though the html code [img*] url [/img*] minus asterisks, was correctly written.


Also how do you stop the text formatting two lines when you want to start a new paragraph immediately below the string of words you have just typed?


So far I am not impressed at all.


One should not have to be a computer genius to make this stuff work.


The old forums worked just fine.  Can we have them back please.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By TonyWalsham on 01/03/2008 7:25 PM


OK. I got the avatar to upload OK.


I can't get the sig to work correctly.


I inserted the text and the gif link and when it updated the sig box now contains a whole heap of gobbledygook that makes no sense to me.


Plus I can't get pics to appear in a post even though the html code [img*] url [/img*] minus asterisks, was correctly written.


Also how do you stop the text formatting two lines when you want to start a new paragraph immediately below the string of words you have just typed?


So far I am not impressed at all.


One should not have to be a computer genius to make this stuff work.


The old forums worked just fine.  Can we have them back please.



 


Lets see if this answers one of your questions about the double-spacing when you press Enter.


This line was preceeded by just pressing Enter.
This line was preceeded by pressing Enter while holding down the Ctrl key.


Seems to have worked in the reply entry box.
Worked in the Preview box.
Now to see if it works when I click Submit.


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## jmkling (Jan 2, 2008)

Test


 


Did not work, the system kept adding h ref tags to make it look like a web link vice doing the signature...to much beta testing being done, instructions keep changing, not clear and I even work in IT...not they way I run my business, making user identify problems....and making changes on the fly....../DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes, making changes on the fly is tough. But I think the URL thingy was a suggestion that was easy to implement but had untoward consequences in another area. "SHOULD" (ha ha ha ha) be an "easy" fix! (Maybe!).


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## stumpycc (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight, could you _PLEASE_  help me with my sig. I know you are very busy with this new place, but I could really use some help. I can install hardware, install operating systems and do most upgrades on computers, but I know _NOTHING_ about "codes".  And I miss my Sig./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif


 


  Cliff Couch


" stumpycc"


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## jmkling (Jan 2, 2008)

*Fixed now*


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## nkelsey (Jan 4, 2008)

Tes to see if signature and avatar work


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

I was working on Tony's sig today after successfully doing Noel's. Right at that point, images stopped working everywhere. In fixing one thing, something else was inadvertantly broken (any programmers out there will know just how EASY that is to do).  /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif  It's being fixed as I type. Patience. This will all fall in place in a week or two as we give things a proper shakedown. 

Even the Enterprise-A had bugs during her shakedown cruise, and that was in the 23rd century!!  


BTW, it's really nice for me to see the faces in the Avatars.  I like seeing who I'm talking to.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dwight Ennis on 01/03/2008 8:21 PM


...(any programmers out there will know just how EASY that is to do).  ...


How WELL I know!/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blink.gif


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## wmumpower (Jan 2, 2008)

Progress is now being made!!   I've got my sig all in AND working.  The link now clicks, so all seems to work fine with Firefox.


Dwight and Shad, I think it's one really big mistake to have an area that members use regularly to be an HTML entry only type setup.  I am not proficient in HTML.  I've never studied it or been taught it and I'm sure there are dozens others here that are the same way.  I also find that your explanations tend to be given at a level that assumes that everyone knows HTML code.  I was able to figure out mine, but I think there are a lot of frustrated members who just won't be able to.  That's a shame.


Please don't take this as a flame, but as constructive criticism.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Warren - you may be right, and perhaps I should try and break it down more. I did try to say what each line did, and make sure people noted the necessary double-quotes and spaces, and also where spaces aren't needed. As a programmer and IT Mgr by profession, I'm probably guilty of assuming that others know more than they do (an occupational hazard I'm afraid regardless of the occupation). 

As for the rest, it's the forum software that creates the schism between forum code and html, and it isn't easily modified by the user (Shad in this case). He has several requests into the developer to provide various options that will give him (Shad) more flexibility in setting things up (like a "Add Topic" button on the Active Topics as an example). In the meantime, we'll have to struggle along somewhat, since these are things which Shad himself cannot change. We appreciate the member's patience while we work things out. Ultimately, the new software provides more benefits than drawbacks. Try fooling around with the editor in the full "Reply" page. It works just like MS Word. Highlight the text, press a button, and it's (a) centered, (b) a different color, (c) a different font, (d) a different size, (e) a bulleted list, (f), a numbered list, etc. No fooling around with tags at all. Try creating a bulleted list in the old forum code - I did, and it was quite involved. Things previously accessible only to the more knowledgeable few are now accessible to the many (no offense meant to anyone).  Anyone who can use a word processor can now use these features. Neat stuff imho.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

OK Dwight.


I have figured out how to not get double spacing next line down when I hit ENTER at the end of some text.
I just use SHIFT plus ENTER.  We never had to do that before.


I guess you learn something new sometimes.


However, I can't get the sig to work properly.
Not knowing what else to do I have typed in in plain text in the box . 
Perhaps someone here would be so kind as to add the required whatever to make it show up like it used to instead of what it does now.


PLEASE HELP!!!!


*THEN:*


Best wishes,


Tony Walsham (Remote Control Systems)


http://www.rcs-rc.com/












The primary problems of the planet arise not from the poor, for whom education is the answer. They arise from the well educated - for whom self interest is the problem. 


William Sloane Coffin.


*NOW:*


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Tony - images are now working again and I just emailed your sig code as a text attachment. Copy the text and paste it into your sig box and get back to me. I'm still on a learning curve myself.


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

*Hi Dwight... Well you can ck it out.  I uploaded the Sig. like you e-mailed. Still problems but wording is ok.  I played around with it, and tried to make it smaller and with nothing set up to the right side. I guess it's like anything that is new, it takes time to get the kinks out and like others said I have done some computer stuff and made web pages but this is trial and error I guess.  Yup like others said it does get flustrating.*


*Guess what we need for most of us is a format to work off of. We're to used to using short cuts..*


*I'm going to send you my sign in on e-mail Dwight and see what u can pull out of it to get something like i had before..  I know you and I had to resize Logos and text spacing.* 


*No hurry on it. i can go with out a sig. for a while. Until you have more time and i'll keep playing with it on another web page to see what i can do. but trains are coming first.. hahahaha *


*uh oh.. Darn this has no spell ck to download???.. laf.  /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sick.gif*


*Noel*


 


*     *


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Dwight.


Thanks for the E mail.
At least I know how to copy and paste.
It now works.
Thank you.


Just as well I will never likely need to change it in the future.


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## Rod Fearnley (Jan 2, 2008)

Well my problems appear to be the same as every one else's. I can get the old style code to show, but not the actual graphic/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blush.gif So, I'll wait for things to calm down a little and try again. I am using Firefox 2.0.0.11, BTW


The site is filling up nicely now, and things do seem a bit more crisp, and as Dwight sez, with the picture avatars, it's nice to see who you are chatting to.


Rod F.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight, 

1.  I put a link to a photo in my 'avatar' box in the profile, but it doesn't show up. What's the trick?


2.  The spacing when you hit 'enter' is standard editing: 'enter' inserts a paragraph break, shift+enter just a new line.  I guess we'll get used to it.


3.  My easy way to do the "Sig" 
  - go find an old post you made in the archives
  - view the source (/View/Source or right-click/view source; opens a notepad window.)
  - use the 'find' ( ctrl-F ) to search the source for your sig.  I found my user name.
  - identify the html code that is your sig
  - copy it to the sig box in your profile.


I guess knowing what htmp looks like helps!


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## seadawg (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Pete Thornton on 01/04/2008 8:45 AM


3.  My easy way to do the "Sig" 
  - go find an old post you made in the archives
  - view the source (/View/Source or right-click/view source; opens a notepad window.)
  - use the 'find' ( ctrl-F ) to search the source for your sig.  I found my user name.
  - identify the html code that is your sig
  - copy it to the sig box in your profile.


 



I was working on this last night to no avail, but I can sure copy and paste. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/doze.gif


It worked


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

*Dwight.* 
Hey guy it's working.. I have to look and see what you did.  
I did insert that code you sent this morning in bottom of the box, but it shows up under Photo link and that didn't work, and not sure what it is. ( Web mail link maybe??) 

**src="http://imgfarm.com/images/webmail/imgFil_spacer.gif" />** Let me know if you want me to put it back in so you can see it??


 


Ok i ck'ed that code and it the same as we been doing all along.. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/hehe.gif Guess Shad was doing something and keep changes our code to something else?? but it is what we been uploading all of the time.. but we kept lossing it some how. 

Anyway, tiks. a hole bunch for the flustrating help. Its working now. Sure glad your are around for us dumbies. Noel


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

I used the cut/paste from the old source, and it seems to have worked nicely. My banner is now a clickable link.  I would expect, once things settle down a bit, that we'll be able to put out some sort of "HTML for the forum" guide to help folks along. In the grand scheme of things, it's not really any more or less difficult than the old forum code, just different. 

Later, 

K


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## John Allman (Jan 2, 2008)

Well how about this for a new one. I don't want a signature. I don't want to see signatures. I find it just slows down the site and adds wasted space making the threads hard to read. 

I used to have them turned off on the old system. I looked and can not find how to do that now. Anyone have a suggestion on how to turn the signatures et. al. off? 

Thanks, 
John


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## mewilkinson (Jan 2, 2008)

I want to thank Dwight and Charles for all the help they gave on setting up the new signatures. I got mine to work with out a lot of knowledge of HTML.


Thanks for all you do. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/w00t.gif


Mike


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## llynrice (Jan 2, 2008)

I attempted to copy my signature from the old MLS site to the new one.  All of the control characters copied over with the text and simply appeared in my signature.  So, I just created a signature using the default text.  When I type in the signature box, I can't see any way to format what I'm typing.  Can anybody out there tell me how to format text in the signature box?
Llyn


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## jwvine29 (Jan 2, 2008)

Back in the game.


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## ZachsPappaw (Jan 3, 2008)

Hey Tony:


Your sig is still upside down. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/hehe.gif


Just been waitin to ride ya a little. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/tongue.gif


Have Fun: Jeff


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Jeff.


The logo is still upside down because I am still downunder cranking out the best value R/C system on the market.


BTW, does Geoffrey Hughes know you are using his image as your avatar??


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Please keep in mind everyone that the old sig rules still apply... 

*1 - signature images are limited in physical size to a maximum of 500 pixels wide by 120 pixels high. 

2 - signature images are further limited in file size to a maximum of 25 kilobytes. 

3 - signatures with an image 120 pixels high are limited to one line of text above or below the image. 

4 - members are asked to voluntarily refrain from using animated gifs in their signatures. 

5 - blank lines above and below the sig should be eliminated.* 

I already see a few that are non-compliant. A week or two to let the dust settle and we're going to start enforcing those rules again. Please check your sig images for both physical size and file size.  If you need help, don't hesitate to pop me an email or PM and I'll do whatever I can to help you out.

BTW, the request to refrain from using animated gifs also applies to avatars. 

Thanks in advance for everyone's cooperation.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By East Broad Top on 01/04/2008 10:30 AM
I used the cut/paste from the old source, and it seems to have worked nicely. My banner is now a clickable link. 

 



 Kevin, could you email me the code you used to make your banner a clickable link? 


Thanks a bunch.


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