Client wants a 1-click desktop shortcut to their web ordering page

[Chuck M]

**  Folks don't always welcome change. One branch of my client's client said they'd go along with my client as a supplier, but only if we could give them an icon like a Windows shortcut on their desktop. One click, they said, and they want to be looking at their order page. If our website was local to their computer, that would be easy enough. But since the site is located on a hosting server, I don't know how to do that... It isn't a security problem. It's how to make a shortcut of some kind of the page at the server and get it back to a PC desktop.

**  Bonus question: I just finished making the order page for them. Turned out OK as I work to adapt to the latest Dreamweaver update. Except for the spurious semicolons. There is one order form on the page (Mal's E-Commerce). Just outside the form top center there are 2 semicolons. I have spent 45 minutes trying to find and eliminate them. Searching semicolons and verifying that they're all gainfully employed. I find nothing. Live View shows them, and my cursor can select them -- but nothing is highlighted in the code view. Plus, the Live View won't let me delete them.

If someone would like to see the page, I'll need to ask my client's permission Monday morning before posting a link.

Chuck M

[Rob Hecker2]

On a Windows computer you can right click on the desktop, then new, then shortcut. Enter the full url for the path. You can then change the icon in the properties panel.

As for the semicolons. Sounds like there might be semicolons within a PHP echo string that should not be there, or there are semicolons that should be within a PHP script (maybe even javascript) but which occur outside the script.

[Chuck M]

I don't know PHP or JavaScript. My client's Head of Service doesn't either. But he's taken on the challenge of finding them. Is there an end of "item" code I might not recognize? Which might have a semicolon after it...

The page has proprietary pricing on it, so we'll defer posting it while a couple other things are tried.

The website was done a decade ago. Not sure it uses a Favicon image. Could it or another image I provide be larger than the standard size for a shortcut? I'll try and see.

The replies have been helpful. Any further replies are "optional."

[Nancy OShea]

Not sure it uses a Favicon image. Could it or another image I provide be larger than the standard size for a shortcut? I'll try and see.

Do a Google search for Windows icons.   The size you use will depend on the operating system and user settings. 

Nancy

[Jon Fritz]

For the first issue, from the browser...

1. Go to the page in question on the website

2. Highlight the address in the browser's Location Bar

3. Drag the address to the desktop

That will create a shortcut to the page on the user's desktop using the Favicon image associated with the website.

For the second issue, we would have to see the actual code of the page/includes/scripts involved to be able to say for certain where the semicolons are coming from, but Rob's comment should put you on the right track.

[Chuck M]

My next step will be to mark this problem as solved.

We got rid of the semicolons.

Dragging the URL to the desktop works fine, and the shortcut can be emailed if it's compressed first. I have a ref page to tell me how to give the shortcut icon our image as an ico file before emailing.

I like this forum. Thanks to all.

Chuck M