The Wi-Fi Search Box code set up and FAQ



We made it very easy for you or your site visitors to search for hotspots by any keyword, by city, town, provider and other keywords that may be used. Our Wi-Fi Search Box is ideal for sites offering goods and services for mobile people. 

Overview

People who travel a lot or have to be in different geographical location every so often are slowly finding Wi-Fi Technology a life saver. No more interruptions to their online and Intranet work, no more geographical isolation from the Internet, and no more confinement to their desks. Connecting to anywhere from anywhere is the way to go, wi-fi technology has made it possible.

Having said the above, people still need to know the location they are likely to either travel to or stay in. Both for work and pleasure, hundreds of Wi-Fi hotspots locations in Towns and Cities worldwide are being created daily, a directory to hold them all for the benefit of people who need them is no less important than a telephone directory.

The Wi-Fi Hotspopts Directy was created for the purpose of holding Free and Commercial Wi-Fi Hotspots operated by commercial owners and Wi-Fi Providers alike. Locations of those hotspots is kept up-to-date in conjunction with the very people who operate them, they send us them, and keep us updated monthly and sometimes weekly and as required.



The Wi-Fi Hotspots Directory is the number one source for wi-fi hotspots all over the world, thanks to the baking it receives from the Wi-Fi Technology Forum and its reputable technology partner organizations.
=============

Almost all of the procedure is actually straight to the point and quite easy, however, some people may be confused as to how to install it.



Downloading and installing the Wi-Fi search box:

- Copy the search code from the files included or go to http://www.wi-fihotspotsdirectory.com to download an up-to-date one. The code is to insert in HTML or CGI Scripts. If you want to have it as stand alone file, have a look at the code-test folder where Perl and PHP files can uploaded to your server for testing.

- Can I change the look of the search box? 

Yes, make it look anyway you like, as long as the logos and links remain there. You may want to make it a 468x60 for example or re-design it the way you like. We do stress that any html / code which comes with it to be left intact. That HTML or code is used to import images and search results from our site/s.

- Why the small logos have to remain on the box? 

The small banners / logos are generally either links to our sites, tiny banners / logos or sponsors small banners to promote our sponsors. In most cases, we do not gain financially from displaying them, but as a cross promotion between us and our reputable technology partners (Conferences, event providers, wi-fi partners..). Leaving them there, will insure our partners keep helping our non-profit cause.

- Can I download the logos / banners and place them in my own server / root directory? 

If you do that, we'll have no control as to which banners / logos to appear on the box, we'll be changing them from time to time. In addition, they serve sometimes to advertise our sponsors (to pay for the up-keep of the directory). In short, you should leave them as they are (you can make them smaller, taller or larger though)! 

- Destinations for the logos are through wi-fitechnology.com, why? 

Because we use a central stats banner system for all the Wi-Fi Technology Forum (Wi-Fi-TF) network of sites, which goes through the above URL (our parent site) to help us record how many clicks and impression for those banners on the box, nothing else. While we are at it, privacy of visitors and members is 100% guaranteed, no other information is gathered apart from a harmless visitor or members cookie, obviously without it, the site would not know if members are logged in or not for example.. Read our Privacy & Terms pages to be assured. 

- Are there any restrictions on what kinds of sites the wi-fi search box should be installed on? 
Yes, any site which does not meet our onsite terms of use. Generally, no sites of adult or illegal content are allowed to install the search box (if you are not sure, get in touch instead of installing it and getting into hot water with your ISP / Host..).

- Are all the hotspots in the Wi-Fi Hotspots Directory up-to-date? 

We do our best to insure all are, in minor cases, the odd one or two may have expired or no longer online without our knowledge. Any help in reporting any expired or invalid hotspots will be greatly appreciated. Most of our hotspots come as lists from major wi-fi providers, they themselves usually send them weekly on average. 

- What is the best way and place for wi-fi search box? 

Obviously, the home page or the most visited page on your site is the ideal location. If you have a site that deals with a general topic and have a section for wireless, you get more use out of it than in the home page, on the other hand, that does not mean people who did not visit the wireless section may not need to use it. Besides HTML, you can include the code in your Perl Scripts or PHP etc, you can also include it using any other way possible, no rocket science knowledge is required to implement the code. 

- Can I make the search to open in a new Window? 

Yes, but remember, some pop-up stoppers do get confused and think the page is a pop-up (can't blame them, a new window does actually pop up even though it only does it on your command), hence stop it from opening. We'll leave that up to you, most intelligent pop-up stopper software packages have no problem. 



- I inserted the code in my PHP / Perl file, it keeps giving me errors or does not work!. 

If you uploaded the file as a stand alone, remember to give it 755 permission and this statement should be there:
print "content-type: text/html\n\n"; under the server statement. Have a look at the code-test folder for examples.


Make sure you did not past the code in FrontPage or similar editor that might have changed the code or inserted its default characters, which usually produce errors besides rendering it unreadable to your CGI program. Use a simple text editor if you are re-designing the box, make sure in you favorite editor options that anything you past on it remains unchanged. FrontPage for example has a habit of changing all sorts of characters to its own in-built ones.
Remember that in CGI scripts, Perl and PHP for example, you need to escape the (") like this (\") in text or HTML, the code starts in PHP with: echo "your escaped text and html here";
and in Perl by: print "your escaped text and html here";
In a PHP file, comments (notes for your own use, not for the public eye) have to be commented (hidden) by //, example //bla bla, or /* bla bla*/.

For example:

//this is my comment <<-- a short commented paragraph

/* this is my comment when it's many lines long...*/ <<--long commented paragraph

echo "Hello World"; <--PHP code not commented!

In Perl, you use # 

#this is my comment, a short one 

#this is my comment 
#when its very long... 

print "Hello World"; <<--Perl code not commented!

Note: Perl code can be written without escaping, like this:

print "<<CODE"; <<--beginning of code

text and HTML here does not have to be escaped, example: <table border="100%"....

CODE <<--end of code

Remember don't include the <<--, it's only here for description purposes.

Another thing, Perl and PHP files or scripts have to know what program they are using. 

Perl scripts need to have a statement right on the beginning of the page: 

#!/usr/bin/perl 

Your server may have it different, best thing is to extract / copy and past one from a Perl script that is working on your site!

this statement: print "content-type: text/html\n\n"; under it or somewhere where applicable is usually needed.

For PHP scripts, this: (<?php) need to be at the beginning and this (?>) at the end of the page, or before and after PHP code (no brackets). 

- Can I distribute the search box? 
By all means Yes! 

- Can I use the search to open in an IFrame or inside a Frame? 
We'd rather you did not in an IFrame, if you do use a Frames, make sure to let visitors have the option of removing the frames.

- Can I have the directory search results open in my own pages without going to the hotspots directory? 
This is a similar question to the above, Yes if the search results as well as the whole page open untouched, but not if only the results themselves. It would not be fair if you get the results without the banner or two that are usually on top (they pay for the up-keep of the directory). 

- Are there a desktop or handheld version available? 

We are working on two Windows and Mac versions, one for handhelds and one for desktops, it may be few weeks or even months before we release them though. If you'd like to contribute to programming them (Java or C), we'd like to hear from you, email: webmaster@wi-fihotspotsdirectory.com. You can still use this box on your desktop or notebook, just past it in a HTML file and open it and search (you need to be connected to the Internet to bring results though!), you can also send the file to desktop as a short cut icon 



If you have any other question, get in touch: webmaster@wi-fihotspotsdirectory.com 

Enjoy and support a good cause!





