Hi David,
I personally think a dynamic visitors' book can be pretty risky! Anyone could post any manner of comments. So it is a good idea to create a form with a message box which you can "censor" before it goes into your pages.
It would be necessary to point out that your decision is final in the choice of comments so that not everyone expects to see what they write published on your pages.
The CC Flash Form builder is perfect for this function. Otherwise if you have the HTML Editor you can go to the tool bar and insert a form item from there. Then get the visitor to mail their comments to you at which point you can decide whether to just send a private reply, or paste the message into your site on an appropriate page.
Janys

David,
I'm sorry that I don't have a visitors' book, but here is my enquiry form which you would be able to adapt to your own needs of course.

http://www.giudecca-homes.com/ask-205.html

Do look into the code if it helps you at all. This is just one form that I have set up for one of the apartments. Each has its own. I suppose I could do something similar for comments and feedback really. The trouble is I already have to spend quite a lot of time on doing updating in one way or another, and I am looking for ways to streamline rather than increase the workload!
Take care,
Janys

I am really glad I went for the statcounter as it has given me a great deal of "insight" (literally) as to what goes on with my visitors. So I am able to see the most popular pages/browsers/screen resolution and what countries everyone comes from. All makes for fascinating reading as I'm sure you can imagine. Had people from the Isle of Aruba, then to much nearer home from Verona and Vicenza, just a few short miles away.
Anyway,
always pleased to help if I can, so give a shout if you need me. It is really geat just how many people are out there ready to give a hand. Makes us all feel good to know that we might have just a few of the right answers!
Bye again,
Janys

Hello David,
I can give you a code for snow if ever you want one. Every year I prepare a family web site for distant friends and family, and in it goes our Red Robin plus any new photos that the family have sent in - a few seasonal recipes and the usual corny jokes that we all manage to find somehow. And more often than not I have the snow on at least a couple of pages. Slows the download tremendously, but the kids find it amusing!
Janys

Isn't a guest book just a workaround of what our form builder can produce?

Well, I don't know about the birds, but yes, you can certainly create a little gif of anything you like (your dog, kids, butterflies etc) on a transparent background and have it float around.



And here is the snow script:

<script language="JavaScript1.2">

/*
Snow Effect Script
Submitted by Altan d.o.o. (snow@altan.hr, http://www.altan.hr/snow/index.html)
Permission granted to Dynamicdrive.com to feature script in archive
For full source code to this script, visit http://dynamicdrive.com
*/


//Configure below to change URL path to the snow image
var snowsrc="snow.gif"
// Configure below to change number of snow to render
var no = 30;

var ns4up = (document.layers) ? 1 : 0; // browser sniffer
var ie4up = (document.all) ? 1 : 0;
var ns6up = (document.getElementById&&!document.all) ? 1 : 0;

var dx, xp, yp; // coordinate and position variables
var am, stx, sty; // amplitude and step variables
var i, doc_width = 800, doc_height = 600;

if (ns4up||ns6up) {
doc_width = self.innerWidth;
doc_height = self.innerHeight;
} else if (ie4up) {
doc_width = document.body.clientWidth;
doc_height = document.body.clientHeight;
}

dx = new Array();
xp = new Array();
yp = new Array();
am = new Array();
stx = new Array();
sty = new Array();

for (i = 0; i < no; ++ i) {
dx[i] = 0; // set coordinate variables
xp[i] = Math.random()*(doc_width-50); // set position variables
yp[i] = Math.random()*doc_height;
am[i] = Math.random()*20; // set amplitude variables
stx[i] = 0.02 + Math.random()/10; // set step variables
sty[i] = 0.7 + Math.random(); // set step variables
if (ns4up) { // set layers
if (i == 0) {
document.write("<layer name="dot"+ i +"" left="15" top="15" visibility="show"><a href="http://dynamicdrive.com/"><img src='"+snowsrc+"' border="0"></a></layer>");
} else {
document.write("<layer name="dot"+ i +"" left="15" top="15" visibility="show"><img src='"+snowsrc+"' border="0"></layer>");
}
} else if (ie4up||ns6up) {
if (i == 0) {
document.write("<div id="dot"+ i +"" style="POSITION: absolute; Z-INDEX: "+ i +"; VISIBILITY: visible; TOP: 15px; LEFT: 15px;"><a href="http://dynamicdrive.com"><img src='"+snowsrc+"' border="0"></a></div>");
} else {
document.write("<div id="dot"+ i +"" style="POSITION: absolute; Z-INDEX: "+ i +"; VISIBILITY: visible; TOP: 15px; LEFT: 15px;"><img src='"+snowsrc+"' border="0"></div>");
}
}
}

function snowNS() { // Netscape main animation function
for (i = 0; i < no; ++ i) { // iterate for every dot
yp[i] += sty[i];
if (yp[i] > doc_height-50) {
xp[i] = Math.random()*(doc_width-am[i]-30);
yp[i] = 0;
stx[i] = 0.02 + Math.random()/10;
sty[i] = 0.7 + Math.random();
doc_width = self.innerWidth;
doc_height = self.innerHeight;
}
dx[i] += stx[i];
document.layers["dot"+i].top = yp[i];
document.layers["dot"+i].left = xp[i] + am[i]*Math.sin(dx[i]);
}
setTimeout("snowNS()", 10);
}

function snowIE_NS6() { // IE and NS6 main animation function
for (i = 0; i < no; ++ i) { // iterate for every dot
yp[i] += sty[i];
if (yp[i] > doc_height-50) {
xp[i] = Math.random()*(doc_width-am[i]-30);
yp[i] = 0;
stx[i] = 0.02 + Math.random()/10;
sty[i] = 0.7 + Math.random();
doc_width = ns6up?window.innerWidth : document.body.clientWidth;
doc_height = ns6up?window.innerHeight : document.body.clientHeight;
}
dx[i] += stx[i];
if (ie4up){
document.all["dot"+i].style.pixelTop = yp[i];
document.all["dot"+i].style.pixelLeft = xp[i] + am[i]*Math.sin(dx[i]);
}
else if (ns6up){
document.getElementById("dot"+i).style.top=yp[i];
document.getElementById("dot"+i).style.left=xp[i] + am[i]*Math.sin(dx[i]);
}
}
setTimeout("snowIE_NS6()", 10);
}

if (ns4up) {
snowNS();
} else if (ie4up||ns6up) {
snowIE_NS6();
}

</script>



Which as you can see I pulled out from the dynamic drive site, and note that the gif in this case is called SNOW.GIF, so of course you must remember to change that to whatever name you give your image. There are a few other variants that you can mess about with, such as how many snowflakes etc. Just be warned that the more flakes you put in, the slower the page will load.
Also be warned that this can cause your pc to crash.........which is no big deal, but at least you will know what to blame!!
Janys