American Public Media: Engage 08: The Next Agenda

Idea Generator: The Next Agenda

The Idea Generator: The Next Agenda is an online activity that allows the public to help shape election coverage. What change could the next government champion that would improve your life and why? Using the Idea Generator forum, users can identify what is important to them in the first 100 days of the new presidency. They can weigh in with the issues and let the news media know what stories might be missing. In addition to informing the public radio election coverage, users can also discuss and expand the ideas of others. Ideas can be sorted in a variety of ways—by keyword, geography, or list—to provide a range of entry points into the discussion.

Idea Generator Example

View Idea Generator: The Next Agenda»

Instructions:
The Idea Generator: The Next Agenda can be embedded on your Web site in one of two ways. First, if your site is wide enough to embed an image that is 770px in width, you can use an <iframe> in your source code. If your site cannot accommodate that width, you can embed a pop-up link that will allow The Idea Generator to play in its own pop-up window. (Due to width limitations, this is the method used on this site.) Please embed the game using one of these two methods so that American Public Media can maintain all the collective data and so that your audience's usage can be measured accurately.

<iFrame> Embedding Instructions

Cut and paste the following code snippet into your page's source code. Locate this code snippet within an <html> element in the position you would like it to display.

Modifications:
Within the above code snippet you can make the following modifications:

Width: The width attribute is set to "770" by default because the game is 770px wide. It is a Flash application and cannot be scaled to a smaller size.; To change the width, change the code text width="770" to width="xx%" (percentage) or width="xx" (width in pixels). A percentage width means that the frame will expand to that percentage of the width of the element in which you place it.; Note: If you change the width to something less than 770px, make certain that the "scrolling" attribute of the frame is set to "yes" so that your users can reach all parts of the game.
Height: The height attribute is set to "772" pixels by default because the game is 772px high. It is a Flash application and cannot be scaled to a smaller size.; To change the height, change the code text height="772" to height="xx%" (percentage) or height="xx" (height in pixels). A percentage height means that the frame will expand to that percentage of the height of the element in which you place it.; Note: If you change the height to something less than 772px, make certain that the "scrolling" attribute of the frame is set to "yes" so that your users can reach all parts of the game.
Border: The frameborder attribute is set to "0" by default which prevents a border from displaying around the <iframe>.; To show a border, change the code text frameborder="0" to frameborder="1". However, be advised that this will not show a border in all browsers.
Scrolling: The scrolling attribute is set to "yes" by default. This means that when there is content that extends beyond the width or height of the <iframe>, scrollbars appear to allow users to access that content.; DO NOT CHANGE the scrolling attribute to "no" unless you are certain that you have allowed enough room for all the content on the poll page, results page and candidate position page. If you have not, users will not be able to use the widget effectively.
CSS Styles: You can use CSS styles to style the <iframe> itself, but the styles will not affect the The Idea Generator content.

Pop-up Embedding Instructions

To create a pop-up window for The Idea Generator, cut and paste the following code snippet into your page's source code. Locate this code snippet within the <head> tags of your page or in a linked JavaScript file.

Note: It is imperative that there are no spaces between the single quotes in the snippet. Do not add spaces to the word 'nextagenda' or after any of the commas in the line beginning with 'height... and ending with ...,toolbar=no')

Identify the button, image or link the user will click on in order to initiate the pop-up window. Add the following JavaScript action to your button, image or link..

Modifications:
You can add this pop-up action to a button, image or text link using the following code:

Button: In your button tag, include the onclick... code above. Your code might look something like the code below:; <input type="button" name="request" value="View The Idea Generator: The Next Agenda" onclick="return showIG('http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08/nextagenda/widget/widget.shtml');" /> To copy this code, click SELECT THIS CODE and then press Control->C.
Image: Surrounding your image tag, use an <a href=... tag that links the image to the game. Include the onclick... code above in the <a href=... tag. The JavaScript in your header will keep the main browser window from moving to the game's URL unless the user does not have JavaScript enabled. Your code might look something like the code below:; <a href="http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08/nextagenda/widget/widget.shtml?refid=apm" onclick="return showIG('http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08/nextagenda/widget/widget.shtml?refid=apm');"><img src="my_image.jpg" alt="View The Idea Generator: The Next Agenda" border="0" /> </a> To copy this code, click SELECT THIS CODE and then press Control->C.; Note: In your image tag, be sure to set the border attribute to "0" or the link will give the image a border.
Text Link: Construct the link exactly as you would for an image (above) except use the <a href=... tags to surround the text you want linked rather than the image. Again, the JavaScript in your header will keep the main browser window from moving to the game's URL unless the user does not have JavaScript enabled. Your code might look something like the code below:; <a href="http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08/nextagenda/widget/widget.shtml?refid=apm" onclick="return showIG('http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08/nextagenda/widget/widget.shtml?refid=apm');">View The Idea Generator: The Next Agenda</a> To copy this code, click SELECT THIS CODE and then press Control->C.
CSS Styles: You can use CSS styles to style the buttons, images or text that you link, but the styles will not affect the The Idea Generator content.