COUNTDOWN v1.21

Do you want to countdown to a certain date, but you don't want to update daily by hand? Well, this neat script might be what you need. Check it out.

Information

Original Author: Matt Wright

Modifications: Modifications were made so that it would be SSI-compatible. This script has been basically transformed from an individual countdown page viewer (where a visitor would have to click on a link to view the countdown) to one that can be streamlined onto one page as shown below.

The instructions included in the README are pretty useless unless you are looking for the syntax of the CGI call.

Example

How long until it reaches May 21, 1999 (Release day of Star Wars: Episode I)?

How long until it reaches January 1, 2000?

How long until it reaches January 1 of next year?

Downloads

countdown.zip (6 KB)

Installation Instructions

To install this script, download the file listed above. Then follow these instructions:

1. Unzip the files included in the countdown.zip ZIP archive into whatever directory you desire.

2. Upload countdown.pl in ASCII mode into a directory underneath \cgi-shl\ such as \cgi-shl\countdown\.

3. Edit your HTML file that you want the countdown to appear in. You can have multiple countdowns on one page.

4. Add the following code:

<!--#exec cgi="/cgi-shl/countdown/countdown.pl?2000,5,21,1,2,3"-->

Of course, you want to change the countdown goal date. The following is the syntax:

year, month, day number, hour, minute, second

So the sample code would show the date for the Year 2000 on the 21st of May at the third second of the second minute of the first hour.

Here's another example:

<!--#exec cgi="/cgi-shl/countdown/countdown.pl?XX,1,1,0,0,0"-->

Now what does that XX do? Well it basically translates into the next coming date such as the next year in this case (the XX can be in any spot really and in multiple spots at the same time). So supposing that the current year was 1990, the countdown would display how many days it would be until January 1st, 1991. If the current year was 1999, it would countdown until January 1st, 2000. This is a quick way to countdown to certain dates without having to change the HTML code every year, month, or day.

The counter will only display the year, month, and days (not hours, minutes, and seconds because of popularity though the script can be modified to display them) to go as shown above. It will only display the necessary information (no 0 Years 0 Months 12 Days).

5. You should be done now. If you have any questions, please visit the Hosted Sites WebBoard.