displaying a different quote for each visitor

[krofunk]

First time I have ever even considered this...when I did it just made my head hurt anyway I am trying to make a page for a friend that displays a different quote (from a list preferably) each time someone visits the page.

Its hard to explain so here is an example from an ugly looking site that managed to get it working http://www.stephenbrownadi.co.uk/ the sites developers won't share.

I imagen that this can be achieved through Java Script - I am happy to work in java script I just know very little bout it

I have already tried to google for the solution but evidently I am asking the wrong questions, thanks for any help in advance!

[lemon-tree]

PHP would be a better choice as Javascript would only really be needed if you wanted to load the quote after the page has loaded, also PHP better will work for the few people who have Javascript disabled.
Here is a quick script that should work:

<?php
$quotesArray = Array();
$quotesArray[] = 'Quote 1';
$quotesArray[] = 'Quote 2';
$quotesArray[] = 'Quote 3';
$quotesArray[] = 'Quote 4';
//etc
$quoteIndex = rand(0, count($quotesArray)-1);
echo $quotesArray[$quoteIndex];
?>

[Salvatos]

Edit: You know what, forget that, lemon-tree's code is so much better. I'll be using it too now, if you don't mind ^^

[callumacrae]

Or even:

<?php
$quotesArray = Array(
	'Quote 1',
	'Quote 2',
	'Quote 3',
	'Quote 4',
);
//etc
$quoteIndex = rand(0, count($quotesArray)-1);
echo $quotesArray[$quoteIndex];
?>

[krofunk]

fantastic! worked flawlessly!

[bdistler]

I use a flat file then I can edit, add, delete quotes with-out change to code

open file
get randon line (quote)
close file
throw quote

This would be a different (random) quote each time page is loaded
to add control use session cookies

[diabolo]

I use a flat file then I can edit, add, delete quotes with-out change to code

open file
get randon line (quote)
close file
throw quote

This would be a different (random) quote each time page is loaded
to add control use session cookies

that would require more work than to use Alex Mac's method. because you have to go open a file, generate number, separate the lines into numbers, and then return the quote. In his method you skip having to open another file and separating the line into numbers because the array is already enumerated.

[bdistler]

that would require more work than to use Alex Mac's method. because you have to go open a file, generate number, separate the lines into numbers, and then return the quote. In his method you skip having to open another file and separating the line into numbers because the array is already enumerated.

open file - one line of code
get number of lines in file - one line of code
gen random number <= then total lines - one line of code
set pointer and get random line (quote) - one line of code
close file - one line of code
throw quote - one line of code

six lines of code

How many lines of code to store 100 quotes useing using Alex Mac's method ?

How much work to edit a text file vs. an array within a source file ?

[callumacrae]

$quotesArray = explode('<br />', nl2br(file_get_contents('quotes.txt')));
$quoteIndex = rand(0, count($quotesArray)-1);
echo $quotesArray[$quoteIndex];

Shorter code in terms of lines, longer in terms of time taken, resources used.

~Callum