Archive for November, 2005
Seeing the buzz in the blogosphere about the latest Firefox release, version 1.5, I naturally downloaded and installed the Web browser today.
I have used Firefox for close to two years now and was relieved to see that little had changed with regard to its look and feel. Most importantly, it still opens quickly and runs light, using few system resources.
The one frustration I had following installation was with plug-in incompatibilities. Firefox’s greatest strength, its Open Source model, is also a bit of an enemy as the plug-in architecture evolves leaving some plug-ins I loved behind for the time being.
Though I haven’t had time to investigate the new version thoroughly, Mozilla says that the new version adds support for more advanced JavaScript, CSS, and DHTML, along with accessibility improvements.
I hope they fixed the print stylesheet limitations that have been frustrating me … come on Mozilla, focus on the basics! Overall, this looks like a solid step towards a standards compliant browser. It has (mostly) been a joy to design Web sites for Firefox and it looks like it is getting better.
November 30th, 2005
Web 2.0 is the greatest thing since Flash made interactive application development possible without waiting for server-side interaction. Or so most of its proponents would have us to believe. I agree that it is an amazing and potentially Web changing development.
But exactly what is Web 2.0? I can’t say “exactly” because it involves many different components. What I can say is that it involves AJAX and other technologies that allow your Web browser to access data that it will need to process your requests before you need it. This way of working with the Web simulates the feel of a desktop application, not a Web site.
Google has been on the cutting edge in this area and there are many others. One of particular interest to me is TransMedia Corporation. As noted in an article in the November 14, 2005 issue of Information Week, this startup is on the bleeding edge of desktop application development. Their suite of basic office productivity tools is available free of charge, and their advanced features can be accessed by subscription. The only real catch is … Glide Effortless hasn’t been released yet!
Look out Microsoft! Someone’s knocking on your door. Whether they can deliver has yet to be determined.
This example illustrates Web 2.0 and the future also of Microsoft office productivity tools. Expect to see them on the Web in the next few years unless there is a dramatic shift in the momentum towards online desktop software applications.
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November 29th, 2005
Ok. Let me get this off my chest. I love learning! Yes, I do. But DHTML Utopia: Modern Web Design with JavaScript and DOM was a stretch for me as a relative newcomer to JavaScript - beyond what I expected.
In contrast, I’m quite comfortable with basic server side scripting. It’s simple. You write a function or object, create variables and the pages are put together and served up on a silver platter. But client-side (browser based) scripting with JavaScript and DOM? Well, this is another matter altogether. Using JavaScript and the DOM is a bit like absorbing utopian literature; it is full of potential but hard to apply to the grind of everyday life.
The pull of a coding utopia eventually overcame my skepticism. What I found has forever changed the way I think about JavaScript. Thanks to Stuart Langrange, I am now happy to use JavaScript as an interaction layer or improvement to my Web sites rather than embedding it in my HTML code.
DHTML Utopia’s strong points include:
- Not for dummies! Unrelenting intellectual and professional rigor. No shortcuts taken. No easy way out or dumbing down of concepts.
- Intense practical application (unlike any other utopian literature I’ve read)
- A brief introduction to an array of server side scripting option that use DOM and AJAX
- The code examples I worked with were flawless. Obviously an excellent team of technical editors was involved.
DHTML Utopia’s weak, points include:
- None to speak of. But while I’m speaking …
- Not for dummies!
- Many of the examples left me wishing for more depth. I want more of the same!
- The concept of using JavaScript to read and manipulate a document via DOM is practical, but at first it is hard to grasp and apply to one’s own projects.
- It appears that this method of coding does not comply with XHTML. As an XHTML coder, I had to work with XHTML 1.0 Transitional in order to take advantage of the techniques Stuart Lagrange introduces.
- In addition, when I used the DOM and JavaScript on a client’s Web site, I noticed that longer pages resulted in a somewhat sluggish response when viewed in Internet Explorer. I am unclear as to what causes this and will keep researching until I find out. It is directly proportional to the number of DOM nodes in my documents. Any discussion of this issue would be helpful to me.
- Oh! I almost forgot the most important thing. They wouldn’t send me a free copy for review. The NERVE!
Topics covered include:
- An introduction to using HTML and the Document Object Model (DOM)
- Working with various browsers
- Animation
- Forms and Validation
- Animated Menus
- Remote Scripting & Communicating with the Server (AJAX)
- DOM Alternatives: XPath
Who is this book’s audience?
I recommend this book to anyone with a strong conceptual understanding of JavaScript and a hunger for clean Web pages. Especially if they want to keep their clients’ Web pages uncluttered with noise that may impede search engines as they index and rank pages. At last, a way of adding interactivity without destroying a Web site’s accessibility has begun to mature!
Title: DHTML Utopia: Modern Web Design Using JavaScript & DOM
Author: Stuart Langrange
Publisher: Sitepoint
ISBN: 0957921896
Date: May 2005
Format: Paperback
Pages: 318
Cover Price: USD: $39.95 CDN: $55.95 UK: unknown
Resources:
November 29th, 2005
While WordPress has become my CMS of choice, there is one major hurdle that it needs to clear before I can deploy it as broadly as I would like. WordPress is still a Web log.
WordPress is structured around a blog engine and though it can be hacked and suppressed, the work is not justified for Web sites where blogging is not required.
This is not a problem for most small E-tailers since blogging is an effective way to meet a niche’’s need for information and community.
What’s the next step for WordPress? Make the blog behavior optional just as pages are currently. If I choose not to add pages to a WordPress blog, everything works seamlessly. If I choose not to add posts, the core of WordPress needs to be bypassed.
Is this changing in version 2.0?
For anyone interested in WordPress development, the beta of WordPress 2.0 is now available.
November 9th, 2005
I have spent the last two years looking for a flexible CMS for my small to mid-size clients. During that time, WordPress has matured from a powerful blogging platform to a flexible content management system that produces standards compliant XHTML.
Thanks to the many plug-in developers, I can now manage pages and customize WordPress to treat posts as any sort of data type I need. WordPress posts do not need to be posts; they can be any item that you need a database to manage.
With powerful WordPress themes, posts can be formatted flexibly turning your Web log into whatever dynamic application your project requires.
WordPress 1.5 has become the CMS I’ve been looking for. Thanks WordPress!
November 1st, 2005
