DMT blog by Tammy Wade

Google Analytics

2009-11-06T10:54:00.002+11:00

I added the Google Analytics code to the Alpine Magnum website yesterday, and had great expectations that it wouldn't break the rest of the site.

However...

I managed to break the code on the photo gallery page - because the large images wouldn't change when you clicked on the different thumbnails (thanks to my father-in-law for testing). I went back to basics - opened an old version of the file, got the gallery working and started adding stuff back in. And voila - it's working again (well, for the time being).

I've also just built another two sites - one is for a birthday invitation - and the other is for my small business that I'm hoping to develop in the next few weeks.

Breadcrumbs

2009-11-05T14:58:00.003+11:00

I have just added some manual breadcrumbs to the Alpine Magnum website. I saw a simple example on the Cockatoo Island website, which I have adapted for my site.

I still want to add the Google Analytics code - but something wierd is going on with my Analytics login (due to Reverse Garbage/DMDP).

These are just small tweaks to improve usability of the site for the client. I won't be changing the system documentation for DMT.

Website success

2009-11-02T09:37:00.002+11:00

One of the measures of success (outlined in the system plan) of my website was to increase the dollar value of sales generated by online enquiries; and that it has.

My website went live on Wednesday 28th October. The first enquiry came through on Friday 30th, followed by a sale on Saturday 31st (3 days later. The business owners (my parents) are really excited.

Next task is to add the Google Analytics, so I can start tracking hits.

Hosting

2009-10-28T13:03:00.002+11:00

Last night I took advantage of the UTS server being down and moved my site into the real world.

Domain: www.alpinemagnum.com.au

Hosted by: Digital Pacific

I registered the domain name with Digital Pacific, so I didn't have to update the name server. So all in all, it was quite an easy process.

UTS server issue

2009-10-27T19:37:00.002+11:00

Anyone else having problems with PHP on the UTS server?

Cleaning up my CSS, and a few other links.

2009-10-25T21:00:00.002+11:00

I've been catching up on some of my RSS feeds tonight, and wanted to share the following links:

Tips on cleaning up your CSS code.
I'll be taking note of Antoni Lupetti's tips - to order the CSS properties alphabetically and indenting the child elements.

Popular HTML Tags.
The most used tag is the anchor tag, followed by the div tag. And luckily, I know all 7 tags Antoni mentions.

Popular HTML Editors.
Results of a small survey conducted by Lupetti. NotePad++ - the one I'm using - is the most popular editor for Windows users.

And just for fun.
After all, we all need a little comic relief at the end of semester. Monoface uses Flash to
create more than 700,000 combinations of faces. Just click on the mouth, nose, head, etc.

References

Lupetti, A. (2009), 5 Rules to Write More Readable CSS Files, Woorkup, http://woorkup.com/2009/10/18/5-rules-to-write-more-readable-css-files/, [viewed 25 October 2009].

Lupetti, A. (2009), Most Used HTML Tags in 50 Popular Websites, Woorkup, http://woorkup.com/2009/10/17/most-used-html-tags-in-50-popular-web-sites/, [viewed 25 October 2009].

Lupetti, A. (2009), HTML Editors War What Are You Using, Woorkup, http://woorkup.com/2009/10/15/html-editors-war-what-are-you-using/, [viewed 25 October 2009].

Monoface, http://www.mono-1.com/monoface/main.html

Screen capture software

2009-10-25T20:41:00.003+11:00

Snag-It (for Windows)
I really recommend Snag-It to capture screen shots of your website. You can download a free 30 day trial here http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp

Clip-It (for Mac)
On Antoni Lupetti's blog, I also read about a similar program for Mac called Clip-It! I haven't tried it, but it sounds similar to Snag-It. You can download it here http://www.headnix.com/

References

Lupetti, A (2009), Clip it! Capture Any Web Page Into a Single Image, Woork, http://woorkup.com/2009/10/20/clip-it-capture-any-web-page-into-a-single-image/, [viewed 25 October 2009].

Sitemaps and Footers

2009-10-25T07:41:00.002+11:00

I've been struggling with my site structure. I'd like to set up a folder structure so that all the second level pages are in separate folders, which sounds easy enough, but I'm not sure how to incorporate into my PHP menu system without using absolute references for the links. I've created just one menu file, which I include in each page. Maybe something to check with my peers on Tuesday.

Sitemaps usually belong in the footer, along with contact details and information about the site owner. In Smashing Magazine, Lennartz provides a whole swag of footer examples and recommends that you use colours to clearly separate footers and content.

When I eventually work it out, I'm thinking of using the Google Sitemap Generator (see link below).

References

Google Sitemap Generator, http://code.google.com/p/googlesitemapgenerator/, [viewed 25 October 2009].

Lennartz, S. (2008), Footers in Modern Web Design: Creative Examples and Ideas, Smashing Magazine, http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/04/08/footers-in-modern-web-design-creative-examples-and-ideas/, [viewed 25 October 2009].

Progress Update - Week 12

2009-10-24T23:22:00.004+11:00

The good news - the build is on schedule. This week I finished the CSS style sheet, although I think I should spend a bit of time "cleaning it up". I've also populated the site with content, and the business owner is now reviewing the site. I found a royalty-free image on the Getty website which I'm using as a logo placeholder, and impressed myself by changing the colours to match the hex codes in the style sheet.

I am using PHP for the online form- and have reused the code provided by CSS Karma. I decided not to use MySQL in my online enquiry form, because I don't think it's necessary to store the information. Instead, I'm taking the "fire and forget" approach - anticipating that the enquiry messages don't get lost in the ether.

The main pages of the site all validate successfully - both HTML and CSS. However, I've run into a couple of problems validating the Gallery and Contact Us pages - where I have reused other people's code for the photo gallery (JavaScript), the embedded videos (YouTube) and the online enquiry form (CSS Karma). It seems I can get the pages to validate if I change the doc type to Transitional (rather than Strict), but I need to look into the implications for this. I'll see if Alastair can help me on Tuesday night.

Hoping to complete the first draft of the system documentation and add some metatags to the site before Tuesday night.

It's not likely that I will add any advanced features to the site next week, as I need to focus on completing the documentation of the project, taking into consideration the peer feedback received during semester. Although if there's time - I will probably look into improving the site accessibility.

CSS, active links and breadcrumbs...

2009-10-21T12:58:00.004+11:00

I found an image that I can use as a logo placeholder, and have changed the colours to match my hex codes. Now my site has something resembling a masthead. CSS and I are becoming better friends.

I've inserted the HTML code for the masthead and menus into small PHP files, which I include in the relevant files. It's basic functionality that makes the site easier to maintain, because I only need to make changes in one place - rather than across the whole site.

One thing I'm really struggling with is trying to get my active links to come up in the right colour. I've got them all in the right order (W3Schools says to put them in this order - link, visited, hover, active), but it's still not working. It's not a show stopper - but would be nice, because it gives the user an idea of which page they are on.

I am also looking for some code for breadcrumbs, but so far haven't come across anything. I will keep looking.

The basic functionality of the site is pretty much finished. I arranged hosting and purchased the domain name today, so will also plan to move the site off the UTS server. I'm also going to start writing the system documentation, leaving next week free to add extra functionality, if I have time.

Creating forms in HTML

2009-10-20T12:25:00.004+11:00

Today I'm working on the online enquiry form for my website.

I have created a basic form structure, with help from W3Schools. Now I'm trying to make it look pretty, hence scouring the web for examples to borrow.

Here's an article from CSS Tricks discussing where best to put your field title. For example, top aligned labels have the best completion rates and are easiest for users to process.
http://css-tricks.com/label-placement-on-forms/

This article from Sitepoint talks about accessible form markup, and how to label form elements so people using screenreaders can make a connection between the form label and it's text label.
http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css

And here's a site called HTML Ipsum, which provides sample Lorem Ipsum, already marked up in HTML tags, and yes there a form text example.
http://html-ipsum.com/

References:

Coyier, C. (2008), Label Placement on Forms, CSS Tricks, http://css-tricks.com/label-placement-on-forms/, [viewed 20 October 2009].

Adams, C. (2008), Fancy form design using CSS, Sitepoint, http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css, [viewed 20 October 2009].

HTML Ipsum, http://html-ipsum.com/

W3Schools

2009-10-20T11:48:00.004+11:00

The W3C launched their new website on 13 October - with a much better GUI.

On the W3C schools website, I also noticed that they include browser support (the icons make it easy to read), as well as explaining the difference between HTML and XHTML. I've only just noticed this, so not sure if it's a new feature or not - but it is helpful.

For example:
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_input.asp

Guest lecture: Chris Mills from Opera

2009-10-13T22:50:00.002+11:00

Tonight, Chris Mills from Opera Software was our guest lecturer. Chris refers to himself as a web evangelist - and spends a lot of time touting webucation. I related to his comment about web design being a mix of science and art.

Chris talked about his belief in open source software, web standards and accessibility - which should consider both device and human limitations. He also spoke about some of the issues in developing websites for mobile phones, highlighted some new features in HTML5/CSS3, and, being an Opera advocate, told us about their debugger called Firefly, which seems to have similar functionality to Firebug.

Here's a link to Chris' blog and also an interview with Chris that I found on Sitepoint's blog.

Chris Mills, Electric Brain Salad, http://my.opera.com/chrismills/blog/, [viewed 13 October 2009].

Interview: Opera Software's Chris Mills, Sitepoint, http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/07/21/interview-opera-softwares-chris-mills/, [viewed 13 October 2009].

Week 11 - CSS Update on Alpine Magnum website

2009-10-13T20:28:00.004+11:00

I've just restructured the divs to get the page layout looking a bit better. I am starting to feel like I've got the reins controlling my CSS, rather than it being a surprise every time I changed the style sheet. It really helped by doing the Subcide online tutorial.

I'm using a "container" div to define the width of the site, which seems to be working well. But I'm having a few issues with defining the background colour on my side menu on the sub-pages. Will fiddle around and see if I can get it working before next week's class.

If you're interested, here are the links to my WIP website:
Home Page - with top navigation menu
Product Range Page - with top and side navigation menus

I think I've spent enough time on the CSS. My next goal (and I suspect big challenge) is to get an online enquiry form working, using PHP and MySQL.

Week 10 Update - Alpine Magnum Website

2009-10-10T08:08:00.002+11:00

So far this week I have created the HTML template and initial file structure for my website. I have used PHP to integrate the navigation menu - to keep the links in one central file.

I spent more time on my CSS than I had planned for my CSS, but it became evident that I need to review the structure of the divs on the page. I'm thinking of following the Four Bubbles Model outlined by Lupetti (2009).

I hope to spend some time this weekend learning how to get the online form working, with PHP and MySQL.

Here's a link to my WIP website.
http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/alpinemagnum/index.php

Reference:

Lupetti, A. (2009), Methodic approach to CSS coding: Four Bubbles Model, http://woorkup.com/2009/10/09/a-methodic-approach-to-css-coding-four-bubbles-model/, [viewed 10 October 2009].

System Plan

2009-10-06T11:36:00.002+11:00

Here is a link to my draft System Plan

Last week I spent a lot of time thinking about the wireframes. What I want versus what I think I can actually create in CSS will be a big challenge over the coming weeks. I have also completed the sitemap and content plan.

This week will be busy, as I'm hoping to complete the following tasks:

Create HTML templates and pages
Create file structure
Create CSS stylesheet to define basic page style and layout
Test basic HTML structure and CSS stylesheet, bug fixing
Create and integrate PHP scripts for navigation menu
Create and integrate JavaScript for photo gallery

Progress update this time next week.

Anchor tag with target element

2009-09-30T17:50:00.004+10:00

I'm trying to set up an anchor link so that it opens in a new page using the target element, but the HTML doesn't validate. The validation notes suggests using the XHTML Transitional document type instead of Strict.

Has anyone had any success with this?

Normal tag would look like this:
a href="http://www.google.com"

For the link to open in a new page, I think you should type this:
a href="http://www.google.com" target="_blank"

For more information, refer W3Schools.

Getting your website to work in Internet Explorer

2009-09-30T09:01:00.003+10:00

I was interested to read in Smarterware that the Google Wave Team have given up on supporting Internet Explorer in native form. Instead they have released an IE add-on to make it work.

I have already encountered problems getting my CSS to work in Internet Explorer, and have not fully resolved the issue yet. I have scheduled the final CSS design towards to the end of the project, so I don't waste valuable time that could be spent on functionality.

Reference:

Smarterware, Google Wave Team Gives up on Internet Explorer, http://smarterware.org/3380/google-wave-team-gives-up-on-internet-explorer, [viewed 30 September 2009]

Total eclipse of the flowchart :-)

2009-09-23T21:19:00.003+10:00

I thought this was a clever and lighthearted approach to the trusty flowchart, using the lyrics from Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart". It really opened my eyes to the way we are "programmed" to display information.

Flowing Data (2009), Total Eclipse of the Heart Flowchart, http://flowingdata.com/2009/08/28/total-eclipse-of-the-heart-flowchart/, [viewed 23 September 2009]

Guide to CSS Font Stacks

2009-09-23T21:09:00.003+10:00

Here's an interesting article on CSS Font Stacks, which might be useful when I'm finalising the style of my website.

Chapman, C. (2009), CSS Font Stacks, Smashing Magazine, http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/22/complete-guide-to-css-font-stacks/, [viewed 23 September 2009]

Sydney's sky in hex codes

2009-09-23T09:03:00.002+10:00

Peculiar weather this morning. I started to think about what hex codes would best describe the colour of the sky. Just a guess, but I think it's somewhere between #DC9000 and #BC001D.

There is a neat fold out hex colour chart in Castro (2007), which mentions that "the first two hexadecimal numbers represent the red component of the colour, the second two the green, and the last two the blue" (Castro, 2007: inside back cover). This makes sense knowing that screen colours are represented by the RGB colour model (Wikipedia, 2009).

The colour chart on the WebMonkey website is also useful (thanks to Kate who mentioned it on Anna's blog).

References:
Castro, E (2007), HTML, XHTML and CSS, Visual QuickStart Guide, 6th edn, Peachpit Press, Berkeley CA

WebMonkey (2009), Color Charts, http://www.webmonkey.com/reference/Color_Charts, [viewed 23 September 2009]

Wikipedia (2009), RGB Color Model, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_model, [viewed 23 September 2009]

Week 7 Prac (done in week 9)

2009-09-22T18:24:00.002+10:00

Tonight I was playing catch up on the week 7 prac.

Here are the links to the files, and also a few comments about the process.

1). PHP Example
http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/pracs/week7/echo.php
This one was quite simple. I just copied the file onto my web server and it worked :-)

2). Guestbook
http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/pracs/week7/gb.php

Here's the steps I followed to get my guestbook working:

Created a table in phpmyadmin, using Alastairs SQL query (comments in gb.php)
Added my server name, database name, user name and password to the variables in gb.php
Uploaded the file to my web server

I found out that the server name doesn't need the "http://" prefix (this caused an error to begin with). I also had incorrectly entered the table name in the database name variable - I hadn't realised that the code already referred to the guestbook table.

To begin with, we were concerned about saving our SQL password in the php file, but after talking to Alastair remembered that the password wouldn't be displayed in the file online, as the web server runs the php scripts first, and then only presents the html code when someone tries to view the source code.

To make the prac simpler, I decided to work on the UTS web server. I might try the same exercise on my 000webhost account, to compare the phpmyadmin tool.

3). Guestbook with Country field added
http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/pracs/week7/country/gb.php

Here's what I did to add a new field callled "country"

Added a new field called "country" to the table in phpmyadmin, and edited the existing record (adding country details)
Looked for all references to the field names in gb.php, and added the new field "country" in a similar manner.

The first time I forgot to add it to the HTML form, so the country field didn't appear in the form, but this was pretty easy to fix.

I haven't done the extra challenge yet, might do it later from home.

JavaScript - Week 8 Prac

2009-09-15T18:27:00.005+10:00

This week, we are learning the basics of JavaScript. I wasn't sure if I would have time to include JavaScript in my project, but it seems quite straightforward, so I'm thinking to use it for for my image gallery.

Here are the links for this week's practical exercise:

Click here to see the Simple Blog
As you click on the thumbnail, the image changes below.
I think this script will be useful for the image gallery on my project website, and will have a play during the week (maybe using some of my images).

Click here to see the Challenge Exercise
Using JavaScript to compare 2 dates, and then using the alert() function to display the result. But don't get too excited, I didn't let on my birth date... so it's calculating how many days that I've been married - I wonder if my husband is counting :-)

References:
W3C Schools, JavaScript Date Object, http://www.w3schools.com/jS/js_obj_date.asp [viewed 15 September 2009]

W3C Schools, JavaScript Popup Boxes, http://www.w3schools.com/JS/js_popup.asp, [viewed 15 September 2009]

Wireframing

2009-09-10T10:25:00.002+10:00

Smashing Magazine has tonnes of information, but you just need to dig through it to find the useful stuff. I'm posting a few links today - not enough time to read through them all - but I think some could be useful reference for this subject (DMT) and maybe also DMDP.

There are also links to some wireframing tools - some for free, some you have to pay for.

Smashing Magazine, 35 Excellent Wireframing Resources, http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/01/35-excellent-wireframing-resources/, [viewed 10 September 2009]

CSS Backgrounds

2009-09-10T10:19:00.002+10:00

This article provides an overview of using backgrounds in CSS. I like how they provide a few different examples of how each property works. Just need a spare hour to "play around" with it.

Smashing Magazine, CSS Backgrounds: Everything you need to know, http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/02/backgrounds-in-css-everything-you-need-to-know/, [viewed 10 September 2009]

Website screen design - now in CSS

2009-09-09T23:31:00.002+10:00

Last night - I created a page layout in Powerpoint.
24 hours later - I have started to create the CSS style sheet for my website homepage.

You can see my page layout here:
http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/alpinemagnum/index.php

I have also started to use PHP include() function for the navigation menu. The links are saved in a separate file called menu.php. The html files are now saved with a .php extension.

I read in the Albino Blacksheet blog that you are meant to keep all the "included" files in a separate folder. I'll keep that in mind for my project, and will also check with Alastair next week.

Reference:
Albino Blacksheep, http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/tutorial/include, [viewed 9 September 2009]

Website screen design

2009-09-08T23:57:00.003+10:00

After downloading a few of the free CSS templates, I have decided to design the screen layout for my website. It would be really easy to download a template "as is" - but then I won't learn how to do CSS from scratch.

Here's my idea for the home page. I am by no means a graphic designer - so keeping it simple, and using powerpoint to mock up screens. Next step to see if I can come up with a CSS style sheet to match.

Cheat Sheets

2009-09-08T21:45:00.003+10:00

Here's a link to some cheat sheets for CSS, HTML, PHP. I'm going to download a few and will report back on which ones I find helpful.

http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/tools/tools/55-seriously-useful-front-end-web-developer-cheat-sheets.html

Technology Analysis

2009-09-08T00:25:00.002+10:00

Here is a link to my draft Macro and Micro Technology Analysis

http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/micromacro/

Google Wave

2009-09-02T15:26:00.003+10:00

I went to the FED networking event last night to hear Lars Rasmussen talk about Google Wave - their new communication and collaboration tool due out later this year. Google Wave is an HTML5 application built using the Google Web Toolkit.

Click here to see the Google Wave preview (YouTube video)

Lars was part of the startup that designed Google Maps, a product I use every week.

Reference:

Duckett, C. (2009), Google ushers in Sydney-built Wave, ZDNet, http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Google-ushers-in-Sydney-built-Wave/0,130061733,339296697,00.htm?feed=pt_lars_rasmussen [viewed 2 September 2009]

Week 6 - CSS Layout

2009-09-02T14:27:00.002+10:00

With a basic understanding of CSS Style and Layout, and after completing this week's practical exercise, I feel empowered to add some sparkle to my own website design.

Here's some highlights from this week's prac:

1). The second exercise with the hibiscus flower was the one that's really starting to look like a "real website".
http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/pracs/week6/layout.html

2). I thought I had mastered the challenge exercise, but I think the CSS need some tweaks. The layout looked right at the lab last night, but it looks different on my wider screen at home.
http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/pracs/week6/challenge.html

Formatting with CSS Styles

2009-08-28T12:21:00.006+10:00

After last week's lecture it has been drummed into me that HTML is a structural language, and CSS is a style language. You can use CSS to specify the font, size, colour and alignment of text on the page. All of a sudden our web pages can be "spruced up".

CSS style elements can be embedded in the HTML file, or can be written in an external file. I think I prefer the latter, as it will keep my HTML code cleaner, and be easy to store all the style rules in one place.

I'm also interested in how you can set up alternate style sheets for different media (eg. screen, print, mobile). I will try to incorporate this into my design.

I have revised my student home page on the UTS server, and will be uploading the weekly practical exercises here. I figure that maintaining my own, albeit very basic, website will be a great way to practice my new skills, and for me to keep everything in one place (as I am working on my PC at home, and also using a USB stick at uni). Click here to check it out.

In light of the transition from XHTML to HTML5, I would like to share the following blogs that I have been reading this week:

HTML5 and the future of the Web
Tim Wright gives an overview of HTML5, and talks about some of the new features. Wright's first point is about the DOCTYPE descriptor, which is html and not html5 (2009). Apparantly this is because html5 would open Quirks Mode in IE6. I'm not completely sure what Quirks Mode is, but it seems to have something to do with backwards compatibility in the browser and you therefore lose some functionality. Anyway, I digress.

Wright mentions some of the new structural elements (such as header, nav, section), and also talks about the benefits of moving to HTML5. It is duly noted that there will be a transition period for programmers (hence, HTLM5 has some "built-in slack" to make it easier) and also the web (apparantly Safari is currently the best testing platform as it supports most of the new elements and application programming interfaces, otherwise known as API's). Read the article to find out more...

CSS code structure for HTML 5: some useful guidelines
I'm starting to feel familiar with the layout of HTML code, and feel that I need some help in knowing where to put things in my CSS file. Therefore, I recommend this post written by Antonio Lupetti, giving a light overview on "how to implement a well organised CSS code structure in view of introduction of HTML5" (2009).

References:
Lupetti, A. (2009), CSS code structure for HTML5: some useful guidelines, Woork blog, viewed 28 August 2009, http://woork.blogspot.com/2009/08/css-code-structure-for-html-5-some.html

Wright, T. (2009), HTML5 and the Future of the Web, Smashing Magazine, viewed 28 August 2009, http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/16/html5-and-the-future-of-the-web/

Which technology?

2009-08-23T19:55:00.002+10:00

In order to discuss the technologies that we are learning to use in this subject, I will be writing a series of blogs providing the background of each technology, how they were developed and where they are at today.

This post outlines the background of HTML and provides an overview the new elements that will be introduced in HTML 5. As a newcomer to web programming languages such as HTML, I do not have any concrete experience on the newest version of HTML, and cannot pass comment on the updates. However since it is going to become the new W3C standard I hope to utilise HTML 5 in my project, and by the end of the semester be able to pass judgment.

A brief history of HTML

HTML has been around for more than 10 years and has become the standard mark up language for building the structure of websites.

Brief history of web development standards:

HTML 3.2 first published by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) in January 1997
HTML 4 first published by the W3C in December 1997
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) first published by the W3C in December 1996
XHTML 1.0 first published by the W3C in January 2000
HTML 5 (working draft) published by the W3C in April 2009

Developers were encouraged to “...support the official HTML specifications as closely as possible, so that a web page written to standards would behave the same way across browsers”. (Castro 2007:17).

Originally HTML was used to define structure of the website as well as the page layout of a website. However, the introduction of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) “brought new capabilities, in particular the ability to position elements on a web page with great precision” (Castro 2007:18). CSS is the “standard for defining the visual presentation for web pages (Grannell 2007:10). The combination of HTML and CSS gave more power and flexibility to web designers who were trying to improve the usability of bigger websites and shift away from the text based layout provided in original versions of HTML.

XHTML was published by the W3C in 2000 and was “a great improvement over HTML”. (Castro 2007:21). The development of XHTML “largely came about because of the inconsistent way that browsers displayed HTML (Grannell 2007:8). The syntax was a lot stricter, meaning you have to worry more about punctuation and closing tags. These changes were mainly due to the language being written in XML which requires that all elements have closed tags. The rigidity of XHTML provided a “stronger, more flexible, more powerful” platform (Castro 2007:21). Having said that, Grannell (2007) notes that XHTML has hard and fast rules which make it easier to learn.

Updating the standards

Work on HTML 5 began in 2004 by the WHATWG (Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group). It is interesting to note that the group was formed by members from Apple, Mozilla and Opera. Microsoft was invited, but declined. The W3C has formed a working group to further develop and publish HTML 5, which will replace HTML 4 and XHTML. A working draft was published in December 2008, and some organisations such as Google, Apple and Mozilla are starting to use HTML 5. I wonder when Microsoft will join the bandwagon.... it will certainly make life easier for the developers.

References:

Castro, E. 2007, HTML, XHTML & CSS, 6^th edn, Peachpit Press, Berkeley CA

Harold, E. 2007, New Elements in HTML 5, IBM Technical Library, viewed 23 August 2009, http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-html5/?ca=dgr-lnxw01NewHTML

Grannell, C. 2007, The Essential Guide to CSS and HTML Web Design, Appress, New York NY

Shankland, S. 2009, Microsoft joins HTML 5 fray in earnest, CNET, viewed 23 August 2009, http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10305822-92.html

HTML, Wikipedia, viewed 23 August 2009, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML

W3C, viewed 23 August 2009, http://www.w3.org

Final Learning Proposal

2009-08-19T20:34:00.004+10:00

Here is my Final Learning Proposal

http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/learningproposal/

Week 4 Prac

2009-08-18T17:39:00.003+10:00

I have created a couple of PHP files. It seems fairly logical, but I expect it will be hard to learn all the syntax.

Just to summarise the practical exercise:

Step 1 - Open the file in Firefox
When I opened the date.php file in Firefox, I was presented with a blank screen. Figured this was because I was viewing the file on my PC, which doesn't have a web server.

Step 2 - View the file on my web server
I copied date.php onto my web server (using FileZilla), and I could then view the page in Firefox. I presume this is because I was using the web server (Apache) to view the file and process the PHP request.

Step 3 - Amend the date format
I had a quick look at the date syntax on the PHP Manual, and came across the different date format syntax that is available; and was able to change the syntax in the file to change the way the date was displayed on the screen.

Tonight I was using my UTS web server, which supports PHP. I am also using 000webhost.com to host my personal site, and read that they support PHP and MySQL.

References:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php
http://www.000webhost.com

Week 3

2009-08-18T17:28:00.002+10:00

Here is a highlight what I discovered in class this week:

Markup Languages started out to help printers with document layout, and have now developed into computer programming languages such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
HTML was created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, and is now an industry standard open source programming language
HTML is written in plain text editors (such as Notepad++) and also WYSIWYG applications (such as DreamWeaver or Front Page). Text editors produce cleaner html files, and we should use these during the course.
HTML has opening tags and closing tags. A full list of HTML tags are available online (www.w3schools.com). Most tags enclose some text, but some standalonge
It's important to use Relative links, so the website can be transported from the developer's PC up to the web server - - - and still work!
HTML is intended to be used as a structure language, not as a display language. We can use CSS for style and layout (ie. to control the appearance)

Learning Proposal

2009-08-11T17:28:00.000+10:00

Here is the first draft of my Learning Proposal

http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/LearningProposal.html

Today's thoughts...

2009-08-11T13:50:00.005+10:00

Since we are starting to learn HTML tags, I thought I would share something about the iframe tag.

Faking impressions
I went along to an AIMIA seminar this morning to hear Ben Edelman speak about Advertisers Rights and Consumer Privacy. Ben mostly spoke about the issues with online advertising and what should be done to define advertiser's rights. One thing I was surprised to hear about is that some "evil people" are faking the number of impressions for banner ads using the an HTML tag similar to this.

iframe width=0 height=0 src='www.website.com/page.html'

nb. I have purposely excluded the opening "<" and closing ">" as I was having problems posting into Blogger

This would normally open another frame showing the website, but in this case the height and width have been set to zero, which means it will be invisible to the user. However the client would be paying for the impression of their page/banner ad

Hmmm... not so nice!

Week 2

2009-08-05T22:39:00.005+10:00

Here is my first attempt at coding HTML.

http://www-student.it.uts.edu.au/~twade/index.html

I am using FileZilla as my FTP application, and Notepad++ as my HTML editor. I initially had some trouble viewing the page (several 403 and 404 errors) and had to change the User Permissions.

Acknowledgements to the HTML tutorial on the W3C website.

Need to find out more about the folder structure on the server. Does anyone know why we save the *.html files in the "public_html" directory, but don't have to refer to the directory in the URL.

Hoping the mist will rise soon...

First week - first post

2009-07-28T17:30:00.000+10:00

First week's task to set up a blog. Need to find some interesting topics to write about next week. Now... onto the first e-tivity.