Web Design

Generating XML Data

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This section takes you step by step through the process of constructing an XML document. Along the way, you'll gain experience with the XML components you'll typically use to create your data structures.

Writing a Simple XML File

You'll start by writing the kind of XML data you can use for a slide presentation. To become comfortable with the basic format of an XML file, you'll use your text editor to create the data. You'll use this file and extend it in later exercises.

Creating the File

Using a standard text editor, create a file called slideSample.xml.

Note: Here is a version of it that already exists: slideSample01.xml. (The browsable version is slideSample01-xml.html.) You can use this version to compare your work or just review it as you read this guide.

Writing the Declaration

Next, write the declaration, which identifies the file as an XML document. The declaration starts with the characters <?, which is also the standard XML identifier for a processing instruction. (You'll see processing instructions later in this tutorial.)

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

This line identifies the document as an XML document that conforms to version 1.0 of the XML specification and says that it uses the 8-bit Unicode character-encoding scheme. (For information on encoding schemes, see Appendix A.)

Because the document has not been specified as standalone, the parser assumes that it may contain references to other documents. To see how to specify a document as standalone, see The XML Prolog.

Adding a Comment

Comments are ignored by XML parsers. A program will never see them unless you activate special settings in the parser. To put a comment into the file, add the following highlighted text.

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>



Defining the Root Element

After the declaration, every XML file defines exactly one element, known as the root element. Any other elements in the file are contained within that element. Enter the following highlighted text to define the root element for this file, slideshow:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>



<slideshow>

</slideshow>

Note: XML element names are case-sensitive. The end tag must exactly match the start tag.

Adding Attributes to an Element

A slide presentation has a number of associated data items, none of which requires any structure. So it is natural to define these data items as attributes of the slideshow element. Add the following highlighted text to set up some attributes:

...
<slideshow
title="Sample Slide Show"
date="Date of publication"
author="Yours Truly"
>
</slideshow>

When you create a name for a tag or an attribute, you can use hyphens (-), underscores (_), colons (:), and periods (.) in addition to characters and numbers. Unlike HTML, values for XML attributes are always in quotation marks, and multiple attributes are never separated by commas.

Note: Colons should be used with care or avoided, because they are used when defining the namespace for an XML document.
Adding Nested Elements

XML allows for hierarchically structured data, which means that an element can contain other elements. Add the following highlighted text to define a slide element and a title element contained within it:

<slideshow
...
>


<slide type="all">
<title>Wake up to WonderWidgets!</title>
</slide>

</slideshow>

Here you have also added a type attribute to the slide. The idea of this attribute is that you can earmark slides for a mostly technical or mostly executive audience using type="tech" or type="exec", or identify them as suitable for both audiences using type="all".

More importantly, this example illustrates the difference between things that are more usefully defined as elements (the title element) and things that are more suitable as attributes (the type attribute). The visibility heuristic is primarily at work here. The title is something the audience will see, so it is an element. The type, on the other hand, is something that never gets presented, so it is an attribute. Another way to think about that distinction is that an element is a container, like a bottle. The type is a characteristic of the container (tall or short, wide or narrow). The title is a characteristic of the contents (water, milk, or tea). These are not hard-and-fast rules, of course, but they can help when you design your own XML structures.

Adding HTML-Style Text

Because XML lets you define any tags you want, it makes sense to define a set of tags that look like HTML. In fact, the XHTML standard does exactly that. You'll see more about that toward the end of the SAX tutorial. For now, type the following highlighted text to define a slide with a couple of list item entries that use an HTML-style tag for emphasis (usually rendered as italicized text):

...

<slide type="all">
<title>Wake up to WonderWidgets!</title>
</slide>


<slide type="all">
<title>Overview</title>
<item>Why WonderWidgets are great</item>
<item>Who buys WonderWidgets</item>
</slide>

</slideshow>

Note that defining a title element conflicts with the XHTML element that uses the same name. Later in this tutorial, we discuss the mechanism that produces the conflict (the DTD), along with possible solutions.

Adding an Empty Element

One major difference between HTML and XML is that all XML must be well formed, which means that every tag must have an ending tag or be an empty tag. By now, you're getting pretty comfortable with ending tags. Add the following highlighted text to define an empty list item element with no contents:

...

<slide type="all">
<title>Overview</title>
<item>Why WonderWidgets are great</item>
<item/>
<item>Who buys WonderWidgets</item>
</slide>

</slideshow>

Note that any element can be an empty element. All it takes is ending the tag with /> instead of >. You could do the same thing by entering <item></item>, which is equivalent.

Note: Another factor that makes an XML file well formed is proper nesting. So some_text is well formed, because the ... sequence is completely nested within the .. tag. This sequence, on the other hand, is not well formed: some_text.

The Finished Product

Here is the completed version of the XML file:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>


<slideshow
title="Sample Slide Show"
date="Date of publication"
author="Yours Truly"
>


<slide type="all">
<title>Wake up to WonderWidgets!</title>
</slide>


<slide type="all">
<title>Overview</title>
<item>Why WonderWidgets are great</item>
<item/>
<item>Who buys WonderWidgets</item>
</slide
</slideshow>

Save a copy of this file as slideSample01.xml so that you can use it as the initial data structure when experimenting with XML programming operations.

Writing Processing Instructions

It sometimes makes sense to code application-specific processing instructions in the XML data. In this exercise, you'll add a processing instruction to your slideSample.xml file.

Note: The file you'll create in this section is slideSample02.xml. (The browsable version is slideSample02-xml.html.)

As you saw in Processing Instructions, the format for a processing instruction is <?target data?>, where target is the application that is expected to do the processing, and data is the instruction or information for it to process. Add the following highlighted text to add a processing instruction for a mythical slide presentation program that will query the user to find out which slides to display (technical, executive-level, or all):

<slideshow
...
>

<?my.presentation.Program QUERY="exec, tech, all"?>


Notes:

* The data portion of the processing instruction can contain spaces or it can even be null. But there cannot be any space between the initial <? and the target identifier.
* The data begins after the first space.
* It makes sense to fully qualify the target with the complete web-unique package prefix, to preclude any conflict with other programs that might process the same data.
* For readability, it seems like a good idea to include a colon (:) after the name of the application:

<?my.presentation.Program: QUERY="..."?>

The colon makes the target name into a kind of "label" that identifies the intended recipient of the instruction. However, even though the W3C spec allows a colon in a target name, some versions of Internet Explorer 5 (IE5) consider it an error. For this tutorial, then, we avoid using a colon in the target name.

Save a copy of this file as slideSample02.xml so that you can use it when experimenting with processing instructions.

Introducing an Error

The parser can generate three kinds of errors: a fatal error, an error, and a warning. In this exercise, you'll make a simple modification to the XML file to introduce a fatal error. Later, you'll see how it's handled in the Echo application.

Note: The XML structure you'll create in this exercise is in slideSampleBad1.xml. (The browsable version is slideSampleBad1-xml.html.)

One easy way to introduce a fatal error is to remove the final / from the empty item element to create a tag that does not have a corresponding end tag. That constitutes a fatal error, because all XML documents must, by definition, be well formed. Do the following:

1. Copy slideSample02.xml to slideSampleBad1.xml.
2. Edit slideSampleBad1.xml and remove the character shown here:

...

<slide type="all">
<title>Overview</title>
<item>Why WonderWidgets are great</item>
<item/>
<item>Who buys WonderWidgets</item>
</slide>
...

This change produces the following:

...
<item>Why WonderWidgets are great</item>
<item>
<item>Who buys WonderWidgets</item>
...

Now you have a file that you can use to generate an error in any parser, any time. (XML parsers are required to generate a fatal error for this file, because the lack of an end tag for the <item> element means that the XML structure is no longer well formed.)
Substituting and Inserting Text

In this section, you'll learn about

* Handling special characters (<, &, and so on)
* Handling text with XML-style syntax

How Can You Use XML?

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There are several basic ways to use XML:

* Traditional data processing, where XML encodes the data for a program to process
* Document-driven programming, where XML documents are containers that build interfaces and applications from existing components
* Archiving--the foundation for document-driven programming--where the customized version of a component is saved (archived) so that it can be used later
* Binding, where the DTD or schema that defines an XML data structure is used to automatically generate a significant portion of the application that will eventually process that data

Traditional Data Processing

XML is fast becoming the data representation of choice for the web. It's terrific when used in conjunction with network-centric Java platform programs that send and retrieve information. So a client-server application, for example, could transmit XML-encoded data back and forth between the client and the server.

In the future, XML is potentially the answer for data interchange in all sorts of transactions, as long as both sides agree on the markup to use. (For example, should an email program expect to see tags named <FIRST> and <LAST>, or <FIRSTNAME> and <LASTNAME>?) The need for common standards will generate a lot of industry-specific standardization efforts in the years ahead. In the meantime, mechanisms that let you "translate" the tags in an XML document will be important. Such mechanisms include projects such as the Resource Description Framework initiative (RDF), which defines meta tags, and the Extensible Stylesheet Language specification (XSL), which lets you translate XML tags into other XML tags.

Document-Driven Programming

The newest approach to using XML is to construct a document that describes what an application page should look like. The document, rather than simply being displayed, consists of references to user interface components and business-logic components that are "hooked together" to create an application on-the-fly.

Of course, it makes sense to use the Java platform for such components. To construct such applications, you can use JavaBeans components for interfaces and Enterprise JavaBeans components for the business logic. Although none of the efforts undertaken so far is ready for commercial use, much preliminary work has been done.

Note: The Java programming language is also excellent for writing XML-processing tools that are as portable as XML. Several visual XML editors have been written for the Java platform. For a listing of editors, see http://www.xml.com/pub/pt/3. For processing tools and other XML resources, see Robin Cover's SGML/XML web page at http://xml.coverpages.org/software.html.

Binding

After you have defined the structure of XML data using either a DTD or one of the schema standards, a large part of the processing you need to do has already been defined. For example, if the schema says that the text data in a <date> element must follow one of the recognized date formats, then one aspect of the validation criteria for the data has been defined; it only remains to write the code. Although a DTD specification cannot go the same level of detail, a DTD (like a schema) provides a grammar that tells which data structures can occur and in what sequences. That specification tells you how to write the high-level code that processes the data elements.

But when the data structure (and possibly format) is fully specified, the code you need to process it can just as easily be generated automatically. That process is known as binding--creating classes that recognize and process different data elements by processing the specification that defines those elements. As time goes on, you should find that you are using the data specification to generate significant chunks of code, and you can focus on the programming that is unique to your application.

Archiving

The Holy Grail of programming is the construction of reusable, modular components. Ideally, you'd like to take them off the shelf, customize them, and plug them together to construct an application, with a bare minimum of additional coding and additional compilation.

The basic mechanism for saving information is called archiving. You archive a component by writing it to an output stream in a form that you can reuse later. You can then read it and instantiate it using its saved parameters. (For example, if you saved a table component, its parameters might be the number of rows and columns to display.) Archived components can also be shuffled around the web and used in a variety of ways.

When components are archived in binary form, however, there are some limitations on the kinds of changes you can make to the underlying classes if you want to retain compatibility with previously saved versions. If you could modify the archived version to reflect the change, that would solve the problem. But that's hard to do with a binary object. Such considerations have prompted a number of investigations into using XML for archiving. But if an object's state were archived in text form using XML, then anything and everything in it could be changed as easily as you can say, "Search and replace."

XML's text-based format could also make it easier to transfer objects between applications written in different languages. For all these reasons, there is a lot of interest in XML-based archiving.

Summary

XML is pretty simple and very flexible. It has many uses yet to be discovered, and we are only beginning to scratch the surface of its potential. It is the foundation for a great many standards yet to come, providing a common language that different computer systems can use to exchange data with one another. As each industry group comes up with standards for what it wants to say, computers will begin to link to each other in ways previously unimaginable.

Why Is XML Important?

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There are a number of reasons for XML's surging acceptance. This section lists a few of the most prominent.

Plain Text

Because XML is not a binary format, you can create and edit files using anything from a standard text editor to a visual development environment. That makes it easy to debug your programs, and it makes XML useful for storing small amounts of data. At the other end of the spectrum, an XML front end to a database makes it possible to efficiently store large amounts of XML data as well. So XML provides scalability for anything from small configuration files to a company wide data repository.
Data Identification

XML tells you what kind of data you have, not how to display it. Because the markup tags identify the information and break the data into parts, an email program can process it, a search program can look for messages sent to particular people, and an address book can extract the address information from the rest of the message. In short, because the different parts of the information have been identified, they can be used in different ways by different applications.

Stylability

When display is important, the stylesheet standard, XSL, lets you dictate how to portray the data. For example, consider this XML:

<to>you@yourAddress.com</to>

The stylesheet for this data can say

1. Start a new line.
2. Display "To:" in bold, followed by a space
3. Display the destination data.

This set of instructions produces:

To: you@yourAddress

Of course, you could have done the same thing in HTML, but you wouldn't be able to process the data with search programs and address-extraction programs and the like. More importantly, because XML is inherently style-free, you can use a completely different stylesheet to produce output in Postscript, TEX, PDF, or some new format that hasn't even been invented. That flexibility amounts to what one author described as "future proofing" your information. The XML documents you author today can be used in future document-delivery systems that haven't even been imagined.

Inline Reusability

One of the nicer aspects of XML documents is that they can be composed from separate entities. You can do that with HTML, but only by linking to other documents. Unlike HTML, XML entities can be included "inline" in a document. The included sections look like a normal part of the document: you can search the whole document at one time or download it in one piece. That lets you modularize your documents without resorting to links. You can single-source a section so that an edit to it is reflected everywhere the section is used, and yet a document composed from such pieces looks for all the world like a one-piece document.

Linkability

Thanks to HTML, the ability to define links between documents is now regarded as a necessity. Appendix B discusses the link-specification initiative. This initiative lets you define two-way links, multiple-target links, expanding links (where clicking a link causes the targeted information to appear inline), and links between two existing documents that are defined in a third.

Easily Processed

As mentioned earlier, regular and consistent notation makes it easier to build a program to process XML data. For example, in HTML a <dt> tag can be delimited by </dt>, another <dt>, <dd>, or </dl>. That makes for some difficult programming. But in XML, the <dt> tag must always have a </dt> terminator, or it must be an empty tag such as <dt/>. That restriction is a critical part of the constraints that make an XML document well formed. (Otherwise, the XML parser won't be able to read the data.) And because XML is a vendor-neutral standard, you can choose among several XML parsers, any one of which takes the work out of processing XML data.

Hierarchical

Finally, XML documents benefit from their hierarchical structure. Hierarchical document structures are, in general, faster to access because you can drill down to the part you need, as if you were stepping through a table of contents. They are also easier to rearrange, because each piece is delimited. In a document, for example, you could move a heading to a new location and drag everything under it along with the heading, instead of having to page down to make a selection, cut, and then paste the selection into a new location.

What Is XML

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What Is XML?

XML is a text-based markup language that is fast becoming the standard for data interchange on the web. As with HTML, you identify data using tags (identifiers enclosed in angle brackets: <...>). Collectively, the tags are known as markup.

But unlike HTML, XML tags identify the data rather than specify how to display it. Whereas an HTML tag says something like, "Display this data in bold font" (...), an XML tag acts like a field name in your program. It puts a label on a piece of data that identifies it (for example, <message>...</message>).

Note: Because identifying the data gives you some sense of what it means (how to interpret it, what you should do with it), XML is sometimes described as a mechanism for specifying the semantics (meaning) of the data.

In the same way that you define the field names for a data structure, you are free to use any XML tags that make sense for a given application. Naturally, for multiple applications to use the same XML data, they must agree on the tag names they intend to use.

Here is an example of some XML data you might use for a messaging application:

<message>
<to>you@yourAddress.com</to>
<from>me@myAddress.com</from>
<subject>XML Is Really Cool</subject>
<text>
How many ways is XML cool? Let me count the ways...
</text>
</message>

Note: Throughout this tutorial, we use boldface text to highlight things we want to bring to your attention. XML does not require anything to be in bold!

The tags in this example identify the message as a whole, the destination and sender addresses, the subject, and the text of the message. As in HTML, the <to> tag has a matching end tag: </to>. The data between the tag and its matching end tag defines an element of the XML data. Note, too, that the content of the <to> tag is contained entirely within the scope of the <message>..</message> tag. It is this ability for one tag to contain others that lets XML represent hierarchical data structures.

Again, as with HTML, whitespace is essentially irrelevant, so you can format the data for readability and yet still process it easily with a program. Unlike HTML, however, in XML you can easily search a data set for messages containing, say, "cool" in the subject, because the XML tags identify the content of the data rather than specify its representation.

Tags and Attributes

Tags can also contain attributes--additional information included as part of the tag itself, within the tag's angle brackets. The following example shows an email message structure that uses attributes for the to, from, and subject fields:

<message to="you@yourAddress.com" from="me@myAddress.com"
subject="XML Is Really Cool">
<text>
How many ways is XML cool? Let me count the ways...
</text>
</message>

As in HTML, the attribute name is followed by an equal sign and the attribute value, and multiple attributes are separated by spaces. Unlike HTML, however, in XML commas between attributes are not ignored; if present, they generate an error.

Because you can design a data structure such as <message> equally well using either attributes or tags, it can take a considerable amount of thought to figure out which design is best for your purposes. Designing an XML Data Structure, includes ideas to help you decide when to use attributes and when to use tags.

Empty Tags

One big difference between XML and HTML is that an XML document is always constrained to be well formed. There are several rules that determine when a document is well formed, but one of the most important is that every tag has a closing tag. So, in XML, the </to> tag is not optional. The <to> element is never terminated by any tag other than </to>.

Note: Another important aspect of a well-formed document is that all tags are completely nested. So you can have <message>..<to>..</to>..</message>, but never <message>..<to>..</message>..</to>. A complete list of requirements is contained in the list of XML frequently asked questions (FAQ) at http://www.ucc.ie/xml/#FAQ-VALIDWF. (This FAQ is on the W3C "Recommended Reading" list at http://www.w3.org/XML/.)

Sometimes, though, it makes sense to have a tag that stands by itself. For example, you might want to add a tag that flags the message as important: <flag/>.

This kind of tag does not enclose any content, so it's known as an empty tag. You create an empty tag by ending it with /> instead of >. For example, the following message contains an empty flag tag:

<message to="you@yourAddress.com" from="me@myAddress.com"
subject="XML Is Really Cool">
<flag/>
<text>
How many ways is XML cool? Let me count the ways...
</text>
</message>

Note: Using the empty tag saves you from having to code <flag></flag> in order to have a well-formed document. You can control which tags are allowed to be empty by creating a schema or a document type definition, or DTD. If there is no DTD or schema associated with the document, then it can contain any kinds of tags you want, as long as the document is well formed.

Comments in XML Files

XML comments look just like HTML comments:

<message to="you@yourAddress.com" from="me@myAddress.com"
subject="XML Is Really Cool">

<text>
How many ways is XML cool? Let me count the ways...
</text>
</message>

The XML Prolog

To complete this basic introduction to XML, note that an XML file always starts with a prolog. The minimal prolog contains a declaration that identifies the document as an XML document:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

The declaration may also contain additional information:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="yes"?>

The XML declaration is essentially the same as the HTML header, <html>, except that it uses <?..?> and it may contain the following attributes:

* version: Identifies the version of the XML markup language used in the data. This attribute is not optional.
* encoding: Identifies the character set used to encode the data. ISO-8859-1 is Latin-1, the Western European and English language character set. (The default is 8-bit Unicode: UTF-8.)
* standalone: Tells whether or not this document references an external entity or an external data type specification. If there are no external references, then "yes" is appropriate.

The prolog can also contain definitions of entities (items that are inserted when you reference them from within the document) and specifications that tell which tags are valid in the document. Both declared in a document type definition (DTD) that can be defined directly within the prolog, as well as with pointers to external specification files. But those are the subject of later tutorials. For more information on these and many other aspects of XML, see the Recommended Reading list on the W3C XML page at http://www.w3.org/XML/.

Note: The declaration is actually optional, but it's a good idea to include it whenever you create an XML file. The declaration should have the version number, at a minimum, and ideally the encoding as well. That standard simplifies things if the XML standard is extended in the future and if the data ever needs to be localized for different geographical regions.

Everything that comes after the XML prolog constitutes the document's content.

Processing Instructions

An XML file can also contain processing instructions that give commands or information to an application that is processing the XML data. Processing instructions have the following format:

<?target instructions?>

target is the name of the application that is expected to do the processing, and instructions is a string of characters that embodies the information or commands for the application to process.

Because the instructions are application-specific, an XML file can have multiple processing instructions that tell different applications to do similar things, although in different ways. The XML file for a slide show, for example, might have processing instructions that let the speaker specify a technical- or executive-level version of the presentation. If multiple presentation programs were used, the program might need multiple versions of the processing instructions (although it would be nicer if such applications recognized standard instructions).

Note: The target name "xml" (in any combination of upper- or lowercase letters) is reserved for XML standards. In one sense, the declaration is a processing instruction that fits that standard. (However, when you're working with the parser later, you'll see that the method for handling processing instructions never sees the declaration.)

Website Design Tutorial

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Web site design tutorials should be kept as simple as possible. The best way to learn anything about computers is to sit down and work through the basics on your own. In order to do so, some sort of reference book is needed to accomplish that task. For the beginner, putting out $50 for a computer book is a tad steep, especially when the web is replete with free or low cost resources.

The tutorials recommended below take a comprehensive view of web site development.

An excellent family of web site design tutorial websites is offered by Killersites.com.

How to Build Websites leads a beginner through 8 modules that describe in simple terms how to develop web sites. The 8 modules are:

Basic web concepts
- What is the Web
- Domain Names
- Getting Your Site Live on the Web
Building a web page
- Three Ways to Build a Web Page
- HTML Tags
- Structure of an HTML Page
- Create Your First Page
Building a web site
- What is a website
- Absolute vs. Relative URL
- Define the purpose of web site
- Diagram the structure of the website
- Write out the text for the web site
- Choose a basic layout that will be used on all pages
- Choose the basic color scheme and fonts for the site
- Build out the website
- Choose a domain name
- Register your domain name
- Find a hosting company: what to look for in A hosT
- Upload your website to the hosting companies servers
Introduction to CSS
- What is CSS
CSS tutorial
- Basic CSS Page Template
- Building the CSS File
Advanced HTML
- Logical inline tags vs. Physical inline tags
- Block level vs. Inline tags
Introduction to JavaScript / programming
- What is programming
- Basic Javascript
- Coding vs. Programming
- Object Oriented Programming
- built in method/function
Misc. topics related to web design
- The web designer’s Pre-flight Checklist
- Definition of a 4th generation web site
- hardware you need to start designing web sites
- What ARE ‘LIGHT’ images?

Killersites.com offers tutorials in video format. For $19.95 (much much less than that $50 HTML book), Killersites offers almost 4 hours worth of video that demonstrates a step by step approach to developing a web site. For those of you who are visual learners, this is the resource for you!

Killersites’ Secret Sites takes the fundamentals and offers more advanced tips and tricks. The most helpful resources on this site include a web designer’s pre-flight checklist and a list of web site do’s and don’ts.

See our other articles for specific HTML Tutorials or CSS Tutorials.

Website Optimization

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Creating a lean, mean website machine

We define website optimization as the process by which a website is streamlined to become more efficient for three audiences: the website developer, the website reader and the search engine. Or to put it in question form: Does the website work? Is the website usable? Can the website be found?

Developers - Does the website work?

A website that is broken is frustrating for readers and typically ignored by the search engines. Granted all websites are broken to some degree. It is difficult to maintain 100% validation. However some level of due diligence to website maintance goes a long way.

Is the website filled with errors?
- HTML Validation - the code is current and up to standard.
- CSS Validation - the CSS file is current, up to standard, and efficient.
- Feed validation - are RSS feeds accessible and valid?
How fast do pages load?
- do webpages load within 8 seconds?
- image laden websites, though cool, slow a website down
- table based websites are weightier than CSS based websites

Readers - Is the website usable?

Ok, now that a website works, do readers find it usable? A web developer may be his or her own worse critic, but there no one more critical than a reader/user. Users make decisions about a website in a blink of an eye. It is almost an impossible standard.

Consider the following:

navigation - does the website make it easy for users to get around?
content - is there real content that users want to read?
value - does the structure and content of website add value?

Search Engines - Can the website be found?

You like it, your readers like it, can do the search engines like it? Is the content of the website structured so that the search engines can easily discern the nature of each web page. Remember, SEO is not about websites but about web pages.

Search engine optimization is a combination of the following elements:

keyword analysis - what are people searching for?
onpage optimization - how should web pages be structured?
link building - how can others more actively link to a site?

by : Website Optimization Help

Download the Java SE Development Kit

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1. Download the Java

Before you can start having fun programming in Java, you need to download the Java SE Development Kit. The JDK will enable your computer to understand and execute the programs you create.

The JDK can be found on the Sun Microsystems Java downloads page.

2. Choose Latest Version

Sun Microsystems will always try to improve the Java language, and as a result will release new versions of the JDK. The downloads are ranked so that the latest versions are at the top of the list.

Tip: Updates can sometimes be called "Beta". These are versions that are going through a user testing phase, and are likely to contain bugs that will cause your computer to crash. Avoid them until you become extremely comfortable with the Java language. The latest version is "JDK 6 Update 6". Click on the "Download" button.

3. Select Platform and Laguage

Select your operating system from the "Platform" dropdown list, and "Multi-language" from the "Language" dropdown list.

Tip: Under the platform list you may see your operating system with "x64" appended to its name. This option is for computers that are running 64-bit versions. If you're unsure which to pick, then choose the normal version. Windows users can check their version by following these steps.

The license agreement sets out the terms and conditions under which you can use the JDK. To proceed with the download you must agree with the license agreement. To do so, click the checkbox next to "I agree to the Java SE Development Kit 6 License Agreement".

4. Download the Installation File

Select checkbox next to "windows Offline Installation" --> click "Download Selected with Sun Download Manager" Button.

5. Open the Sun Download Manager.

Tip: You may see a pop-up window that informs you of a security warning. Don’t worry, there is no threat to your computer. Click "Continue" or "OK"; the button names may differ depending on the browser you are using.

Open Sun’s Download Manager by clicking "OK". Again, depending on which browser you are using, the pop-up window may look slightly different to the picture above. If you are using Internet Explorer, click on "Open".

6. Trust the Content from Publisher

Click "Run" on the "Warning – Security" pop-up window.

7. Accept the License Agreement

Click on the "Accept" button on the "License" window.

8. Choose a Location for The File

On the "Set Options and Proxies" screen, click on the "Browse" button and choose a directory to save the file to. For example, I save all my downloads to a folder called "Install Files" in My Documents; this way I always know where to find them. When you have chosen your location, click "OK".

9. Start the Download

You may see a pop-up window called "Hints" that tells you a little more about the Sun Download Manager. Click "OK" to close it.

Click on the "Start" button. The download manager will display how long there is remaining before the download is complete. Wait until the status changes to "Downloaded", before you close the download manager window.

You have successfully downloaded the JDK!

Now you need to install it onto your computer.

by : Paul Leahy

Quick Overview of the SurfOffline website downloader.

2008-09-11T15:35:00.000+07:00

Most of us get easily irritated, while waiting for some picture or file to be downloaded, especially when you are in a hurry. But all of this can be avoided with a offline browser. With SurfOffline website downloader, you can set a desired website to be downloaded and take a coffee break. In a few minutes, all contents of the website will migrate to your hard drive and you will be able to browse it at the speed of light.

SurfOffline is a fast and convenient offline browser with easy navigation and simple interface. Capable of downloading up to 100 files simultaneously, this application can save a website to your hard drive completely or partially in just minutes. Another important feature is a wizard like interface that enables the users to quickly set up downloading rules. Importantly, the program supports HTTP, SSL(HTTPS), FTP, proxy servers, CSS, Macromedia Flash and JavaScript parsing.

The program comes with a full powered website download manager that lets the users decide which web pages and files should be downloaded and which ones avoided. For example, if you are interested in pictures only, you can set the program to download JPEG images only, avoiding all the others files. There also are size and location filters. The downloading process can be paused or stopped any time and resumed later. Among the advance options is the capability to transfer information to the server about the browser used (Agent Identity, for example, Netscape Navigator or Mozilla). Built-in HTTP server lets you share downloaded web pages with other computers via Intranet. Also, SurfOffline comes with support for HTTP and FTP authorization, sessions, and cookies. Program's built-in internal browser lets you download websites with webforms that require authentication.The Surf Offline Export Wizard allows you to copy downloaded websites to other computers for viewing them later, as well as prepares websites for recording them to a CD or DVD.

Best of all, the program is distributed as shareware, which entitles you to a free 30 day trial.
Supported OS: Windows Vista / Windows XP / Windows 2000 / Windows ME / Windows 98

Offline browser SurfOffline Overview
SurfOffline Awards

Monitor Web and Blog Pafes with Update Patrol

2008-09-10T19:33:00.002+07:00

By : Top Hot Blogs

This web page monitoring software makes following hundreds of web sites and blogs as simple and fast as checking your e-mail. It will visit web sites for you, as often as you like, and notify you when it finds a change. Stop wasting time in your browser - never visit an unchanged site again!

Highlights:

Monitors web sites, blogs and text files for changes
Improves your productivity by working silently and unattended
Notifies you of changes by popup, sound and/or email (NEW)
Shows pages with changes highlighted in the internal browser
Checks web pages for changes as often as you like
Dynamic content like page counters and dates can be ignored
Easily imports your existing bookmarks
No limit in number of web pages monitored
No monthly fees - buy once and you own it
Never miss important news again - be the first to know

Just drag a URL to the Drop Window to quickly add the URL to UpdatePatrol. Works with Internet Explorer, Firefox and other web browsers.

More info and features can be found on UpdatePatrol's site. And you can try it by downloading at Here.

RAR PassWord: www.softarchive.net

Free Nice with CSS Web Templates

2008-09-10T19:25:00.002+07:00

Feel Free with CSS Web Templates.. you can get templates for Site or your blog. Only Download you can get this..

Download Now You can get free!!!

Custom Web Design

2008-09-09T19:50:00.000+07:00

By : Blogging-secret.com

If I can’t find my way around easily will often leave the websites, especially those websites have dead links and poor navigation and colours that offend to the eyes. I can rest assured that poor website design is often the primary reason for a website’s failure as it fails to engage the user. Therefore, your Website needs to look professional and trustworthy in order to create buyer confidence.

If you are looking for someone who can help you design professional website and design blog, perhaps Stylish Web Design (StylishWebDesign.com) is the right place for you. Stylish Web Design provides custom website related services. Whether you are looking for custom web design, website redesign, logo design, website maintenance, banner ads, search engine optimization, web directory submission, article writing, programming, MySql and Oracle, and hosting websites, Stylish Web Design has all of them. You can have your web site ready in just a few days.

Please feel free to check their portfolio to check their work. If you think Stylish Web Design can help you design a professional website, you can contact them for asking a best quote now. For more information about web design, be sure you visit their web design blog as well.

What's HTML

2008-09-08T13:15:00.001+07:00

By : Hypergurl.com

HTML are initials that stand for Hyper Text Markup Language

Hyper is the opposite of linear. It used to be that computer programs had to move in a linear fashion. This before this, this before this, and so on. HTML does not hold to that pattern and allows the person viewing the World Wide Web page to go anywhere, any time they want.
Text is what you will use. English letters, just like you use everyday..
Markup is what you will do. You will write in plain English and then mark up what you wrote.
Language. Some may argue that technically html is a code, but you write html in plain, everyday English language.

HTML is the code behind your webpage and is what your browser looks for to display a webpage, the way the webdesigner intended it to look, and is a series of tags that tells the browser where to display what. It is really a series of simple commands that you give to the browser, just like telling your dog to sit, and because it is in plain English it is easy to learn. For example, if you want your text to show in a bold type, you command it to be bold text , it really is that easy.

Keep this in mind: HTML documents must be text only.
When you save a HTML document, you must save only the text, nothing else. HTML browsers can only read text. Look at your keyboard. See the letters and numbers and little signs like % and @ and *? There are 128 in all (read upper- and lowercase letters as two). That's text. That's what the browser reads. It simply doesn't understand anything else.

Remember that if you are using Notepad, Wordpad, or Simple Text, the document will be saved as text with no extra prompting. Just choose SAVE.

If you are going to start learning to write HTML, it is a good idea to learn to look at other authors' HTML pages. The actual html potion of the page behind the pretty page you see in front of you now.

Looking at another's html code helps you learn how things are done and you can copy the style of pages that you like. Please do not just steal and copy the pages, but no one will be upset if you make the style in much the same way. For example, if you were going to build a house, you would look around to see what styles you like before deciding on your own design. Same thing here, look around the web and see what styles you like and apply them to your own ideas.

Here's how you look at an HTML document (known as the "source code")

When you find a page you like, click on VIEW at the top of the screen.
Choose SOURCE from the menu.
The HTML document will appear on the screen.

Try it with this page. Click on VIEW and then choose the SOURCE.
It will look like mumbo jumbo right now, but soon it'll be readable and you'll be able to find exactly how a certain HTML presentation was performed.

What are HTML Tags?

HTML works in a very simple, very logical, format. It reads like you do, top to bottom, left to right. HTML is written with TEXT. What you use to set certain sections apart as bigger text, smaller text, bold text, underlined text, is a series of tags.

Think of tags as commands. For example if you want a line of text to be bold. You will put a tag at the exact point you want the bold lettering to start and another tag where you want the bold lettering to stop. There you have an example of how tags make commands and tell the browser how to display the text. Just like telling a dog to sit. You give the command.

All tags that are opened must correspondingly be closed, just as if you are writing a quoted statement with those "inverted commas". A tag is closed this way therefore we open a new tag and close the tag

Different tags call different functions. A full list of html tags and their functions is provided here.

What's web 2.0, is it Important

2008-09-08T13:06:00.001+07:00

Anyone who has been around the internet the last couple of years has most likely come across the term Web 2.0 and are most likely confused as to what it means exactly.

Web 2.0 is considered by many to be the second phase of the World Wide Web. The term was first introduced by Tim O’Reilly in 2004. For those that don’t know, Tim’s company, O’Reilly Media produces technological texts both online and in print.

In the companies own words they have an:

“unshakeable belief in the power of information to spur innovation”

So what does the second phase of WWW mean? According to O’Reilly, the second phase refers to the dynamic interaction of people which is best explained by example.

Let’s say Web 1.0 is pre dot com crash of 2001.

In Web 1 Britannica Online was a highly popular encyclopedia that was updated by the companies staff and access to the information was via paid membership. In contrast, Web 2 has Wikipedia which is similar to an online encyclopedia with one major difference. The website has been developed through visitors adding to the content. Who’d have thought in 2001 that a free encyclopedia built and maintained through the efforts of website visitors would be the twelfth most visited site on the Internet.

Why is the concept of web 2.0 important to webmasters? While searching through some of the most successful websites and online businesses, it’s clear to see they all have something in common. They have all emerged from simple publishing and towards visitor participation.

YouTube has been built up by visitors adding video content to the website.

MySpace is a social networking site built up through visitors adding content to free membership pages.

Yahoo offers chat rooms, clubs and personal member pages.

Website content on Ebay is user generated as thousands of products are auctioned and sold.

Blogging has become highly popular with visitors being given the opportunity to take part in and comment on the articles written.

Google Adsense is also considered a Web 2.0 application where website content determines what ads are shown and the publisher has the last say in where they are displayed. Google Adwords is also Web 2 in that it’s the advertisers that control the textual content of Adsense advertisements.

When discussing Web 2.0, it’s important to consider that all these websites rely on viral marketing. By viral marketing, I mean ‘word of mouth’ and we all know how powerful that can be. For instance, how many movies have you seen simply because a friend has told you how great it is? If an online business relies on paid advertising to grow its visitor numbers, then you can bet your bottom dollar it’s not Web 2.0 compliant.

It seems that if the last two years are anything to go by, websites allowing the user to contribute to the content and direction of its growth are going to be dominant players in the Web 2.0 era.

2008-07-20T17:32:00.001+07:00

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

XHTML Version

2008-07-07T15:16:00.002+07:00

XHTML 2.0

Work on XHTML 2.0 is, as of 2008, still ongoing. The current XHTML 2.0 Working Draft is controversial because it breaks backward compatibility with aspects of previous versions of HTML and XHTML.

New features brought into the HTML family of markup languages by XHTML 2.0:

* HTML forms will be replaced by XForms, an XML-based user input specification allowing forms to be displayed appropriately for different rendering devices.
* HTML frames will be replaced by XFrames.
* The DOM Events will be replaced by XML Events, which uses the XML Document Object Model.
* A new list element type, the nl element type, will be included to specifically designate a list as a navigation list. This will be useful in creating nested menus, which are currently created by a wide variety of means like nested unordered lists or nested definition lists.
* Any element will be able to act as a hyperlink, e.g., >li href="articles.html"<Articles>/li<, similar to XLink. However, XLink itself is not compatible with XHTML due to design differences.
* Any element will be able to reference alternative media with the src attribute, e.g., >p src="lbridge.jpg" type="image/jpeg"<London Bridge>/p< is the same as >object src="lbridge.jpg" type="image/jpeg"<>p<London Bridge>/p<>/object<.
* The alt attribute of the img element has been removed: alternative text will be given in the content of the img element, much like the object element, e.g., >img src="hms_audacious.jpg"<HMS >em<Audacious>/em<>/img<.
* A single heading element (h) will be added. The level of these headings are determined by the depth of the nesting. This allows the use of headings to be infinite, rather than limiting use to six levels deep.
* The remaining presentational elements i, b and tt, still allowed in XHTML 1.x (even Strict), will be absent from XHTML 2.0. The only somewhat presentational elements remaining will be sup and sub for superscript and subscript respectively, because they have significant non-presentational uses and are required by certain languages. All other tags are meant to be semantic instead (e.g. >strong< for strong or bolded text) while allowing the user agent to control the presentation of elements via CSS.
* The addition of RDF triple with the property and about attributes to facilitate the conversion from XHTML to RDF/XML.

XHTML 5

On 2007-04-10, the Mozilla Foundation, Apple and Opera Software proposed[15] that the new HTML working group of the W3C adopt the WHATWG's HTML5 as the starting point of its work and name its future deliverable "HTML5". A month later, the new HTML working group resolved to do that. On 2008-01-22, the working group published HTML 5 as a Working Draft.

The HTML5 draft defines a parallel XML serialization for HTML5. The XML serialization is called XHTML5. Unlike XHTML 2.0, XHTML5 is intended to be compatible with XHTML 1.x.

XHTML 1.1

The most recent XHTML Recommendation by the W3C is XHTML 1.1: Module-based XHTML. [14] This is a reformulation of XHTML 1.0 Strict, with minor modifications, using a set of modules selected from a larger set defined in Modularization of XHTML, which itself provides a modularized framework, a standard set of those modules, and various conformance definitions. All deprecated features of HTML, such as presentational elements and framesets, and lang and anchor name attributes, which were still allowed in XHTML 1.0 Strict, have been removed from this revision. Presentation is controlled purely by CSS. This version also allows for ruby markup support, needed for East-Asian languages (especially CJK).

Module-based XHTML adds the concept of a "strictly conforming" document: it must be a complete document containing only elements defined in the modules required by XHTML 1.1. For example, if a document is extended with the predefined XHTML Frames module, or some module formulated by a third-party, it does not qualify as strictly conforming XHTML 1.1 for use on the Web.

As of June 2008, the second edition of XHTML 1.1 has been approved for general use.

Other members of the XHTML family derived from XHTML 1.1

XHTML Basic: A special "light" version of XHTML for devices that can not support the larger, richer XHTML dialects, intended for use in handhelds and mobile phones. This is the intended replacement for WML and C-HTML.
XHTML Mobile Profile: Based on XHTML Basic, this OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) effort targets hand phones specifically by adding mobile phone-specific elements to XHTML Basic. Often written XHTML-MP.
XHTML+Voice: XHTML combined with Voice XML to support both visual and voice interactions.

by : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XHTML

XHTML

2008-07-07T14:54:00.005+07:00

HTML is the antecedent technology to XHTML. The changes from HTML to first-generation XHTML 1.0 are minor and are mainly to achieve conformance with XML. The most important change is the requirement that the document must be well-formed and that all elements must be explicitly closed as required in XML.[citation needed] In XML, all element and attribute names are case-sensitive, so the XHTML approach has been to define all tag names to be lowercase.

This contrasts with some earlier established traditions which began around the time of HTML 2.0, when many used uppercase tags. In XHTML, all attribute values must be enclosed by quotes; either single (') or double (") quotes may be used. In contrast, this was sometimes optional in SGML-based HTML, where numeric or boolean attributes can omit quotes.[citation needed] All elements must also be explicitly closed, including empty (aka singleton) elements such as img and br. This can be done by adding a closing slash to the start tag, e.g., <img /> and . Attribute minimization (e.g., <option selected>) is also prohibited, as the attribute selected contains no explicit value; instead this would be written as <option selected="selected">.

HTML elements which are optional in the content model will not appear in the DOM tree unless they are explicitly specified. For example, an XHTML page must have a <body> element, and a table will not have a <tbody> element unless the author specifies one.

The XHTML 1.0 recommendation devotes a section to differences between HTML and XHTML. The WHATWG wiki similarly considers differences that arise with the use of (X)HTML5.

Because XHTML and HTML are closely related technologies, sometimes they are written about and documented in parallel. In such circumstances, some authors conflate the two names by using a parenthetical notation, such as (X)HTML. This indicates that the documentation and principles can be considered to apply generally to both standards.

example html code :

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>XHTML 1.0 Example</title>
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--//--><![CDATA[//><!--
 function loadpdf() {
 document.getElementById("pdf-object").src="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/xhtml1.pdf";
}
//--><!]]>
</script>
</head>
<body onload="loadpdf()">
<p>This is an example of an
<abbr title="Extensible HyperText Markup Language">XHTML</abbr> 1.0 Strict document.<br />
<img id="validation-icon"
 src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-xhtml10"
 alt="Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict" /><br />
<object id="pdf-object"
 name="pdf-object"
 type="application/pdf"
 data="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/xhtml1.pdf"
 width="100%"
 height="500">
</object>
</p>
</body>
</html>

by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XHTML

web search engine

2008-07-07T14:36:00.004+07:00

A search engine operates, in the following order

Web search engines work by storing information about many web pages, which they retrieve from the WWW itself. These pages are retrieved by a Web crawler (sometimes also known as a spider) — an automated Web browser which follows every link it sees. Exclusions can be made by the use of robots.txt. The contents of each page are then analyzed to determine how it should be indexed (for example, words are extracted from the titles, headings, or special fields called meta tags). Data about web pages are stored in an index database for use in later queries. Some search engines, such as Google, store all or part of the source page (referred to as a cache) as well as information about the web pages, whereas others, such as AltaVista, store every word of every page they find. This cached page always holds the actual search text since it is the one that was actually indexed, so it can be very useful when the content of the current page has been updated and the search terms are no longer in it. This problem might be considered to be a mild form of linkrot, and Google's handling of it increases usability by satisfying user expectations that the search terms will be on the returned webpage. This satisfies the principle of least astonishment since the user normally expects the search terms to be on the returned pages. Increased search relevance makes these cached pages very useful, even beyond the fact that they may contain data that may no longer be available elsewhere.

When a user enters a query into a search engine (typically by using key words), the engine examines its index and provides a listing of best-matching web pages according to its criteria, usually with a short summary containing the document's title and sometimes parts of the text. Most search engines support the use of the boolean operators AND, OR and NOT to further specify the search query. Some search engines provide an advanced feature called proximity search which allows users to define the distance between keywords.

The usefulness of a search engine depends on the relevance of the result set it gives back. While there may be millions of webpages that include a particular word or phrase, some pages may be more relevant, popular, or authoritative than others. Most search engines employ methods to rank the results to provide the "best" results first. How a search engine decides which pages are the best matches, and what order the results should be shown in, varies widely from one engine to another. The methods also change over time as Internet usage changes and new techniques evolve.

Most Web search engines are commercial ventures supported by advertising revenue and, as a result, some employ the controversial practice of allowing advertisers to pay money to have their listings ranked higher in search results. Those search engines which do not accept money for their search engine results make money by running search related ads alongside the regular search engine results. The search engines make money every time someone clicks on one of these ads.

The vast majority of search engines are run by private companies using proprietary algorithms and closed databases, though some are open source.^]

Revenue in the web search portals industry is projected to grow in 2008 by 13.4 percent, with broadband connections expected to rise by 15.1 percent. Between 2008 and 2012, industry revenue is projected to rise by 56 percent as Internet penetration still has some way to go to reach full saturation in American households. Furthermore, broadband services are projected to account for an ever increasing share of domestic Internet users, rising to 118.7 million by 2012, with an increasing share accounted for by fiber-optic and high speed cable lines.

Getting indexed

The leading search engines, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, use crawlers to find pages for their algorithmic search results. Pages that are linked from other search engine indexed pages do not need to be submitted because they are found automatically. Some search engines, notably Yahoo!, operate a paid submission service that guarantee crawling for either a set fee or cost per click. Such programs usually guarantee inclusion in the database, but do not guarantee specific ranking within the search results. Yahoo's paid inclusion program has drawn criticism from advertisers and competitors. Two major directories, the Yahoo Directory and the Open Directory Project both require manual submission and human editorial review. Google offers Google Webmaster Tools, for which an XML Sitemap feed can be created and submitted for free to ensure that all pages are found, especially pages that aren't discoverable by automatically following links.

Search engine crawlers may look at a number of different factors when crawling a site. Not every page is indexed by the search engines. Distance of pages from the root directory of a site may also be a factor in whether or not pages get crawled.

by : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_search_engine

Learn HTML / CSS / XML

2008-07-01T14:43:00.002+07:00

By Jennifer Kyrnin, About.com Guide to Web Design / HTML

Once you start building Web pages, you will want to learn the languages that build them. HTML is the building block of Web pages. CSS is the language used to make those Web pages pretty. And XML is the markup language for programming the Web. Understanding the basics of HTML and CSS will help you build better Web pages, even if you stick with WYSIWYG editors. And once you're ready, you can expand your knowledge to XML so that you can handle the information that makes all Web pages function. The information on this page will help you learn the languages that make up the Web.

What is HTML?

HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is the basic building block of a Web page. These articles start with the basics of HTML. Even if you have very little experience with computers, if you're willing to take the time, you can learn HTML and start building your own Web pages.

HTML Tutorial

If you want to learn HTML, you can take an online course or follow the steps in this tutorial to learn HTML.

HTML Tag Library

HTML tags are the basics of HTML. Once you understand how HTML works, you'll want to know more about the tags and elements that you can use in your Web pages. The About.com HTML Tag Library provides information about HTML 4.01 tags and XHTML 1 elements as well as tags outside the specification. The HTML attributes covers all the attributes you can use in the tags. And the HTML codes let you put special characters into your Web pages.

Reviews of HTML Editors

While many people use text editors to write their HTML, there are a lot of great software programs out there to help you write HTML.

What is CSS?

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, lets Web designers affect the look and feel of their Web pages. CSS is the way that you implement most design features in your Web pages. These articles explain the basics of CSS and how you can start learning to add style to your Web pages.

CSS Tutorial

There is a free short course on learning CSS. This course takes you through the basics of CSS in 5 days. But if you want to go deeper into CSS or at a faster or slower pace, use this tutorial to walk through all the elements of Cascading Style Sheets.

Style Properties

Style properties are like tags in HTML. They are what make CSS do what it does. Once you understand how to put CSS in your documents, then you can start learning the many different properties in CSS versions 1, 2, and 3.

What is XML?

XML, or eXtensible Markup Language, is a way to bring your HTML skills to a whole new level. By learning XML you learn how markup languages work. These articles explain the basics of XML and take you through why you might want to learn more about the eXtensible Markup Language.

XML Tutorial

The free XML class teaches you all about XML in a weekly email course over ten weeks. Or you can go through the articles here to learn more about XML at your own pace.

XML Specifications

XML specifications are how XML is implemented in the real world. One XML specification you might recognize is XHTML. This is HTML re-written to be XML compliant. But there are also a lot of other specifications that you may have seen that are actually XML.

Web Design Basics

2008-07-01T14:33:00.004+07:00

By Jennifer Kyrnin, About.com Guide to Web Design / HTML

Web design uses all the same elements as print design. You need to explore the space and layout, handle fonts and colors, and put it all together in a format that puts your message across. These resources will help you learn Web design whether you are already a professional Web developer or just getting started in the Web arena.

Elements of Good Design

Good Web design is the same as good design. If you understand the elements that make up good design, you'll have a Web page that works well. These elements of good design apply whether you are writing a Web page, a business card, or a t-shirt and once you understand them you'll have the skills to be a great designer.

Fonts and Typography

Fonts are the way your text looks on a Web page. And most Web pages have large amounts of text. When you're thinking of design, you need to think about how the text looks on a micro-level (the font glyphs, what font family, etc.) as well as the macro-level (positioning blocks of text and adjusting the size and shape of the text). These resources explain how to work with fonts on Web pages.

How to Use Color

Color is everywhere. It's how we dress up our world and how we see things. Color has meaning beyond just "red" or "blue" and color is an important design element. These color resources teach how to use color effectively in Web design.

Graphics and Images

Graphics are the fun part of most Web pages. As the saying goes "a picture is worth 1,000 words" and that's also true in Web design. Learn how to get the most out of your Web images with the following links.

Web Layout Basics

When people think of Web design often what they mean is the layout. Layout is the organization of elements on a Web page. First you need to start with basic design principles. Once you understand them, you can move through how to place elements on your Web page. These links and resources will take you through the steps to learn good Web layout design.

Tackling Web Navigation

Navigation is how your customers get around from one page to another on a Web site. Navigation provides movement and gives your customers the chance to find other elements of your site. You need to make sure that the structure of your Web site (the information architecture) makes sense so that your customers aren't forced to simply use search.

Accessibility and Usability

Accessibility and usability are often seen as a detriment to Web design, but a good designer focuses on making their site useful to as many people as possible. The links below take you through the basics of making an accessible site without compromising the design.

Web Design Software

Most Web designers prefer to work in WYSIWYG or "What You See Is What You Get" editors because they provide a visual interface to the design. But finding the best Web design software is more than just WYSIWYG or not. Plus there are other tools you will need to build Web pages beyond just the Web editor.

Electronics and, compuTer: Web Design Success Story

2008-06-25T15:35:00.001+07:00

Electronics and, compuTer: Web Design Success Story
elektrovaganza.blospot.com
elcomsite.blogspot.com

Web Design Success Story

2008-06-24T14:00:00.002+07:00

p.excerpt{
border: 2px solid #0066FF;
background-color:#FFCC33;
}

Composition in web design is similar to good composition in print design. It is a process organizing and communicating in a way that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Web design is often even more complex because of the processes of navigation and multitude of variables in user interaction. Order and unity become vital communication ideals.

SamataMason.com

SamataMason Website

Many of the attributes of good web design can be found on the web site of the well-known Chicago design firm, SamataMason. The introductory screen is simple and well organized. The elements of text blocks and image float on a gray background and can be readily brought up on either a small or large monitor without having to scroll left/right or top/bottom.

Hierarchy

Hierarchy & Composition

The site has essentially a four tiered hierarchy that is emphasized by size and direction. The image, a horizontal rectangle, is the most important element and the top level of importance is emphasized by the large scale. The second level, a vertical rectangle, is a list of category choices. The third level, a horizontal rectangle, is a brief paragraph of descriptive information. Subordinate information including the heads, company name, and rating control complete the page.

Composition

Visual Analysis Diagram

The scale of the major visual elements of image and text blocks are pleasing. The text blocks of the heads, menu, and company name align and give a sense of order. The menu block overlaps the image on a transparent field that literally overlaps and attaches itself to the image and provides unity. The eye moves fluidly from the image to the menu to the description that is tucked in the negative space. This triangular movement feels comfortable, keeps the user focused on the center of the page, and enhances the cohesive feel of the page.

Brevity

The simplicity of design makes the web site inviting from the start. Although there is a lot of information the user is met with an engaging organizational structure. Choices are clear and to the point, and the minimal descriptive text is well written. Long blocks of text sometimes turn-off the viewer because of the length, and are often ignored. Short blocks are much more enticing and in the case of SamataMason delightful to read.

Cropped Images

It is interesting that in all cases the images are not typical studio shots of a complete printed spread or an object but rather a tightly cropped detail of a larger image. The result is an intriguing composition that incites curiosity. Because of resolution constraints it is often difficult to show an entire image effectively. This system allows the viewer to appreciate the details of the design and get the gist of the project.

Visual Analysis

Submenu Choices, (right)

The visual analysis diagram breaks the elements on the web page down into simple defined areas. The largest visual element is the image area, shown in light red, as a horizontal rectangle. This image area is systemized on each web page and becomes a standard visual element for each page. Even though the image changes on each page the size and placement of the does not. This yields a sense of continuity and rhythm to the site even as the information changes.

Text information occupies four positions on the web page. The top two blocks are short headlines. The long vertical text block is a menu with a series of choices that link to other text pages. The large horizontal text block is a short descriptive paragraph of informative copy. The company name occupies the bottom text block and aligns with a plus sign in brackets that when clicked invites the viewer to “rate the page.”

Rating & Feedback

Rating & Feedback, (lower right)

The page rating invitation gives the viewer an opportunity to provide direct feedback to SamataMason about the effectiveness of their web presence. The viewer can quickly rate the page and if desired can click the “comments” category, which opens another window, to provide written feedback and rate the page as to content, design, usability, and overall. Clearly, the firm cares about the web usability of the site and is interested in the opinion of the user.

Subsequent web pages become only slightly more complex with the addition of another block of text to the right of the description. This block lists a series choices within the category and serves to show the firm’s range of capabilities. The viewer is readily engaged in the information because the choices are so clear that he/she knows immediately how to access information. There is no time lost figuring out how to navigate or return to a previous selection.

Grid System

Grid Alignment

Just as the image and text block proportions change from large to medium to small, so too does the grid. The system is a three column arrangement in three widths. The largest width is reserved for paragraphs of descriptive copy. The medium width contains the main menu choices, and the narrowest width is used when needed for additional submenu selections. If no submenu is used the description column occupies the entire width of the two right side columns.

Summary

The intent of the site is to inform the viewer of the capabilities and philosophy of the firm. It does so admirably and in the process persuades the user that SamataMason is experienced, organized, capable, and highly caring. How can you use these principals in your designs to create the same impact? Thoughtful design takes time and thought, but as you can see SamataMason spent both well and created something we can all learn from.

by Kimberly Elam

Penn Engineers Design Electronic Computer Memory in Nanoscale Form That Retrieves Data 1,000 Times Faster

2008-06-23T19:21:00.001+07:00

PHILADELPHIA -- Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have developed nanowires capable of storing computer data for 100,000 years and retrieving that data a thousand times faster than existing portable memory devices such as Flash memory and micro-drives, all using less power and space than current memory technologies.

Ritesh Agarwal, an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and colleagues developed a self-assembling nanowire of germanium antimony telluride, a phase-changing material that switches between amorphous and crystalline structures, the key to read/write computer memory. Fabrication of the nanoscale devices, roughly 100 atoms in diameter, was performed without conventional lithography, the blunt, top-down manufacturing process that employs strong chemicals and often produces unusable materials with space, size and efficiency limitations.

Instead, researchers used self-assembly, a process by which chemical reactants crystallize at lower temperatures mediated by nanoscale metal catalysts to spontaneously form nanowires that were 30-50 nanometers in diameter and 10 micrometers in length, and then they fabricated memory devices on silicon substrates.

"We measured the resulting nanowires for write-current amplitude, switching speed between amorphous and crystalline phases, long-term durability and data retention time," Agarwal said.

Tests showed extremely low power consumption for data encoding (0.7mW per bit). They also indicated the data writing, erasing and retrieval (50 nanoseconds) to be 1,000 times faster than conventional Flash memory and indicated the device would not lose data even after approximately 100,000 years of use, all with the potential to realize terabit-level nonvolatile memory device density.

"This new form of memory has the potential to revolutionize the way we share information, transfer data and even download entertainment as consumers," Agarwal said. "This represents a potential sea-change in the way we access and store data."

Phase-change memory in general features faster read/write, better durability and simpler construction compared with other memory technologies such as Flash. The challenge has been to reduce the size of phase change materials by conventional lithographic techniques without damaging their useful properties. Self-assembled phase-change nanowires, as created by Penn researchers, operate with less power and are easier to scale, providing a useful new strategy for ideal memory that provides efficient and durable control of memory several orders of magnitude greater than current technologies.

"The atomic scale of the nanodevices may represent the ultimate size limit in current-induced phase transition systems for non-volatile memory applications," Agarwal said.

Current solid-state technology for products like memory cards, digital cameras and personal data assistants traditionally utilize Flash memory, a non-volatile and durable computer memory that can be erased and reprogrammed electronically. Data on Flash drives provides most battery-powered devices with acceptable levels of durability and moderately fast data access. Yet the technology's limits are apparent. Digital cameras can't snap rapid-fire photos because it takes precious seconds to store the last photo to memory. If the memory device is fast, as in DRAM and SRAM used in computers, then it is volatile; if the plug on a desktop computer is pulled, all recent data entry is lost.

Therefore, a universal memory device is desired that can be scalable, fast, durable and nonvolatile, a difficult set of requirements which have now been demonstrated at Penn.

"Imagine being able to store hundreds of high-resolution movies in a small drive, downloading them and playing them without wasting time on data buffering, or imagine booting your laptop computer in a few seconds as you wouldn't need to transfer the operating system to active memory" Agarwal said.

The research was performed by Agarwal, Se-Ho Lee and Yeonwoong Jung of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Penn. The findings appear online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology and in the October print edition.

The research was supported by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at Penn, the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation award and a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Fancy Paragraphs With CSS

2008-06-23T19:14:00.002+07:00

Margins, Padding and Borders

If you've already grasped the concept of cellpadding, cellspacing and borders in HTML tables, then relax -- this isn't much different. The diagram below shows how the margin, padding and border properties relate to your paragraphs (or to any other element, for that matter).

The margin defines the space outside the border. The padding defines the space between the border and the content.

Although it's not shown here, the background colour fills the paragraph up to the border. By controlling the values of the padding and the margin you gain full control of the spacing around your paragraphs. But it doesn't stop there; CSS also gives you the ability to control the value for each side individually! Let's see how.

Top, bottom, left and right

To further increase your control CSS provides a facility that tables don't. CSS allows you to individually control the border, padding and margin values for each side of the block, through the following 12 properties:

padding-top padding-bottom padding-left padding-right margin-top margin-bottom margin-left margin-right border-top border-bottom border-left border-right

Your decision to set different combinations of these properties will depend on what you are trying to achieve, and which properties provide the control you need. Bare in mind that the side-specific (left or right) properties listed above don't work in older browsers.

Putting It To Use

Let's take a look at an example to see how you can put this to use. We're going to spice up a paragraph to make it look like the one below.

The Border

For the border we're using a setting that's 2 pixels wide, and solid, with an RGB colour value of 0066FF. The CSS rule we use to achieve this is:

p.excerpt{border: 2px solid #0066FF;}

The (X)HTML code to make use of this rule is:

They went in single file, running....

When it's used in this manner, the border property sets 12 separate properties for you.

The following rule allows you to set them all individually, but achieves the same effect as the one above.

p.excerpt{ border-top-width: 2px; border-right-width: 2px; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: #0066FF; border-right-color: #0066FF; border-bottom-color: #0066FF; border-left-color: #0066FF; }

As you can see, using the border value is a lot easier in this situation, but the extra control is available when you need it.

The other alternative is:

p.excerpt{ border-top: 2px solid #0066FF; border-bottom: 2px solid #0066FF; border-left: 2px solid #0066FF; border-right: 2px solid #0066FF; }

As I mentioned earlier, the code you use will depend on what you're trying to achieve.

The Background

Setting the background colour is easy. Simply set the background-color property to the value you want -- in this case, I've used an RGB value of FFCC33. Our rule now becomes:

p.excerpt{ border: 2px solid #0066FF; background-color:#FFCC33; }

With the above rule our paragraph looks like this:

The Spacing

Now all that's left to do is to set the spacing to complete the effect. We're going to use the same width padding on all four sides so we don't need the side-specific properties. With the padding set to 5 pixels our rule becomes:

p.excerpt{ border: 2px solid #0066FF; background-color:#FFCC33;paddingx; }

To get the margin effect we'd like we need to use 20 pixels on the left and right, but only 5 for the top and bottom, so we need to set each property individually:

p.excerpt{ border: 2px solid #0066FF; background-color:#FFCC33; padding:5px;margin-top:5px; margin-bottom:5px; margin-left:20px; margin-right:20px; }

That's it! Our paragraph now stands out and breaks our dull page of content up nicely, without any adverse effects. Non-CSS browsers will just ignore the CSS, without throwing any errors.

You can download the XHTML or the Style Sheet for the example above. Feel free to do whatever you want with it, and have fun with CSS!

Try again on yours site's

Server Starter Guide

2008-06-23T19:04:00.005+07:00

Setting up your first server isn't too difficult, but it does require some forethought and planning.

So, you've decided to purchase and install a dedicated server. Whether it's a file and print server (the most common for small businesses), a Web server, or an e-mail server, setting up any server involves some of the same configuration chores. (See our latest server reviews here.)

Initially, setting up a server is just like setting up a PC: Unpack everything, compare the box contents with the shipping list, connect the keyboard, mouse, and network cable, and plug in. With a server, however, location is an issue. You want a low-traffic location—a dedicated server room or wiring closet. Physical security is important as well. You can set up all the OS, application, and network security you want, but if someone can pick up and walk out with your server, your precautions mean nothing.

A server environment should be not only safe, it also needs to be controlled for temperature and humidity. You'll need to mitigate or disperse the heat your server or servers put out (for more information, read "Environmental Monitoring"). In addition, if your server is in a location you don't visit often or there's any environmental risk, you should consider using a monitoring device—for example, the AVtech Room Alert 11E or the APC Netbotz 420. These handy devices track temperature, humidity, motion, air flow, flooding, and more, and they can issue alerts when necessary.

Many servers these days have dual power supplies. Plug each power supply into a different UPS and plug those UPSs into two separate circuits. This way, if you lose a single circuit, one power supply will go off-line but the other one won't.

If the server's operating system has been preinstalled, that will save you an hour or so. If not, insert the CD or DVD in the drive and turn the server on. Here are some guidelines for configuring your new server OS:

Install only what you plan to use. For example, if this is a straight file and print server, you don't need to install Web server or e-mail server software, and it's better not to. There are two reasons for this: The first is that extra software contains extra vulnerabilities; if it's not installed it can't be exploited. The second reason is that extra software takes up disk space and wastes CPU and memory resources.

Use a strong administrator or root password. Your password is the key to the kingdom. A strong password does not contain words that can be found in the dictionary, it is at least six characters long, and it contains a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.

Create usernames that make sense. It's fine that Jim in accounting wants his username to be ZippyLiverchunks, but how is that going to help you manage your server? Decide on a convention, such as first initial.last name, for example, and stick to it. This isn't private e-mail; it's a business environment. Create usernames in advance, assign proper privileges, giving users access only to the directories they need, and force users to change their password when they first log on and periodically thereafter.

Plan the server directory structure. Give each user a home directory in which to store his or her documents, then create specific directories for users to share documents, as well as specific directories to house applications. Assign user privileges appropriately, for example, allowing only a user and the administrator to have access to files in that user's home directory, and restricting department-shared directories to members of those departments. This planning will go a long way, as it will regulate user access to files and applications.

Have a backup process in place. Once you bring the server online, everyone is going to start saving files to it—that was the idea, right? The last thing you want to do is consolidate data storage onto a single point of failure and then not back it up. Don't wait for data to go missing or a server hard drive to fail: Get a backup system up and running. See "Determine Your Backup Process" for more tips on data backup for businesses.

Implement a network security policy that protects your server. If this is an internal server that doesn't have to be accessed externally, then configure your firewall to block all incoming traffic not originating from a server session (the server will still need to get out to download patches). If this is a departmental server, block network access from outside the department. This can be done with a firewall or by setting up a VLAN (virtual LAN), a network that uses the same physical network as everyone else but a separate address.

Monitor your server. Many servers come with utilities to monitor them. Check system resources such as CPU, memory, and disk use to make sure the server can do its job. The last way you want to find out that you need to add another processor is through applications starting to crash. Also, it helps to know if the server goes down. Many monitoring programs, or an SNMP management console, have the ability to send an alert if the server goes down.

Don't neglect security software. You're running anti-malware, HIPS (host-based intrusion-prevention systems), and software firewalls on your workstations— why not on the server, too?

by Matthew D. Sarrel

XHTML 1.0 Latin-1 Character References

2008-06-23T18:55:00.001+07:00

This article has been linked from the W3C.

Article Index

Introduction

This article details the Latin-1 character references and corresponding entity references available to your XHTML 1.0 documents. This is the first of a series of three articles detailing each of the three sets laid out in the XHTML DTDs.

An explanation of character references will be given in part two of my article XHTML Web Design for Beginners. I decided to release these tables as separate articles in order to make them easily accessible to those who don't want to read the series.

What the columns mean

The first column gives the named version of the entity, the second is the named entity itself. This allows you to see if that character reference works in the browser you are using to view this document via the named entity.

The third column gives the numeric entity, the fourth is the numeric entity itself. This allows you to see if that character reference works in the browser you are using to view this document via the numeric entity.

The fifth column is the description of the entity as found in the XHTML 1.0 DTDs at http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/dtds.html#a_dtd_Latin-1_characters.

Entity Reference	Test	Character Reference	Test	Description
				no-break space = non-breaking space, U+00A0 ISOnum
¡	¡	¡	¡	inverted exclamation mark, U+00A1 ISOnum
¢	¢	¢	¢	cent sign, U+00A2 ISOnum
£	£	£	£	pound sign, U+00A3 ISOnum
¤	¤	¤	¤	currency sign, U+00A4 ISOnum
¥	¥	¥	¥	yen sign = yuan sign, U+00A5 ISOnum
¦	¦	¦	¦	broken bar = broken vertical bar, U+00A6 ISOnum
§	§	§	§	section sign, U+00A7 ISOnum
¨	¨	¨	¨	diaeresis = spacing diaeresis, U+00A8 ISOdia
©	©	©	©	copyright sign, U+00A9 ISOnum
ª	ª	ª	ª	feminine ordinal indicator, U+00AA ISOnum
«	«	«	«	left-pointing double angle quotation mark = left pointing guillemet, U+00AB ISOnum
¬	¬	¬	¬	not sign = angled dash, U+00AC ISOnum
				soft hyphen = discretionary hyphen, U+00AD ISOnum
®	®	®	®	registered sign = registered trade mark sign, U+00AE ISOnum
¯	¯	¯	¯	macron = spacing macron = overline = APL overbar, U+00AF ISOdia
°	°	°	°	degree sign, U+00B0 ISOnum
±	±	±	±	plus-minus sign = plus-or-minus sign, U+00B1 ISOnum
²	²	²	²	superscript two = superscript digit two = squared, U+00B2 ISOnum
³	³	³	³	superscript three = superscript digit three = cubed, U+00B3 ISOnum
´	´	´	´	acute accent = spacing acute, U+00B4 ISOdia
µ	µ	µ	µ	micro sign, U+00B5 ISOnum
¶	¶	¶	¶	pilcrow sign = paragraph sign, U+00B6 ISOnum
·	·	·	·	middle dot = Georgian comma = Greek middle dot, U+00B7 ISOnum
¸	¸	¸	¸	cedilla = spacing cedilla, U+00B8 ISOdia
¹	¹	¹	¹	superscript one = superscript digit one, U+00B9 ISOnum
º	º	º	º	masculine ordinal indicator, U+00BA ISOnum
»	»	»	»	right-pointing double angle quotation mark = right pointing guillemet, U+00BB ISOnum
¼	¼	¼	¼	vulgar fraction one quarter = fraction one quarter, U+00BC ISOnum
½	½	½	½	vulgar fraction one half = fraction one half, U+00BD ISOnum
¾	¾	¾	¾	vulgar fraction three quarters = fraction three quarters, U+00BE ISOnum
¿	¿	¿	¿	inverted question mark = turned question mark, U+00BF ISOnum
À	À	À	À	latin capital letter A with grave = latin capital letter A grave, U+00C0 ISOlat1
Á	Á	Á	Á	latin capital letter A with acute, U+00C1 ISOlat1
Â	Â	Â	Â	latin capital letter A with circumflex, U+00C2 ISOlat1
Ã	Ã	Ã	Ã	latin capital letter A with tilde, U+00C3 ISOlat1
Ä	Ä	Ä	Ä	latin capital letter A with diaeresis, U+00C4 ISOlat1
Å	Å	Å	Å	latin capital letter A with ring above = latin capital letter A ring, U+00C5 ISOlat1
Æ	Æ	Æ	Æ	latin capital letter AE = latin capital ligature AE, U+00C6 ISOlat1
Ç	Ç	Ç	Ç	latin capital letter C with cedilla, U+00C7 ISOlat1
È	È	È	È	latin capital letter E with grave, U+00C8 ISOlat1
É	É	É	É	latin capital letter E with acute, U+00C9 ISOlat1
Ê	Ê	Ê	Ê	latin capital letter E with circumflex, U+00CA ISOlat1
Ë	Ë	Ë	Ë	latin capital letter E with diaeresis, U+00CB ISOlat1
Ì	Ì	Ì	Ì	latin capital letter I with grave, U+00CC ISOlat1
Í	Í	Í	Í	latin capital letter I with acute, U+00CD ISOlat1
Î	Î	Î	Î	latin capital letter I with circumflex, U+00CE ISOlat1
Ï	Ï	Ï	Ï	latin capital letter I with diaeresis, U+00CF ISOlat1
Ð	Ð	Ð	Ð	latin capital letter ETH, U+00D0 ISOlat1
Ñ	Ñ	Ñ	Ñ	latin capital letter N with tilde, U+00D1 ISOlat1
Ò	Ò	Ò	Ò	latin capital letter O with grave, U+00D2 ISOlat1
Ó	Ó	Ó	Ó	latin capital letter O with acute, U+00D3 ISOlat1
Ô	Ô	Ô	Ô	latin capital letter O with circumflex, U+00D4 ISOlat1
Õ	Õ	Õ	Õ	latin capital letter O with tilde, U+00D5 ISOlat1
Ö	Ö	Ö	Ö	latin capital letter O with diaeresis, U+00D6 ISOlat1
×	×	×	×	multiplication sign, U+00D7 ISOnum
Ø	Ø	Ø	Ø	latin capital letter O with stroke = latin capital letter O slash, U+00D8 ISOlat1
Ù	Ù	Ù	Ù	latin capital letter U with grave, U+00D9 ISOlat1
Ú	Ú	Ú	Ú	latin capital letter U with acute, U+00DA ISOlat1
Û	Û	Û	Û	latin capital letter U with circumflex, U+00DB ISOlat1
Ü	Ü	Ü	Ü	latin capital letter U with diaeresis, U+00DC ISOlat1
Ý	Ý	Ý	Ý	latin capital letter Y with acute, U+00DD ISOlat1
Þ	Þ	Þ	Þ	latin capital letter THORN, U+00DE ISOlat1
ß	ß	ß	ß	latin small letter sharp s = ess-zed, U+00DF ISOlat1
à	à	à	à	latin small letter a with grave = latin small letter a grave, U+00E0 ISOlat1
á	á	á	á	latin small letter a with acute, U+00E1 ISOlat1
â	â	â	â	latin small letter a with circumflex, U+00E2 ISOlat1
ã	ã	ã	ã	latin small letter a with tilde, U+00E3 ISOlat1
ä	ä	ä	ä	latin small letter a with diaeresis, U+00E4 ISOlat1
å	å	å	å	latin small letter a with ring above = latin small letter a ring, U+00E5 ISOlat1
æ	æ	æ	æ	latin small letter ae = latin small ligature ae, U+00E6 ISOlat1
ç	ç	ç	ç	latin small letter c with cedilla, U+00E7 ISOlat1
è	è	è	è	latin small letter e with grave, U+00E8 ISOlat1
é	é	é	é	latin small letter e with acute, U+00E9 ISOlat1
ê	ê	ê	ê	latin small letter e with circumflex, U+00EA ISOlat1
ë	ë	ë	ë	latin small letter e with diaeresis, U+00EB ISOlat1
ì	ì	ì	ì	latin small letter i with grave, U+00EC ISOlat1
í	í	í	í	latin small letter i with acute, U+00ED ISOlat1
î	î	î	î	latin small letter i with circumflex, U+00EE ISOlat1
ï	ï	ï	ï	latin small letter i with diaeresis, U+00EF ISOlat1
ð	ð	ð	ð	latin small letter eth, U+00F0 ISOlat1
ñ	ñ	ñ	ñ	latin small letter n with tilde, U+00F1 ISOlat1
ò	ò	ò	ò	latin small letter o with grave, U+00F2 ISOlat1
ó	ó	ó	ó	latin small letter o with acute, U+00F3 ISOlat1
ô	ô	ô	ô	latin small letter o with circumflex, U+00F4 ISOlat1
õ	õ	õ	õ	latin small letter o with tilde, U+00F5 ISOlat1
ö	ö	ö	ö	latin small letter o with diaeresis, U+00F6 ISOlat1
÷	÷	÷	÷	division sign, U+00F7 ISOnum
ø	ø	ø	ø	latin small letter o with stroke, = latin small letter o slash, U+00F8 ISOlat1
ù	ù	ù	ù	latin small letter u with grave, U+00F9 ISOlat1
ú	ú	ú	ú	latin small letter u with acute, U+00FA ISOlat1
û	û	û	û	latin small letter u with circumflex, U+00FB ISOlat1
ü	ü	ü	ü	latin small letter u with diaeresis, U+00FC ISOlat1
ý	ý	ý	ý	latin small letter y with acute, U+00FD ISOlat1
þ	þ	þ	þ	latin small letter thorn, U+00FE ISOlat1
ÿ	ÿ	ÿ	ÿ	latin small letter y with diaeresis, U+00FF ISOlat1

Article Index

2008-06-14T15:33:00.003+07:00

Blogger Buzz: Show off your favorite blogs with a Blog List

2008-06-14T15:06:00.000+07:00

Blogger Buzz: Show off your favorite blogs with a Blog List

WIndows VISTA

2008-06-13T16:02:00.003+07:00

Windows Vista (pronounced /ˈvɪstə/) is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename "Longhorn". Development was completed on November 8, 2006; over the following three months it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released worldwide, and was made available for purchase and download from Microsoft's website. The release of Windows Vista comes more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows.

Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and digital media between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, which aims to make it significantly easier for software developers to write applications than with the traditional Windows API.

Microsoft's primary stated objective with Windows Vista, however, has been to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system. One common criticism of Windows XP and its predecessors has been their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. In light of this, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a company-wide "Trustworthy Computing initiative" which aims to incorporate security work into every aspect of software development at the company. Microsoft stated that it prioritized improving the security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above finishing Windows Vista, thus delaying its completion.

While these new features and security improvements have garnered positive reviews, Vista has also been the target of much criticism and negative press. Criticism of Windows Vista has targeted high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new digital rights management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with certain pre-Vista hardware and software, and the number of authorization prompts for User Account Control. As a result of these and other issues, Vista has seen adoption and satisfaction rates lower than Windows XP.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Programming on Linux

2008-06-13T15:38:00.002+07:00

Most Linux distributions support dozens of programming languages. The most common collection of utilities for building both Linux applications and operating system programs is found within the GNU toolchain, which includes the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and the GNU build system. Amongst others, GCC provides compilers for Ada, C, C++, Java, and Fortran. The Linux kernel itself is written to be compiled with GCC. Proprietary compilers for Linux include the Intel C++ Compiler and IBM XL C/C++ Compiler.

Most distributions also include support for Perl, Ruby, Python and other dynamic languages. Examples of languages that are less common, but still well-supported, are C# via the Mono project, and Scheme. A number of Java Virtual Machines and development kits run on Linux, including the original Sun Microsystems JVM (HotSpot), and IBM's J2SE RE, as well as many open-source projects like Kaffe. The two main frameworks for developing graphical applications are those of GNOME and KDE. These projects are based on the GTK+ and Qt widget toolkits, respectively, which can also be used independently of the larger framework. Both support a wide variety of languages. There are a number of Integrated development environments available including Anjuta, Code::Blocks, Eclipse, KDevelop, Lazarus, MonoDevelop, NetBeans, and Omnis Studio while the long-established editors Vim and Emacs remain popular. Wikipedia.org

Dektop Linux

2008-06-13T15:20:00.003+07:00

Although there is a lack of Linux ports for some Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows programs in domains such as desktop publishing and professional audio, applications roughly equivalent to those available for Mac and Windows are available for Linux.

Most Linux distributions provide a program for browsing a list of thousands of free software applications that have already been tested and configured for a specific distribution.

Many free software titles that are popular on Windows, such as Pidgin, Mozilla Firefox, Openoffice.org, and GIMP, are available for Linux. A growing amount of proprietary desktop software is also supported under Linux, examples being Adobe Flash Player, Acrobat Reader, Matlab, Nero Burning ROM, Opera, Google Picasa, RealPlayer, and Skype. In the field of animation and visual effects, most high end software, such as AutoDesk Maya, Softimage XSI and Apple Shake, is available for Linux, Windows and/or Mac OS X. CrossOver is a proprietary solution based on the open source Wine project that supports running older Windows versions of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop versions through CS2. Microsoft Office 2007 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 are known not to work.

Besides the free Windows compatibility layer Wine, most distributions offer Dual boot and X86 virtualization for running both Linux and Windows on the same computer.

Linux's open nature allows distributed teams to localize Linux distributions for use in locales where localizing proprietary systems would not be cost-effective. For example the Sinhalese language version of the Knoppix distribution was available for a long time before Microsoft Windows XP was translated to Sinhalese. In this case the Lanka Linux User Group played a major part in developing the localized system by combining the knowledge of university professors, linguists, and local developers.

The performance of Linux on the desktop has been a controversial topic, with at least one key Linux kernel developer, Con Kolivas, accusing the Linux community of favouring performance on servers. He quit Linux development because he was frustrated with this lack of focus on the desktop, and then gave a 'tell all' interview on the topic.

Wikipedia.org

See also: Linux gaming

Linux Security

2008-06-11T13:31:00.001+07:00

Multiple vulnerabilities have been identified in various VMware products, which could be exploited by local or remote attackers to bypass security restrictions, cause a denial of service or compromise a vulnerable system.The first issue is caused by an input validation error in the "HGFS.sys" driver, which could allow local attackers to execute arbitrary code on the guest system.
The second vulnerability is caused by an untrusted library path error in "vmware-authd", which could be exploited by local unprivileged attackers to execute arbitrary code on the Linux host system. Have you heard about the news that vulnerabilities have been found in some of VMware's software. This started to make me think what is the state of virtualization security? Do you think it's just as secure as a host installed on physical hardware?

From : www.LinuxSecurity.com

downLoad

2008-06-07T17:24:00.005+07:00

Quick Overview of the SurfOffline website downloader.

SurfOffline is a fast and convenient offline browser with easy navigation and simple interface. Capable of downloading up to 100 files simultaneously, this application can save a website to your hard drive completely or partially in just minutes. Another important feature is a wizard like interface that enables the users to quickly set up downloading rules. Importantly, the program supports HTTP, SSL(HTTPS), FTP, proxy servers, CSS, Macromedia Flash and JavaScript parsing.

The program comes with a full powered website download manager that lets the users decide which web pages and files should be downloaded and which ones avoided. For example, if you are interested in pictures only, you can set the program to download JPEG images only, avoiding all the others files. There also are size and location filters. The downloading process can be paused or stopped any time and resumed later. Among the advance options is the capability to transfer information to the server about the browser used (Agent Identity, for example, Netscape Navigator or Mozilla). Built-in HTTP server lets you share downloaded web pages with other computers via Intranet. Also, SurfOffline comes with support for HTTP and FTP authorization, sessions, and cookies. Program's built-in internal browser lets you download websites with webforms that require authentication.The Surf Offline Export Wizard allows you to copy downloaded websites to other computers for viewing them later, as well as prepares websites for recording them to a CD or DVD.

Best of all, the program is distributed as shareware, which entitles you to a free 30 day trial.
Supported OS: Windows Vista / Windows XP / Windows 2000 / Windows ME / Windows 98

Offline browser SurfOffline Overview
SurfOffline Awards

www.finaldownload.com

thIs arTcLe frOm www.surfoffline.com

Streaming Server and Wireless Internet

2008-06-07T16:12:00.004+07:00

This article offers one option for deploying Ardence in a wireless network.

Ardence requires that clients PXE boot off the network to obtain IP address and bootstrap information. Since wireless network adapters currently do not support PXE, only wired network adapters can be used by Ardence clients.

Please look procedure :

Using the wired Ethernet network adapter in a client, connect the client to the LAN port of a Wireless Access Point (WAP). Note: If there are multiple clients, connect the clients to a switch and then connect the switch to the LAN port of the WAP.
Configure the WAP as a wireless bridge.
Configure a remote WAP as a wireless bridge and connect it to the LAN.

When the client PXE boots, it sends out DHCP packets that the
local WAP forwards to the remote WAP. At the remote end, the WAP sends the DHCP requests out its LAN port to the Ardence/DHCP/PXE server(s) on the LAN, allowing the client to acquire its IP address and bootstrap information. This configuration works well, particularly in an 802.11g network, which offers greater bandwidth capacity.

This Article from www.support.citrix.com/article/CTX115314

Securing yOurs wireless LAN

2008-06-07T15:48:00.005+07:00

Wireless Without Worry,

Unwire your network with the confidence that comes from knowing that your data is protected with the strongest available wireless security, all from the easiest to manage RADIUS software in the business.

The Elektron RADIUS server offers a standards-based approach to wireless security. By providing RADIUS/802.1X services to wireless access points, Elektron integrates into your existing network infrastructure to extend user authentication to your WLAN. Elektron enables the strongest security available for Wi-Fi networks.

Elektron Version 2 Now Shipping!

The latest version of Elektron incorporates many of our most requested features while maintaining the same incredible ease of use that made the first version so popular. Try it out for free today! Elektron works with the wireless software and hardware you already own, so there's nothing more you need to enable industrial strength security for your Wi-Fi network.

New in Elektron Version 2.0
The latest release of Elektron adds dozens of new features, including:

Authentication Domains Multiple sources of authentication can be defined based on a user's domain.
Enhanced Authorization Policies can perform actions based on groups, dates, and access points
EAP-FAST Support for the latest Wi-Fi authentication protocols is included.
SNMP Monitor your server using widely deployed management tools.
Much More...

Introducing Elektron
Elektron is server software providing RADIUS/802.1X authentication services for Wi-Fi networks. When deployed in conjunction with Wi-Fi Protected Access-capable hardware, Elektron is the most secure solution available for protecting your Wi-Fi network.Learn More About Elektron

This ArTicle from http://www.periodiklabs.com/