Posts Tagged ‘W3C’

The Semantic Web

Friday, May 7th, 2010

The Semantic Web

What is “The Semantic Web”?  W3C starts off with a great outline:

The Semantic Web is a web of data. There is lots of data we all use every day, and it is not part of the web. I can see my bank statements on the web, and my photographs, and I can see my appointments in a calendar. But can I see my photos in a calendar to see what I was doing when I took them? Can I see bank statement lines in a calendar?

Why not? Because we don’t have a web of data. Because data is controlled by applications, and each application keeps it to itself.

The Semantic Web is about two things. It is about common formats for integration and combination of data drawn from diverse sources, where on the original Web mainly concentrated on the interchange of documents. It is also about language for recording how the data relates to real world objects. That allows a person, or a machine, to start off in one database, and then move through an unending set of databases which are connected not by wires but by being about the same thing.

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Guess What? Size DOES matter.

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

googlebrowsersizeThe Internet is full of variables.  As web developers and web designers, we constantly wrestle with web user variables.  Things like: browser types, browser versions, platforms, Flash, JavaScript, cookies, web-safe colors, connection speed, visual impairments, and fonts.

Our goal is to find the most common settings, and to deliver web sites which match settings with a majority of users viewing the sites.  Also, we need to mitigate any problems which might arise if the user doesn’t have their environment settings similar to the development team’s in-house settings.  Let’s face it, not everybody uses Firefox or Chrome.
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Google Chrome is at it again

Monday, January 18th, 2010

IEChromeOver the weekend I was researching some new web technologies and stumbled across a new plug-in for Internet Explorer (IE). It’s called Google Chrome Frame, and it solves some big problems in the current development cycle for web apps.

Many people don’t know this, but a lot of time is devoted entirely to making IE (especially older versions) behave properly with W3C standard based browsers (Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, Opera, etc.). This makes developing for the web more complex than it needs to be because most browsers function as you would expect them to. Unfortunately, IE is used by most users across the planet, so the fact that it isn’t based on current standards and behaves oddly isn’t something that we developers can ignore. This is where Google-Chrome-Frame comes to the rescue.

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Back to the Basics

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

iStock_000005624791XSmallWe have an intern coming in next week to hang out with us nerds. He’s a highschool student that would like to see what the day to day tasks of a web programmer are. I’ve talked to him about what he will be doing and what to brush up on. Here are a list of sites that I recommended him click through to brush up on some of the basics of the tools that we use. These are in no particular order.

  • HTML Goodies – This site was one of the first that I used to help me understand HTML and JavaScript. A little outdated, but still great for fundamental learning.
  • Tizag PHP Tutorial – Basics of PHP. This website does an amazing job of putting complex concepts into words that everyone can understand.
  • MySQL Introduction – From the MySQL website, an introduction.
  • W3Schools – Straight from the people who make the standards we love and use, you can learn a bunch on their site about the RIGHT way to do things. Topics in PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, jQuery, CSS and XHTML are where you can learn the tools we use.
  • PHP Screncasts – Some good free video screencasts that show you some of the basic aspects of PHP. Buy it for the advanced videos.

There are more places online that can teach you our toolset. Google is great if you know what you are searching for. The internet is a great thing, and can teach you just about anything you want, especially if it relates to computers and programming.

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W3C Validation & Testing

Thursday, July 30th, 2009
W3C

W3C

Here at Zoom Creates, we’re fanatical about testing & validation of the web sites we produce. Before a web site is launched, our team performs a site-wide validation check for HTML & CSS compliance using the globally-recognized standards taken from the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium).

What the W3C does:
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding. It is the organization which all web standards are derived from and should adhere to.

Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional

Top 3 reasons why validation and testing of a web site is important:

  1. Multi-browser, multi-version, multi-OS compatibility:  Ensure that the site will look the same on every web browser and operating system being used. However, there are some limitations to this (see below).
  2. Search engine indexing: A compliant web site allows search engines to more easily index the contents of a web site, making for superior organic SEO results.
  3. Maintenance and scalability: When future edits need to be made to a web site, starting off with a compliant site provides the developer with a “clean slate” to work from. Not having to go back and fix junky code saves valuable time and costs. (more…)

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