232WebLog

Journal Entry Week: 10 Part 2

2005-05-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, I agree with Pam that we all made sure one block of code was working before going on to the next block of code. The one thing that I would do differently is have more time to plan before actually writing the code. I was lucky in that I saw what needed to be done on this assignment. But other times, I may not be so lucky, and would need more time to research.

Journal Entry Week: 10 part 1

2005-04-22T05:04:00.000-07:00

In class Lab

The steps that I took to create greeting card postback form:

1) I looked at our prior example of creating the greeting card.
2) I looked at Mr. Zellers postback example.
3) I pretty much followed Mr. Zellers postback example and used an if statement.
That is if the user hasn't made a selection, display the part of the form that the user can make the selection,or else display the user's selections.

Journal Entry Week: 9

2005-04-20T04:04:00.000-07:00

using include files:

I could have used an include file in lab 2 and 3. I could have createted a seperate html file for the top and side banners, and then in my templete, I could have included that/those files.

lab 4, The processing could have been done in a seperate php file and included in the greeting html. But why make a seperate php file, when there isn't that much too it?

Lab 5 well, we are working on that one right now, and I know that I will use include files, but not sure how I will go about it at this time. Maybe I'll include the HTML portion in my php or vise versa?

Journal Entry Week: 8

2005-04-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

Lab 3: Rollover Sub-Menus

This should definitely be done client side as it would take too long for the server to process the information. A good alternative if javaScript is turned would be to go to another page that provides links to the sub-pages.

Lab 4: Greeting Form

This assignment used the input to create a message. Yes, it could be done server side, but there wasn’t any need to use the server since the data was generated strictly from the user input. There was no need to process the information other than validating that the user input information which can be done client side. Unless the data was being input into a data base or something like that, no need waist time going to the server. If the user turned off client side scripting, I don’t see where there would be a loss.

Lab 5: Carpet Cost Calculator

Using server side scripting for the calculation would be appropriate for this assignment as if the user turned off client side scripting, well, then the calculations could not be performed. Still could do the client side validation, but would also want to make sure its done on the server side as well, because all the data is required to process the calculation. The image swapping is something that wouldn’t matter if it was turned off client side.

Journal Entry: Week 7

2005-04-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

Three alternatives to PHP.
ASP.Net – The advantage of using ASP.Net is it is a complete frame work for building web pages and it will automatically generate the static html code. Another nice thing about ASP.Net is that it has a lot of built in components such as the data grid for data sets. There are several choices of programming languages to use with ASP.Net such as VB.Net, C# and Pearl Script, where in PHP, the developer has to write the static html stuff and can only use the PHP script. In ASP.NET, integration with databases can be accomplished through ODBC. “In PHP, you can also use ODBC, and there are also native drivers for MySQL, Oracle, and Postgres. Also, if you are connecting to Oracle, a special OCI8 library provides more feature-rich access to Oracle. One disadvantage of using Asp.Net, it is not completely backward-compatible with previous versions of ASP, and is expensive with respect to memory usage and execution time. Furthermore, PHP cannot be used to write client side processing and ASP.Net can. Also, PHP variables are case sensitive and ASP. Net’s are not. Another thing, ASP.Net is a strongly typed language and variables have to be declared and PHP variables don’t. One more down side to ASP.NET is that it is only compatible with an Internet Information Services (IIS) Server by Microsoft.
PERL:
Perl cam be used in many programming ways: procedural, functional, and object-oriented Perl is free software and is cross platform compatible like PHP. PHP pages are constructed like HTML pages, with standard HTML markup. “PHP code is inserted into the page and executed when the page is requested. Conversely, Perl scripts are run as stand-alone programs and create HTML pages when the script is run.”
Cold Fusion:
Cold fusion makes it simple to loop through a table of data. On the other hand, it has its own syntax for creating html pages and not easier that the standard way, but you can still use the standard syntax for making html. So there’s an option there. PHP has more examples and documentation than Cold Fusion because PHP is free. All in all there are not a whole lot of differences in the languages.
References:
PHP and ASP.NET Go Head-to-Head By Sean Hull
http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hull_asp.html

Media College
http://www.mediacollege.com/internet/perl/perl-vs-php.html

acsoft.biz
http://www.acsoft.biz/cfvsphp

Journal Entry: Week 6

2005-02-20T05:56:00.000-08:00

Well, what else is javascript used for? Its the most popular client side scripting language. After doing a little research, from what I can see, the most common use of the javascrpit is for validation, image swaps, and pop up menus. Okay, so I looked into java applets, well, they are not really javascript but actual java and so, that would not apply to this assignment. So one thing that I did find that would be of interest ,and javascript can be used, is cookies. :-)

Articles:
Crispy Javascript Cookies is an article that explains how to create a cookie, also with fucntions, to store values.

Javascript Cookies is another article/tutorial that explains how to create and use cookies.

Examples:
Here is a link to a shopping cart demo-
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dcrombie/cartdemo/index.html

In addition here is a link to a friend's javascript demo for a shopping cart. She used cookies in her application too!

http://www.kiseta.net/JunkPunkStore/index.htm

Summary:

Cookies can be a very useful tool for developing client side applications as cookies can store information when the user is going from one page to another. In other words collected data stored in the cookie will not be lost when the user leaves the page. Therefore cookies are ideal for storing user input as in what would be collected in a shopping cart or data form entries.

Journal Entry: Week 5

2005-02-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

I read the week 4 entries for everyone.

First I'll start with Jaime's posting since he's done this before. He described the basic concept to use the mouse events to control the visibility of the submenus in a div. But what would have been nice is insturctions on how to do it Jaime (just kidding).

Next, I went to Pamela's posting, and was impressed with her organization skills! She mapped out step by step what her game plan was to build the submenus. This can cut down on the actual time involved in developing a routine/program. Good Job Pamela!

Last, I viewed Mr. Zellers, and its always nice to get positive feedback from an instructor! Also, Mr. Zellers put an emphasise on looking at the objects that is being used when developing the application. Good Point! Also, good point about not using individual links, but need divs. I think I used the word link in my blog when I meant div for submenu. I will be more careful with my wording in the future.

Journal Entry: Week 4

2005-02-06T17:04:00.000-08:00

Our lab 3 assignment is to add roll-over sub-menus to our lab 2 assignment's 3 links.

In this weeks journal is to comment on the research done for a solution to the assignment.

I haven't worked with javascript too much except in CISS243 when we did some data validation; but I have taken a Java class and the concepts are similar. I think that knowing some Java will help with the learning curve.

Okay first I went to Website Tips and looked up Creating Multiple Rollovers - this tutorial is about Javascript rollovers. It tells how to make an image bigger when rolled over. It looks like the same concept we need for doing our lab 3 assignment. I think this example may be useful.

Next I looked at this website, How to add side navigation bar with popus to your page and this page gives some javascript examples using the mouseOver event or behavior which is what we discussed in class. I think I'm on the right track!

Then, I went to this website, Menus that Appear when you Hover Over the Links. Well, its a tutuorial that explains how to do rollover menus using CSS only. Okay, this could be useful, but again, doesn't solve the whole puzzle.

In additon, I plan on reading the text book and review functions and other material on java script as I plan on putting my mouseover event in a function so that I can just call it for the links when the mouse hovers over it.

One more thing, I looked up on the internet, the visibility property for javascript.

Here are some more links that were helpful in developing code.

WebMasterWorl/Javascript

Controlling Element Visibility

With the tutorials that I found on the internet ,what we discussed in class, and what I will read in our text book, I think I will have enough information to make something that works.

Hope it works!

Journal Entry: Week 3

2005-01-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

What is meant by "liquid layouts" From what I've read, it is a layout design for a web page that uses percentage for the different divisions of the page. Therefore the webpage will display in its entirety regardless of the size of the screen or the resolution.

Example: Theico

MaxDesings is a resource that I found for helping with liquid layouts.

The definition on "liquid layouts" Max Desins gives is the folowing:

Liquid layout:
All containers on the page have their widths defined in percents - meaning that they are completely based on the

viewport rather than the initial containing block. A liquid layout will move in and out when you resize your browser window.

Liquid Design for the Web is another resource that helps a web page designer desing liquid layouts.

This site defines liquid layout as allowing a page to scale up to any resolution, as well as down to nearly any resolution, you can ensure the user determines some very important aspects of the page: the readability of the content (characters per line), the ability to print pages regardless of the user's window size, the bandwidth constraints (since images are often tiled, re-used, or skipped in favor of colored table cells), and compatibility (if you design it correctly, you could even accommodate users on palm-top browsers).

Journal Entry: Week 2

2005-01-26T07:41:00.000-08:00

Web Standards: User Interface Makeovers This article is about redisgning old web pages to the new web standards. It links to two pages that have been redesigned. Nokia and Vodafone. There is definitely a difference between the old and new. The new standards look much better!

The World Wide Web is not enough This article is against web standards and was written by David Emberton professional Web developer, author of Flash 4 Magic and Flash 5 Magic, and regular APC contributor. He states that the CSS is hard to learn, which right now I agree, and that its purpose to meet the needs of disabled and PDA's is a small amount of the population using the internet. He feels, developers should be able to develop with tools with which they are comfortable with.

Creating Accessible Forms This tutorial goes through the designing a web page step by step. It also give do's and dont's.

I think that the web standards movement is good and all web pages can be viewed as intended from any browser. Designing a web page using css will ensure that the design layout will be accomodating to all.

Journal Entry: Week 1

2005-01-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

XHTML Resources:

Resource 1

Resource 2

Resource 3

JavaScripte Resources:

Resource 1

Resource 2

Resource 3

CSS Resources:

Resource 1

Resource 2

Resource 3

Web Accessibility Resources:

Resource 1

Resource 2

Resource 3

Introduction

2005-01-24T03:51:00.000-08:00

Hello, my name is Rebecca L. I've been going to school part-time for the last 4 years studying computer information systems. During this time, I've earned an associate degree in computer programming from Oakton Community College in Desplaines IL, and also, I'm working on my associate degree in e-business here at LCCC. I've concentrated most of my course work on working with databases in the front and back end development. My short term goal is to get into an internship that will help me develop the skills that I've learned, and finish my e-bus degree. I do plan on attending a university in the near future, but have not decided on where or what program. Do you have any suggestions?