Help with html

I have to do as part of a community project ro rebuild my school website. To make a long story short i need one more interview and it has to be someone over the net. If anyone is willing to help please contact me it will be 10 simple easy questions on html and servers

 

10 questions eh.. post them here.. I'll answer them

 

thanks alot kodo this is so much help

1. Which would you recommend from personal experience to use as a website builder Visual, or code
2. Is html a modern relevant programming language that can be easily managed
3. Is it easy to update the web pages without much trouble
4. How do you ensure secure html code
5. How do you upload html to a website.
6. Does Html easily integrate with other internet code
7. Is html much different from xml.
8. Whats the rate of change, as in when do they come out with newer code and current code becomes obsolete.
9. What are good programs to use to build websites.
10.Is there a way to automatically update your site without changing code

My Community action project teacher came up with most of these questions yes i realize they are lame but thanks alot.

 

1. Which would you recommend from personal experience to use as a website builder Visual, or code
This is something that I believe is language and goal dependant. Visual builders have the edge in rapid development. I am not talking about your FrontPage kind of software. That's wysiwyg and there is a difference. A real IDE, like Visual Studio has 100's of more features that can aid in development. The one thing that you have to remember is that with an IDE, of the drag and drop nature, you make the logic and the program interprets your actions on what it is programmed to do with the actions you give it. That means that its' best guess could very well be extra code where you or someone else may have found a faster or more innovative way to do the same function with less code. It's a trade off but ONLY if you want nothing to do with really getting behind the code. With something like .NET, I recommend UNDERSTANDING how to code the language along with using Visual Studio. This will let you pump out apps if you're strapped for time and let you go back and clean it up later.
I started with Classic ASP and I found that the code that some of the dev tools pumped out was cluttered and un-necessary so I hand coded all of it. It saved me time in the long run. So again, it's language and goal dependant.

2. Is html a modern relevant programming language that can be easily managed
HTML is not modern and it's not a PROGRAMMING language. Any one who tells you that is fooling himself.
HTML is meant for formatting only. With the quantity of sites out there and the complexity of what site operators want do deliver, I don't believe that HTML can be easiy managed. You really need a dynamic language to do that for you. keyword: DATABASE!

3. Is it easy to update the web pages without much trouble
This is a half question so I'll hit it from both sides.
With HTML: For a small site that is for information only, maybe a bit tedious but probably managable and relatively easy. For large sites, forget it.
With Dynamic Languages: ABSOLUTELY!! Spending the time to build the ability to update one's site content by using a database is far superior than HTML alone.

4. How do you ensure secure html code
Again, HTML is for formatting only.
5. How do you upload html to a website.
Depends on your situation. Could be FTP, could copy and past to a production server, could be through a code library management system.

6. Does Html easily integrate with other internet code
For the most part it does, but it has outlived it's usefulness. We want more control over our design and HTML is too limited.
7. Is html much different from xml.
HTML is the sloppy brother of XHTML. Where XHMTL's side of the room is always neat and tidey or mom will beat it, HTML can get away with murder and mom won't care. It allows website dev's to be sloppy and unaccountable.

8. Whats the rate of change, as in when do they come out with newer code and current code becomes obsolete.
I would say every 2 years on average and 1 year for it to catch for a total of 3 years leaving about 2 years more for people to completely migrate for a grand total of 5 years. Figure ASP3 was out in 2000. .NET showed up in 2002, didn't make much a of ruckus until 2003 and we're in 2004 now with people just starting to really move on it. Some of this is due to the various versions that are released. Myself, I didn't have the money to purchase Visual Studio so I kept with ASP3. I am about to purchase it which would put me near 2005 before I can get anything out the door that is built in it.

9. What are good programs to use to build websites.
That is environment, language and goal dependant. Different operating system environments will allow or disallow a language to be run on it. PHP works on both *nix and windows. Whereas ASP only works on Windows. .NET has other projects in the community allowing for more platform compatibility though.
A good program will not control the code but will allow you to modify it at will without throwing a fit.
A good program will have alot of features to use.
A good program will be easy to learn how to use.

10.Is there a way to automatically update your site without changing code
This is sort of a poorly layed out question. Updating ones site can mean two things.
1. Updating the site's infrastructure or
2. Updating the site's content.

If 1 then
please define automatically
elseif 2 then
yes, use a database or xml or both
end if


I would also like to point out that opinions vary. I haven't been programming for decades. There may be others out there that would like to add to or correct my thoughts.

 

That red text is driving me mad... But I did find an error in your answer (and no, it's not a spelling or grammar error)

You said ASP only works on windows. That is wrong. With the proper software, you can also run ASP on linux. It's easier with windows though because it's already there and is easy to set up.

 

NO. asp doesn't work 100% on linux.. ASP is run as an object itself in chilisoft and therefore loses its' ability to perform certain tasks and create certain objects.. therefore that is not functional to me.

 

thanks for the help

 

I see what you mean...

 

Ummm, silly pedantic point here,

but HTML IS a language. It has syntax and has a lexicon.

I think what you meant to say is its not a Programming Language.

Also, I would just like to expand on point 7, a little bit:

XML and HTML both, come from the same parent of development: Seperation of data from meta-data. The main difference between them, parsing-strictness aside, is that HTML has "static" or pre-defined tags, where-as XML has an open-structure, where the user can define their own tags.

To expand, the <b> tag in HTML is fixed. It means: make my content (whatever is between the <b> and </b> tags) bold. In XML, <b> has no meaning, and their is no tag for "bold". As a user you could choose to make the "bold" tag <b>, <bold> or <imALittleTeapot>.

XML (and this is bringing the subject back to "strictness" of conformaty) also has another neat feature: The ability to describe a correct structure for a given document. Traditionally this has been achieved through the use of a "DTD" or "Document Type Definition", which describes how the layout of the document must be. Recently the notion of "schemas" have been introduced, where one describes the required structure in XML.

The flexibility, and notion of well-formed documents has allowed XML to become a truely powerful platform. WML, VoxML and XSL are just a few technologies utilizing XML (in order these are: a language for wireless applications, like your cell-phone; a language for describing speech; and a langauge that allows code translation - from one format to another - and rendering information (so like CSS, but much much much more powerful).

 

What? You want my old nit picker title?

 

that's the plan

And I figure picking on Kodo will either

a) get me that title, or
b) get me banned, lol

 

php is the best language to learn.

 

There is no BEST language to learn. What one needs to accomplish will determine what language is best to use. Always remember, useage is key in determining the technology you will use to create.

 

ya your right kodo, it depends what your going to use it for.

 

yeah i realized that im just trying to pack my brain with as much code as i can

 

Programing theroy is 10 times as important as knowing a language. when you know the logic, you can program in any language. its all syntax at that points.
Learn how to design your programs on paper with flow charts, to make trace tables. You find the errors in your logic on paper and you just make the logic into code.
Some people can just go write their code and it'll be ok, but most people need to have a plan. Would you build an apartment without a blueprint?

 

Like he said. All my programming projects for what their worth are planned on paper. When i was at a certain F1 company the guy i was working with said "Even though all these red hot technological guys around me do everything straight into the CAD program, they take 3 times as long as i do when i draw it by hand before. " theres a difference between a load of lines of code on a screen and a working diagram.

Oh yeah, and XML wont be terribly useful for website coding for a while yet