HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language and it is the original computer language used to build web pages. Hypertext is essentially a link – click on text and it takes you to other related information. A markup language is a way to describe how information should be formatted.

To better understand this, take a look at Microsoft Word with all of its icons, toolbars, menus and fancy features. Imagine none of those features were there. Better yet open up Notepad, the bare bones text editor on Windows. How would make your heading bold? How would you change the size of the text? Insert an image or graphic? If there were no menu or functions for that, how would someone reading your document know how you wanted it to be formatted? Enter a markup language. In HTML, a markup language specifically for the web, you would use special tags to format your document:

<b>My Title</b>

<i>My Italicized Subtitle</i>

<p>My paragraph. It's a short one.</p>

b = bold in early HTML, i=italics and p=paragraph. Some of these tags have been replaced with newer, more fashionable versions, but let’s keep it simple.

HTML is a language made up of tags (normally in pairs – front and back), which wrap around the text that you want to format and tell the web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, etc) how to display the content. There are special tags for the various parts of the document that also inform web browsers how to read the document as a whole. That is the basics of web development. In order to display text, images, links, video or audio on a web page, the proper tag or tags must be invoked.

What is XML?

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is generalized markup language that can be used to transfer and store data. Whereas all HTML tags are pre-defined – you can’t just use <paragraph> instead of <p> and expect web browsers to understand it – with XML, the designer of the system decides what the tags are. XML is often used to hold structured data and can be used as a simple database for some web applications. For example, here’s a grocery list:


<groceries>
<fruit>
<oranges>Navel</oranges>
<apples>Granny Smith</apples>
<bananas>Organic</bananas>
</fruit>
<cereal>Frosted Flakes</cereal>
</groceries>


Now, that I have my data, I could write a program to allow me to display that data, or update it, perhaps from a website or my cell phone. XML is used for a wide variety of purposes because of its flexibility.

HTML and XML are both children of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) the granddaddy of markup languages. SGML was created in the 1960s to make information readable by computers.

What is XHTML?

XHTML (eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language) is essentially an upgraded version HTML which combines it with XML. It uses the much more strict syntax of XML in order to whip our lazy friend HTML into shape. Historically, web browsers have been very forgiving of mistakes in HTML. However, even the simplest syntax error in an XML document will produce a fatal error.

XHTML is recommended by many  in order to increase compatibility with a variety of devices. While web browsers are forgiving of code errors, other devices may not be. These days, more and more organizations want their website viewable not only on computers, but on mobile phones, PDAs, gaming systems and other devices that haven’t been invented yet. XHTML brings a more disciplined and streamlined approach to HTML, which is a strong base for the future of development.

Your comments are welcomed below.

You can reach Leslye at leslye@reflectiondigital.com

How about including weblinks on authored CDs?  Check out David Ryan’s post: http://tinyurl.com/64td2m

What is a successful website? Only you can determine that for your business. Proper planning includes identifying the goals of your site and how you will measure their success. It’s like any other form of project management whether you’re spending thousands on a site with all the bells and whistles, or picking up a Web Design for Dummies book intent on going it alone. Doing it well requires planning in not only how you want the site to look, but how you want end users to interact with it.

There are a couple of basic things you’ll definitely need

• A domain name. For a yearly fee you will purchase the name of your URL (i.e. mywebsite.com). If the name you want is not available, try other extensions (called top-level domains, .com, .org, .net, biz, etc.). A .com domain is still the most popular, but there are plenty of successful sites without a .com – it’s all about building a strong brand with the name you choose. If you still can’t get the name you want, think of different permutations or similar phrases that can be used for a domain name. Can your tagline be used if your company name is not available? Remember, be careful with your name choices, run it by colleagues or friends before making your final decision to avoid domain name disaster.
• A Web host: A website must be stored on a special computer called a web server in order to be viewed online. You can build or purchase your own web server, but for most people this is not a reasonable choice and it is far easier to purchase space from a web hosting provider. The operating system of the web server (usually Windows or a form of Unix) will often determine what types of technologies you can use on your website. Many web developers prefer one operating system over another, or work exclusively in one and not another. Also, if you are using third party software on your website, you will need to know its compatibility with your web host.

Once the basics are taken care of the real fun begins. A website is often many peoples’ first introduction to your organization. You want it to represent you well. From the colors, to the number of pages, to the choice and length of text content, every aspect of your website should be crafted with your goals in mind.

One way I encourage my clients to really think about their website goals is by requesting that they complete a Needs Analysis questionnaire. Once we are very clear on what they want their web presence to do for their organization, as a web designer and developer, I am better able to construct a site that meets those needs.

Another great tool for website planning is this eBook “Connect 2 the Net: Business Basics for Building (or Planning) Your Web Site” which steps through the entire process of planning a new or redesigned website.

I’d love to hear your comments below!

“David’s Website Picks” is a constantly-updated compilation of some of the best links to media information that I’ve come across in my search across the net.   It’s part of my on-going activities to “stay current” and just another service I enjoy presenting to those of you in “my network.”                                       David Ryan

Sure, there is Google, but I have done the searching and sifting for you.                                     

The information ranges from a country-by-country list of international broadcast standards, to a thorough FAQ about DVDs, to a guide on best practices of Fair Use.  Other links include being able to type foreign letter characters (with tildes and accents, for example) in almost any software program and a variety of resources for online photo, historical and genealogical research. 

I also include links to a wide range of articles on-line that cover the rapidly changing world of today’s media. 

The “David’s Website Picks” page happens to be one of the most frequently-visited pages of this website.  Many visitors have told me that they have bookmarked the page and make a habit to check it out on a regular basis.  If you are one of those folks, I thank you.  If not, I encourage you to take a look at the page.  Chances are that there is at least one web link on there that you want to bookmark.  

And thanks to all who have sent me links to review . . . please keep those coming!   

U.S. broadband use has doubled in the past 3 years, and now almost half of all Americans have broadband at home. The pervasiveness of high speed Internet connections is one of the factors fueling the online video explosion. Internet users are hungry for dynamic content, and want to be able to access it quickly and easily. Flash video has turned out to be the solution of choice for many video providers.

There are still a variety of other viable and popular web video technologies such as Quicktime and Windows Media, however, Flash is extraordinarily popular due in large part to the ubiquity of the Flash player across platforms and browsers, and the small file sizes and fast loading times of Flash videos.

Flash videos play in the same Flash player that other Flash animations use, and can be either progressive download (where you download the first portion of a file before it begins to play) or true streaming (using a streaming server). Virtually all video sharing sites such as YouTube, Google Video, Brightcove, Daily Motion, Blip.tv and others utilize Flash as their video format of choice.

You can still achieve excellent quality when compressing video to Flash, although there are, at present, a very limited number of codecs available for the format. Flash video is a display format, and files need to be converted to another format before they can be used in a video editing application, usually with a high cost in image quality.

Advantages to Flash video include the relative ease of creating a custom player for your website. When embedding another video format, such as Quicktime, in a web page, if you don’t want to use the standard Quicktime player provided by Apple, good luck (it’s technically possible, but the infrequency with which it’s done points to its extreme difficulty). In Flash, customizing the colors or controls can be much more easily achieved.

So, why would you use anything else? Well, at last check Flash does not support DRM or Digital Rights Management. Also, depending on the software and hardware used, Flash encoding can be far slower than encoding to other formats. Since Flash video is a more recent development than other formats, some may not have purchased or upgraded to the software necessary to create Flash videos quickly or easily. And if your audience includes those accessing video content from a mobile device like a phone, PDA or iPod, Flash still does not have wide compatibility for those devices.

Post your comments on Flash video below!

Leslye can be reached at leslye@reflectiondigital.com

P.S. Check out examples of Flash video in two of our Featured Media Guest columns here on DavidRyanMediaSolutions.com — links below:

http://davidryanmediasolutions.com/2008/01/04/audience-friendly-experimental-animator-eric-dyer/

http://davidryanmediasolutions.com/2007/11/10/one-man%e2%80%99s-vision-to-fight-poverty/

In the days before Flash, in order to create anything for the web that was remotely visually interesting, you had to resort to animated GIFs.

Animated GIF examples courtesy gifs.cc

These short loops were used (and often overused) to bring life to otherwise dry HTML pages. With the advent of Flash, web animation turned a corner, becoming longer, more attractive, more sophisticated and less annoying. If you’re still using animated GIFs for some reason, then you very well may be viewing this from a 28.8 baud modem!

In the pre-broadband days, when people were patient , Flash was prized for its ability to keep file sizes small due to its expert handling of vector graphics. Vectors are usually illustrated drawings made up of lines, curves and other geometrical shapes, whereas bitmap graphics are made up of pixels. Flash supports both types of graphics, however, the speed enhancements only really kick in with vectors. Vector graphics are much smaller than their bitmap counterparts, and as such are specially suited for use on the web.

In addition to animation, Flash is also used to develop rich media applications for the web and beyond. The reach of the technology is very broad, you can integrate 3D graphics as well as other web technologies such as PHP, XML, ColdFusion and more. The result is a very robust infrastructure capable of offering a huge variety of solutions. Flash developers are called upon to create everything from interactive games, kiosks, CD & DVD-ROMS to online video editing applications. There are even Flash websites that allow you to create other Flash websites!

NEXT TIME: Flash video!

Leslye can be found at reflectiondigital.com. And, if you’re in the Baltimore area, check out the Déjà Vu? Revealing Repetition in French Masterpieces exhibit at The Walters Art Museum. In the exhibit hall is an interactive Flash kiosk where users can design their own gallery. The kiosk development was managed by Leslye and programmed by students at the Johns Hopkins University Digital Media Center.

Nothing about the technology that powers the web has changed or really improved all that much, but this “new version” of the web is marked by websites and services that focus on collaboration and user interaction.

If you can comment on it, upload to it or make friends by using it then it might just be part of Web 2.0. Examples include photo sharing site Flickr, user written encyclopedia Wikipedia, social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, link and bookmark sharing site del.icio.us and blogs (especially when users are encouraged to add their comments to posts).

Example of a tag cloud from link sharing site del.icio.us

Another component of Web 2.0 are folksonomies. Most people find information on the web via a search engine such as Google. Folksonomies are another way that some sites use to enable users to find content; essentially they are a taxonomy for the people and by the people. Information on websites is categorized by users into keywords generally called tags. These tags are used to locate and organize relevant content. Folksonomies are generally used by blogs and wikis (another type of collaborative website generally used for collecting and distributing easily searchable information).

After the dot-com boom and subsequent bust some may have thought the heyday of the Internet era was over. From the ashes of that period, the notion of Web 2.0 has seen businesses embrace the web as a platform on which to deliver useful applications to consumers, not just an information repository or marketing outlet.

Some (including World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee) argue that many so-called features of Web 2.0 have really been around all along, and that the web has always been a place fostering user collaboration and interaction. So whether you think that it’s just a marketing buzzword, or the beginning of a new technological era, the real question to consider is what can Web 2.0 do for you and your business?

For more information on Web 2.0 check out these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
http://www.oreillynet.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy

Questions or comments? Contact Leslye at leslye@reflectiondigital.com