Updated 2009-11-25
Most development software now codes XHTML compliant tags. There are many smart phones that require XHTML to display properly. Welcome the XML world. Was it really that bad?

Published 2003-03-31
XHTML is the evolution of HTML. The concept is simple… Make HTML documents into an XML compliant document. 

Why should I convert?
XHTML is the “new” HTML and many new devices require compliance. XHTML applies strict rules which enforces standards. XHTML can be used as XML. The only choice you have is when… this is inevitable.

Why not?
If you only intend to support PC type platforms with standard browsers there is no value in converting. Every page in your site will have to be converted with no visible improvements… How do you justify the costs. You may be able to wait until your web development tool automatically generates XHTML compliant code. If you do not intend to support PDA/Phones there is no reason to convert.

Problems….
Virtually all web tools at the moment write standard HTML. After converting documents all future HTML edits will have to be reviewed for XHTML compliance manually until your tools write XHTML. In XHTML ALL tags must have a closing tag(<p> must have </p>). In XHTML tags that do not have closing tags must end with a “/” symbol(<br> must be <br />). This includes meta tags as well..
Even if you are diligent and always provide closing tags in your HTML you will have to do many adjustments. All tables must have a TBODY tag. All tags and properties must be in lowercase. Inline CSS & Script encapsulated in comments must be in a CDATA block. These are just some of the more common issues. If you use strict XHTML, style properties only exist in CSS and will require even more adjustments. I recommend you review W3C standards for XHTML at http://www.w3c.org/

How to Convert
There is a lot more than most people think to convert DHTML to XHTML but I have found some good cheats…
There are several tools out there that will automatically convert DHTML to XHTML. I strongly recommend you use these rather than manually adjusting your HTML. You can convert the core site pages immediately then convert the rest as time permits. For tools you can use http://cgi.w3.org/cgi-bin/tidy that provides an online solution or you can download WebMatrix from http://www.asp.net/. I think Tidy provides the best implementation. There is a version of Tidy you can download and run from your PC… look on W3C site.

No matter what you decide, start writing all new documents with XHTML standards. It will save you having to re-write them later. That said you might notice this document is NOT XHTML compliant. I intend to convert  the entire demo site at one time so I am waiting till then…

Updated 2009-11-25
Well things have really changed but then again it has been 7 years since my last update . The desktop has a smaller market share. With 3G/4G finally getting rolled out smart phones are quickly becoming the surfing method of choice. Everyone uses the custom browser that their smart phone comes with. On the desktop Firefox(previously Netscape sort of) is a robust speedy browser that is supported in .NET and other development platforms extensively. Internet Explorer(IE) is slower than Firefox to load web pages. Firefox takes longer to startup. At this time both browsers own 40%+ of desktop market. That is a huge difference from previous update . What’s next? Google solutions(conceptully) are really starting to look interesting.

Updated 2002-12-17
Most Netscape(NN) supporters have not backed version 6 thus NN is stuck at version 4 and has fallen out of favor. Meanwhile IE has now gobbled up 80%++ browser share. Wireless devices are rapidly taking market share from both browsers but these devices aren’t ready to be smart clients yet. They are advancing quickly however and are great where screen space is not important.  There is no doubt the “browser” issue has now become even more complex with many new devices supporting only XHTML, WML or proprietary languages.  NN is now relegated to the “Other browser” category for most sites that attempt to support multiple browsers… You know, basic web site with no advanced features… Like this site. Future updates will probably deal more with wireless devices like phones and PDA’s than NN. At less than 10%(for all versions) NN is no longer worth supporting a customized site. 

Updated 2000-09-02
A new Netscape is in town. It is going to shake things up a bit. It might even take some market share away from IE(not much). Anyone that hates Microsoft will for sure use the new version. But much more important is that developers embrace Netscape’s guts to really attempt to support W3C/ECMA standards. I have updated this site and now both IE and NN6 enjoy the same experience. Let’s not kid ourselves. IE is still a better browser but Netscape V6 is a real step forward. I want to ensure that IE isn’t the only browser in town. I just don’t want to write 2 sites to support each browser.

Updated 2000-03-26
Well IE 5.0 has been released(with patches) but where is Netscape(NN)? Since AOL took over the browser it has gone to never-never land. Comparisons between the two browsers shows NN is starting to fall behind Opera(browser) in standards support. When looking at DHTML or CSS Netscape falls way short of meeting the standards. The object model is much more difficult and limited. The browser crashes repeatedly and I even found a JavaScript bug that corrupts Netscape. That’s right, you would have to re-install to get it to work again. It looks like AOL purchased the browser to ensure it gets buried…..But I could be wrong. Around 75% of traffic seems to be using IE4.0 or better at this time…..My how things change…..Just not as fast as I would like.

Updated 1999-02-25
Both Netscape and Microsoft say they will support the W3C DHTML spec. Ya, right… Anyway, IE 5.0 Beta has been exceptionally stable. Matter of fact it has been more stable than IE 4.01. I really like the auto-fill capabilities but from a user perspective that is about all you notice. It does load certain pages faster if they are built for IE 5.0. For some quirky reason I have to start it twice before the browser will display on one of my systems. Once it goes to a full release I would get a copy, but wait till then.
As for Netscape….I have not tried the 5.0 version so I can’t comment.

Updated 1998-08-23
Microsoft has all but closed the doors on Netscape. It is no longer a question of which is better. IE4.0 comes with Windows 98 and is integrated into the system. Businesses will use IE because it will require less administration and integrates into IIS servers easily. Critical mass has built up on the client base for IE. Soon Microsoft may have to support Netscape like Apple just to ensure they don’t get those nasty law suites. It would be strategically sound for Microsoft to throw away a few mil. As for the active desktop you can install it but make sure you do not select the option to show window contents while dragging. This option only creates a lot of overhead for your system and no real gain.

Updated 1997-11-01 originally published 1997-09-25
With IE4.0 released and NN4.03 you can upgrade both but do not install the Active Desktop(IE4). Both are as stable as previous versions(yes, they still crash). The advances made with DHTML take browsing to a new level and are definitely worth the upgrade. Even if you surf strictly for content you get advantages. The ability to hide and display content dynamically in itself gives great advantages. 
Both browsers support Cascading Style Sheets(finally) and DHTML expands CSS capabilities. The differences between browsers referencing CSS will probably be resolved with a little from both sides(not exclusively one side). JavaScript has become the standard scripting language and with DHTML extensions is going to create havoc on Java’s future. Many things you just can’t do with JAVA can be done easily with DHTML. Securing scripts from the client is still a major stumbling block for scripting languages(You can’t stop clients from stealing code). Layer technology will not likely survive standards committees. VBscript will not survive as a client scripting language unless Netscape^® adopts it or Microsoft^® create a free plug-in(to bad). Netscape^® has new life(for now). NN4.03 is not as good as IE4.0 but is very close. It has a prettier interface than IE4.0. This has become more a personal choice than ever.

Actually, the browser war is over, Netscape^® just doesn’t know it yet;)
There are really only two browsers, Netscape^® Navigator(NN) and Microsoft^® Internet Explorer(IE). I know about Lycos, Mosaic, etc. but they are so limited in usage that it is hard to count them. At this moment use BOTH(Netscape^® and Microsoft^®)! But use V3.*, neither has a stable V4 yet. I suspect that IE4 will be stable but let’s wait till October 1st and see.
If you have to choose I would recommend Microsoft^®’s Internet Explorer(particularly on Windows95/NT). Microsoft^® has the standards, the money, and a free browser. Not to mention I personally think the capabilities are far superior to Netscape^®. By no means is Microsoft^® perfect. I have several issues with things they do(you might see a few on different pages), but they have the best browser.
Netscape^® makes a very good browser. They used to be first by a long shot. Now they are a close second. IE Version 4 will shut the door but it will take years to take effect. Remember….this is today, tomorrow an even better browser could pop-up(but would it be good enough to buy it?). IBM^® will probably buy Netscape^®’s browser before Netscape^® gives up(they need A browser for junk OS/2).
As a technician I cheer for Netscape^®’s cause but as a business owner I buy Microsoft^®.

Firefox only: If you’ve already started using the Firefox 3.6 Beta release, you’re going to need more than the old checkCompatibility trick to get your extensions working again.

To stop everyone from simply ignoring the compatibility checks and using problematic add-ons that haven’t been updated in a while, Mozilla removed the ability to turn off extension compatibility checking entirely and now are forcing users to add a separate about:config entry for the specific version they are using.

So instead of adding a new entry called extensions.checkCompatibility, you’ll need to add the Firefox version to the preference name, followed by "a" or "b" if you are using alpha or beta versions, respectively. For the current Firefox 3.6 Beta release, you will need to add a boolean key with the following name, and a value of false:

extensions.checkCompatibility.3.6b

If you aren’t already an about:config expert or just want some hand-holding, hit the link for the full walk-through to make your extensions compatible. Readers will probably note that you can also use the Nightly Tester Tools extension, but for those of us that would rather not install another bulky extension, this tweak works perfectly.

How To Force Extension Compatibility with Firefox 3.6+ [How-To Geek]

 

Make Your Extensions Work with Firefox 3.6 [Firefox]
The How-To Geek
Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Firefox only: If you’ve already started using the Firefox 3.6 Beta release, you’re going to need more than the old checkCompatibility trick to get your extensions working again.

To stop everyone from simply ignoring the compatibility checks and using problematic add-ons that haven’t been updated in a while, Mozilla removed the ability to turn off extension compatibility checking entirely and now are forcing users to add a separate about:config entry for the specific version they are using.

So instead of adding a new entry called extensions.checkCompatibility, you’ll need to add the Firefox version to the preference name, followed by "a" or "b" if you are using alpha or beta versions, respectively. For the current Firefox 3.6 Beta release, you will need to add a boolean key with the following name, and a value of false:

extensions.checkCompatibility.3.6b

If you aren’t already an about:config expert or just want some hand-holding, hit the link for the full walk-through to make your extensions compatible. Readers will probably note that you can also use the Nightly Tester Tools extension, but for those of us that would rather not install another bulky extension, this tweak works perfectly.

How To Force Extension Compatibility with Firefox 3.6+ [How-To Geek]

 

Make Your Extensions Work with Firefox 3.6 [Firefox]
The How-To Geek
Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Web browser aficionados welcomed last week’s release of Camino 2.0, a Mac-only browser based on the Firefox codebase. While missing the extensibility of Firefox, Camino is a much more Mac-like browser that some people prefer to Apple’s own Safari. Over the past few years, Camino had fallen far behind Safari and Firefox in terms of features; indeed, I switched back to Safari a couple years ago. However, version 2.0, which adds a new Tab Overview feature, along with more phishing and malware protection, improved tabbed browsing, Growl support, better ad blocking, and an updated rendering engine, has some Mac users giving Camino another shot.

App syncs cookies between Safari, Camino
(Dan Frakes)
Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:39:00 GMT

Web browser aficionados welcomed last week’s release of Camino 2.0, a Mac-only browser based on the Firefox codebase. While missing the extensibility of Firefox, Camino is a much more Mac-like browser that some people prefer to Apple’s own Safari. Over the past few years, Camino had fallen far behind Safari and Firefox in terms of features; indeed, I switched back to Safari a couple years ago. However, version 2.0, which adds a new Tab Overview feature, along with more phishing and malware protection, improved tabbed browsing, Growl support, better ad blocking, and an updated rendering engine, has some Mac users giving Camino another shot.

App syncs cookies between Safari, Camino
(Dan Frakes)
Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:39:00 GMT

Updated 2009-11-25
Outlook and other mail programs have implemented most of what I previously recommended and the new spam/junk filters really help out. However, I would still view email in plain text because some junk still gets through.

Updated 2002-01-07
There is a way to at least stop HTML email from attacking you. See Secure Email under the How To Demos for details and instructions. The instructions protect you from all the viruses I have seen being generated by this HTML email… without having virus protection software. 

Published 2001-02-24

This stuff really sucks! It is so intrusive and there is no way to turn it off in Microsoft Outlook. Before you had to worry about attachments in your email… now you have to worry about your email. Companies are sending their website to you. With non-HTML email you were safe(except attachments)… with HTML email anybody can tell if email was sent  to a valid email address, whether you read the email and they can get your IP address. Just about everything they could detect in the browser. All very easily. They can even use ActiveX, Java and JavaScript to extend what they can do. With this information they know who you are and can then track your movement in the site and relate that to you specifically. THIS IS NOT GOOD!
I find that 95% of my HTML email is some form of junk mail. How many people do you talk to that use HTML instead of simple text for email? Other than business ads not many? 
SPAM networks can use HTML email to confirm email addresses are valid much easier. Once your email ID is on their network(and validated) you will see even more junk mail.

It was headache enough with attachments and all the SPAM you had to wade through… now you have to worry about what that SPAM email is doing.

How do you stop it?

I haven’t figured out a way yet. Anybody got any ideas. It should be simple for Microsoft to put one of the filter options as “content type” for message rules. Then we could do this easily. Until then I create new rules and keep trashing stuff.

On a side note all this HTML email is making it difficult for companies that don’t SPAM you. Now I have to compete with people that intrude on your life with this HTML email as well as other web sites. 

Do us all a favor and yell at Microsoft. This is something that can easily be fixed.

Updated 2009-11-25
Netscape died/transitioned to Firefox and has now taken around 40-45% of desktop browser market. Firefox is fast to load pages and more standards compliant than Microsoft and it is free. Advances in technology and surprisingly the adoption of .NET for a development platform has actually helped Firefox’s adoption. This is because .NET attempts to adjust for the various other browsers on the market automatically. Keep going Firefox

Update 2002-01-07
Well it has been over a year and most sites do not support it. Even fewer users are switching to it. I have abandoned supporting it here as well. This is not good. I would like it to succeed now that they seem to have their heads on straight even though as a developer it creates a lot of headache for me.
Update 2001-02-15
Oh, Oh…. Final version has been out a while now… Many sites are not supporting it. This is not good. It looks a lot better, and really does support W3C/ECMA as much as you can expect. Is it because everyone is used to working with the previous crap they don’t want to change? Come on people, if you ever wanted Netscape to succeed now is the time to back them up!
As a developer I would like to have only one browser… simplifies things. As a user I want choice. It may be I just don’t like a particular company. Whatever, I want to choose. Besides I want to make sure people who use systems other than Windows** can still use the Internet. 

Published 2000-09-02
Netscape Navigator Version6(NN6) Preview 2 is out. What an improvement… and this is still beta. The browser fails less often. It has a smaller footprint(size), is faster and more efficient. My hat is off to Netscape. They realized they made several key mistakes with NN4 and have done an about-face. Ever since NN3 I have not supported Netscape. They continually created their own proprietary tags that made no sense. A prime example of this was the LAYER tag. At that time I realized they did not have the expertise to create a top-notch standard. They were too busy trying to keep up with IE. Things got thrown in that would have never have passed cooler heads. 

Netscape thought they could tell everyone else what to do(sound familiar). They thought everyone would follow whatever standard they put out. Were they ever wrong. That is not to say that IE has not tried the same thing(they have), IE just drove the standards committees to adopt IE standards using logical arguments.

Well with Netscape V6 NN is supporting the W3C/ECMA standards very closely. They have dropped tags that were not adopted and they have included IE tags that have got into the standards. I am finding that IE5 requires more non-standard code than NN6. IE now has to get rid of the “document.all” script tag and we are closer to a standard browser than ever before. That is not to say there aren’t coding work a rounds required….just not near as many.

I want to support Netscape’s venture in being 100% standards compliant. That is why this site was built for both NN6 and IE5. Previously I just let NN in but a lot of stuff did not work. With NN6 only some demonstrations don’t work. All the cool buttons and configuration etc. all works.

On the down side Netscape is going to alienate a lot of developers since they have removed tags like LAYER from NN6. Also it’s “simpler” client interface is not very pretty which may take some people time to adjust(if ever). The toolbars could be better. NN6 actually works better on IE sites than sites built for NN4. Hopefully developers will forgive Netscape and recognize it took a lot of guts for Netscape to do this. It was not an easy decision.

Congratulations Netscape…. Get the final version out please…. I want people off NN4.

Updated 2009-11-25
My how things have changed. Java appears to be going the way of OS/2, Microsoft is now .NET instead of ASP, and many unix servers are using PHP(even some Windows servers). XHTML and XML are both extensively used. Netscape is gone and replaced with Firefox. Smart phones have finally replaced WAP. DIV and SPAN tags are the predominate tags now. Many more servers are now Windows based instead of Unix. .NET is dominant in large business sites. Browsers are all over the place and then there are smart phones. I expect everything to change to video/3D over next 10 years so don’t spend too much time on this stuff At this time I prefer the following:

• .NET for server. Can be C#, VB, PHP, Python or other language but .NET handles various browser issues(mostly).
• CSS – now the standard. Actually standards are recommending all layout should be in CSS format and not included in HTML tags. 
• JavaScript – The standard for years.
• Ajax or similar – dynamic communication as well as saving bandwidth.User gets virtually instant responses.
• MySQL – for databases. Open source.
• Flash – for dynamic graphics sections.
• Look into video and 3D tools – I see most sites going to interactive video/3D instead of text.

Updated 2001-02-15
Well, if you consider that AOL is a version of Internet Explorer(IE) then IE version 4+ now controls 85%+ of the browser market. Microsoft owns 98% of the operating systems. With this combination it should make your decisions easier. Now the potential to use VBScript, ActiveX etc. is feasible on the Internet. Is XHTML or XML going to win? Not sure, probably neither. Each is the “new” language that will allow everyone to communicate together… heard that before??? CSS is here to stay. It will be improved but it is a base for layouts to come. WAP is not going away for awhile… bandwidth may change that so I would not invest too heavily but it is necessary for several sites(like stock brokers, banks…) right now. You can trash all the tables and start using DIV and Span tags. Java is actually gaining ground since more powerful computers and faster bandwidth are available. Microsoft owning everything defeats the one real benefit of Java though. There is always going to be the next language that will solve everything for us… we buy it then figure out it can’t do ???? that the other product could. These of course will be solved in the next version…;-).
A big step is Netscape’s support of standards. Now if we could get Microsoft to do the same and drop that *&*%$# document.all method we could really get grooving. It might surprise many of you to know that Netscape6 is a better standards based browser than Explorer5.5. Explorer is much more forgiving for developers where Netscape is strict.

Published 1997-09-25
For Intranet(because of it’s controlled concept) I would use Microsoft^® supported languages exclusively. These would include DHTML, CSS, Jscript with server code mostly in ASP files. Limited use of VBscript, ActiveX and JAVA. This of course won’t work if you are an OS/2 shop but will work for MAC and some Unix operating systems.

For Internet I prefer to recommend more platform independent languages at this time. Unfortunately many languages are needed to truly develop a site. Unless you use at least some of the capabilities specific to the browser you limit your potential gains.
DHTML is now a must.
JavaScript(Jscript) is best for scripting simply because both browsers support it(sort of).
Pure JAVA is best for advanced requirements but is limiting and slow(this is improving very quickly).
CGI is still my choice for server side code but only because most servers are still Unix. If you can, I recommend using other languages(VB,C++,REXX, whatever).
Cascading Style Sheets(CSS) for those with requirements for specific positioning of elements. Or at least extensive use of small tables(large ones are slow to load).
All above can support both Netscape^® and Microsoft^® browsers if designed correctly.
After all that is said, I have found you need ALL languages above to provide the client with the best solution. More importantly, how(or if) they work on different browsers.

Updated 2009-11-25
Still feel the same way even with faster Internet. It is getting worse with ads down the sides of the page as well. On the other side I do run Google Text ads.  Since these met my criteria of low-bandwidth and no effect on page loading I have tried them. I don’t get a lot of traffic so they haven’t worked out that well but I have accumulated  some credits .  I have not seen any tangible value in over 2 years.

Updated 2001-02-15
Apparently the “click through” rate for banner ads is in the range of 1 in every 1000. This from people who track these things. Now think…. each banner ad is at least 30k… If you are running these things then 999 people are inconvenienced by having to download an additional 30k to visit your “awesome” site. If you run these on every page you must really like to punish your customers. I really do hate these things.

Published 2000-10-07
You might have noticed this site does not run any ads. There is a very specific reason. I take the time and effort to actually get you to come to this site. If I ran ads you could possibly leave my site on the first page because you clicked an ad that was of interest. All the work and effort I put in to get you here and I just sent you somewhere else for a fee of maybe 15¢. It just doesn’t seem to pay off. My site would be slower(all the graphic ads). I would lose a lot of valuable screen real estate displaying these ads. In addition I find customers tolerate these ads. They certainly don’t like them.

In my personal experience this has happened more than once…… I went to a site looking for something, saw an ad that was of interest, clicked the ad and forgot about the original site. That original site just gave away a potential customer for 15¢. Often sites pay more than that in promotion just to get the customer to visit. 

Banner ads can be beneficial for sites like Microsoft, Netscape, Disney, Yahoo and others. They are so large that they know the customer will be back. They are also good for free sites that provide various services “for free”.

Banner exchange ads aren’t much better. You have to show other site ads usually twice as many times as you have yours displayed. Again, do you want to promote other sites more than your own?

In summary it seems foolish to run these ads when it cost you more than the revenue they produce. The problem is the costs are not easily quantifiable and not that obvious. The ads do produce tangible revenue……but at what cost?

Anyway, that is my opinion…..Others have had great success with Banner Ads.

2009-11-25
I never did get back to this and spent little time with developing Flash. It is still very popular particularly for ads and media companies. I may review the newest version to see what has changed in 10 years.

2000-10-07
I have recently been playing with Flash 5. I am not sure yet whether I love it or hate it(probably somewhere in between). Either way I am going to start to use it. Please note since I am just starting with Flash 5 some information may be inaccurate.

What is it?

In a nutshell it is an animation software and player. The player is “built in” to virtually all new browsers. It has been extended beyond that to interface with other HTML components(like JavaScript/Java…). It’s three biggest advantages are browser independence, animation, and vector graphics. If used properly it can produce a very efficient and pleasing site. 

What I like

1. Browser independence. No special code for Netscape or IE. Both browsers support Flash and newer browser versions come with Flash preinstalled. 
2. Object Oriented. Instancing can really improve your sites performance while giving you cool effects.
3. Animation. Need I say more. There is lot’s of it. Too bad it doesn’t support 3D(yet). Then it would be even more interesting. 
4. Timelines. Match up that music to the animation, create object instances each with their own timeline.
5. Vector graphics. Extremely efficient graphics method. Flash 5 allows some very nice effects.
6. Single file with at least basic protection of developers code.

What I don’t like

1. Coding view. You can only see the code for a specific object at anyone time. Would be nice to have option to see code for entire layer/scene. 
2. Proprietary coding standards. There are so many it isn’t funny. 
3. Abuse. Some people make Flash pages that are 1meg+ in size. Eventually this will be fine but right now this is abusive. 
4. Not fully robust yet. It is getting there but working “outside the box” can get tricky.  

I still have to get used to the interface and how it works. The flash tutorial and samples are invaluable for newbies. There is no question Flash 5 has a place in most web sites. Even to a point of being the entire website. There will soon be an entire section for Flash at this site. Many written by an affiliate that is a much better graphics/Flash person than I.

Updated 209-11-24
Notice no one uses the status bar for help anymore. It used to be used on almost every site. Everyone now uses the Title parameer or new custom modules that perform these yellow popups allowing very complex displays rather than the simplistic text display available with the Title parameter…some even look like the classic “balloon help”.  I suspect that these more advanced help module concepts will eventally make it into HTML standards(maybe reference a section of the page like a DIV or snippet of code as the title parm). I have been noticing that sometimes the help flashes on/off when movong over plain text that is in a SPAN with a title parameter. Quite frustrating.

Published 2000-09-02
The title parm is now available in both IE3+ and NN6+. What is it for? It provides those little pop-up help tips when you move the mouse over something. In previous NN browsers this was only available for pictures(Alt parm). This help is now available on ANY tag. For example, move your mouse over this text. Notice the pop-up help appears. Move the mouse over IE3+ or NN6+ to get a better idea of a more common usage. Another reason I supported NN6.

Title is what help should be. None of this writing to statusbar. Clients do not have to look anywhere, help hits them over the head. I had created a Form 7 process for IE3(only) that did the exact same thing before this was built in. This site is changing to exclusively Title help.

How do you do it? Simple, just put TITLE=”What you want to say” on virtually any tag.

I have more stuff on this in How To demos at my website.

Updated 2009-11-25
Iframes are everywhere now. Unfortunately they are being abused by advertisers. They are still a great solution and have provided me with numerous benefits. Still no autosizing capabilities ;(

Updated 2002-01-07
My demonstration site uses IFrames exclusively. Without them there would be no “FloatAway” toolbar. Now if they only had an automatic resizing and true transparency… Never satisfied

Published 2000-09-02
Ever use a frames design? Restrictive aren’t they? You can’t have a frame anywhere you want. A frameset document is a particular type of document. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a frame anywhere you wanted in a window. Wouldn’t it be nice to have frames that can be moved around the window at will? That is what IFrames improves on the old frames(among other things).

The biggest drawback with using IFrames was that they were only supported on IE3+. Not anymore. Netscape V6 now supports them. It is not quite as complete as IE’s version but still it is a major step forward.

Their biggest advantage is they allow a developer to create a site with multiple small windows interacting…just like many Windows applications. This is really cool and opens up the potential for a true client server model on the web.

Don’t get me wrong, frames are great. This demo site still uses frames because when making a simple 3 frame page the Frameset means you do not have to code for resizing and other weird things. I could have used IFrames, but they are not best for this particular site. I do use them on sites that need more complex interaction between many frames. 

If you have a choice and you only need to support IE and NN6 think about IFrames. There are a lot more possibilities once you use them.

“Happy Birthday dear Firefox!!!”

Firefox lovers from College of Technology, Pantnagar gathered for the 5^th Anniversary Celebrations of world’s favourite browser – Firefox outside the old college building and sang these lines in the glory of Firefox! It was a fun filled celebration with lots of prizes and goodies for the well wishers of Firefox.

I was excited already seeing the quality of cake baked by the local shopkeeper and, for a change, was at the event venue a minute in advence, that is, at 3:59pm! I was shortly joined by Sumit Sati and very soon about 15 other enthusiasts joined the party. The young girls from first year (although they didn’t have a hunch what this Firefox was) had designed an excellent Firefox banner which was a piece of attraction throughout the celebrations. After the cake cutting and subsequent customary eating, everyone present shared their Firefox Experiences. The guys discussed how they got to know Firefox, what they liked in Firefox which made it better than ’some other browsers’, and of course, their favourite add-ons! Video Download Helper, Echofon, Download Them All, Firebug and AdBlock Plus were the clear favourites of those present there.

Then was the time for some quizzing and goodies! Me and Sumit Sati put up a number of questions which the young guns of the college smartly answered to take away all what we had – Firefox wrist bands, stickers and lanyards (which we had carefully preserved from Mozilla Camp Delhi). Due to various competitive examinations and other factors, the attendance was quite low but it was lots of fun, all the same!

Pics and videos from the party.

Updated 2009-11-24
Nobody talks about this technology anymore. Has been replaced by RSS.

Updated 1999-02-25
Well this technology really hasn’t been used much yet. Most of the sites mentioned below do have their own channel but it is a waste for most sites.

Published 1997-09-25
Cool, but how many sites do you want updates from that often? Big value to specific industries(like stock, weather, etc.).

Updated 2009-11-24
The new standard is XHTML. This new standard just enforces strict rules on DHTML. Forces every DHTML tag to have an end tag. DHTML has been great and has been a valuable tool. It has been a great technology investment.
Published 1997-09-25
Dynamic HyperText Markup Language(DHTML) adds zest to your pages. Finally, they have opened the object model. Now you can code for just about anything. It really isn’t anything new. You could dynamically change things before but you were extremely limited in the objects you could manipulate. All that has changed. DHTML allows you to change anything, you can have layers, redraw a section of screen at will, make animation without gif89a, and lots more. In addition the pages can work with older browsers easier than before. As a technician I think this is excellent. I am having fun learning all the new options.

Updated on 2002-08-28
OK, this is really getting out of hand. Things have gotten so bad I physically disconnect my cable internet  connection when not in use. Even though I am only connected 2-3 hours per day lately my firewall shows I am getting port scanned at least 3-5 times a day. Plus the hundreds of other attack attempts per day. I use dynamic IP but it makes no difference… there is no place to hide when scanners are being used.
Everyone seems to have lost focus on this issue. The problem isn’t  the “software”. The problem is someone abusing the software. Blaming the software is like blaming Ford because someone intentionally crashed their car into a wall. It is not possible for a manufacturer to stop potential abuse of a product. 
Unfortunately in the virtual world a reasonable hacker can make it impossible to trace them so there is no punishment. One solution seems to be removal of “anonymous” surfing. This is not something I want to see happen!  I also see it creating a whole new set of problems.
We need a central security net to stop the most predominate attack methods. These include things like port scans, IP scans, spoofing, denial of service  to name a few. We have to tighten security then punish those that would attack us, not those that enable us to do wonderful things.  

Published on 1998-03-03
There are a lot of security issues being brought forward lately regarding both Netscape and Microsoft browsers. This should not be surprising. Both have enabled you to have a dramatically improved browsing experience. A major disadvantage of enabling features is that there is always going to be someone figuring ways to abuse the features. This does not mean we should all pack up and leave the net. It does however mean that we should keep ourselves informed about potential risks and possible protection. I am surprised by the number of people that have very little understanding of security on the net. There is no place that is 100% secure. Not the net or even your house. If someone wants to get to you badly enough they can find a way.
There are several things you can do to make your browsing safer. I have two Dhtml demos that show you what can be detected by the server and browser. Everyone should check the server detected page at least once. You probably are not affected but you should make sure.

Published 1997-09-25

I was around when IBM^® was the only good large system in town. At first, they
were great. I supported no other vender. No one was as good as IBM^®. Support
was excellent. Alas, all good things have to come to an end. Other vendors got better and cheaper than IBM^®. Then things got nasty. I remember IBM^® stating
that if we put any other vendors hardware on the floor they would not support us. There
were many, many times IBM^® flexed it’s muscle. After all, why should they
support those little guys, they were the only vendor in your shop and early times saw many companies shy away from other vendors. IBM^® eventually lost.

Very early in 1995 IBM^® sold their hype to a company. Said that Windows95 was
never going to work. Of course, NT was still a joke(but for some unknown reason people
were switching to NT). They had information Microsoft^® couldn’t get Windows95
to multi-task. They said there were numerous stability problems. No Windows3.1 software would work. That’s only a few reasons why Windows95 was delayed. OS/2 was the way to go. Only OS/2 could do everything and do it now. Besides the company already had 1,500+ workstations from IBM^® that required OS/2 for an IBM^® application
previously acquired. Of course the company bought it, after all it is from your trusted
vendor. Now the company is trying to figure out how to get out of the mess. IBM^®
bet their PC operating system(OS/2) on JAVA, ignored the competition and lost.

With all above and their slowness to adapt, sorry, IBM^® has lost my
confidence.

In my opinion IBM^® and Microsoft^® are where they should be in the
PC market. Microsoft^® has clearly demonstrated they adjust to the clients, not
the other way around. Microsoft^® is not perfect or even close, but compared to
IBM^®, they are noticeably better. Microsoft^® PC products are more
stable and robust than anything IBM^® offers. Microsoft^® understood
Keep It Simple Stupid(KISS) does not mean your client is stupid(just the opposite). IBM^®
built for technicians in tech-ease(complex technical junk) that few understand. Yes OS/2
can do things that Windows95 can’t, but so far not one of those things have been important
to me. Things that Windows95 does that OS/2 does not(like run new programs) are very
important to me!

I have no doubt that Microsoft^® will flex it’s muscle at different times and
make us all unhappy but someone is always going to be the leader. Eventually Microsoft^®
will get tagged with monopoly and have to split up anyway. For some reason(beyond me) that
hasn’t happened yet. Personally I don’t care. I decide on best product, which in the case
of numerous software is not Microsoft^®. Microsoft^® has one major
drawback, if the top CEO’s died would they recover? On the other hand if these two settle
their fight it could work out to both companies advantage, and screw the rest of us at the
same time.

Updated 2009-10-27

We have new versions of all browsers, operating systems and just about everything else. Unfortunately we are in more mess than ever. Firefox(Netscape) has gained alot of ground but the real changes are the 3G mobile devices like iPhones. They mostly have their own version of some browser that simulates another browser ;( and they can rotate the screen. Screen sizes have gone crazy. Anything from 120X120px past 4120×3096px and new wide screens are everywhere. Even Mac’s are becoming more popular(about time).

If you want to talk about development platforms that is a whole other discussion.

The standard Computer web user….Current

• Microsoft Windows(89%), Linux/Macintosh (11%)
• Internet Explorer(40%+), FireFox(47%+), Other (13%+)
  • CSS
  • XML
  • DHTML
  • JavaScript
• Supports 24 or 32 bits(display 16,777,216 different colors).(95%+)
• Has at least 1024×768 screen resolution(87%+).
• Has at least High Speed(80%+)

Updated 2001-06-08-merged from Standard User

We still have a lot of difficulties in web development but at least some of the issues have been
resolved on the PC client front. We will never have a 100% standard. This is
about as close as it gets. Of course other interfaces like WAP create a whole
new temporary issue(until 3G round 2).

The standard web user….

• Microsoft Windows (95%+)
• Internet Explorer Version 4.0+ (86%+)
  • CSS
  • XML
  • DHTML
  • JavaScript/VBScript
• Supports high quality graphics(93%+)
• Has at least 800×600 screen resolution(90%+).
• Has at least 56kbs modem(82%+)

These stats are based on users that saw banner ads on millions of US sites.
You may have a site that caters to other configurations but anytime you have
better than 80% following the same standard it makes business sense to adopt
it.

On a future note the adoption of broadband access is growing very fast
where it is available. Eventually interactive video will become the standard
and we will be on to a totally different client interface.

Published 1997-09-25

Ya, right. Anyone that thinks that is dreaming. If you want to create an absolute minimal
page then it should work on any browser, but as soon as you want to do anything
cool you are into specific browser issues. It is now to a point that for a developer you
have to consider three browsers(Netscape^®, Microsoft^®, others)
with Microsoft^® and Netscape^® each having several versions that
all support different functions. Then you have to think about the different operating
systems like MAC, OS/2, Unix and Microsoft^® Windows V***, again each with
their own supported functions for each browser.

What are the users settings? Do they have JavaScript enabled? What if they specify their
own fonts, background or other options?

After all that you still have to worry about screen resolution and browser window size.

My old site at one time had three views(one for each browser). In each view there was code
required to handle different operating systems and versions of each browser. Without this
I couldn’t show many functions available to the specific browser. I have now enhanced this
site to demonstrate IE version 4.

As for JAVA? Most companies making development tools(Symantec^®, Microsoft^®,
etc.) have added functions only available on a specific platform. Unfortunately without
these added functions JAVA is limited to the “sandbox”.

So what was that about standard platform????? Ya right.

I haven’t used Opera in a long time. Last time I launched Opera from my desktop was probably around this time last year. It appears that Opera has released a new version. Opera 10. When I first heard of the release I didn’t really expect to see much, I dismissed it foolishly thinking that there would be not much to it other than a few new aesthetics and things like that. During the time of the release I was jam packed with uni work so I really did not get to check it out. So thanks to Stan Schroeder’s post on Mashable I realised I was so .. soooo wrong.

Google Chrome warned me about the Opera installation file being hazardous to my pc when I began downloading the installation file from the Opera website. I decided to ignore that message just this one time and went ahead with the installation.

Launching Opera 10 for the first time, I realised that its much more than it used to be. I remember Opera being a really fast, lightweight browser. But it turns out that Opera 10, whilst still retaining those characteristics, is loaded with loads of new features. Clicky Clicky for the full list of new features.

The new Unite features give you the ability to share your documents, stream music & movies, host websites and chat on your computer straight from the browser. Opera automatically searches for other computers with Opera installed and lets you share these files among them. This is really handy if you want to quickly set up “Homegroup”-like sharing in your network, and yes it works regardless of the OS the computer is running. Unite also lets you dedicate a folder to which other people can upload content to. Of course you have the option to put a password protect the application so that only people you authorize can use this feature.

So far I haven’t had any problems with it. Unlike Chrome, Opera doesn’t seem to slow down my crappy lappy even though i have a gazilion tabs open. Speaking of tabs, hovering over the tab will give you a thumbnail of the tab, much like aero in Windows 7. Also when your copy of Opera is up and running, from the bottom of the toolbar click and drag the tabs toolbar downward from the to see what happens. Thumbs up Opera!

ඔන්න ඉතින් මමත් උබුන්ටු දැම්මනේ. උබුන්ටු වල මගේ අත්දැකීම ගැනයි මේ දවස් වල කරපු කියපු දේවල් ගැනයි ලිපියක් ලියන්න හිටියත් වැඩ වැඩි කම නිසා ඒක කරගන්නත් බැරි වුනා. (මොනව කරන්නද ගිය සතියට විතරක් mid semester exam 3ක්ම. පිස්සු හැදෙනවා.   )

පහුගිය දවස් ටිකේම කරේ උබුන්ටු වලට අවශ්‍ය software හොයපු එක. කොහොම හරි mid semester break එකෙන් වැඩි දවස් ගානකුත් ගියේ ඒ වැඩේට.

උබුන්ටු වල පොඩි අත් හදාබැලීම් ටිකක් කරන අතරෙදි තමා මට මේක අහු වුනේ.

කට්ටියම දන්නව ඇති උබුන්ටු වලට තියන ක්‍රොම් සංස්කරණයේ සිංහල ටිකක් අවුල් බව. (ටිකක් කිව්වට ඉතින් හොඳටම අවුල් තමා )

මේ ප්‍රශ්නේ නිසා අපේ තමීර එහෙම බොහොම දුකින් තමා හිටියේ.

අද මම නිකමට වගේ ක්‍රොම් update කරල බැලුවා දැන් වත් සිංහල වැඩද කියල. කෝ තාම නෑනේ..!!!!

ඔහොම බලද්දි තමා මට හිතුනේ ක්‍රොම් වලත් ෆොන්ට් එක මලිති වෙබ් වලට මාරු කරල බලන්න. මෙන්න බලද්දි සිංහල පේනවා නියමෙටම.

විශාල කිරීමට රූපය උඩ ක්ලික් කරන්න

ඒත් පොඩි පොඩි අවුල් නැතුවම නෙමේ,

උදාහරණයක් විධියට ජනප්‍රිය වගේ වචනයක් පෙන්නන්නේ ජනප්රිය විධියට.( screen shot එක බලන්න ).

ක්‍රොම් වල ෆොන්ට් එක මලිති වෙබ් වලට වෙනස් කරන හැටි පහත screen shot වලින් බලාගන්න.

ක්‍රොම්හි options වල Under the Hood තේරීමෙන් පසු Change font and language settings ක්ලික් කරන්න

serif සහ sans-serif සඳහා Malithi Web තොරන්න

මීට අමතරව LKLUG වලටත් මේක වැඩ කරන බව අපේ කෙහෙළිය හොයාගෙන තියනවා. නමුත් භාෂිත දිනමිණ ෆොන්ට වලට වැඩ නැති බව තමා පෙනුනේ.

]]> http://regiosouza.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/falha-de-seguranca-no-internet-explorer-expoe-arquivos-confidenciais/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:27:43 +0000 Régio Sousa http://regiosouza.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/falha-de-seguranca-no-internet-explorer-expoe-arquivos-confidenciais/

Pesquisa realizada aponta que falha de segurança no navegador da Microsoft pode permitir acesso não autorizado a documentos do tipo PDF armazenados online, conforme pesquisa, documentos salvos no formato PDF diretamente no Internet Explorer, armazenam também o local do disco em que o arquivo foi gravado. Isso caracteriza um descuido que pode expor nomes reais de servidores, identificações de login dos usuários, o sistema operacional utilizado e outras informações consideradas pelos especialistas passíveis de uma maior proteção.

Saiba mais

After over a year, the Camino Project has announced Camino 2.0, a major update to their web browser.

Camino 2.0 includes a number of new features and enhancements, including rearranging tabs by drag-and-drop, a new Tab Overview feature, phishing and malware protection, full content zoom, Growl notifications for downloads, improved support for Full Keyboard Access in the browser window, and displays web content using Mozilla’s Gecko 1.9 rendering engine.

FEATURES LIST:
Improved tabbed browsing
- The Tab Overview feature displays a grid of thumbnails of the tabs in the current window.
- Tabs can be rearranged by dragging and dropping.
- Command-click now defaults to opening links in new tabs instead of new windows.

New security features
- Camino now supports the Google Safe Browsing service to provide warnings about many potentially malicious websites.
- Camino now displays error pages for secure web pages using invalid or untrusted certificates.

Full content zoom
- Camino now has support for making the entire contents of a web page bigger or smaller.

Download notifications
- If Growl is installed, Camino will generate notifications when downloads begin and finish.
- On Mac OS X 10.5 and higher, Camino will bounce the downloads folder in the Dock when a download finishes.

Recently closed pages
- The History menu now contains a sub-menu listing the last 20 closed web pages.

Improved support for Full Keyboard Access
- When Full Keyboard Access is enabled, tabbing now moves correctly through the entire browser window.

Enhanced annoyance blocking
- Camino now includes an exceptions list to allow disabling “Block Flash animations” on a per-site basis and an “Allow Flash From This Site” contextual menu item to ease adding sites to the exceptions list.

New AppleScript capabilities
- AppleScripts can now obtain the HTML source or text of an entire web page or of a selection.
- Added AppleScript support for setting the active tab in each browser window.

Web content support
- Camino now uses version 1.9.0 of Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine, which contains thousands of bug fixes, better web plug-in compatibility and performance, enhanced support for web standards, and new technologies like JavaScript 1.8.

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