Technology

XHTML

The current standard for the eXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is XHTML 1.0; it merges the familiar HTML with XML (eXtensible Markup Language), the universal format for structured documents and data on the Web.

HTML has always been a structured language with rules and standards. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) sets the standards and recommendations that browser developers and Web designers follow. While their technical documents aren’t very friendly, the W3C is your friend. Authoring (X)HTML according to W3C standards ensures compatibility and longevity with devices and browsers that adhere to these standards, and these days most recent browsers (5.0+) comply.

Some have expressed concerns about abandoning table layouts for older browsers (specifically Netscape 4.x) and possible impacts to this segment of their audience. Adhering to Web standards, separating style from content and bringing structure to your (X)HTML documents does not mean giving the finger to old browsers, or table based layouts for that matter. Adherence to standards is a win-win situation that helps ensure durability on the Web.

Much of the Web is not designed with standards in mind; this is why so many Web pages may not work in the very browser you are using. A costly deed many designers and developers make is embedding elements of presentation in their documents. Merging style and content compromises core concepts about the portability and accessibility of information on the Web, not to mention making for much larger file sizes and maintenance costs. Not adhering to standards and merging style with content potentially makes content completely inaccessible to certain browsers, devices and people.

Removing presentation from (X)HTML documents and using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control visual design is a revolutionary approach for many. Designers will find good reason to separate style from content and abandon use of <table>, <font> and <center> tags to control visual design. For example, a single CSS document can control the visual design for thousands of (X)HTML pages. Updating a site with redundant, non-standard <table> and <font> tag hacks is a chore. With CSS, a few simple changes to the style sheet can refresh an entire site comprised of thousands of documents.

We use the following products to build your unique design.

	Dreamweaver CS3		Photoshop CS3 Extended
	Fireworks CS3		Flash CS3 Professional
	Illustrator CS3		PHPEdit

Javascript

A popular scripting language that is widely supported in Web browsers and other Web tools. It adds interactive functions to HTML pages, which are otherwise static, since HTML is a display language, not a programming language. On the client, JavaScript is maintained as source code embedded into an HTML page. On the server, it is compiled into bytecode (intermediate language), similar to Java programs.

JavaScript evolved from Netscape's LiveScript language. First released with Navigator 2.0, it was made more compatible with Java. JavaScript does not have the programming overhead of Java, but can be used in conjunction with it and PHP. For example, a JavaScript script could be used to display a data entry form and validate the input, while PHP more thoroughly processes the information and sends or retrieves data from the database.

AJAX

(Asynchronous JAvaScript and XML) Using an enhancement in JavaScript that allows Web pages to be more interactive and behave like local applications, which are also known as "rich client" applications. AJAX allows the Web page to retrieve small amounts of data from the server without reloading the entire page.

Prior to AJAX, any retrieval of data from the server required that the entire Web page be refreshed in the user's computer. As a result, systems were often designed with less interaction; for example, to have the user submit a form only at the end, after all fields were filled in. In contrast, AJAX systems can validate one or two items at a time "behind the scenes" without making the session cumbersome, especially over slow connections. AJAX, also known as "remote scripting," allows Web-based applications to be designed like LAN-based applications.

PHP

(PHP Hypertext Preprocessor) A scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages. With syntax from C, Java and Perl, PHP code is embedded within HTML pages for server side execution. It is commonly used to extract data out of a database and present it on the Web page. NT/2000 and Unix Web servers support the language, and it is widely used with the Mysql database. PHP was originally known as "Personal Home Page."

Mysql

(MY SQL) Pronounced "my S-Q-L" or "my-see-quill," it is a very popular open source, relational DBMS from MySQL AB, Uppsala, Sweden (www.mysql.com) that runs under various versions of Unix and Windows and Mac. Widely used for Web applications and embedded applications, MySQL is available for free from MySQL AB under the GNU license as well as for a fee without restrictions. MySQL includes a C/C++ interface. There are also ODBC and JDBC drivers available, and many scripting languages (PHP, Perl, Python, TCL, etc.) support it. The MySQL programming interface (API) is a superset of the C API for mSQL, which was developed by David Hughes in 1994.