Tools & Technologies
To assure quality service and delivery, ByYourSite specializes
in a selection of tools and technologies that are best suited
for efficient and cost-effective web application development.
Because we use industry-standard tools and technologies we can
very quickly integrate into our clients'
existing development efforts. The code that we produce will remain
usable for years, and can easily be customized to satisfy your
changing needs.
In this page we give a brief description of the following tools
and technologies* used by ByYourSite:
Our description is divided in six sections. We start with server-related
technologies followed by other programing
languages. We then describe authoring tools,
web GIS tools, databases,
and finally image editing and page layout
tools.
Servers
We will distinguish two types of servers: web servers and application
servers. Web servers are programs that run on top of the operating
system and are designed to respond to Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
(HTTP) requests and to return HTML pages to the browsers. We will
present two web servers: the Microsoft Internet Information Server
(IIS) and the Open Source Apache web server from the Apache software
foundation. Application servers are technologies that run in conjunction
with a web server. Application servers allow us to add interactivity
and "intelligence" to regular web sites.
Application servers are often add-ons to web servers that allow
the developer to write logic written with a server side scripting
language. A group of scripts working together to perform a specific
task is called a web application. The application interacts with
the the user via the web server that sends regular HTML pages
which the application generates on the fly.
Scripts that run on the server rather than on the client (the
browser) offer flexibility and added security. Web applications
add flexibility as they are shielded from the browsers' limitations.
For instance, web applications can deliver a web page specifically
catered to different web browsers. If a user is using Netscape,
the HTML she will receive from the application might be very different
than the one she will receive if she uses Internet Explorer. Server-side
scripts add security, as the script on the server remains invisible
to the user. The user sees only the HTML that is the output of
the script running on the server. In this model things such as
passwords, and intellectual properties are protected from the
preying eye.
ByYourSite specializes in using two server-side scripting technologies:
Active Server Pages, and Java
Server Pages.
Apache
Apache
is the leading web server. Apache can run on, among others, Windows,
UNIX, Linux, Macintosh operating systems.
Most applications developed on Apache use either the Common Gateway
Interface (CGI) combined with Perl for scripting, or use a JSP
application server.
Like most UNIX friendly environments, Apache administration is
mostly done through the command line interface.
ByYourSite is actively working at extending its currently limited
experience with the Linux and Apache platforms.
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Internet Information Server (IIS)
Internet
Information Server is bundled with Windows servers. Active
Server Page (ASP) is the default web application technology
on IIS, but it's possible to use any other application server
such as JRun or ColdFusion.
IIS is more than just an HTTP
server. It includes a File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
server, a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
server, and a Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)
server.
The administration of IIS is greatly simplified by the Internet
service manager. Most of the operations can be done through the
graphical user interface and will feel familiar to a Windows administrator.
As with any web server, it's very important to make sure that
the latest patches are installed on IIS. Microsoft is regularly
releasing these patches to fix security breaches that are discovered
on the server. You can find the latest update at: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
ByYourSite has extensive experience in IIS administration in
single-server environments.
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Active Server Pages (ASP)
Active Server Pages (ASP) is Microsoft's solution for server
side scripting, and is mostly used on Windows platforms. It is
the default environment for Microsoft Internet Information Server
(IIS) that comes bundled with Windows Servers. However, it's worth
noting that ASP 2.0 is ported to the UNIX/Linux platforms by ChiliSoft.
ASP is very popular among businesses as it comes bundled with
Windows Servers. As many companies have these servers already
installed on their networks, they don't initially need to invest
in extra pieces of software and expertise to develop their Internet
presence.
ASP is very popular among developers because it is relatively
easy to learn. The default scripting language used is VBScript
(a subset of Microsoft's Visual Basic), but ASP is designed to
be language-neutral. It can also handle JScript (Microsoft's version
of JavaScript, ECMA 262 language specification), Perl, REXX, and
Python. It also integrates very nicely with all other Microsoft
technologies, such as Microsoft SQLServer, COM, and Microsoft
Transaction Server (MTS).
Most of ASP's drawbacks come from its strength. Because it is
so permissive, it's very easy for a developer to create sloppy
code that will ultimately become expensive to maintain.
Asp's affinity for Microsoft's Servers has some doubting its
capacity to serve high-volume sites. However, every day, new high-volume
sites such as Dell
and Lycos
are choosing to use ASP. Also, with the release of Windows 2000
the platform gained a lot of stability.
Our main source of technical information for ASP is the MSDN
library and the book Professional
Active Server Pages 3.0 by Alex Homer et al. (Wrox).
Active Server Pages are ByYourSite's core expertise.
You can find more information about ASP by visiting Microsoft's
web page or by following the links on our links
page.
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JavaServer Pages (JSP)
JavaServer Pages (JSP) is Sun Microsytems' answer to Microsoft's
ASP. JSP is especially good at separating User
Interface (UI) layer from the data layer. This separation allows
you to alter the UI without the risk of affecting the underlying
logic. Since the application logic can reside in components, it
facilitates code reuse and component base design. This approach
makes it faster and easier to build web-based applications.
JSP is part of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE).
When supported by the application server, J2EE brings enterprise
level power to JSP web applications. To learn more about J2EE
you can go to Sun's web site.
JSP relies on a technology (Java Servlet) that is platform independent.
An application (or a module) that is developed on a Microsoft
platform will run as well on UNIX or other platforms. Among the
application servers that use JSP as the scripting environment
are the Open Source Tomcat,
Allaire/Macromedia's JRun,
IBM's WebSphere
and Bea's WebLogic.
JSP's weakness lies more in its development environment. We haven't
yet met a good Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and many
tasks are still better done through the command line interface.
ByYourSite is actively prospecting for opportunities to gain
more experience with JSP. Please contact
us or click here to learn
more about our special offer.
Read more about JSP
by going to Sun's web site or by following links on our links
page.
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Programming Languages
In this section we will discuss general purpose programming languages
such as Visual Basic and Java,
scripting languages such as VBScript and
JavaScript, markup languages such as
HTML and XML, and usage-specific
languages such as SQL.
Visual Basic (VB)
Microsoft's Visual Basic is one of the most popular programing
languages available. Its success comes from its rapid application
development approach and its relative simplicity when developing
complex applications.
VB is suitable for the development of applications that don't
need to be close to the operating system to perform well. Because
VB is shields the developer from the intricacies of the system,
it allows fast application development. In the context of web
applications, it is the primary choice for the development of
COM objects. In most situations, the performance gains by using
lower level languages such as C/C++ do not justify the added complexity
and cost of development.
The Visual Basic family of language is ByYourSite primary programing
language.
Read more about Visual
Basic on Microsoft's web site or by following links on our
links page.
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VBScript and VB for Application (VBA)
VBScript and VBA are subsets of Visual Basic.
They both use a syntax similar to VB, but they don't support all
of its features.
VBA was designed to bring scripting ability to desktop applications.
With VBA, applications can be extended, customized and integrated
to meet specific business needs.
VBScript is designed to offer lightweight scripting capabilities
for low-memory environments, such as web browsers and web servers,
and is most commonly used in creating HTML Web pages. VBScript's
built-in limitations come from its lightweight requirements and
the necessity to satisfy the Internet security needs. It doesn't
support functions that directly access the client's operating
system or file system. For example, you cannot do file Input/Output
or read the registry on the client's machine. These functions
are limited to the server side applications.
Microsoft tried to impose VBScript as the default client-side
scripting for the World Wide Web, but its lack of support by Netscape
resulted in the dominance of JavaScript.
The Visual Basic family of languages is ByYourSite's primary
working tools.
Read more about VBA
or VBScript
on Microsoft's web site or by following links in our links
page.
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JavaScript, JScript and ECMAScript
Contrary to what the name JavaScript might make you think, it
has nothing to do with the Java Programing language. Today, JavaScript
is the default language for client-side scripting (browser scripting).
All modern browsers support it, but this has not always been the
case.
JavaScript was developed by Netscape to add scripting power to
its servers and browsers. It first appeared with Netscape Navigator
2.0. In turn, Microsoft implemented its version of the language,
JScript, with the release of Internet Explorer 3.0.
Even though both JavaScript and JScript were very similar, the
differences justified the push for the development of a standard.
The variation between the two implementations of the scripting
language were mostly designed to enhance the support of the manufacturer's
own platform. The core of the languages were similar, but the
variations were sufficient enough to impede the growth of the
World Wide Web. Under pressure from the web community, both manufacturers
submitted a proposal for a standard scripting language to the
European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA). The ECMAScript
was born under the ECMA-262 specifications and adopted in June
1997.
Today when you talk about JScript, JavaScript or ECMAScript you
are basically talking about the same thing under a different marketing
flare.
With its object orientation capabilities and its syntactical
similarities to C, C++ and Java, JavaScript is easy to learn and
comfortable to use. Even though it's an interpreted scripting
language, JavaScript remains very powerful and can scale well
to meet complicated programing tasks.
To our knowledge, the best JavaScript book is David Flanagan's
JavaScript,
The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly & Associates). The power
of this book is that after you learn the basics of the language,
it remains a very good reference source.
ByYourSite has extended experience with JavaScript. We especially
enjoy its flexibility and its syntactical similarities with C,
C++ and Java.
On the web, read more about JavaScript on Netscape's
or Microsoft's
web sites or directly from the ECMA
web site or by following links in our links
page.
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Java
When Sun
Microsystems introduced Java in 1995, it promised to deliver
a simple, object-oriented, high-performance, platform-independent
programming language. It was exactly what the booming Internet
needed.
Java is relatively simple as it takes a lot from the C/C++ syntax.
Java removes many of the complexities inherent to these languages.
For example, in Java there is no need to manipulate pointers,
as the language handles them automatically.
Unlike C++, Java was designed to be an object-oriented language.
An object-oriented application is the sum of multiple components
(objects) that communicate through interfaces. Each object performs
only one function well and this is done independently of other
objects. A given object knows only how to pass information to
other objects and it is not aware of what the other object is
doing with the information.
The power of object-oriented language is that it allows the development
of flexible and extensible applications. With objects, if the
requirements for an application change, you need to replace the
functionality of specific objects instead of modifying the entire
application.
Object-orientation also promotes code reuse. Since each object
performs a well-defined task, each time this task is needed you
simply need to call the object and get the desired result.
Java can be platform-independent. Programmers write code to the
Java Virtual Machine (JVM) rather than to a specific operating
system. Although it is possible to write non-portable programs,
Java makes it very easy to implement what Sun calls "Write
Once, Run Anywhere" code.
ByYourSite is actively prospecting for opportunities to gain
more experience with Java in the context of JSP. Please read
on our special offer.
Read more about Java
on Sun's web site or by following links from our links
page.
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HTML
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is what makes today's world
wide web possible. With HTML, the Internet evolved from being
a collection of plain text documents linked via special indexes
to today's rich media of formatted-text documents containing their
own links, images, sound and video.
HTML is all about the look of a document. HTML files are plain
text files that contain a set of predefined tags which describe
the text should be formatted. For example, if you want to make
a string of text appear in bold face you enclose it in-between
<b> and </b> tags. When the browser encounters angle
brackets (<>), it understands that it contains an HTML tag
and it tries to interpret it.
If you want to see what the source of an HTML page looks like
you can go in the "View" menu of your browser and select
"View source." This will display the HTML for the currently-loaded
page.
HTML is static by nature. In any given situation the page will
always be rendered the same way by a given browser.
It's important to understand that the tags or the files are not
performing any formatting themselves; the browser is responsible
for the interpretation and rendering of the tags according to
the HTML standards. The standards for HTML are defined by the
World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Responsibility for the implementation
of the standard is left to the browser's manufacturer. In the
"browser war" for domination of the world wide web,
and in an effort to gain users adoption, manufacturers constantly
added new features to their browsers and then pushed these features
to the W3C in an attempt to make it become standards. This is
why today browsers are incompatible.
Even if in modern browsers the pool of standardized features
is increasing and the exceptions are fewer, there are many users
who are still using older browsers. Still today, to publish a
public web site, the author has to compromise; should the site
be limited to the functionality of an older browser? What generation
of browser should the site support? Should the experience be enhanced
only for one manufacturer's browser? These questions should be
addressed at design time and the answers will strictly depend
on the site's intended use, and on the potential user population.
Meanwhile, we recommend that everyone keep their browsers up
to date. Not only does this assure you of a better experience
but it also assures that your browser implements the latest security
patches. To check on your browser version you can go in the "Help"
menu and select "about," or if you use Netscape you
can click here.
You can download the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer
from:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.htm
and the latest version of Netscape Navigator at:
http://home.netscape.com/download/index.html.
Needless to say, HTML is the ABCs of ByYourSite's line of business...
You can find links to some of the many web sites providing information
about HTML by following links in our links
page.
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DHTML
Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML) is actually a combination
of HTML, style sheets and a scripting language
such as JavaScript.
DHTML is a way to override HTML's static nature. By using scripting
language, it is possible to modify properties of some HTML tags
and in some cases you can change the content of the tags themselves.
For example, it is possible to create rollover effects (image
that changes when you place your mouse over it). To achieve this
effect you use the scripting language to swap the source property
of the image tag with another. The World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C) defined the Document Object Model
(DOM) to allow programs and scripts to dynamically access and
update the content, structure and style of documents. With the
DOM a programer can access each elements on the page to produce
DHTML.
Style sheets are a set of instructions which tell the browser
on how content should be rendered on the page. The W3C defined
the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) standard to help manufacturers
build compatibility between their browsers. With DHTML and CSS
it is possible to considerably change the look of a page programmatically.
DHTML is where the difference between the browsers is at its
greatest. Some DHTML was possible since the third generation of
browsers, but advanced DHTML wasn't really implemented before
the browsers of version 4. Even then Microsoft's and Netscape's
implementation were incompatible.
Some features may be present in some browsers and not in others.
For instance, say where you want the content of a paragraph to
change in function of what the user inputs in a text box. With
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (IE) you can change the content
inside paragraph tags to react to the user input. With Netscape
Navigator you can't change the tag's content, but only, as with
IE, tag's the properties. The result is, to produce the same effect
with Netscape you would have to pre-write several hidden paragraphs
and only display them via DHTML according to the need.
To make things more complicated, some features are supported
by both browsers but not implemented in the same way. Even worse,
some properties are not consistent among browsers of the same
generation and of the same manufacturer running on different platforms.
Particularly with IE, some features are available on IE 4 for
Windows but not on IE 4 for Macintosh.
Thankfully for HTML, the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is stepping in to implement the
Document Object Model (DOM) that defines the way the browser is
supposed to access the various tags, tag properties and tag content.
Our book suggestion for DHTML is Danny Goodman's "Dynamic
HTML, The Definitive Reference" (O'Reilly & Associates).
As its name implies this book is more a reference than a tutorial,
and thus targets the developer rather than the curious layman.
It is a very good guide, and will help you wade through the maze
of browsers compatibility.
Like HTML, DHTML is at the foundation of ByYourSite's knowledge.
We have extended experience in resolving cross-browser issues.
Read more about the DOM
or CSS
at the W3C web site, or get more information on DHTML and Style
Sheets by following links in our links
page.
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XML and XSLT
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is to the document content (data)
what HTML is to the document layout.
XML is a simple, standard way to delimit text data... It is structured
such that you can formally describe the syntax you have devised
and share it with anyone using any other computing platform.
XML describes a document's content rather than it's layout information.
As we have seen above with HTML, it is impossible to know what
a paragraph of text is talking about. The only thing that we know
is that we are dealing with a paragraph, and nothing distinguishes
that paragraph from another. Like HTML, XML uses tags to describe
the content. For example, with XML it is possible to know if a
given paragraph is the introduction or the conclusion.
The Extensible Stylesheet Language: Transformation (XSLT) is
used in conjunction with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to render
the XML into other formats such as HTML and PDF. XSLT is often
referred to as being the query language for XML documents, as
it can take the raw XML and retrieve, sort and aggregate the data
to get the desired output. XSLT is fairly new and the W3C standard
has not yet been implemented by many XML parsers.
Before XSLT you could only process XML via custom applications
that would interact with an Application Programing Interface (API)
defined by the parser. The two most common APIs are the Simple
API for XML (SAX) and the Document Object Model (DOM).
XSLT doesn't transform the document itself but rather its representation.
XSLT relies on a SAX or a DOM parser to build a tree structure
that represents the data, and then applies its rules to transform
the tree. XSLT provides the language to manipulate and navigate
through the tree.
As XML is fairly new, ByYourSite is actively prospecting for
opportunities to gain more experience in this field. Please read
on our special offer.
As book reference we would recommend Didier Martin et al. in
Professional
XML (Wrox) and Michael Kay's XSLT
Programer's Reference (Wrox).
Get more information on XML and XSLT by following links from
our links page.
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Structured Query Language (SQL)
Since the '80s, a standard for Structured Query Language (SQL)
has been defined by the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI). This standard is the
ANSI-SQL. Today, most Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS)
are at least compliant with entry-level ANSI-SQL.
SQL is used to retrieve and manipulate information stored into
relational databases. With SQL one can add, edit, retrieve, delete,
filter, sort, and aggregate data stored into Relational Database
Management Systems.
To add flexibility and power, most vendors extend ANSI-SQL with
their own functionalities. For instance, Microsoft SQLServer calls
its version of SQL, Transact-SQL (T-SQL) and Oracle calls its
version PL/SQL. Most of these extensions add to ANSI-SQL logic
operators and specific calls to the Relational Database Management
Systems.
ByYourSite has extended knowledge of SQL and T-SQL in the context
of web application development.
Get more information on SQL by following links in our links
page.
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Authoring Tools
Most web source code is plain text, so why use authoring tools?
Why buy and learn a new tool when text editors, such as Notepad,
are already bundled with the operating system? My answer to this
is "productivity". Authoring tools considerably boost
your productivity by offering all the utilities that you need
under the same hood and by adding color-coding to your code.
There are two main approaches when producing code. There is the
"What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) way and the
"straight type it all" way. WYSIWYG is an environment
in which the developer interacts with a graphical representation
of web page elements (buttons, forms, images, text...). Elements
are dragged and doped on a representation of the page. Then the
software interprets the layout and generates the HTML and supporting
scripts. The best packages, such as Dreamweaver, generate the
source code on the fly.
WYSIWYG is very intuitive (if the user interface is well designed),
it does not require code learning, and it can be much faster in
producing the desired layout.
WYSIWYG's biggest weakness comes from its primary idea, "to
shield the user from the code" and can become counterproductive.
As they are designed to handle graphical representation they often
lack tools that allow global changes. A programmer will have the
tendency to rely on the graphical tool and thus will not learn
the code. If down the road there is a problem with the layout
the programmer will not know how to edit the source code. It is
very common in WYSIWYG to get in a situation where you are stuck
with something that does not work well and if you can't edit the
source code, the fastest way to get out off it is to start your
page from scratch when it is often just a matter of changing or
replacing a few properties.
Many WYSIWYG manufacturers assumed that the developer will not
need to touch the source code, so they produced source code that
was optimized for their software and not for the human eye. As
a result many early versions of these packages have the tendency
to "digest" the code. Some tools, like earlier versions
of Microsoft Front Page will open an existing source code and
rewrite it to its benefit. Not only will this destroy your visual
queues (indentation, comments...) that you have carefully inserted,
but it will also break sections of code that it does not interpret
correctly. This is especially true if you are in a situation where
you are using a script to generate HTML. In this case you have
HTML interspersed with code, and a badly behaved application will
have the tendency to only interpret the HTML ignoring the script.
Trying to be user-friendly it tries to correct the HTML as it
thinks it is incomplete when in effect it will break your code.
HomeSite
HomeSite
was created by Allaire
(now Macromedia)
and is very popular among HTML developers working on a Windows
platform.
For a reasonable price, HomeSite provides quick tips for tag
completion, good color coding and support for HTML, JavaScript,
Java and CFML.
The greatest strengths of HomeSite is that it does not "digest"
the code and it is very simple to use. It is the perfect source
editing tool.
HomeSite can be intimidating to beginners as it does not provide
a good WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment. It
is really designed to help write code manually instead of dragging
and dropping objects in a form.
However, we consider HomeSite to be the perfect learning tool
for the person interested in web technology. It provides all the
tips and information to write good HTML. HomeSite provides very
strong tools like extended search and replace tools that are real
time savers.
HomeSite is one of the primary tools used by ByYourSite to develop
web pages.
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Dreamweaver (UltraDev)
Macromedia Dreamweaver
was the first WYSIWYG HTML editor that did not "digest"
source code. Its user interface, though well designed, follows
a Macintosh paradigm and can, at first, be confusing if you are
a straight Microsoft user.
Dreamweaver can be a great learning tool as it is possible to
do WYSIWYG work and see at the same time the source being edited.
A beginner can use this feature to learn what are the tags or
structures needed to achieve the desired layout.
One of Dreamweaver's strong features is its ability to use templates
and objects. These tools are great time savers and help to assure
consistency across the web site. Template objects are snippets
of HTML code that are stored in a central location. When the source
of the template or of an object is edited the rest of the site
that uses it is automatically updated.
UltraDev
is an extension of Dreamweaver that adds server side scripting
capabilities to Dreamweaver. With UltraDev it is possible to create
ASP, JSP, and ColdFusion script.
Finally, Dreamweaver 4 integrates very smoothly with Fireworks,
Macromedia's web graphic tool. This greatly simplifies and speeds
up the production of graphic intensive layouts.
Dreamweaver is gradually gaining importance in ByYourSite's tool
set. For the most part this site is built using Dreamweaver and
Fireworks.
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Visual InterDev
Visual
InterDev is Microsoft's tool for web application development.
It is part of Microsoft Visual studio and as such it is very well
integrated with other Microsoft tools such as SQLServer, Visual
Basic, C++ and Visual SourceSafe.
The great asset of Visual InterDev is developing data driven
ASP applications in a multiple user environment. Within the environment
it is possible to directly access the data and create views and
stored procedures. In a multiple user environment you can use
an external source control such as SourceSafe or use InterDev
native tools to assure your files' integrity. In addition, InterDev
provides a set of design time and run time objects that can simplify
one's work (be careful when using these features as they tend
to be optimized for Microsoft's browsers).
Visual InterDev is going to be phased out by Microsoft. In the
new VisualStudio.Net, Microsoft removed InterDev and added its
functionalities into the Integrated Development Environment of
Visual Basic, C++ and C#.
InterDev is ByYourSite's primary tool when developing applications
with Active Server Pages, SQLServer and that are controlled by
Visual SourceSafe.
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Front Page
FrontPage
is Microsoft's WYSIWYG tool. It is a very good tool if you are
OK with doing your pages Microsoft's way. A person used to Microsoft's
interfaces will feel right at home from the beginning, and most
steps are fairly intuitive.
FrontPage is not designed with script writers in mind. Earlier
versions (before FrontPage 2000) were notorious at digesting your
code, and to edit scripts you still have to rely on an external
tools (Notepad, InterDev...). However, if you are using FrontPage
Extensions on the server it becomes very easy to use canned server
side script such as form handling, counter and discussions.
At ByYourSite we use FrontPage mostly in situations where we
are requested to leverage FrontPage Extensions. We prefer to use
tools such as HomeSite, InterDev
or Dreamweaver.
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Visual SourceSafe
Visual
SourceSafe is not an authoring tool per say. It is part of
the Microsoft Visual Studio suite and is a source control tool.
When working in a multiple developer environment, source control
is essential for avoiding and resolving potential modification
conflicts, and with big projects, source control allows to keep
track of modifications' history and help in the production of
distinct releases.
Visual SourceSafe integrates nicely with the rest of the Visual
Studio tools and can be used to control any type of file produced
by any development language, authoring tool, or application.
ByYourSite has experience in administrating Visual SourceSafe
and uses it in most of its projects.
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Web GIS
Web based Geographical Information Systems (Web GIS) are often
seen as a way to extend full blown GIS applications. With Web
GIS it is possible to limit data sharing costs and provide an
easy-to-learn interface to complex datasets.
ByYourSite has some experience with Web GIS using ArcIMS and
MapGuide and is actively prospecting for opportunities to gain
more experience with web based GIS. Please read
on our special offer.
ArcIMS
ArcIMS
is ESRI's web solution. With ArcInfo and ArcView ESRI is the Geographical
Information Systems (GIS) applications leader.
With ArcIMS, maps can be displayed on the web using ready-to-use
HTML/DHTML and Java clients, or rely on custom made client applications
written with Active Server Page (ASP), ColdFusion, or JavaServer
Pages (JSP).
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MapGuide
MapGuide is Autodesk's Web GIS solution. Autodesk, a Computer
Assisted Design (CAD) leader who took ESRI by surprise when it
first released MapGuide.
After MapGuide's release, ESRI had to play catch-up with the power,
lightweight, and ease of use offered by its challenger.
The MapGuide server comes bundled with ColdFusion Server but
it can also be interfaced with ASP and JSP to display maps on
the web.
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Databases
There are several type of databases. Today, most popular systems
with businesses are the Relational Database Management Systems
(RDBMS). Relational Database Management Systems attempt to model
a system by storing data in various tables and keeping track of
the relationship between the data in each table.
ByYourSite's databases experience is mostly around Microsoft's
tools. We will describe two of the three database systems that
Microsoft offers, Access and SQLServer. The third product by Microsoft
is FoxPro.
Access
Microsoft Access is not a Relational Database Management System
but rather a file based database that is disguised as one. Access
is part of Microsoft Office and is very popular on desktops. It
is relatively inexpensive, easy to use, and robust enough for
many business applications.
One big reason for Access dominance is that it is allows to build
self-supporting applications. Access integrates the user interface
or forms, the data storage or tables, the reporting tool or reports,
scripting via Visual Basic for Applications, and a visual query
builder into one package. Using this tool it is possible to build
complete data driven applications.
Access can also be used for small scale web applications. Even
if it can't handle many concurrent connections to the data and
that it is considered less secure than enterprise scale Relational
Database Management Systems, Access successfully handles low budget,
low traffic web sites.
ByYourSite uses on Access on a regular basis to develop both
database applications and web applications.
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SQL Server
SQLServer is Microsoft's Relational Database Management System
(RDBMS). With the increase of reliability of the Windows servers
platform, SQLServer is getting very popular in the business world
for mid to large scale database requirements. For the past few
years SQLServer has been eating away market share from Oracle,
Informix,
DB2
and Sybase.
Unlike Access, SQLServer is designed with a multi-user environment
in mind, and thus it is a much more robust database system for
the web. SQLServer can handle many simultaneous connections and
enable multiple access levels enhancing security.
The beauty of SQLServer is that it integrates very smoothly with
the rest of Microsoft tools and can considerably simplify development
and administration needs.
SQLServer is ByYourSite's main database system used for the development
of web based applications. ByYourSite is experienced in conducting
SQLServer basic administrative tasks.
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Graphic and Layout tools
The web, principally being a visual media, this reference page
would be incomplete without an introduction to some graphic and
layout tools.
Vector and bitmap (or raster) are two main strategies in storing
digital images .
A vector image format stores image rendering information using
mathematical functions or vectors that define series of areas
of common properties (color) surrounded by lines and circles.
Vector based images are ideal for representing images where there
are not many variations from one point to the other such as illustration
and fonts. The great advantage of vector images is that because
they are defined by mathematical functions, they are not dependent
on resolution or size. If vector based images can only approximate
continuous tones (shadow effects) they tend to produce smaller
files than raster images.
Bitmap images represent an image by defining the colors and positions
of tiny dots put side by side. Bitmap images are ideal to represent
photo realistic images, or graphics with continuous tone requirements
such as fading or shadow effects.
Since the image is represented by a defined number of dots it
becomes dependent on resolution and size. If you have an image
that is defined by 1000 dots in width and 1000 dots in height
and that you print it on a square of one inch by one inch, the
image will not show the different dots and will look very sharp.
Now if you increase the size of the printed image to one foot
by one foot, the size of each dot will have to be increased proportionately
to fill the space, the eye will start to distinguish the various
dots that compose the image.
Bitmap image file size tends to be larger than vector image file
size and are directly dependent on resolution. Web browsers typically
support only bitmap image formats such as JPG and GIF. Macromedia
Flash files are very efficient because they use vector base images,
but they require a browser plug-in to be displayed.
JPG and GIF are names for bitmap compression algorithms. The
JPG algorithm is typically more efficient at compressing files
that have continuous tones such as photos. The GIF algorithm is
more efficient at compressing files composed of large areas with
the same colors such as illustrations. The GIF algorithm limits
the number of colors that can be displayed to an index. Colors
that are not within the index are approximated by rasterizing
the image (a green area would be an intermix of yellow and blue
dots).
Fireworks
Macromedia Fireworks
is specialized in producing graphics for the web. It can handle
both vector and bitmap based images as a source. Most work in
Fireworks is done using vector based images that are then exported
to GIF or JPG files.
Fireworks was one of the first programs to offer a complete set
of tools such as image slicing and image optimization tools that
simplify the life of a web graphic designer. With these tools,
the author can concentrate on the layout and let the software
generate the HTML.
Fireworks is also very well integrated with Dreamweaver. Since
version 4 of the programs it is possible to go back and forth
between the two applications while keeping the changes synchronized.
Fireworks is ByYourSite's primary tool for producing web graphics.
For the most part this site is built using Fireworks and Dreamweaver.
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Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
has been for many years the leader in bitmap image editing. This
very powerful tool was designed for the printed media. For web
production, Adobe has been playing catch up with Macromedia Fireworks
since version 5.5.
With version 6.0, Photoshop became a very strong contender for
web graphics. This will allow Adobe to leverage on the huge pull
of Photoshop users that would rather not have to learn a new tool
to do their work on the web.
Photoshop is ByYourSite's primary image editing tool.
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Other Graphic and Layout software
Among other graphic tools regularly used are vector based drawing
programs such as Adobe Illustrator
and Macromedia Freehand.
These tools are often used by graphic illustrators to produce
original illustrations that are then imported into a tool such
as Fireworks or Photoshop to produce web graphics.
Some designers like to use page layout software such Adobe PageMaker
or Quark QuarkExpress
to create web page templates. These tools are often used by graphic
designers working for printed media. To be familiar with these
tools and to be able to import these files in a web production
environment leverages the pool of artists working for print only.
At ByYourSite we are familiar with all these tools.
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