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| resources_for_website_builders [2022/02/24 17:44] – [Books] unescape ampersand peteyboy | resources_for_website_builders [2024/09/16 06:57] (current) – pg” hc9 |
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| ====== Resources for Developing Your Website ====== | ====== Resources for Developing Your Website ====== |
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| | So, you've followed the instructions. You've run “mkhomepg”. You've created your first html document, and you've got as far as displaying “Hello, World” in a browser for all to see. So far so good. But what next? This brief tutorial aims to help you take that next step, so you can create a web page that looks good, performs well, and may even accomplish whatever goal you have for it. |
| So, you've followed the instructions. You've run "mkhomepg". You've created your first html document, and you've got as far as displaying "Hello, World" in a browser for all to see. So far so good. But what next? This brief tutorial aims to help you take that next step, so you can create a web page that looks good, performs well, and may even accomplish whatever goal you have for it. | |
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| ==== The Golden Rule ==== | ==== The Golden Rule ==== |
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| Unless your aim is simply (and exclusively) to learn how to code a web page, the most important consideration going into your project is content. In general, the purpose of any web page is to provide information or interaction of some sort. It could be to share photos with family and friends. It could be to exchange ideas with like minded individuals about some interest or hobby. It could be a blog for your fevered rantings.\\ The nature of the content is naturally up to you - that's the beauty of it. And as it is up to you, a discussion of content beyond this simple admonishment is beyond the scope of this tutorial. But it is important to remember that without interesting or useful content, there simply is no point. | Unless your aim is simply (and exclusively) to learn how to code a web page, the most important consideration going into your project is content. In general, the purpose of any web page is to provide information or interaction of some sort. It could be to share photos with family and friends. It could be to exchange ideas with like minded individuals about some interest or hobby. It could be a blog for your fevered rantings.\\ The nature of the content is naturally up to you – that's the beauty of it. And as it is up to you, a discussion of content beyond this simple admonishment is beyond the scope of this tutorial. But it is important to remember that without interesting or useful content, there simply is no point. |
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| ==== Strategy ==== | ==== Strategy ==== |
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| I won't pretend that I can teach you all you need to know about making a web page. But as someone who has been working with web pages for more than five years, I do know my way around. My strategy in this tutorial is to bring up topics of interest and then direct you to online resources of high quality and free availability,based on open standards.\\ This strategy is designed to be in accord with the goals and ethos of SDF. So while you won't find much here about //what to do// - I hope you will benefit from my suggestions on //where to look//. | I won't pretend that I can teach you all you need to know about making a web page. But as someone who has been working with web pages for more than five years, I do know my way around. My strategy in this tutorial is to bring up topics of interest and then direct you to online resources of high quality and free availability,based on open standards.\\ This strategy is designed to be in accord with the goals and ethos of SDF. So while you won't find much here about //what to do// – I hope you will benefit from my suggestions on //where to look//. |
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| ===== Editing Text ===== | ===== Editing Text ===== |
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| At their most basic level, web pages are text files. Thus, you need a way of editing the text that will make up your web pages. If you wish to build your web page from within your SDF shell account, numerous text editors are available. To see a list, enter the following commands at your shell prompt: | At their most basic level, web pages are text files. Thus, you need a way of editing the text that will make up your web pages. If you wish to build your web page from within your SDF shell account, numerous [[text editors on SDF| text editors]] are available. To see a list while at the shell prompt, enter the following commands: |
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| $ faq | $ faq |
| t 9 | t 9 |
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| As you can see, there are quite a few to choose from. Some are simple, and some are complex and quite amazingly powerful. I find "pico" convenient and easy to use. Many on SDF like "nano". And for those who are willing to learn them there are much more powerful editors like "vi", "vim" and "emacs" which offer an unmatched degree of customization. What is important is to choose an editor that you are comfortable working with, as you will be spending considerable time using it.\\ Some folks, myself included, may find it easier to do their editing in their desktop environment. If you are an ARPA lifetime member (one-time fee of $36), this presents no obstacle as ftp (and sftp) is available for transfering your finished work to your html folder on SDF. | You may also access the same page of the FAQ on the web here https://sdf.org/?faq?BASICS?09 |
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| | There are quite a few to choose from. Some are simple, and some are complex and quite amazingly powerful. I find [[pico_cheat_sheet|pico]] convenient and easy to use. Many on SDF like [[wp>GNU_nano#Control_keys|nano]]. And for those who are willing to learn them there are much more powerful editors like “vi”, “vim” and “emacs” which offer an unmatched degree of customization. What is important is to choose an editor that you are comfortable working with, as you will be spending considerable time using it.\\ Some folks, myself included, may find it easier to do their editing in their desktop environment. If you are an ARPA lifetime member (one-time fee of $36), this presents no obstacle as ftp (and sftp) is available for transfering your finished work to your html folder on SDF. |
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| ===== Help With HTML ===== | ===== Help With HTML ===== |
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| Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the primary language of the world wide web. In its simplest terms, it provides for structuring the text of your web page, through the use of various "tags" which "mark" your text with structural attributes.\\ For example, text which falls between the opening tag <h1> and the closing tag </h1> is interpreted by a web browser as being a level one heading. | Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the primary language of the world wide web. In its simplest terms, it provides for structuring the text of your web page, through the use of various “tags” which “mark” your text with structural attributes.\\ For example, text which falls between the opening tag <h1> and the closing tag </h1> is interpreted by a web browser as being a level one heading. You can make editing easier by using an editor that has syntax hightlighting, as can be added to [[nano]] |
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| A full description of HTML is well beyond the scope of a basic tutorial, yet it is important that you have access to complete information. Fortunately, what you need is indeed freely available on the web. If you choose to ignore everything else in this tutorial, I would like you nontheless to heed this advice. The website of the [[http://www.w3c.org|World Wide Web Consortium]] (who set the standards and conventions for the World Wide Web) is your friend. Visit it. Get to [[http://www.w3.org/Consortium/new-to-w3c|know]] it. Learn to love it. | A full description of HTML is well beyond the scope of a basic tutorial, yet it is important that you have access to complete information. Fortunately, what you need is indeed freely available on the web. If you choose to ignore everything else in this tutorial, I would like you nontheless to heed this advice. The website of the [[http://www.w3c.org|World Wide Web Consortium]] (who set the standards and conventions for the World Wide Web) is your friend. Visit it. Get to [[http://www.w3.org/Consortium/new-to-w3c|know]] it. Learn to love it. |
| * [[http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/|HTML Tidy]] | * [[http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/|HTML Tidy]] |
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| Of these, perhaps the most important is the Validator. By using the validator to check your work, you can ensure that your web page is standards compliant - built to work in a wide variety of browsers on any number of platforms. You'll find it also catches your typos (in your HTML, not your content). | Of these, perhaps the most important is the Validator. By using the validator to check your work, you can ensure that your web page is standards compliant – built to work in a wide variety of browsers on any number of platforms. You'll find it also catches your typos (in your HTML, not your content). |
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| Other HTML resources you may find useful: | Other HTML resources you may find useful: |
| ===== Javascript ===== | ===== Javascript ===== |
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| At its core, HTML is simply a markup language, a derivative of SGML. Even with the help of Cascading Stylesheets, it is not really a fully functional as a layout design tool. Rather it aims at page description - identifying your document heirarchy, describing lists and tables, and so on. For more elaborate construction work, it is often useful to employ a scripting language to expand your design capabilities. Several are available, but perhaps the most popular is the client-side running javascript. | At its core, HTML is simply a markup language, a derivative of SGML. Even with the help of Cascading Stylesheets, it is not really a fully functional as a layout design tool. Rather it aims at page description – identifying your document heirarchy, describing lists and tables, and so on. For more elaborate construction work, it is often useful to employ a scripting language to expand your design capabilities. Several are available, but perhaps the most popular is the client-side running javascript. |
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| * [[http://www.mozilla.org/js/|Javascript information at Mozilla.org]] | * [[http://www.mozilla.org/js/|Javascript information at Mozilla.org]] |
| * [[http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/primer1.shtml|Javascript Primer at javascriptkit.com]] | * [[http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/primer1.shtml|Javascript Primer at javascriptkit.com]] |
| * [[http://www.irt.org/links/JavaScript_Resources/index.html|irt.org: JavaScript Resources]] | * [[http://www.irt.org/links/JavaScript_Resources/index.html|irt.org: JavaScript Resources]] |
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| | ===== Advanced Website Building ===== |
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| | You can see more advanced things here: [[website_setup_and_hosting_features|WWW Website Setup and Hosting Features]] |
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| ===== Other Resources ===== | ===== Other Resources ===== |
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| HTML, CSS, Javascript - these are all well established parts of your "general purpose" web design toolkit. There are lots of more specialized tools available as well. I will just list a few here that you can explore in case you are interested. | HTML, CSS, Javascript – these are all well established parts of your “general purpose” web design toolkit. There are lots of more specialized tools available as well. I will just list a few here that you can explore in case you are interested. |
| * [[https://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/Tech/cgi-safe.html |Safe CGI]] - at the User level, you can run CGI scripts in your web space, but it can be tricky, so you should consult this guide | * [[CGI Programming]] – Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programming is supported on SDF |
| * if you want to try bash CGI, [[http://bashlib.sourceforge.net/ |bashlib]] is an old tool that may help | * [[http://us3.php.net/FAQ.php|PHP FAQ at php.net]] – Server-side Scripting Language |
| * [[https://metacpan.org/dist/CGI/view/lib/CGI.pod#CGI.pm-HAS-BEEN-REMOVED-FROM-THE-PERL-CORE| Don't use the old CGI.pm for perl CGI anymore]] - At ARPA level, you can write CGI scripts in perl, but you shouldn't use old perl CGI package recipes to do so, because like bash CGI, it's not very safe. | * [[http://www.mysql.com/|MySQL]] – Database Software |
| * Use this modern replacement for standalone perl CGI: [[https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::Alternatives#BUT-I-DON'T-WANT-TO-USE-A-FRAMEWORK | Perl CGI But I Don't Want to Use a Framework]] | |
| * [[http://us3.php.net/FAQ.php|PHP FAQ at php.net]] - Server-side Scripting Language | |
| * [[http://www.mysql.com/|MySQL]] - Database Software | |
| * [[http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/|Information on PNG]] | * [[http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/|Information on PNG]] |
| * [[http://wordpress.org/|WordPress blogging software]] | * [[http://wordpress.org/|WordPress blogging software]] |
| * [[http://www.blackpearlcomputing.com/bpc/Bandwidth_stuff/default.html|The Bandwidth Conservation Society]] | |
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| ===== Books ===== | ===== Books ===== |
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| For those of you who, like me, find it beneficial to work with books in addition to online resources, I offer the following suggestions. You may purchase these books directly from [[http://www.oreilly.com/|O'Reilly]], or from a discount bookstore like [[http://www.bookpool.com|BookPool]], or you can locate a used copy from [[http://www.abebooks.com|ABE Books]] or [[http://www.alibris.com|Alibris]]. | For those of you who find it beneficial to work with books in addition to online resources, here are some suggestions. You may purchase these books directly from [[http://www.oreilly.com/|O'Reilly]], or from a discount bookstore like [[http://www.bookpool.com|BookPool]], or you can locate a used copy from [[http://www.abebooks.com|ABE Books]] or [[http://www.alibris.com|Alibris]]. |
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| === Friendly Introduction === | === Friendly Introduction === |
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| * Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML Elisabeth Freeman & Eric Freeman, O'Reilly & Associates | * __Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML__, Elisabeth Freeman & Eric Freeman, O'Reilly & Associates |
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| === References === | === References === |
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| * HTML: The Definitive Guide Chuck Musciano & Bill Kennedy, O'Reilly & Associates | * __HTML: The Definitive Guide__, Chuck Musciano & Bill Kennedy, O'Reilly & Associates |
| * Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide Eric A. Meyer, O'Reilly & Associates | * __Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide__, Eric A. Meyer, O'Reilly & Associates |
| * Javascript: The Definitive Guide David Flanagan, O'Reilly & Associates | * __Javascript: The Definitive Guide__, David Flanagan, O'Reilly & Associates |
| * Web Design in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference Jennifer Niederst Robbins, O'Reilly & Associates | * __Web Design in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference__, Jennifer Niederst Robbins, O'Reilly & Associates |
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