Web Development the Basics

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Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:14 am

Web Development : The Basics

This article will basically cover the basics of web development and the job of a web developer and what it entails. So what is web development, here's wikipedia's quite accurate account of web development:

Quote:

Web development incorporates all areas of creating a Web site for the World Wide Web. This includes Web design (graphic design, XHTML, CSS, usability and semantics), programming, server administration, content management, marketing, testing and deployment. The term can also specifially be used to refer to the "back end", that is, programming and server administration. There are usually more than one member that works on a given Web Development team, each specialising in his or her own field.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_development

So a web developer and/or web development team will basically work on all parts of a website including design, structure and server maintance. It's rare however to find a single person who can cover all of these fields successfully and with ease (i personally can only do programming structure, the back-end) and have a personal graphics and design team who help me with the, front-end, the user's gui and to help make the website i'm working on look pretty

Now there are a few languages which are almost the "core" of websites and most other languages rely upon them. These are
(x)HTML and CSS.

(x)HTML:
(x)HTML stands for (eXtensible) HyperText Markup Language.

Quote:

In practical terms, HTML is a collection of platform-independent styles (indicated by markup tags) that define the various components of a World Wide Web document. HTML was invented by Tim Berners-Lee while at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva.

www.netefxnw.com/internet_terminology.htm.

Quote:

HyperText Markup Language, the coding language used to create hypertext documents for the World Wide Web. In HTML, a block of text can be surrounded with tags that indicate how it should appear (for example, in bold face or italics). Also, in HTML a word, a block of text, or an image can be linked to another file on the Web. HTML files are viewed with a World Wide Web browser.

www.starrsites.com/glossary.htm

so simply put HTML is a language intepreted by a web browser that indicates how a string of text should be shown and displayed through markup tags (or elements) [If you look in your web browser at a site and go to click source what you should see is HTML with a combinatino of other languages]

So what's xHTML then? xHTML is the strickened version of HTML(, following a similar stature to XML). It's not a new language, just a set few rules which makes sources look cleaner and slicker and generally work better.

CSS:
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets.

Quote:

CSS, short for Cascading Style Sheets, a new feature being added to HTML that gives both Web site developers and users more control over how pages are displayed. With CSS, designers and users can create style sheets that define how different elements, such as headers and links, appear. These Style Sheets can then be applied to any Web page.

www.brontedesign.com/glossary.asp

Quote:

(Cascading Style Sheet) A standard for specifying the appearance of text and other elements. CSS was developed for use with HTML in Web pages but is also used in other situations, notably in applications built using XPFE. CSS is typically used to provide a single "library" of styles that are used over and over throughout a large number of related documents, as in a web site. A CSS file might specify that all numbered lists are to appear in italics. ...

www.unitedyellowpages.com/internet/terminology.html

So CSS is a language which can change and manipulate how certain parts of your HTMl file look, this is purely CSS' purpose to style and change the look of a HTML element. CSS' styling is far more advanced then HTML's (which can purely change colours or text andwatnot) and is much preferred because its sleeker and can be done externally from the HTML file, so is also worth learning when coming into web development.

Client Side Programming

Now CSS and xHTML are what i consider markup languages, purely there to markup (funnily enough), and i don't particularly consider them "programming". Client side programming is a broad name for a group of programming languages. They all act "client-side" i.e. within your browser. Your browser first downloads the page your accessing then inteprets the client side language as the writer wishes. So what's client side programming's advantage? It's advantage is that it can manipulate and change markup languages dependant on a user's input, timing ect and can be very effective in stoping a page being static and glum. The most popular client side programming language is javascript (or JS as its more commonly known), all of the modern browsers should compensate javascript however there are differences between browsers-which the W3C have been trying to clear up through its guidelines).

Server Side Programming

Server side programming is hard to notice as a user unaware that it's happening. Server side programming like client side programming is a broad name for a group of programming languages. Server side programming however happens server side (aren't they named brilliantly). This basically means that the server will intepret the script then return a page that has been manipulated and changed as the script wants it to be and then sends it back to the user's browser, which downloads and reads it. This is how many sites will create dynamic content (seen widely through blogs, forums ect).

Many are confused as to how server side progrmaming actually works. The process is quite simple:

> Browser accesses page
> Server reads page (script)
> Server parses script (plays with it basically)
> Script outputs a page (This will be in markup - what you see in your source page)
> Browser receives page
> Browser displays page

So what happens is the script will output some HTML or something. Many ask what is say the equivalent to the bold tags in HTML for PHP (a server side language) when there in fact isn't one. PHP will output bold tags in HTML.

There are many server side programming languages out there and each are suited to different needs. Note that the server must have the language instaleld on its server in order to use it. Client side programming doesn't need this, it needs the language to be installed on the browser. I personally use PHP as i find it simple and easy to use, and it is also enabled on most servers.

AJAX - A solution to a growing problem

AJAX is a very advanced technique so i'll just cover the basics of what it does. It basically connects the client-side to the server-side without a refresh. It's hard to explain so i won't and i'll do it in teh AJAX tutorial which will come later, i suggest learning a server-side, client-side and markup languages before attempting AJAX

XML & XSL - The future

XMl and XSL, imo are the future of web design and developemnt. Many sites use it already as its quite simple adn easy to use. XML is basically a data-pure language, it simple holds data in a strucutered format and nothing else. XSL is an intepreter of the XML language and can change and manipulate it into a HTML form (similar to how server-side languages do). However XSL isn't a styling language like CSS it purely changes XML to what you want it to be. XML & XSL i feel will soon be vital to websites for easy-transfer and watnot, however it does still rely on HTML and CSS (so learn them!). XML is currently used for such things as RSS feeds, which RSS readers read and intepret as is needed, so XML being so data-pure is perfect for transferring between the realms of computing (beyond just the WWW).

Getting into Web Development
Web development is simple to get into. The first thing you need to do is to learn the basics. HTML&CSS are the core of every websites but you'll probably not get a job for it as they are so widely known. Server-side programming is where most of the money is, but many neglect the power of client-side prorgramming. Learning them all is of use. Getting into the cycle of web development can be hard however, as a developer with little experience and no reputation it is hard to find yourself a job. There are however ways to build reputation, some sites allow you to display work which wil improve your web reputation but also displaying your knowledge (forums, support forums ect). If your looking for a job though there are also freelance websites. I personally modded the phpBB BBS and picked up a few clients from my work and now get jobs of them, rather then freelancing.

So get rocking!

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Author: Noobarmy
City: London • Editorial, Marketing & Services Team • Articles: 3

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