More and more web designers are interested in taking the jump into learning how to build database driven websites.

These days, the language of choice is PHP (with some adventurous nerds jumping into Ruby,) because it is easy to use, easy to learn and is very popular.

Regardless of what technology/programming language (PHP, ASP, JSP, Cold Fusion) you use to build database driven websites, there are some (common) basic concepts that have to be understood before you can move forward.

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In the following video tutorial, I explain to the difference between server-side programming (PHP, ASP etc ..) vs. client-side programming - JavaScript, VB Script etc …

Video: Server-side programming vs. Client-side programming

PS: after you watch this video, you may want to take it to the next level and actually learn PHP.

Stefan Mischook

by: Kevin Tate

Review by Richard Mischook

This book will of some interest to anyone who has ever worked on a team developing any sort of sophisticated software. By sophisticated I mean relatively feature-rich and developed with the expectation of a reasonably long shelf life. By the latter though, I don’t mean a static shelf life; rather a dynamic one where it is expected that the software will need to grow and change in response to the evolving needs of the customer.

Getting to the Point

Sustainable Software Development starts with a strong argument as to why building software cannot and should not be viewed as analogous to building buildings, despite the propensity of many to see things that way. For one thing buildings are not expected to change over time in response to changing requirements (not drastically anyway).

Software on the other hand in an increasingly dynamic business climate must be adaptable to change. In fact change must be relatively easy to accomplish with a low risk of breaking existing functionality. Thus sustainable software development is somewhat different from purely agile development, even if the former borrows heavily from the principles of the latter. Sustainable software must develop the software that the customer needs, and be capable of changing as the needs of the customer change.

The Core of the Book

This book is a great read. It uses numerous small examples to illustrate its point, examples that certainly were quite familiar to me. The causes of unsustainable development were covered in some detail. The meat of the book went into a series of practical and unambiguous practices and principles designed to foster long term sustainable development. In addition to discussing software methodology, the author recognizes the cultural issues (as in corporate culture) that need to be addressed to foster a sustainable software development environment.

Synopsis

This book is a great read even for those who may already be familiar with one of more schools of agile development. It left me charged up and wanting to rush into the office and put these ideas into practice. Highly recommended.

NOTE: SEO is the acronym for: ’search engine optimization’. This is the process of making your web pages more search engine ‘friendly’ by tweaking code and content.

Choosing a proper domain name can have a huge impact in terms of how it affects your positions in the search engines and your overall traffic.

THE 3 CRITICAL FACTORS

1. The domain name should contain key words.
2. The domain name should be as short as possible - easy to remember and easy to type in.
3. The domain name is slightly better off as a .com over say a .net, org etc …

1. KEY WORDS IN YOUR DOMAIN NAME

No one knows the exact algorithms that the search engines use to determine who ranks higher. But you can learn a lot when you have several websites that get a lot of traffic …

One thing I have discovered over the years, is that keywords in a domain name do have a serious impact as far as the search engines are concerned. That said, MSN seems to hold it as being more important than the other 2 major search engines: Google and Yahoo!

The point is that you should start your SEO (search engine optimization) work BEFORE you even register your domain name. Try to choose a domain that contains a good keyword.

2. SHORT DOMAIN NAMES ARE EASY TO REMEMBER

I think this one is obvious … if your domain name is:

www.fantabulousefluffyregistereddogs.com

… chances are people will have a hard time remembering it! Instead something like ‘www.fandogs.com’ would be much better.

3. WHY ARE .COM DOMAINS BETTER?

Less to do with search engines and everything to do with the fact that most people will type in ‘.com’ before .net or anything else.

For that reason alone, try to register a .com before anything else.

Stefan Mischook

Head Rush AJAX targets web designers who have a basic understanding of JavaScript.

A couple of points:

• A great book for beginners.
• This book is not well suited for experienced Web programmers because the pace is probably too slow.

Using clever layouts and graphics, along with an easy to understand writing style, Head Rush AJAX makes AJAX very approachable for web designers.

WHAT IS AJAX

AJAX is essentially the combination of technologies (JavaScript, DOM, CSS) built into all modern browsers that allows you to create web apps that act like (from the users perspective,) desktop applications - the so-called ‘rich user experience’. AJAX is used to send data to and from the server, and then display it in a web page, in a seamless way.

AJAX is typically coupled with a server-side technology like:

• PHP
• ASP.net
• Java/J2EE

The server-side languages/environments are used to grab data (say from a database like MySQL) and then hand it off the to AJAX scripts. Wisely, Head Rush AJAX uses PHP as the server-side language to play this role*.

HOW THE BOOK TACKLES AJAX

By starting with simple concepts and examples, the book gently takes the reader from humble beginnings to (by the end of the book) where the reader should be comfortable creating AJAX based websites.

Some highlights:

• Great examination of basic concepts.
• Good tutorial on DOM scripting - a key component of AJAX
• Nice comparison between AJAX with XML vs. AJAX with JSON - a lightweight JavaScript data format

Probably the best web designer centric book on AJAX.

Stefan Mischook (Web Design Heretic)

With all the buzz about Ruby these days (because of the web application framework ‘Ruby on Rails’) Zend (the people who manage PHP) are feeling the pressure.

As far as Zend is concerned, PHP is not getting its’ fair share of attention even though PHP is:

• Much more available than Ruby - in terms of hosting.
• PHP is a widely used and a proven language with big sites like Yahoo, Digg and Flickr using it.
• PHP is easy to use and easy to learn.

As I mentioned above, Ruby’s recent rise has been largely due to the web application framework ‘Ruby on Rails’. So in response to this, Zend has developed their own framework called: Zend Framework.

Along with the Zend Framework, comes a nifty new web site. From the press release:

Future of Web Application Design Is Here and Looking Good

Varien, a web design and development firm, has redesigned the Web site for Zend Technologies’ PHP framework. Varien completed the redesign as part of an effort to reposition PHP as the cleanest and most simple programming language.

Los Angeles, CA—April 20, 2006—Varien has completed redesigning the Zend Technologies’ new PHP Framework Web site in an effort to make the Framework more accessible. The Framework is a powerful new tool for Web developers, providing a simple, standardized way to create powerful web applications using PHP.

The redesign was part of a broader effort to reposition PHP, which included designing a new logo for the Framework. By repositioning PHP Zend hopes to make the Framework and PHP more appealing to current Web developers and less intimidating to those looking to get into Web development.

“Here you have PHP, a programming language that runs Flickr, Wikipedia, Digg, and even Yahoo, and yet Ruby has become synonymous with the new Web,” said Ben Blumenfeld, the Design Director at Varien. “Hopefully this redesign makes Web designers and entrepreneurs take another look at PHP. With Zend’s Framework, PHP is now simpler, faster and more powerful than it has ever been.”

PHP usage has grown tremendously since PHP4 was released in 2000. However, PHP has recently lost some of its mindshare to the heavily touted Ruby on Rails, despite a huge gap in actual usage. (TIOBE programming community index)

The Zend Framework aims to provide a high-quality, commercial-friendly and open-source based solution for programming in PHP. Zend is excited about the Framework’s usability and knows the site redesign will help developers get the most out of the new technology.

“The coolness fact is also important in initially attracting Web developers and is complementary to the technology. The new look of our Web site enables us to build a more appealing perception of the Zend Framework,” said Andi Gutmans, the vice president of technology at Zend.

The Framework can be found at framework.zend.com. The redesign allows users to download the framework from the front page and highlights projects created using PHP in a section on the front page.

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WILL RUBY CONTINUE TO EAT AWAY AT PHP’S MIND SHARE?

This is the $64 000 question. But we have to consider one point: Ruby has capability that is widely used in Rails that PHP simply does not have; so can a PHP framework be as effective as Rails?

Nerd-minds want to know!

Stefan Mischook